My Official K20 Swap and buildup thread.
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My Official K20 Swap and buildup thread.
To start of the D16a6 was removed along with the battery tray, stock exhaust system, all A/C related parts, front cross member, radiator etc
Out with the old
starting to clean the engine bay
Semi-clean.... for now
The stock radiator cannot be used with the swap, its too large and would hit the K20s intake manifold. This left 3 options, try to make an EG rad fit, have an aftermarket rad fabricated or find a radiator that would work. Turns out the 95-99 Neon non-A/C rad is virtually the same size and thickness as the stock EG rad but its not as tall thus making this a perfect candidate. It will have to be mounted upside down to make best use of the coolant necks. Note: If you are building a track car you might want to consider a bigger radiator. A spal 1250cfm fan was also purchased, it fits the neon rad perfectly.
The big bulky stock front crossmember was ditched for a Full-race which not only creates much more space but will aid in traction. The stock rad mount tabs were cut.
The stock USDM hood will not clear any K-swap without cutting a hole in the hood, you will need an SiR style hood. Im told Fiberimages SiR hood has no support or fiberglass under skeleton and therefore it doesnt have to be modified at all. Unfortunetly I already have a VIS and had to spend about 2 hours cutting it with a dremel. The skeleton is glued on and had to be ripped of, suprisingly no damage was done to the hood at all.. take your time and be carefull.
I will be running the EP3 idler pulley setup which eliminates the A/C and P/S using a goodyear 50.5 inch belt (7050505# iirc) from an infinity 4.5 V8. AFAIK noone has used this setup in an EF yet and it looks like it might clear the hood with mm to spare....I made sure the passenger side area of the hood had as much material taken out of it as possible for this.
On the inside I chose to use an SiR cluster with its electronic VSS. It was originally thought that a cluster with a VSS had to be used with this swap but John Ward (Composimo) at Icon ( http://www.iconautoparts.com ) cleverly figured out a way to make a cable unit work (Search for information on this). The stock oil cap cannot be used with the swap as it hits the hood, even a few aftermarket pieces have to be trimmed to make fit. I personally will be using Icons cap designed with this swap in mind, it fits without modification and looks great to boot!
The K series doesnt use shift linkage, instead it uses a shiftbox and cables. I opted to go for an aftermarket Revo box, if offers adjustment and is only 89 bucks shipped from clubrsx brand new.
To make the box work with the stock center console Karcepts
( http://www.karcepts.com ) developed a kit that mounts the shiftbox under the area where the original shift linkage was located. The area had to be cut with the aid of a template that comes with the kit. Note: the kit was designed for the EG/DC2/EK and has to be modified to make work in the EF chassis, I purchased it already modified.
With space tight in the engine bay a relocated battery is a must, heres a pic of my 10lb heeltoe auto battery being mounted in the spare tire area.
An aftermarket header must be used with the swap, Hasport sells a decent header designed to work and be inexpensive, this header made 221.8whp in droppedcrxsis swap. For more power I contacted Danny and Derrik at DTR/SSR
( http://www.sixsigmaracing.com ) and had them make me a 4-2-1. They are great guys with top notch customer service and created a beautifull piece.
The stock passenger side mount must be drilled out and the new Hasport mount welded in, drill out all the spot welds using larger drillbits in sucession until you can pry the mount of, theres no turning back now!
We had a local welder come out, took him 15 minutes to weld on the mount
Went to kragen, came back and ryan took his rattlecan skillz and in conjuction with a wire-tuck made the engine bay much more pretty.
Below are some pics of the fuel system, Earls fuel filter, golden eagle rail, AEM FPR etc
Modifying stock fuel fitting
Finished product!
Currently awaiting my swap to arrive from hmotors...ill continue the thread soon
Modified by K20EF8 at 2:33 AM 2/20/2006
Out with the old
starting to clean the engine bay
Semi-clean.... for now
The stock radiator cannot be used with the swap, its too large and would hit the K20s intake manifold. This left 3 options, try to make an EG rad fit, have an aftermarket rad fabricated or find a radiator that would work. Turns out the 95-99 Neon non-A/C rad is virtually the same size and thickness as the stock EG rad but its not as tall thus making this a perfect candidate. It will have to be mounted upside down to make best use of the coolant necks. Note: If you are building a track car you might want to consider a bigger radiator. A spal 1250cfm fan was also purchased, it fits the neon rad perfectly.
