K swap FRS : Freddy McShreddy part deux

Wow, so much success in this thread. Thanks for sharing!

In reply to captainawesome :

Nice; thanks for the input. Given that my "big" wheels are 17x8, and that street utility and some comfort remains a high priority, sounds like it could be a good match.

Got another pic of Sunday's parking lot party. I think by rolling the front fenders it may alleviate some clearance issues but raising the car is another inch would make a huge difference. I'm not looking forward to the process of leveling it all out and then realigning everything but I've got another SCCA event on the 10th. I need to try and fix it before then.

It was a busy weekend trying to get my Audi flywheel install finished up but managed to pepper in some FRS stuff too.

Friday afternoon my ID1050x injectors showed up. I then realized I need harness adapters so quickly ordered a set of 4 that should do the trick and was really cheap. Like $13 cheap. The injectors are used from a guy that had them on his S2k. They were cleaned before being sold to me at what I believe to be a damn good price of $280 shipped. Normally they are $540 new and I couldn't find a decent set for sale that weren't way higher than that.

Saturday morning I picked up the start of my engine build. The guy that cleaned my injectors months ago had it on Fbook so I trusted that it should be a safe buy. The short block is a k24a8 from a newer Accord with 140k miles. The block is the same as my TSX. Rods and crank are not as beefy as the TSX ones, but they are plenty strong for what I'm planning. Definitely not a weak link. $200 cash money took it home. I'm trying to budget build.

Two k24s one FRS.

I spent an hour or so cleaning all the old Hondabond off sealing surfaces and checking to make sure I didn't buy a paperweight. It all looks good. Unfortunately the timing cover I also picked up from him was for a Z block so it doesn't line up for the A. It did have a spare crank sensor so not all funds were lost as I only paid $4 for that thrown into the deal.

After unloaded my booty, I changed the oil. I needed to do it before last autocross but the Audi is hogging up garage space. It was great weather out so I decided to just do it in the driveway.

5367 miles since K swapped.

I did have to top off the oil a couple times due to the slight leak and honestly I should have changed it sooner but what came out looked decent.

Now, I have spent countless hours last week up until today working out my engine build plans.

After a ton of reading I've come to the conclusion that 300hp builds mostly manage to do so in higher RPMs. That typically means forged pistons with added compression are needed. Since my car is more daily street with some autocross and track days sprinkled in, the forged pistons don't make much sense due to cold slap. I also want to make more power under the curve rather than push it uphill to 9k where I won't be that often.

So with that said I've got a plan that should get me really close to the numbers I want but also are more reasonable and daily friendly.

The $200 block will be sent off to a machine shop for boring to 87.5 and hot tanked. I'll be using Nippon Racing RSX hypereutectic 87.5 pistons with 12:2.1 compression which oddly enough are only $200 or less. Still deciding on what main and rod bearing brand to go with but possibly OEM. Crank will be checked and hopefully is good to go. Rods will remain stock as they are plenty strong for my targeted RPM and quite frankly this is a cheaper route. So that's the bottom end.

On top of all that will be a 4 Piston Pro TSX head. Lot's of cash for that, so gotta start saving pennies. Still undecided on cams but from my reading Toda A3 seem to be really nice to valvetrain and timing chain goodies. It also is frequently credited to a great mid range torque curve. Luke from 4 Piston did suggest the RR3 based on my questions but it can be a little harsh on components and since I'm trying to keep it more street that's a worry. A big worry however is not giving the engine enough cam to justify the new head flow or compression bump. My power window would ideally be from 4k-8200 but anywhere close to that would be great. So more research needs to be done.

For throttle body, I bought a used fa20 unit for $30 and plan to send it to Maxbore to do their magic on it. I believe the max they can bore it is 68mm which I think should help a bit up in size from the 64.5mm. I'll need to open up the Kpower adapter a little to match. This may be a little on the smaller side but we will see how it does on the dyno.

