i am kicking around some ideas for building up my motor and wanted to get some feedback. i have already posted this on ephatch.com but wanted to get some other opinions. my current setup below:

K20A3 w/ JRSC@10PSI
Tuned w/ K-Pro
Standard Bolt-Ons (I/RH/E)
Full Ferrara Valve Train
ARP Head Studs
238whp/186wtq

My thoughts are to do pistons and rods in the A3 block with the goal of getting 11:1 compression on a k20A2 head. My valve train would be pulled out of the A3 head and put into the A2 since the parts are identical (the part numbers are exactly the same). I am looking at this under the assumption that the a3 and a2 block are the same minus internals. my goal is to run what i have now but have a good base to possibly go turbo later. am i correct in this? also i know i have seen some builds on the A3 but have not come across this particular setup. if anyone has ideas on this let me know and thanks in advance.

 

I don't know a lot about the A3, but with the money you've already spent on your setup, and the money you want to spend building the internals, won't you be close to the price for a A2 swap?

I've wasted money on things and wished I had gone another route, just trying to make sure you have thought of the same thing. Good luck with it.

 

If you're planning on boost later, why waste money supercharging?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Demonis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't know a lot about the A3, but with the money you've already spent on your setup, and the money you want to spend building the internals, won't you be close to the price for a A2 swap?

I've wasted money on things and wished I had gone another route, just trying to make sure you have thought of the same thing. Good luck with it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I pretty much agree with this.

While the K20A3 block is essentially the same as the K20A2, there are some small differences: the water channels are different, the K20A2 has ports for oil squirters and the K20A2 has an extra hole for the stock oil cooler.

-The water channel difference as I understand has no real effect in terms of reliability or performance. Although I'm not 100% sure on this one...hopefully someone will chime in with more knowledge on the K-series.

-The oil squirters aren't needed if you go with forged pistons; but if you decide to stick with OEM pistons (cast) I'd definitely think about this one since the squirters help keep the pistons cool during higher RPMs.

-And the extra hole for the stock oil cooler can be drilled by any competent machine shop...but not totally necessary since you can just buy an aftermarket cooler.

In the end a K20A2 complete swap would probably be your best bet. Doing things piecemeal might end up costing you more, unless you know someone selling parts for cheap. You will end up using many of the parts from the K20A2 anyways...might as well buy it all together and build a K20A2, rather than convert a K20A3 to K20A2 and then build. Makes better financial sense.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thaseint &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I pretty much agree with this.

While the K20A3 block is essentially the same as the K20A2, there are some small differences: the water channels are different, the K20A2 has ports for oil squirters and the K20A2 has an extra hole for the stock oil cooler.

-The water channel difference as I understand has no real effect in terms of reliability or performance. Although I'm not 100% sure on this one...hopefully someone will chime in with more knowledge on the K-series.

-The oil squirters aren't needed if you go with forged pistons; but if you decide to stick with OEM pistons (cast) I'd definitely think about this one since the squirters help keep the pistons cool during higher RPMs.

-And the extra hole for the stock oil cooler can be drilled by any competent machine shop...but not totally necessary since you can just buy an aftermarket cooler.

In the end a K20A2 complete swap would probably be your best bet. Doing things piecemeal might end up costing you more, unless you know someone selling parts for cheap. You will end up using many of the parts from the K20A2 anyways...might as well buy it all together and build a K20A2, rather than convert a K20A3 to K20A2 and then build. Makes better financial sense. </TD></TR></TABLE>

this is the kind of info i was looking for about the differences in the blocks. thanks.

as for buying the s/c.......the setup i listed in the OP is what i already have on the car. everything that i have on the car right now will bolt up and work on any of the k series motors. the battle i am having is that i am planning on building a turbo kit and selling all my s/c stuff and bolt-ons. but my concern is that yes it will get me to my 300whp goal, but i am still running the A3 and for around the same money i can do the A2 swap and just bolt all my existing stuff on. this will get me to the 300-320whp mark but also give me a much stronger platform to work from later. the info on the blocks is really what i am looking for to see if it is worth converting the A3 over with internals and a new head or just buying an a2 outright. seems it would be better to buy the A2 outright. any other thoughts on this?