In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Agreed. I've got some plans for the next project or three that scratch the fab/cobbling itch a bit more.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Agreed. I've got some plans for the next project or three that scratch the fab/cobbling itch a bit more.
Back at it. I spent my weekend installing the new engine bay and dash harness. It's all connected, dash and interior bits back in, and from what I can tell things work like they should. I pulled the booster to help aid in harness removal, but this also made it a great time to swap pedal assemblies. ABS unit has been swapped as well. Felt good to get stuff checked off the list. Injectors were cleaned and flow tested locally. All checked out well, so I installed the new o-rings.
I somewhat gambled on the engine bay harness as it was from an early BRZ. The seller helped confirm certain connectors I was worried about, and everything was as it should be minus headlight connections. I knew that would be an easy-ish fix so I went for it. It really would have sucked to have another useless harness. Anyway, I needed to do some re-pinning of the headlight connectors to match up with the FRS headlights. BRZ are an 8 pin with some fancy HIDs I think, integrated turn signals, and the FRS is just a basic 6 pin plug. Luckily guys like to swap from FRS to BRZ headlights so there were pin out diagrams that helped make isolating circuits as needed. Due to the integrated signals I had to do some splicing to accommodate the FRS turn signals. It all went well, and works as it should.
Lots of organizing and cleaning again. While looking through boxes to try and ship a part, I stumbled into my old Winjet headlights. The driver side was damaged by a bad hail storm so insurance paid for a whole new set. I tossed the box in the attic and figured one day I'll find a use for them. After gazing at the design of how the lenses attached I figured it may be possible to swap lenses from the stock lights over to the Winjet housing. I heated up the rubbery glue stuff with a heat gun and managed to separate the stock lens. Looks like it should work, but I need to find out what the gooey adhesive stuff is so I can put some fresh stuff in it's place for a proper seal. I welcome any suggestions. One big positive to switching lenses is that the stock ones aren't yellowed and as cheaply made. Hopefully this makes a mediocre product better?
Not much to show in pictures but it was a productive weekend. Probably going to tint the tail lights red with some of the VHT Nite-shades stuff this week. After market tails are more than I have in the budget right now, so a cheap can of tint seems like a good alternative. Brakes need bled so I'll enlist the help of my oldest child and see if we can get that done this week. Fender trim pieces need a fresh coat of black. I've got a duckbill spoiler in the attic I may install over the BRZ one. Basically just twiddling my thumbs while I wait for the kit to ship.
In reply to captainawesome :
From retrofitting, I believe you are looking for Butyl Rubber Glue.
In reply to AWSX1686 (Forum Supporter) :
That's exactly what I'm looking for! Thanks!
In reply to captainawesome :
Sure thing!
Thanks to AWSX1686 I was able to seal up the headlights with some butyl retrofit sealant. Since the lenses and housings were every so slightly different the fitment is a bit suspect. Pretty sure I got them sealed, and you can't tell they were swapped by looking at them. So I think that's a win. Forgot to snap pics though.
I also managed to red tint the tail lights. As mentioned previously I want to upgrade to aftermarket since I'm not a fan of the early 2000s Alteeza look. The Niteshades stuff from VHT is pretty spiffy as prep was minimal, dry time short, and best of all they look so much better. In fact I don't think I'll bother replacing them.
Before:
During:
After:
The tail lights look a whole lot better. I've used the Night Shades red tint a few times. It's easy to use and it comes out nice. It tends to fade over time, though. So keep an eye on it.
In reply to JeremyJ :
I've read that fade can happen. Not sure if it's easy to strip back the old and respray as I really don't want to darken it by adding any more layers. I have seen folks clear coat it, but haven't put much effort into research. I figure the car will spend most of it's time garaged so I may not see the issue crop up for quite a while.
I like the red taillights. My NB miata came with similar and it just flows better.