Exhaust is my biggest hurdle. Making more power is obviously the goal but not for the sake of my ears. I'm still running the stock catback which I think sounds great and is perfect for daily. I can't seem to find any 3" that looks like it has an oval muffler like the OEM. So I may only step it up to 2.5" with either a Magnaflow or JBA. Any suggestions on quiet larger catbacks would be appreciated.

Hopefully I'll have it together and ready to swap by fall or late summer? Winter makes more sense but I'm not a patient person once I get an idea in my head. I've never assembled an engine from scratch. I've pulled some stuff apart and reassembled but new crank and rod bearings are something I haven't messed with. I'm excited to give it a go and so far have already learned a bunch just from doing some reading. I know it's all in my wheelhouse. Hopefully I can get a baseline dyno of my current setup for both 91 and e85 but at the very least 91. This is going to be fun.

Ugggh. I got my A/c charged a few days ago and it's been working great. The weather dropped in temp quite a bit when it was filled but didn't think it would cause me issues. On my way home today is the first time I used it heavily and when I pulled into the garage it blew my HVAC fuse. I popped a new one in and it popped again as soon as the compressor turns on. Same happened a second time so I'm waiting for the car to cool off and see if it's only when really hot out or if there's something else wrong. No obvious wire issues from what I see so hopefully I just have an overfilled system or something.

captainawesome said:

For throttle body, I bought a used fa20 unit for $30 and plan to send it to Maxbore to do their magic on it. I believe the max they can bore it is 68mm which I think should help a bit up in size from the 64.5mm. I'll need to open up the Kpower adapter a little to match. This may be a little on the smaller side but we will see how it does on the dyno.

 

I thought the Kpower manifold would allow a Bosch throttle body to mount directly?  Those are available from FCP Euro for ~$150 and you can get all the way up to 84mm from OE Porsche applications.  A 74mm unit from a Cayenne Base would likely support the 300hp goal.

In reply to captainawesome :

Is the compressor the lowest point in the system? It might be hydrolocked. I recently learned about this thing that's supposed to help: https://www.4s.com/media/5370/4s_deslugger_2019_individual-pages.pdf

I think I added a little too much oil when I charged the A/C in my Corvette--I had read that it's fine to err on the side of too much because the worst it can do is displace a little volume that would otherwise be refrigerant. Well, not long after that, the compressor had a catastrophic clutch meltdown. I put one of these desluggers on it after I replaced the compressor as an insurance policy. Hasn't been driven much since then, but so far, so good.

In reply to sobe_death :

To my understanding it requires an adapter to fit not only the bolt pattern but the harness as well since it needs to adapt from the FRS TB connector to the Bosch.

Edit:

Double checked and the Kpower manifold bolt pattern is for a B series 74mm throttle body.

My reasoning for boring the fa20 TB is that I can get 68mm which should flow enough for the power and run me $180 including the core I bought. Or I could spend more and buy the adapter from Kpower for $109, $150-250 for a Bosch 72mm TB, and then a $45 harness to adapt the connector. I'm hoping the 68mm will be plenty as the current 64.5 doesn't appear to be choking any other versions I've seen with good power.

obsolete said:

In reply to captainawesome :

Is the compressor the lowest point in the system? It might be hydrolocked. I recently learned about this thing that's supposed to help: https://www.4s.com/media/5370/4s_deslugger_2019_individual-pages.pdf

I think I added a little too much oil when I charged the A/C in my Corvette--I had read that it's fine to err on the side of too much because the worst it can do is displace a little volume that would otherwise be refrigerant. Well, not long after that, the compressor had a catastrophic clutch meltdown. I put one of these desluggers on it after I replaced the compressor as an insurance policy. Hasn't been driven much since then, but so far, so good.

