So I've spent a large amount of hours pouring over the wiring diagrams to see what I lack with the automatic harness. From what I can tell the only things I'll need to worry about are the two clutch switches, neutral switch, and back up light. That's assuming removing the automatic switches and modules don't give me any fits, but for now one bite at a time.
So things are beginning to come together. I have been waiting on the sale of my turbo Miata to inject some fundage into this whole K swap endeavor. Last night I drug that Miata 2 hours away from home to meet a kid in Tulsa. He bought the car like anticipated, but I didn't want to come back with an empty trailer. So I had a deal lined out to pick up my donor car after the transaction had concluded.
It's a 2006 Acura TSX with 177k miles on it, and it's a piece of poopy. No hood, bumper, missing a headlight, cat/exhaust, etc. but it runs and is somewhat drivable. Also clean title. I bought this car specifically because it's the higher power version of the k24a2 whereas the JDM versions are lower from what I understand. I also thought it would be nice to start with a car that's running and doing engine stuff BEFORE I start tossing it into the FRS. It seems you may not get some accessories with some of the importers, and they refuse to take photos of the actual engine you are buying. Just a stock set of photos? How hard is it to just take a few pics? Anyway, I'll probably spend some time with the power washer this weekend cleaning it up, checking compression, and general health before pulling. As of Monday morning I'll be out of pocket for a full week on vacation so there won't be much in the way of progress in the meantime. At least I can still order parts!
Oh, and when I got back in late last night I was greeted with my non skanky newish steering wheel.
So when I picked up the Acura TSX the other day, the guy I bought it from said he robbed a couple good coils off the car for a customers. It ran pretty terrible, as if it was misfiring so I took his word for it. There are a few used sets of cheap coils on ebay, but I'm impatient and truth be told the local U Pull It charges less. I checked inventory and found a handful of possible donors. Before heading out I pulled the plugs and coils to see if they appear to be firing. From what I could see only two of the coils have been messed with and only one of the plugs smelled of unburned gas.
8 am this morning I was ready to pull some coil packs at the yard, and after assessing 8 of them I settled on 5 Denso branded ones. Four came from the same car that appeared to only have been brought in from a collision so that seemed the best route. On the way home I picked up some new NGK Iridium plugs in prep for some internal explodies. The fact that 4 spark plugs cost me $60 and the 5 coil packs were only $45 is a bit unnerving, but whatevs. After rigging up my spare lawnmower battery I wiggled the key and waited for the worst. What I got was a much better running car, and if not for a missing rear cat/o2 sensor it would have been pretty quiet. The steering rack is leaking ALL of it's fluid. The airbag light is probably illuminated due to missing bumper stuff or half the dash switches.
Suffice to say I think this engine is going to work. I haven't tested compression yet, but the engine seems healthy. Probably should just to cover my bases.
Finally figured out how to pull up the odometer reading on the TSX. Seems silly I've just now considered doing that, but wishing I put more thought into it before purchasing. Looks to be almost 100k miles over what the ad stated. It's my fault for not doing my due diligence, so I won't be going nuclear on the previous owner. I'm kinda surprised to see the mileage this high.
So with the new amount of road miles being in question a compression test is highest priority. I tried to buy one local at the Oreilly's but they only had a rental. In a hurry I thought that would be fine. Had a bit of a scare on my first tests. The gauge wouldn't hold pressure on the first two cylinders but found the shrader valve wasn't seated all the way. Whewww! The numbers were initially jumping above 200 on number 1 but the lawnmower battery isn't really up to the power drain. By the time I fixed the leaky valve I tested with a lower battery and these are the results.
1 - 195
2 - 200
3 - 195
4 - 195
This was with the engine warm, throttle open, and dry cylinders. I doubt I'll mess with a wet test as they are so close in psi and I think with a larger battery the numbers would be up a bit more. So all in all I'm happy with the results. I have no clue if this engine is original to the chassis or not, but the block numbers match the year of the car and the head is a RBB3. All signs point to it being what should be there. I also see a bunch of white paint on most of the electrical connectors. Don't know if that's from a shop or factory but will look into that further.
And one last thing. I found a note in the skanky TSX. Pretty sure it's instructions for some LSD or could just be a silly note. Considering the state of the car, stickers on the rear window, and weed smell I'll stick with the LSD assumption.