It's been slow around here just waiting for my kit to arrive. I've bought multiple cars recently to fill my time. Gotta quit doing that. We've been told orders started shipping this week, and they have finally released the installation instructions. Looks super straight forward with a couple of tasks to sort before bolting it all in place. Hammering a few spots here and there. Issues with the valve cover breather needs to be addressed. Honestly just little stuff but while we wait it makes sense to just get them done so I can get to shredding quicker.
Last night I addressed the valve cover vent clearance. Since the valve cover is super close to the firewall every millimeter of space is needed. Kpower is peddling a valve cover with a fancy vent welded on top, but I'm not looking to spend that much for it. The stock nipple can be removed with pliers with some effort. Then I bought a 90 degree 3/4x3/4 pex elbow and filed the grooves off one side. This made a nice slip fit and once I confirm what position it should stay in, I'll RTV it in for good.
Oh, almost forgot. I got a good deal on some Koni single adjustables with TRD springs. And a deal on some RCE yellow springs. And a screaming deal on a 4.3 ratio diff too. Need to get those installed over the weekend along with the other tasks listed in the instructions. I'm not sure what springs I'll go with as I have three options now. TRD, RCE, or Swifts. It's nice to have options though.
Just a quick note for those curious and following along. There are a couple coolant hose splices using GATES 23383 and GATES 22037 that do not ship with the kit. Unfortunately the kit requires a k20 starter, not the k24 so you'll need a DENSO 2800367. You'll also want to put in the updated throwout bearing SU003-07349 as Exedy clutch kits are still shipping with the older outdated version with low quality grease. These are known for sometimes catastrophic failure. And if you are looking for WAY better clutch pedal feel, upgrade to a 3/4 bore slave cylinder. I'm using CENTRIC 13847005 but that part fits quite a few Subarus, and I have used the cheapo Autozone version on my previous FRS as well.
Another couple things worth mentioning. From what has been discussed so far they have not ran an oil cooler for the hours of track abuse on their test car. I don't know what temps they have been running at, but it would be awesome to avoid extra plumbing and expense for track work. The instructions say you will need to start filling oil with 6.5 quarts so oil capacity is up 2 quarts with their fancy oil pan compared to stock. It's also worth noting their test car had hood vents so heat extraction could be a contributing factor?
For exhaust they suggest running a 3" system from their header rearward. I currently have zero plans to submit that kinda noise to my ears so will be using the stock mid pipe back. There's a handful of adapters that neck a 3" to stock and 1320 is probably the best bargain at $34.95 shipped. 1320-SUB-3inchDP-OEM-EXH is the part number.
I suggest an oil cooler. The K24A2 in my Civic can see oil temps of 250+ on track in the summer even with a decent size cooler. I also had to go with a big radiator to keep it cool enough.
I fully support your plans to utilize as much of the stock exhaust as possible. My 8th gen Si came to me with the HFP exhaust and that's right at the limit for me. Any power gains I would see from modifying the exhaust is not worth all the downsides.
In reply to Sonic :
I'm definitely going to keep an eye on temps but if I can avoid the complexity of a cooler I'll be happy.
In reply to clutchsmoke :
I'd like to see what the power difference actually is but from what I've read maybe 10hp or so? I can live with that. Can't live with an uncorked K24 noise wise though.
captainawesome said:J...
For exhaust they suggest running a 3" system from their header rearward. I currently have zero plans to submit that kinda noise to my ears so will be using the stock mid pipe back. There's a handful of adapters that neck a 3" to stock and 1320 is probably the best bargain at $34.95 shipped. 1320-SUB-3inchDP-OEM-EXH is the part number.
I'm very excited about your build and appreciate you sharing all the details with us.
It is my understanding that N/A k's like large exhaust.
The 300hp build on motoiq lost 43 hp with a cat install: MOTO IQ The dyno run is on page 7.
The stock acura exhaust on my k24 is surprisingly large diameter at the downpipe and cat, its no 3" and it necks down after but I also don't have 300 hp.
In reply to daytonaer :
Interesting that they don't show what converter they used, or where they put it in relation to the collector. No testing shown other than the two dyno runs.