I'll have to look into that a bit, but it is definitely lower that the FRS compressor by a long shot. I had a shop charge the system as I haven't really the experience to mess with A/c stuff and I was in a hurry. I unplugged the compressor and it no longer blows the fuse. It looks like the vacuum side of the pump is leaking, in possibly 1-3 spots all around the same area of the new line provided with the kit. I dropped it off at the shop to take a look at it and hopefully they can diagnose it a bit further. Fingers crossed it's something simple and also on the low side of cost.

Shop sent me a couple pics. Looks like the vacuum line was leaking at the crimp. Lost over a 1/2 lb of the magic sauce this stuff runs on. Kpower is sending me a new line. I think from my discussion with the tech was as the refrigerant got lower the compressor was overworking and eventually caused it to start tripping the fuse?

Either way I got home this afternoon and wanted to see if it would still blow the fuse. First I wanted to test the compressor without the factory trigger. So I took a jumper wire direct from the battery and triggered the clutch while the car was running. The first time it seemed like it didn't really wanna trigger but a couple more times it went just fine. So I shut the car off, reconnected the factory harness, and then triggered it. No longer blowing fuses! I guess we will see once the new line comes in if everything is back to normal.

Second autocross of the season was yesterday and it was another good day out with friends. Another course design by myself with more positive feedback. I still don't know what I'm doing but it was easier to set up this time than the previous so it felt less stressful.

We ran second heat this time. I unfortunately was struggling to not smack the same cone in the first start of a slalom so that sucked. I also invited a buddy to co-drive my car as he's been down on his luck lately with his kart.

I never got a chance to look into what I assumed to be rubbing of the tires from the previous event but with the second driver ride along it was obvious I wasn't rubbing tire. It's actually the trans touching the tunnel, and again only in tight loaded left hand turns. If you recall I had this issue months ago when removing the poly trans insert that Kpower wants you to run. I then swapped in an STI mount which is all rubber but a little less NVH than the poly insert. Well I pulled the STI mount a while back to put the stock back in without the poly bushing. I guess I'll need to deal with the vibes until I can get more clearance in the tunnel. The noise from it touching makes it really hard to focus on the course as it just sounds like something is terribly wrong.

For the first time in a while I was in a class with other competitors. 4 others in XSA and for the most part I was holding 1st up until the 6th run. I just couldn't put together a clean run after my 3rd even with a rerun given to me. The 3rd run had a botched entry with a slide which cost a TON of time. I was on a real burner too. Anyway, I had the raw time to knock at least a second off, but that damn pesky cone kept jumping out at me. I think my final RAW overall wasn't a great showing either as I ended up 16th I think out of 68-71? Results will be posted tonight or tomorrow I think. Running with a co-driver just doesn't leave much time to reflect on times as much or grab a screenshot when possible.

So I'll swap the trans mount this week I think to firm the trans mount back up. I think a different shift knob will help the buzzing I'm getting in the cabin just want to find one close to the stock weight and that won't get blistering hot during the summer.

I also picked up a spare head to send off to 4 Piston Racing for their Pro TSX head porting to be done. I've sold my trailer and a bunch of stuff that should cover the engine build. Still deciding on cams and valve springs. Unrealistically I would like to have it all assembled by June and ready for the next July event.

Oh, almost forgot I got a Sard LSR replica wing real cheap a couple weeks ago. I like the looks of it. A bit more of an OEM plus feel?

Pic of my co-driver. Looks like he was having fun.

I really really like the wing. 

I have no idea how the transmission mounts, but if its anything like the S2000, cant you ad a couple of washers between it and the chassis to space it out? Maybe some 3/32" thick or so is enough without getting the driveshaft too out of whack. 

S2000 transmission mount for reference - ignore my mess:

In reply to Slippery :

I can technically move the trans mount a little more driver side now that you mention it. The Kpower mount leaves room for side to side adjustment, but the only crappy part about that solution is I won't know until the next autocross if it worked. It's worth a shot though!

In reply to captainawesome :

I am sure you can find an empty parking lot to exercise it and test it out. 

