I have a k24 z6( I'm putting it in a 2001 prelude. this is my first engine swap, I'm boosting the engine and replacing the timing chain as well as exhaust cam gear and k20 oil pump,
I need help i've looked and i cant seem to find mounts for this specific application
Does any brand make k24 to 01 prelude mounts?
I also need to find an ecu that works with the car and the engine.
To my knowledge the engine harness and harness that hooks from the car to the lights and all the power stuff in the car are different from each other.
so do I only have to buy an harness for the engine bay and an ecu for the k24?
also is hondata a good tuning software to use?
My budget is lower but I will spend money if I have to.
any and all advice welcome as i am new to swapping engines.

 

Z series of K24. You are going to need the PCM specific to that engine. Also that is going to be fully CAN bus. You will need some sort of hardware to convert the digital signals of the prelude to and and from CAN.

 

What is CAN? If i bought a harness that was universal would i have to worry about wiring anything or should i buy one from somewhere i can get it custom made?

 

Not a simple wire harness issue. The computer that matches the Z series engine speaks Spanish and your Prelude speaks French. You need some hardware to do translations.

The Z series changed many things that makes them incompatible with the old RSX ECUs that were used for swaps.

You could go standalone ECU. You could get an aftermarket timing cover to run the old style timing trigger to run an RSX ECU. You could find a different engine. You could figure out how to make CAN bus speak Prelude.

That Z6 is a CR-V engine that only came as an automatic and that's not going to play very nice with a manual transmission. Also zero support from Hondata.

If you are set on keeping that specific engine I would probably push you towards standalone ECU as the cheapest most compatible route but the learning curve is extremely steep.

 

Ok so stand alone systems are a little spendy, im not opposed.
looking to learn a little bit more first, is there a good place to learn more about the K24z in manual.?
with this standalone ecu all i would have to worry about it programming it right?
https://www.turbokits.com/aem-infini...-k-series.html
I know someone who knows programming standalones, but just making sure.
with a standalone i wont have to worry about the transmission type?
with the z model will the k20 oil pump still fit?
i went after the z because it has a tough bottom end saving me money by not building it
i havent bought any parts for the enigne would you recoomend i sell it and get a k24a instead?
i want thinking about running a z3 tranny.

Thanks in advance.

 

If you go standalone you can run any of the K series manual transmissions no problem. Just not the K20C stuff, that shares nothing with the legacy K stuff.

That AEM standalone is a compelling argument with the plug and play harness but it looks like it requires you have the factory engine harness AND it looks like that is for the RSX engine family according to the AEM website.
https://www.aemelectronics.com/produ...y-applications

You are probably building an engine harness for this application. Or at the very least building an adapter for the factory harness to plug in to the AEM or any standalone.

On the oil pump topic, yes you can use a K20 pump but it requires some extra parts to make it happen. The Z oil system is very different as they moved the oil filter from the back of the block to the oil pan. There are a couple of parts kits out there to make it possible.

Z doesn't seem to have any stronger of a bottom end than the previous generations of K series but it does have the last refinements and updates applied.

You do the math on your project to decide on keeping or selling the Z. The older K stuff is starting to get rare and expensive.

 

Another case of "I vaguely know you can do something like this, with parts that vaguely resemble what I've somehow attained".

You will be better off just picking up a JDM K24A and using that as a base. You will spend more than the cost of the long block trying to get the Z engine to work correctly.

 

Back that up with some numbers. I think staying with the Z or finding an A is going to roughly the same price.

RSX ECU and Hondata are going to easily be the cost of a standalone. Plus signal converters to make the speedo and tach work correctly when a standalone can be programmed for whatever outputs you want.

Counter that with a standalone needs a certain skill that can be learned or paid for.

But then motor mounts because the Z is different from the previous Ks. Would need to see if anyone has them for a Prelude or have them fabricated.

And don't forget Z engines are incredibly cheap right now, like 1/3 the cost of legacy K stuff.

It's not simply one is cheaper than the other without digging in and doing some research.

Many ways to skin this cat and that is what makes cars so fun.