The big bulky stock front crossmember was ditched for a Full-race which not only creates much more space but will aid in traction. The stock rad mount tabs were cut.
The stock USDM hood will not clear any K-swap without cutting a hole in the hood, you will need an SiR style hood. Im told Fiberimages SiR hood has no support or fiberglass under skeleton and therefore it doesnt have to be modified at all. Unfortunetly I already have a VIS and had to spend about 2 hours cutting it with a dremel. The skeleton is glued on and had to be ripped of, suprisingly no damage was done to the hood at all.. take your time and be carefull.
I will be running the EP3 idler pulley setup which eliminates the A/C and P/S using a goodyear 50.5 inch belt (7050505# iirc) from an infinity 4.5 V8. AFAIK noone has used this setup in an EF yet and it looks like it might clear the hood with mm to spare....I made sure the passenger side area of the hood had as much material taken out of it as possible for this.
On the inside I chose to use an SiR cluster with its electronic VSS. It was originally thought that a cluster with a VSS had to be used with this swap but John Ward (Composimo) at Icon ( http://www.iconautoparts.com ) cleverly figured out a way to make a cable unit work (Search for information on this). The stock oil cap cannot be used with the swap as it hits the hood, even a few aftermarket pieces have to be trimmed to make fit. I personally will be using Icons cap designed with this swap in mind, it fits without modification and looks great to boot!
The K series doesnt use shift linkage, instead it uses a shiftbox and cables. I opted to go for an aftermarket Revo box, if offers adjustment and is only 89 bucks shipped from clubrsx brand new.
To make the box work with the stock center console Karcepts
( http://www.karcepts.com ) developed a kit that mounts the shiftbox under the area where the original shift linkage was located. The area had to be cut with the aid of a template that comes with the kit. Note: the kit was designed for the EG/DC2/EK and has to be modified to make work in the EF chassis, I purchased it already modified.
With space tight in the engine bay a relocated battery is a must, heres a pic of my 10lb heeltoe auto battery being mounted in the spare tire area.
An aftermarket header must be used with the swap, Hasport sells a decent header designed to work and be inexpensive, this header made 221.8whp in droppedcrxsis swap. For more power I contacted Danny and Derrik at DTR/SSR
( http://www.sixsigmaracing.com ) and had them make me a 4-2-1. They are great guys with top notch customer service and created a beautifull piece.
The stock passenger side mount must be drilled out and the new Hasport mount welded in, drill out all the spot welds using larger drillbits in sucession until you can pry the mount of, theres no turning back now!
We had a local welder come out, took him 15 minutes to weld on the mount
Went to kragen, came back and ryan took his rattlecan skillz and in conjuction with a wire-tuck made the engine bay much more pretty.
Below are some pics of the fuel system, Earls fuel filter, golden eagle rail, AEM FPR etc
Modifying stock fuel fitting
Finished product!
Currently awaiting my swap to arrive from hmotors...ill continue the thread soon
Modified by K20EF8 at 2:33 AM 2/20/2006
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From: San Jose, CA
Re: My Official K20 Swap and buildup thread. (ijjz)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ijjz »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Looks great. </TD></TR></TABLE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
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Honda-Tech Member
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From: bitch I live in a fuckin trashcan CT
Re: My Official K20 Swap and buildup thread. (ghost_ryder35)
looking good man, i was a little hesitant at first i thought you were just going to slap the mount with those holes on the frame rail..but you came thru...
nice work
nice work
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,285
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From: WNC
Re: My Official K20 Swap and buildup thread. (K20EF8)
Looks siiiiiiiiick 
Stinks that the dude had to stick weld it, but its all good... bridges are built with that stuff, so it'll be fine That black line is badass as well 
Stinks that the dude had to stick weld it, but its all good... bridges are built with that stuff, so it'll be fine
That black line is badass as well
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 7,817
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From: Canada
Re: (Beau Gotti)
Wow thats a really detailed write up so far. Keep it coming and let us know how things are working out.
CRX Forum
P.S. I was looking at your header for like 1 minute and thinking how it wasnt going to work then was like "Im an idiot" LOL.
CRX Forum
P.S. I was looking at your header for like 1 minute and thinking how it wasnt going to work then was like "Im an idiot" LOL.
nice work so far! keep us posted! 
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 3,024
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From: A racetrack near you, CA, USA
Re: (ludesrv)
go slap ryan for not calling me to come down when you guys were doing all this lol...looks awsome and i will see you guys def. when we roll to la for the meet on march 19th
