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d.i.y. k24a2 swap thread

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diy k24a2 swap
284K views 866 replies 142 participants last post by  aramos053105 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I went from a k20a3 to a k24a2, with a base rsx retaining the transmission from the base. pics are in no particular order

I just finished mine a week ago, and I think a thread with experiences would be of great benefit to others. here's some parts you will need to make the swap easier:

K-PRO K-PRO K-PRO K-PRO IF YOU DO HAVE K-PRO STOP AND DO NOT ATTEMPT THE SWAP UNTIL YOU GET THE DAMN K-PRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cr-v or element passenger side front cover mount
innovative motor mounts 60a, full set (recommended)
upgraded clutch (recommended)
RBC (uncut) or k24 intake manifold (this is to save time and effort from tapping the head if you use a k20 manifold)
helms manual for the rsx
type s throttle body (complete with sensors)
thermal intake manifold gasket (k24)
karcepts or blox adapter
type s intake and air filter of your choice, I went with an injen cai
upper tsx radiator hose ( this is where I got mine


I also recommend since you will have the motor out, replacing the serpentine belt, and all the radiator hoses. don't buy the damn Samco hoses as I did. you will have to trim the lower hose to fit properly, and the upper one will bend too much and will be pretty much useless.



parts you will have to re-use:
power steering pump
alternator
thermostat housing
crank sensor
harness
kpro (if you don't have this, stop, do not go any further, and do not attempt the swap until you get it)
header or exhaust manifold
black metal vapour and vacuum piping that ran from the side of the cylinder head



it's best to read the damn helms first, they have a step-by-step process on pulling the motor, which I wish I would have read first.


parts or options you will not be able to use after the swap:
the a/c low press hose won't clear properly the RBC. even if it does, one hard-ass launch and the manifold will crush the fitting on the hose and you can kiss it goodbye. however, here is a solution:
http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=645927

also, I haven't attempted to reconnect the cruise control throttle cable

put the car on jack stands, preferable on all four corners. the swap is pretty easy, basically, you disconnect the battery, then the harness from the ECU, pull the harness out of the firewall, disconnect the charge harness and the harness from the radiator, and disconnect the a/c lines and power steering lines. if you disconnect the a/c and power steering, get ready for one hell of a mess with oil. disconnect the shifting cables, and the slave cylinder (unbolt the bracket, don't disconnect the lines, but do disconnect the line brackets from the tranny, and move the assembly out of the way. also, disconnect the throttle cables. remove cv joints.



raise the car, get under-drain the radiator and the engine. once it's all done, disconnect the radiator hoses and the vacuum lines leading to the master cylinder. also, disconnect the hoses going into the heater core. disconnect the fuel rail. even with the radiator drain coolant will be everywhere, keep your dogs and other pets the hell away. disconnect the header too while you under the car, it's best if you simply remove it altogether.


once you have the motor disconnected completely, connect the hoist hookups on the tranny. now your gonna have to be creative about the pass side mount. we used a ratchet strap and had it wrap around the mounting ear (coming from the front cover mount to the body cup mount). once you get tension on the hoist, cherry picker what have you, lift. your car should come off the jacks. as long as you have the emergency brake on, nothing should happen but the front lifts. this is just to check and make sure you have the hoist on correctly. once you verify this, lower the hoist, but keep light tension on the hoist. make sure the car is still sitting on the jack stands, and it's safe.

get under the car, and using your trusty 17mm, unbolt the rear and front mounts by loosening and pulling out the big ass bolt that goes through them. come back up from the car, and on the tranny mount, we found no other way to deal with it other than unbolting the entire mess, retaining plate and the whole mount. then on the pass side, unbolt the ear from the body cup mount. once you have checked and double-checked that everything is disconnected, have a friend lift the hoist while you guide the motor out. it will try to grab everything on its way out. lift the engine and move it to a safe and clean work area.