Got my new AC line in the other day but couldn't get back to the shop until Friday. Welp. They couldn't get it to hold a vacuum. Come on! Really? I didn't want to keep shoveling money their way to find a leak so Saturday I bought a vacuum pump and gauge set from HF. I thought about just renting them but figured it would be nice to have them for future work. Come to find out I screwed up the new line install. I somehow pinched the o-ring at the compressor which cut a chunk off. Whoops. Happy to see it was a simple fix I checked for leaks again and was happy to see we are sealed now.......

However, the compressor is borked. It managed to kick over the first time fine but by the time it kicked on the second it popped the fuse again. I hard wire tripped it and it would budge ever so slightly until it wouldn't anymore. So now I've gotta get the system evacuated from the 12 oz I got in it so far and wait for the new pump to show up. I'm also replacing the desiccant dryer and expansion valve.

In other news I have been collecting parts still for the spare short block. The new pistons/rings are here and look great. My buddy had a set of Supertech dual valve springs brand new for a good price but it was missing the titanium retainers usually in the kit. I was okay with that since I'd rather steel. From what I've read the titanium stuff needs to be checked every 10k or something like that. So steel retainers and proper 7 degree keepers have been sourced as well.

Most importantly though I picked up a spare TSX head from the guy that sold me the short block. He included the cams, gears, extra sensors, and the cam towers all for $300. It needed a good cleaning but nothing a couple cans of brake clean couldn't take care of. I needed to get it disassembled to check the valves and guides, so I implemented a $20 tool from Amazon. It made it so much nicer than the C-clamp style kit I have. After getting it all apart I noticed the valves look great on the intake side but there were some imperfections on the exhaust for a couple. At this point I'm dumping money into making power so I've decided to just buy new Ferrea 6000 valves and manganese bronze valve guides for another $500. I've got just enough funds to send the head out and a few dollars shy for cams. Frickin AC taking away my play money. I'm going to pull the trigger on the head work this week and ship out my core.

Forgot pics of the head all cleaned up. Probably wasted too much time getting it scrubbed but I imagine 4 Piston probably aren't too happy to receive nasty cores. I should have taken some before pics though.

Are you sending parts for them to assemble onto the head core?  If not, I'd highly recommend buying a head that's been done already. 4Piston seems to have quite the wait list these days...

In reply to sobe_death :

I'm assembling the head but they are doing the machining, installing guides and providing the new valves and stem seals. I haven't asked how long this is going to take but since I need to collect more funds to get the block machined , bearings, timing stuff, etc. I've got time to wait around.

Edit: Luke says about 4-5 week wait on the head work which is about perfect for me.

sobe_death said:

captainawesome said:

For throttle body, I bought a used fa20 unit for $30 and plan to send it to Maxbore to do their magic on it. I believe the max they can bore it is 68mm which I think should help a bit up in size from the 64.5mm. I'll need to open up the Kpower adapter a little to match. This may be a little on the smaller side but we will see how it does on the dyno.

 

I thought the Kpower manifold would allow a Bosch throttle body to mount directly?  Those are available from FCP Euro for ~$150 and you can get all the way up to 84mm from OE Porsche applications.  A 74mm unit from a Cayenne Base would likely support the 300hp goal.

Looks like things worked out on the 74mm Bosch throttle body. I found one new out of the box that was mislabeled on ebay the other day. Snatched it up for $63.46 which means it will be about the same amount to implement as the Maxbore option AND gets me more air. I wasn't sure if it was going to show up as something else other than the pics in the ad but it turned out to be legit. If that one didn't work out there were a couple used ones with low miles for ~$45.

Just look at it!