In my usual project haste I will dig right in and fail to clean all the crud off. No grimey smegma, cosmoline, and general scuzzlebutt here this time though. FRS engine bay has been powerwashed and now the TSX had it's turn. Nothing fancy, just a cleanish work surface to get started. This will be my last update for about a week as far as work goes. When I get back into it, I'll be pulling both engine/trans as well as listing some stuff for sale. Recoup some fundage would be nice, but more than anything I need space to do work. Hoping someone will want the TSX roller so I don't have the HOA breathing down my neck.
I'm back at it! Kinda hard to get back into things when I got back from vacation. Mainly the heat, but mostly lost the momentum I had right before I left town. Only way to fix that is just do something. What started out as a plan to spend 5 minutes moving cars around and drain fluids turned into the whole topside being ready to pull. That was Thursday last week. Friday night I just wanted to get the axles removed but ended up pulling the whole enchilada and then somewhat cleaned my mess.
I then spent Saturday morning fixing the wiring plug for my trailer and bolting in a cheap HF 2500 pound winch with the wireless remote.
Family and life took over the rest of my Saturday so the goal for Sunday morning was to load the TSX and park it at my storage until I could find a buyer for it or time to take to the scrap yard. LOVE the winch on the trailer. Worth every penny. Also helps if you don't leave the e-brake on when pulling up the ramps. Doh!
Then I spent the afternoon power washing the k24 and the transmission. One of the most useful tools I've bought in the past couple years is the power washer. Underrated piece of machinery I think.
The timing and valve cover are stained, but since both will be painted that's no biggie. All the shmutz is off, an we wait for parts.
Trans was pretty gross.
TSX roller/shell sold tonight for $300. Last night I sold the stock wheels, spare exhaust, and stock intake for another $400 to my buddy. He wants the knocking engine too, just haven't settled on a price yet. The airbag from the grimy steering wheel has been listed and hopefully will cover the cost of the nicer steering wheel I bought. I think I'll struggle to sell the auto trans, but I guess we will see what happens.
Hoping to start pulling the fa20 and trans this week. Then it's on to the third pedal assembly and wiring clutch switches. Kpower says preorders start any day now. I've kept some cash reserves to pull the trigger on the whole enchilada if the price is right. If not I think there's a few things I'll do myself to save some money and give me something to do.
For those interested in the financial side of how all this shakes out I've been keeping track of purchases. The spare wheels I had obviously aren't factored into this project so keep that in mind.
CAR $5,000.00
TRANSPORT $900.00
ABS PUMP/PEDAL ASSY $147.31
MT DRIVESHAFT $100.79
TRANSMISSION $241.45
SHIFTER ASSEMBLY $71.18
SHIFTER BOOT $27.38
CLUTCH MASTER $38.33
MISC BODY PARTS/STUFF $203.16
STEERING WHEEL $200.00
TSX DONOR $1,100.00
OIL PUMP $251.85
50* TIMING GEAR $60.23
FRS PARTS SOLD -$400.00
TSX ROLLER -$300.00
CURRENT TOTAL $7,641.68
There's a few items I've already purchased that may not make it's way onto the car.
The kit from Kpower is supposed to have a 1 piece driveshaft, but depending on cost I may just shorten the stock two piece I bought for $125 from a local shop.
The clutch stuff and transmission adapter I'm still on the fence about, so I may still piece together my own hodge podge of stuff.
I've seen pics of the shifter mount they are making, and it's going to be hard mounted to the trans tunnel from what I can tell. I planned to just cut the shifter assembly and have my aluminum welder guy glue it back together. I think that's the best plan, as a rigid mounted shifter isn't really what I want in a street/track car with stock trans and engine mounts.
There's a big list of stuff still needed. If I find a good deal here and there I'll pounce, otherwise I'm holding out for Kpower pricing structure to be released.
I've been following your old frisbee thread and I'm interested to see where this one goes. I've been thinking about buying one of the twins, but the prices on nice ones seem a bit inflated these days (as is everything), and there also seem to be quite a few for sale with bad motors. The whole valve spring recall a few years ago also gave me reason to pause. The biggest letdown when I test drove a BRZ a few years ago is that it didn't feel like it wanted to rev. My old EP3 civic loved to rev...but didn't have kick in the pants that a K24 or K20A2 offered. FRS + K24 sounds fun.