on the k20 engine:
remove all the pumps and alternator.
remove tranny from the engine
disconnect the entire harness from the motor
unbolt and gently pry out the crank sensor (i had to, you may not)



on the k24a2 engine:
install all the pumps and alternator
install clutch
install the k20 thermostat housing, but reuse the black metal tubing from the k24, as well as the hoses from the k24 thermostat housing.
install tranny
install intake manifold
install crank sensor
install throttle body and everything else (note! if using the k20a3 harness, you will have to re-wire the tips. it's very easy to do. if the wires go into the harness like this ----->123, you will rewire it like this ----->321. you simply reverse the outside wires. you may also have to extend the wires.
you may also have to extend the wires to the ECT sensor.
install black piping for vacuum and evac on the side of the cylinder head as before, reconnect all vacuum lines from manifold and throttle body


once you have everything wired up and ready to go, connect the engine and tranny the same way you did the other engine, lift with a hoist, and gently lower into the bay. during this process, we opted to install the header with the engine about 75% of the way into the engine bay. It's a Lil tricky, but it made it easier for it to clear the sway bar. i knew it was gonna be a pain in the ass to install with the motor all the way in.


continue to lower the engine in, and while it's still on the hoist, go under and begin to rebolt the engine mounts. you may have to have a friend raise and lower the motor while you attempt to reboot it, because its a Lil tricky, but nothing serious.

once you have the engine bolted in place, reconnect everything. you will have to trim the lower radiator hose to get it to fit properly. make sure you use the TSX upper radiator hose to get it to fit properly. before installing the upper radiator hose, pour coolant directly into the fitting for the upper radiator hose on the engine itself, if you don't do this, the motor WILL overheat. install your intake pipe and filter, if you're going from a k20a3 to k24a2 you will have to extend the wires to the IAT sensor.


once you have verified everything is connected, and I do mean everything, including the damn fuel rail. if you don't reconnect it and try to do the following step, prepare for a bath in fuel. get into the car and boot up k manager on your laptop. this is important, I fucked this up and got a load of errors from using the wrong cal and couldn't understand why. if you using a k24a2 from a 04-05 TSX, do yourself a favour, get the latest update of the manager and click on open, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the call list, and low and behold, 04-05 TSX stock. load that call up. go through it real quick, and uncheck the following boxes:
disable idle valve (idle tab)
countershaft driven speed sensor (if you don't uncheck this box you will never hit vtec) (misc tab)

check the following bullet:
multiplexer-normal operation (misc tab)

also, make sure you go into the gear comp tab and select the proper transmission


REFILL ALL FLUIDS!!!!

once everything is loaded up to the ECU and you have triple quadruple verified everything is connected properly..........crank that fucking motor


chances are it will not turn over immediately but once it does, if that throttle body was used and hasn't been used in a while, prepare for some mean damn idle surge. if you leave the motor running while checking the k manager for errors, eventually it will stop surging. you might have to turn off the motor after it has run for a while before it does stop but it will unless the idle air valve is really dirty.

continue to check for leaks and anything else that could cause problems. your gonna want to run the motor with the radiator cap off for a while until it burps out the air pocket it most likely got from not having any coolant in it.

if I forgot something I will chime back in and update

people, i gotta thank:
george Harrel for helping with the swap
mike Beghtol for offering up his never-ending knowledge and helping me get the 4-day pass to get the time off to do the swap
Jared for the great deal on the motor
Type-spas for the cr-v bracket and for the info and insight
NxSpeedJunkieNx
Chris dye
HrtMyHnDa for the great deals on some of the parts that went into the swap
Erik Loza for always answering my questions and pointing out how easily i overlook everything without saying a word
messiah for remote tuning the k20a3 I had and also helping with this motor
www.horsepowerfreaks.com my sponsors
www.milteknik.com for all the support and motivation
and last but certainly not least,
www.clubrsx.com

if I forgot someone, my bad, I will fix it.


