914 Widebody - k24 swap

In reply to golfduke :

Agreed! It's saved me over $1000 on the adapter, flywheel, and clutch. The shifter was a nice bonus.

I assume yes. But is the adapter the same for 5 speed vs 6 speed?  It looks very similar from what I recall.  

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

I think they are different for the adapter plate based on bellhousing pattern, but maybe most of the hardware and general assembly instructions will cross over?

Thought about this build when i saw this at the local cars and coffee. Not sure if it was the real deal or a clone,  but definitely wasn't a k motor!

In reply to sevenracer :

I love that color! I really want to cut my front bumper off and go with an OEM style the more I see these. It just looks right and mine looks ummm ...... okay at best?

Last night I wanted to do some test fitting and start figuring out what hardware I need to make this kit bolt back together.

First thing first was removing the broken allen key. I hammered a chisel from different sides until it finally let me pull it out with some pliers.

Luckily I was able to unscrew ALL fasteners free without any stripping or trouble. I used a nut driver and hammered the allen bit into each fastener for good purchase.

With those free I started test fitting the clutch and pressure plate. It was then I realized something wasn't right. There were ZERO holes available with threads. Obviously the pressure plate has to bolt down somehow.

After some back and forth with the previous owner and a smidge of freaking out I noticed the assembly had to be clocked wrong. So I marked the edge with a paint pen and used a dead blow to let the dowel pins shake loose. It was confirmed to be rotated the wrong direction! I was sweating the purchase for a second and the guy I got it from was too.

Here you can see how much it needed to rotate to work.

And we now have holes that go somewhere!

I found some allen head hardware from a previous clutch job I think that worked perfect to mate the pieces back together.

I didn't have enough bolts long enough to finish snugging up the pressure plate and I'm not sure this is what I'll use, but it's a big metal sandwich with a clutch attached now.

Oh and the clutch tool is from a Fiat 500 Turbo I think? It doesn't fit the splines of the clutch but it does snuggly slide through the center and the bearing ID matches. I think it will work for alignment just fine. If it's a struggle on the first mock up I'll order the proper Boxster one.

I also spent some time figuring out bellhousing hardware size and thread pitch. From the gearbox side it's a mix of fix thread pitch Subaru sized fasteners and some smaller course bolts used where the factory Porsche dowel sleeves are. Speaking of dowel sleeves, I didn't get both when I pulled the transaxle so a new one has been ordered for a few dollars shipped.

Tape wrapped around an extension works fine as a clutch alignment tool...

In reply to TurboFource :

Good to hear. I couldn't put a piece of tape between either bearing or splined section it's that snug, so I think this should do the trick.

Found a great deal on a gently used Haltech wideband controller.

Last night Kennedy sent me some pdf instructions that also included hardware info and cost if I ordered from them. After filling a cart with my usual supplier Belmetric, Kennedy were a little cheaper overall and had everything in one place like the flywheel bolts. So this morning I called and ordered the goods. They have been so helpful without me spending a dime yet, it felt nice to throw a few bucks their way.

Also the garage is a mess. Clean up this weekend as well as finish valve seals, cams, 50 degree gear, timing chain, and all the other stuff required to seal it back up.

Well.... started pulling cams in prep to do valve springs and other associated activities. I was greeted with damage to the bearing journal on the intake side smack dab in the middle.
 

Good news is I have new cams. Bad news is I don't have spare cam towers in house. So I can junkyard dive for them at some point. Really wish I grabbed the ones I removed while grabbing the 06 cams. 

I'm mulling over the idea of pulling the head to get it cleaned up. Yet I don't want to go down the rabbit hole which will inevitably lead me towards getting the bottom end rebuilt. 

I think the best route is to get new/used cam towers, toss in the 06 cams and hope for the best. 

In reply to captainawesome :

I fully agree. That rabbithole can always be followed later, once the need for more power eventally surfaces.

Will it last forever if untouched? Probably not, but then again almost nothing will.