In reply to Hoondavan :
Prices have certainly been climbing which helped when it came time to sell v 1.o. This swap is a fairly economical choice if you can get a roller for low scratch I think. Like every project though, starting with the best example you can afford will save tons of money. I probably overpaid a little for mine, but I think with some fettling the issues I have found can be sorted.
After exhaust and tune the fa20 isn't completely terrible, but it would have been nice to have a nice revving engine to start with.
Saturday I got a chance to co-drive my buddy's 19 ZL1 Camaro at the local SCCA autocross. What a frickin car! I managed to beat him out by a tiny margin, which was neat. First place in A street plus 5th place in PAX. The car is a bit outside my pay range but so cool. Hopefully I'll get this FRS out there soon enough for him to get a chance to co-drive my jalopy.
Anyway, Sunday I got back into the swap. Sort of. It's just another Groundhog day as all I accomplished was pulling the fa20 and auto trans. Draining fluids. Unbolting parts. Some more power washing. You get the gist. The buddy that bought the other parts still wanted the fa20 for $400 so I got that dropped off at his shop. Going to list the auto trans real cheap and hope it gets out of my way soon. Aftermarket muffler needs listed as well.
I've ordered most of my parts for the k24 so I can start to crack it open. After pulling the injector rail I see some crud so I'd like to get them cleaned and flow matched. Or find a new set that's reasonably priced. There's a ton of "refurbished" ones on ebay but the reviews look to be so mixed I'd rather just avoid that possible problem.
I bailed on my plan to hack up the automatic wiring harness. A quick glimpse of the where the harness needs said hackery, revealed I've gotta remove the dash. I figured a few hundred dollars in factory harnesses that just click in place made the most sense. There's been a few nightmares of going through the trouble to wire in stuff, bolt in engine and trans, then the key just goes CLICK. Hours of troubleshooting later I find my wiring isn't so good and I hate life. That's what I envisioned at least.
So last night I pulled all of the dash. The manual dash harness should roll in from UPS shortly, and the engine bay harness tomorrow. This weekend I want to get the wiring wrapped up, dash back together, and maybe start prepping the k24 with new parts. Kpower will be releasing their kit ANY minute now, so I want to be ready when parts hit my doorstep.
I made good use of the backseat and trunk for holding most of the parts.
The weekend didn't go quite as planned. Those wiring harnesses I was super excited about? Well. They aren't the right ones. Dang. I've found another dash harness that has the right wires for climate control but struggling to find one for the engine bay. Luckily I can just relist what I've already purchased on ebay but that's not exactly how I hoped things would play out. Oh well.
So instead I spent more time cleaning hardware and prepping stuff for paint on the k24. WAY too much time with fiddly stuff, but I got a lot done and things look good. I painted the valve cover a hammered gold and the timing cover a cast aluminum color. I'm really happy with the looks, hopefully it doesn't look too terrible in the engine bay though. Wrinkle yellow was another planned option, but I figured I would try this first. Since I have electric power steering I can delete that with an EP3 idler pulley bracket. New pulley on the way for the idler, new tensioner assembly, new water pump installed, new thermostat neck and housing as well.
But wait, there's more! I trimmed and installed the RSX Type S oil pump which helps raise my RPM ceiling to around 8500. Yeehaw! Windage tray installed. 50 degree cam gear installed which is good for more grunt throughout the power curve. Heck yeah. New timing chain tensioner. I'm waiting on a couple seals and a bolt, then it's ready for game time. Sort of. I need the Kpower oil pan. Anyway, I should have a fully prepped k24 by the end of the week.
Hopefully I can track down an engine bay harness soon. If not I'll go ahead and bolt in the abs pump and 3 pedal assembly. Then it's just tinkering on this or that until the kit is released. COME ON KPOWER!
I was baffled by the difference in wiring harnesses between the FR-S and BRZ. I wanted to swap a BRZ hvac into my FR-S. I think they look cooler. The 86 forums haven't real come up with a consensus of what and how.
When a P71 has the ability to accept a giant road pillow seat from a Town Car using the same harness, I find Subaru's approach unacceptable.
In reply to Appleseed :
Agreed. I mean it seems silly to have such VAST differences between the two. It's the whole hvac system, and you basically just need a different car to do it. The whole assembly is different. Like completely different. It's kinda bonkers. I should have done a little more research before buying. I guess sometimes we all need a good ole fashion lesson in ignorance. Hopefully tracking down the right engine bay harness doesn't prove to be difficult or hold up the whole process.