my parts list:
2005 tsx engine
aem uego
sport oil temp and press gauges
GReddy tic 70mm exhaust (type s)
inn cai for type s
innovative motor mounts 60a, full set
competition clutch stage 2 clutch
competition clutch lightweight flywheel
AEM fuel rail (not yet installed)
dc sports race header (type s)
k20a3 harness
base rsx transmission
Samco lower radiator hose (k20)
gates upper tsx radiator hose
cr-v front cover bracket
Integra type r valve cover


other notes
I changed the oil 3 times on this motor, the first oil change was to get the engine running properly, then I changed the oil and drove it for a week, and then changed it again. I did this because this motor hasn't run in a while, and when we drained the oil it came out cappuccino. the motor runs fine, so basically, I figure the oil looked like shit because it had been out in the open around some decent moisture. I will be changing the spark plugs once I get the street tune done.
also- running the cal that comes with the k manager update will make the motor run pig rich on w.o.t. . I have seen afr's in the low 11's when I stomp on it, and they slowly climb to the 12s but they don't move from there.




UPDATE as of November this combination has been tuned by mike of elite engine tuning. he came highly recommended to me by messiah and has been doing absolute magic with my swap. his email is in my sig. he has good prices and a shit ton of experience. I highly recommend him myself. he has excellent customer service skills as well. hit him up!
 
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#3 ·
i need to TUNE!!! im dumping fuel like crazy :(

fuck yeah i love it

whats weird is how i dont feel the pull like i did from the k20a3, but i watch the speedo climb quickly. and vtec, omg, sweet sexy vtec.

but i seriously need to get to belgium to do a dyno tune, i gotta make better use of the 93 octane we have here. not to mention im rationed gas, so once i use up my shitty little 400 liters, i have to pay out of pocket in euros.

hopefully i didnt forget anything.
 
#9 ·
um

i got the motor for 2k
shipping came out to 1500,
the rest of it i cant remember, i can only help you out with brand new prices, becuase some of the stuff i got was used and some was seriously discounted

the exhuast was discounted, i bought it from my sponsor
the rbc was used as well as the blox adapter and throttle body
the intake was used
the clutch and flywheel i bought here while they had that sale
the mounts same person as the rbc but they are brand new
the kpro i already had

im thinking about 5k, maybe a lil more.
 
#18 ·
nice, i came from base to k24a2 too. tremendous difference. no more almost getting creamed trying to merge on to the highway. get urself a ssr header. i highly recommend it if u have the extra green to shell out for it. I'm curious to see if u got the custom ac line? how did u fix that problem?
 
#25 ·
i have a vid of my first kill, a type s, but it wasnt properly staged. i asked him if he wanted to go, he said yes, i punched it and he did too, he hit vtec and i was still pulling on him, then i hit vtec and he was no longer by my side, then he brakes and makes a turn


http://www.militarytuners.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=7621
 
#27 ·
wessiah has been sending me kals that he has built off the 04-05 tsx stock kal included with the new k-manager update. i gotta tell you the motor has come alive with this guys abilities. we have been doing street tune style shit, im not able to get to a dyno just yet. the only guy in germany that knows his way around k-manager and vtc angles and shit is all the way in belgium (where daddys from) so until i have like 500 euros just for the tune and dyno time, street tuning is the best way to go. he did mess with the vtc angles and the motor pulls much harded in the low-mid range, and im sure the top end has also benefitted.

1st gear is almost completely useless, you put just a lil too much pedal pressure and you spin the tires, if you punch it from a roll you spin the tires, and anything more than 30% tps and you fly through 1st like the car was on a lift or something. this motor swap was well worth it.

i could have gone boost, but it would have been the same as giving a one legged marathon runner steroids. he would get faster but still wouldnt go very far.


also i attained a new top speed of 150, from 135 with the k20a3. it feels like it could go further but i chickened out.
 
#29 ·
i want to get some different gearing so i can get better mileage and of course that probably means that with more power a higher top speed. granted i do have the autobahn at my disposal, late at night theres not many people on it. one day when i get my turbo i will do a speed run and have someone video it
 
#31 ·
yokohama advan s.4's, they are z rated and all season, but i could get some new ones, these are about to see their third winter


yeah the car actually didnt feel faster at all after the swap, but the speedo moved a hell of a lot faster. i was told it has to do with the flywheel being so much lighter than stock, weird thing is the rpms dont drop as fast when the clutch goes in as i had expected
 
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