Focus on getting the car on the road. Chances are it won't be perfect first time out, but being actually able to drive the car and keep your interest up might give you the push to dig through all the rabbitholes you want, with a clearer view of what actually needs improving. Else you can keep chasing perfection before it turns a wheel, watch your wallet slowly empty - without any instant gratification from feeling the difference - watch the end date moving closer to the horizon, your morale dropping and maybe something new, more interesting popping up and have the half finished car relegated to the 'I'll get to it soon' zone. Yeah, I know, extremes and it isn't a binary choice. Just something to think about. (Mostly because I REALLY want this to drive soon and be able to read about it. Yup, Selfish)

In reply to Piguin :

You're speaking my language. Pretty sure I got a spare set of cam trays I sold a fellow enthusiast last year lined up along with a few other goodies I could use. Hoping to meet Monday night. In the meantime I can forge along with valve seals and maybe a power wash of the chassis.

captainawesome said:

In reply to sevenracer :

I love that color! I really want to cut my front bumper off and go with an OEM style the more I see these. It just looks right and mine looks ummm ...... okay at best?

I have a gallon of ppg in that color (or at least damned clost) that i bought and wont be using....

Ill make you a hell of a deal

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

My interest is piqued, however I'm so far from thinking about how paint will end up it may be too much cart before the horse to consider. 

In reply to captainawesome :

Ill send you a picture of my test panel (stupid hard to photograph the actual color) and the deal too good to pass up when we get home from the inlaws.

you have a pm. It lightes more in direct sun, darkens more in shade, and ans tough to get accurate color representatiin of.

Cam tray has been acquired. 

I started trying to swap out valve stem seals but mangled the first one and decided I'll just buy the proper pliers. I don't recall ever having this issue before but at this point what's another day of waiting.

I berkeleyed up. Didn't pay attention to how much air was flowing into the cylinder when doing the valve stem seals. One of the exhaust valves dropped into the cylinder. Whoops! I got half the head done before that idiocy. 
 

So now the head is off. I'll order a new head gasket and in the meantime have it skimmed flat as well as lap the valves. I wasn't happy about it at first but the cylinder walls look decent so I'm stopping from going any further.

There's no rush to this project so I'm just going to keep at it a little at a time.

Couldn't twiddle thumbs today so I installed spark plug seals, sanded, and then painted the valve cover. I actually bought this paint years ago and thought it was exactly what I was looking for in color.
 

captainawesome said:

I berkeleyed up. Didn't pay attention to how much air was flowing into the cylinder when doing the valve stem seals. One of the exhaust valves dropped into the cylinder. Whoops! I got half the head done before that idiocy.

hot tip: rotate crank so the piston is at TDC on the cylinder you're doing the valves on, which limits how far the valve can fall.
 

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

I could have sworn I had it at TDC. I know I did for the first two cylinders so I'm guessing in a rush I skipped that step trying to blaze through them quicker. 

Figured I'd kinda log some of the background research/planning stages of the engine swap while I wait for payday to get the head resurfaced.

The cooling system I think is all figured out for the most part, at least on the engine bay side. I'll be using a VW/Audi expansion tank globe typically found on mk4/5/6 variants. The upside to this part is that it's the filler neck, pressure relief, and is somewhat self bleeding. I started building a system with a common aftermarket overflow tank but realized I didn't have any pressure cap planned anywhere in the routing. I probably could have spliced something in but this tank should simplify everything. This will mount on the driver side of the firewall.

With the larger 1 1/4" green stripe hoses sent down the floor in a typical water cooled 914 conversion I thought it would be easier to keep the coolant inlet on the passenger side for packaging. To do this requires a different water neck off of the rear part of the head. This part in the aftermarket typically sends the inlet to the driver side in a RWD except in the Miata and 86/FRS/BRZ k swaps. This puts way too much coolant hoses all in the same area fighting for space and getting back to the front of the car. The downside to going passenger side really only comes down to cost, but I feel like the extra money spent will make maintenance and all around esthetics much more to my liking. I planned to go with KPower but a cheaper version popped up on my radar from a company called Tronicworkz and the savings were pretty hefty. The driver side has a 5/8 barb for heater core feed, the temp sensor relocates to the top, and there's an m12x1.5 hole typically used for Miata temp sensors that I will use for a bleed port if required.