And in other news I ordered some cams yesterday as well. Drag Cartel Stage 4s to be exact. There was a discount available and they are pretty well loved overall. Also recently a dyno plot for a Kpower test car gave me actual numbers to go by as they have similar specs. It was on a "heartbreaker" dyno and still managed 286 hp / 208 tq on e85. Best yet is the tune was done by Shawn which is my planned tuner when I get it all assembled and ready to go. I don't think this will net 315 on a Dynojet but if I got 280-300 on the corn juice I'd be smitten.

Been enjoying this. Keep it up

Oooo that torque curve looks noice!

Also, would you mind sharing how you found the mislabeled throttle body? 

In reply to sobe_death :

A fellow K swapper with a full 4 Piston 360 street motor sent me the part number he was using : 280750474

I googled it and a handful of other part numbers the were cross referenced. I don't see any specific part numbers that match my search criteria but somehow I stumbled on a listing for two New out of box TBs that were supposed to be for a Ford Transit. The pics said otherwise so I sent an offer for $48 plus shipping and they accepted it. I figured it was worth a shot but still possible to be the wrong pics. Probably should have bought both but the other is already sold...... LINK TO AUCTION

In other words, pure luck?

Another successful autocross in the books from Sunday. Great weather. Great turnout. In fact we are getting really great numbers as I think the viral impact is finally waning? Anyway I got to do course design again. Overall it was great but the finish was a super tight slalom. Too tight. With just one cone removed it would have been just about perfect. Either way even the CAM cars managed to get through so I guess it wasn't all too bad.

I managed to finish 11th in RAW out of 85 and 1st in class.

A buddy of mine rode along with me a couple times and had a few pointers. I was overdriving the car quite a bit and he noticed. After chatting a bit I realized he was definitely correct as that's exactly what I was doing last event. Unneeded steering inputs that weren't helping keep steady state grip were my issue. I started getting smoother with input and saw some time drop by a full second. I managed to knock another full second off my last run and I think there was still room for improvement.

I'll upload some footage when I get home this evening just to add something to the thread other than repeats of similar photos.

The front left tire is toast with the right following it. My grip is down quite a bit as I think these have heat cycled out. Considering these were used when I got them, I'm happy with the mileage. If only I had rotated them sooner it would have at least stretched more road miles before the next event. I'll probably get another set of these Pilot Sport 4s but still considering some 17x9s with 200tw for autocross duty. I think I could be in top 5 at minimum with more grip but trying to remind myself this is just as much fun and less work than changing tires for each event. Also I'm out of play money until some parts sell so gotta keep daily status in mind.

Almost forgot. On Saturday I spent time looking into the trans mount to see where and what I could do that didn't involve installing the stiffer mount. I noticed that the trans is actually rubbing the Kpower trans mount and NOT the tunnel like I thought. Kpower put a notch in the bracket to clear the bump in the trans housing but it's not enough for a car with a softer mount. To fix the issue I wanted to see if I could just trim that area a little further to gain some breathing room.

Here you can see where it's rubbing under heavy loads rubbing off the powdercoat. The C notch.

At the rear of the trans mount/bushing it is just ever so slightly able to touch here. Those two rubbing lines are another added point of contact.

I trimmed the notch a bit larger. After testing the car I think I need to remove just a hair more higher and I may consider welding in some reenforcement for adding strength back in. Honestly I don't think it needs it but can't hurt.

I then sanded a little of the trans mount where it was touching the bracket. There used to be a little nub that stuck out which is what was hitting the bracket. It's gone now.

When reinstalling everything I took my time getting things lined up so it was less likely to touch in any position. All in all it worked. There were a couple tight spots where it was just ever so slightly touching at autocross so a little more trimming may be needed, BUT overall it was way better. I was able to focus on course so much more without the loud buzzing of trans contact. Super happy about that.

To wrap things up on this post I just want to say this car is awesome. SOOOOOO much fun to drive. I've been driving my A3 hatchback all week since the A/c isn't fixed yet so getting back into the seat of the FRS on Sunday really reminded me how great it is. I love the Audi for a daily but it just doesn't tick the same boxes. As a weekend car it's the best.