I'd say if the harness seller can't provide a VIN from the donor car , insist on a heavy discount, or pass. Too many wamhat ifs.
In reply to Appleseed :
Yeah that's where I'm at now. No older cars parting out the engine bay harness right now. I've snatched up the proper dash harness, so it's a waiting game to see what will work. It doesn't help the parts fiche for Toyota is terrible for all the usual parts house sites. I need to find something easier to locate part numbers from with actual diagrams.
Just saw an ad on the FB...looks like K Power's conversion kit is now live.
In reply to Hoondavan :
Yup. I've been adding and subtracting for the last two hours deciding how I want to purchase. I'm about $1k shy of the whole kit cash wise and not looking to dig a hole. I'll make my decision by end of day I think.
GULP!
I bought the complete Kpower kit.
After waffling about for a while I decided to pay a little more for the finer details. I said I was going to try to do a lot of this stuff on my own, but when you price half the stuff out it's really not much cheaper to do it at the level Kpower has built the kit to or more. The trans adapter and flywheel are cheaper than all other options on the market but also use the stock throwout bearing, fork, clutch disc, pressure plate, slave cylinder, etc. like I wanted. Furthermore they have an option of lightweight aluminum or steel flywheel which was nice because I wanted the steel. The engine and trans mounts look legit using OEM Impreza engine rubber isolators and stock trans mount with Whiteline bushing insert. The header looks pretty sharp even though I'll be necking the connection from 3" down to 2.25 or so for the stock front pipe. The driveshaft I wish I could have just done locally but you couldn't omit it from the complete kit. The shifter setup looks nice, maybe a little more solid mounted than I would prefer, but looking at how short the linkage is, I don't think I could have shortened the stock carrier properly. The oil pan is cheaper than anything else on the market, better made, oil drain in stock undertray position, AND clears the A/c compressor which I believe others have failed to do. Speaking of A/c, I added in the lines in as well. If I didn't order now, who knows how long I would put that off. The intake filter and piping are only included in a couple of the kit options it seems, not on it's own. Easy to make myself, but not free and also not dyno tuned for optimum performance with the rest of the package. The ECU kit only notates a base tune with the complete kit unlike the others, so that may be an added bonus. Harness looks excellent and they have made sure the Haltech stuff talks nice with all the CANBUS stuffs. The fuel rail probably could have been sorted in the garage but I saw the stock rail would have clearance problems with the firewall. That would have required some butchery or aftermarket parts to fix regardless.
All in all I've purchased some stuff I won't need for the swap due to lack of patience. I plan to list all of that tonight when I get home, as well as stuff I just haven't listed that I've taken off the car. The proceeds from that will pay for me to order the stuff I don't have. I need a new clutch kit if the used one I have doesn't look as good as I remember. For sure newer updated throwout bearing. Grimspeed sells a nice 3" exhaust reducer for $40 so I can connect to the front pipe. I'm still on the hunt for an engine bay harness but since the kit won't ship for a while I have time to source one.
Wow. That looks like quite the kit. This will be a fun swap. The K series is like the new LS.
All nice and purrty now. Not sure how well the valve cover paint is going to hold up, so we shall see. Oil pan will be swapped when I get the kit in, but will be waiting on the kit to ship for a bit. I found another engine bay harness that should get shipped out on Wednesday, so I can at least get that part of the process finished up and interior back together. Now that I get to twiddle thumbs it's time to start selling off parts or at least put effort into cleaning them up and trying to get top dollar. My least favorite part. Tire kickers and shipping quotes.
Almost forgot, looks like the starter and alternator are newer reman units that came with the TSX. Score?
Oh wow. I looked up the price and about swallowed my face when I saw it. It does look like a great kit and should make pretty short work of the swap though...I think you did the right thing here because it's as close to a direct swap kit as you can find on the market. Cool project.
In reply to Mezzanine :
Yep. It was a tough decision, but I went in knowing that my budget was going to be big. A whole NA FM turbo Miata with ALL of the good stuff paid for just the kit. Probably not a wise investment, but I think it will pay off over the years in grins.
In reply to captainawesome :
It hurts a little to pay someone for something you tell yourself you can do yourself... but sometimes you just wanna drive your car instead of scratch your head for months on end.
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