Then again, the number of typographical errors in the article made it painful to read. Acceptable for some forum post somewhere, but when a professional article is rendered that haphazardly, it brings everything else into question.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
From the comments, Magnaflow P/N 59959. It does seem sort of suspicious that it lost over 10% of the power it was making just due to a cat, I'd love to see more experimentation with placement and size to know what's going on there.
Oh also, I'd love to see back to back weights of the K series and the FA when you have them both fully kitted out with intake/exhaust/mounts/adapters.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
From as small as the core is in that converter, I can see it being a huge restriction. It's basically a 2" cat with 3" inlets and outlets.
iPD did the same thing on their "performance" downpipe for my car. The converter is so much smaller that it made a noticable power loss compared to the OE downpipe.
In reply to daytonaer :
I haven't read through the article yet, but after reviewing the Kpower installation instructions again there won't be any cats in this system. It replaces the header and front pipe as well which was the last cat in the system. I'm hoping the stock muffler and resonator helps quiet it some. Otherwise I might just go ahead and put a 3" system on with a couple resonators to help with the rasp. There's got to be a way to keep flow AND reduce noise that doesn't break the bank.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
I weighed the car before the swap because I wanted to see the true difference. The only thing changed between then and now is a heavier stock muffler, the 4.30 diff, and the Koni dampers. I weighed the mufflers between swapping them so I could factor that in with final weight. Pretty sure it was a 10 pound difference? I believe there isn't going to be much difference for the other parts swap though. Unfortunately my car started as an automatic so it's basically apples to grapefruits anyway. And now I'm trying to remember if the weight I took was before putting my aftermarket wheels on.... dang. Need to look back at some data I wrote down and see.
With that said, I'm hoping Kpower aren't fudging weight numbers the same way. If they weighed the k swapped car and compared it to published stock twin numbers it's not really a good comparison. The test car had lighter wheels, suspension, etc. other than just exhaust and I don't think they were comparing before and after weights. The only way to truly know is the same car, fa20 with catless lightweight exhaust, and then the rest of the car exact same with the kswap.
Managed to swap to the 4.30 diff and rear suspension Monday night. Front suspension will be done tonight I think along with the short list of hammering and fettling mentioned in the Kpower instructions. Got in late last night and threw on this cheapo brake master cylinder brace from ebay. For $28 shipped it's quite the bargain.
Great news and some bad news.
Tomorrow I should be receiving 5 boxes of goodies from K Power.
Unfortunately my steel flywheel won't be shipping out for another 2-3 weeks.
I'm happy to get almost everything in and look it all over but stinks that other than some test fitting the engine won't be staying in the bay until the flywheel comes in.
In somewhat better news I scored some barely used Pilot Sport 4s for $350. So that is neat. Pics tomorrow hopefully.
Well I got 4 out of 5 boxes. The 5th being only a driveshaft so at least I got a chance to unpack most the goodies. Quality overall is excellent. Like mentioned before I still am waiting on the flywheel so not a ton to do other than prep the chassis based on the instructions given. I spent some time with the wiring, hammering, cutting, etc. and when the boxes arrived I put the tools down.
After a half hour of unboxing and organizing I started checking oil pan clearance. There was a small area of flange by the A/c compressor that was keeping the pan from seating. A quick file and sand took care of that. Coolant neck on the back of the head installed. Blanking plug in the thermostat housing installed. New oil pressure sensor provided with the kit installed. Engine mount brackets installed. Also new belt, as the one I had was WAY too tight. I think I know why the one I ordered was too short, but it's speculation and really not that important. Unfortunately I'm battling a serious case of tennis elbow, so trying to take it easy. This weekend I plan to install the Haltech and jumper board for the ECM. There's a chance I may attach the trans to the engine for a test fit, but not sure why I would other than just seeing it in the bay.
Haltech? So not running the Honda ECU? Between that (so no OBD2?) and no cats, how are you going to get this thing through emissions so you can drive it on the street?
In reply to docwyte :
Haltech Elite 1500 to run the canbus factory goods. No inspections or emissions in Arkansas so I don't have to worry about that like others do.
You'll need to log in to post.