The vent/bleed port to the top of the expansion tank will be coming from the top of the intake manifold. Typically this hole is used for an injector warming circuit for the factory setup. When the port is removed we have a 3/8 BSP opening to the coolant passage. I will be using a 3/8 BSP to 8mm barb line feeding a 5/16" coolant line to the top of the expansion tank. The one originally shipped to me was the incorrect barb at 10mm but the concept is the same. New one should be here before too long. The air ports are blocked off with vacuum plugs from the remaining part of the circuit so we don't have air leaks.

For the outlet of the thermostat to the radiator I will be splicing the 1 1/4 green stripe hose to Gates 22037. This allows the hose to bend back towards the timing cover without kinking and will use a 1 1/4 aluminum barb splicer for a clean install. This same hose was used in my FRS swap and worked a treat. I don't see any reason why it won't work for this application either but may need shortening to meet with the green stripe hose.

For the driver side coming off of the previously mentioned Tronicworks water neck I am using Dayco 71276. As seen in the pic below the top portion is shortened a few inches which allows the hose to tuck under and between the exhaust and block area. The splice again will be used to connect to the green stripe hose along with some heat shield sleeving material.

Off the back of the thermostat housing I will continue to use the factory hose that connects to the lower coolant port of the intake manifold. The second port typically has an o-ringed metal pipe sent to the back of the head. Since my coolant expansion tank will be on the driver side I have acquired a K Tuned adapter that either plugs this closed or allows a 10an ORB fitting with 5/8" barb. I've used a Tractuff version of this adapter before but wasn't happy with how it's secured. They have you drill a hole in the thermostat housing and safety wire the fitting in place instead of just having the bracket hold it.

From this port will probably be a Dayco 80402 or similar 90 degree 5/8" coolant hose. That will have a wye splice part number 47238HP or a simple 5/8" tee. One leg will feed the lower expansion tank and the other will be sent to the front of the cabin for heater core duty.

The driver side of the head coolant port coming off the Tronicworkz waterneck is a 5/8" barb. I found that one of the factory TSX hoses snakes perfectly around the throttle body and will splice in with a standard 5/8 heater hose to the cabin. Gates 19549 should do the trick.

For a radiator I'm still waffling on whether I'll use a Celica or MR2 setup. Both should fit the frunk openings. The Celica one technically has the inlet on the wrong side but I've been told since they aren't that different in height it shouldn't make a discernible difference in how the system cools.

The MR2 radiator has two configurations available. Stock would have the inlet on the passenger side like I want but it's higher up and not ideal for packaging. The alternative is getting one with both ports at the top and flipping the radiator over.

MR2 flipped.

So that's kinda cooling system in a nutshell. I've kinda sketched out how the system will connect and flow based off of an OEM TSX diagram. It uses the factory coolant neck off of the head but shows where each branch will go.

It's late in the thread to mention this, and I'm not digging back into the thread to see if it's already been suggested, but...   When I build a K20 about six years ago I joined the Honda racing support program and it was a great source of Honda OEM parts at a worthwhile discount.  They didn't seem to care that it was going into an Exocet.

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

Interesting! I may be too far down the rabbit hole and almost wrapped up with OEM parts purchases but that's good to know. It may still be worth signing up for future shenanigans.

That is a beautifully crafted plan!  If I had known about that passenger side coolant adapter, I likely would have used that as well.  The only thing over there that might give you a little trouble is the shifter cables.  They seem to be a bit picky about their routing to maintain smooth action.  I'm sure you can fit em both in there.