Turbo turd --> K20z3 swap
 

My tired old turbo 1.6 is going to be getting one hell of an upgrade.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...59421ba8c2.jpgMotor was pulled from a rolled Civic, sat for 1.5 years in somebody's garage waiting to be swapped into a new project, plans didn't pan out for the original owner so he sold the motor off.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6b85eba438.jpgUp on the stand with the valve cover pulled. Motor is 10 years old and needs new gaskets, but everything else seems to be in extremely good condition.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0f38c657d8.jpg

You're gonna vtak so hard.

But really, this will be excellent. Boost it :D

(I don't know how to m_t.net yet)

THERE WILL BE VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK.
As soon as the K-Miata boys drop their new transmission setup, (and of course as soon as funding allows) boost will absolutely happen.

Update.
https://scontent.ffsd1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...42&oe=5A5AA632

Fuck the K20z3, just bent over and allowed David over at Kmiata to gently penetrate my wallet.
Flipping the K20z3, going with the K24a2 and the full kit from Kmiata.

Now we wait!

While we wait, I'm doing some work to the interior.
https://scontent.ffsd1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...a5&oe=5AF060CC

Thought I was going to get fancy and try to keep the bottom half of the dash. I'm chopping it.

https://scontent.ffsd1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...a1&oe=5AF3B6F8

Hopefully finding the time to pull the motor here shortly.
https://scontent.ffsd1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...ad&oe=5AED9977

For those wondering, I got:

Ultimate K24 Miata Swap package with the Race header.
Hondata Kpro4
ACT HD Clutch kit
Hybrid racing fuel rail
FUELAB Fuel pressure regulator
A K24a2 motor that's going to be looked over personally by Kmiata. (flipping my z3)
Type S Oil pump kit.
VTC cam gear

Total cost was just over $9400.

Also David over at Kmiata is the absolute shit. :likecat:

Might as well throw in a couple photos of my car while I'm at it.
Finished repainting and refinishing my budget hardtop last year.

It's currently on a set of shit tier Godspeed coils, set for max low.

It ran an old Greddy setup running on a Link ECU, but some moron drilled into the turbo manifold to put a shitty narrowband AFR sensor in it. The mani cracked, hence the swap.
Full 2.5" exhaust, 7x15 Advanti Storm wheels, blah blah blah.
The car made around 200 at 12ish lbs of boost. Really looking forward to making more than that NA :)


https://scontent.ffsd1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...b1&oe=5AB4C1EFhttps://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b1b1f2eafa.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c5702a51c5.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3f1d5e926f.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e6f207aca9.jpg

Subscribed :)

Looking good there sir. Can't wait to see how she comes along.

Can't wait to see this build come along.

What are people revving K24's out to with the K20 oil pump? Will they handle ~8600rpms like K20's?

Shitty update. Mostly in the process of stripping out all the crap I won't need in the car. Creature comforts are coming out.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7d0897a6bb.jpg
Former plug for the LINK ECU.

Maybe this is normal, but this looks fucked to me. Thank god I'm starting over.

Have I mentioned I've never done any serious under the hood work on a car before?

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f9325c9442.jpg
Dash looks like hot trash right now, but it's a long ways from finished. Need to finish filling the low spots, then onto sanding, then painting, then flocking.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0fc85d022f.jpg
Also I made some hot sauce.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8187249349.jpg
Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo gorgeous.

Very nice, good luck with the build

We set the rev limiter to 8200 with a stock k24a2 bottom end and k20 pump. There's a lot of theory online about what the k24a2 bottom end can handle. Piston speeds, rod strength, etc. But in the real world, we've played with a lot of these engines in both Miatas and Hondas, and we've never had a k24a2 bottom end failure with many, many hours of 8200rpm shifts. Keep in mind that the 06-08 engines have stronger rods and stiffer valvesprings than the 04-05 engines. Regardless, I personally like to throw in a set of Supertech dual valve springs for a little extra safety, but it's not necessary if you're still on stock cams.

Edit: Drag racers regularly spin these bottom ends to 9000 with a ported head and huge cams. Certainly not something I recommend for road course use, but it does say something about the strength of the stock internals.

Parts rolling in!
 

Really impressed with everything that's showed up so far.

Just waiting on a few odds and ends. Fuel rail, subframe, motor mounts, NB steering rack bits, and a wiring harness.

Shitty no picture update.

Finished sourcing all the major parts I'll need.
Ended up needing a new radiator, and a few other odds and ends.

Shoutout to Miatasource for hooking me up with the steering rack and the NB cable.
https://www.facebook.com/miatasource/

And Wire-Worx for the tucked harness I'll be using.
WIREWORX

Finally got an afternoon to get the motor up on a stand.

Pls don't judge me based on the cleanliness of the shop, it's not mine. I'm paying under 100$ per month for space, and full access to tools (I have none), but the shop is a proper shithole.
I'm hoping to be out by June, but at the rate I'm getting time to work on this project we'll see.

Also I got a new Pixel 2, so hopefully my pictures will suck a lot less now.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7e0050db03.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...309bb4796e.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...06830e3c85.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...509a1edb5f.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ac08eeb90c.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...10b19cf222.jpg

Got a buyer for my motor. Motor and trans are out, dropped the front suspension, pulled the old rack and subframe, and got the new subframe mounted loosely.
Also started to clean up the bay. Old subframe was pretty heavy compared to the new one, if anyone cares I can break out a scale and start measuring the weight difference.



https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cc5c7b443b.jpgEngine bay was filthy.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c441987635.jpgStarted the cleaning process.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b6576503cf.jpgSubframe loose mounted in.

How late did you end up staying at the shop last night?

About 11pm. I'm thinking about taking a few days off to hammer out a majority of the work once I get the wiring harness and the rest of the goodies.

I'd love to know the weights on the subframes.

Nice build so far, picking up all the goodies.

What kind of numbers are you hoping for?

Hooooping for 220-230whp. Hoping.

Pretty typical dynojet numbers for that engine with good bolt-ons and a tune. A bit of it is in the header, a bit more in dialing in the VCT.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1ee62f8899.jpg
Front Suspension bolted up.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...88c015e8b6.jpg
New NB steering rack kinda half fitted. My new one was missing bolts and the new subframe has a larger bolt requirement than the old subframe.

For somebody who's never really worked on cars before, seeing the steering wheel move the wheels again made me cheese out pretty hard haha.

Lesson learned. If it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
Fortunately I've got great friends, and with blackdbl9NB's help the car now has a new temporary home while we finish it.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b33d13d35a.jpg

Should I post embarrassing pics of your car with PRTSCAR's hard top on?

Lol, yeah G0cart 2.0 in a bit of a depressing state right now. Full of gofast parts, no fenders, no bumper, missmatched HT. Ugh....

https://scontent.ffar1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...cc&oe=5B345590



At least it's in good company.
https://scontent.ffar1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...88&oe=5B2F9567

Attachment 230207

I call this one: Fuck you South Dakota!

I was going to school in Rapid City during the October 2013 blizzard, that was an experience I will never forget. Glad I don't have to deal with that anymore. Yes, SD winters suck.

Attachment 230206

Hey, this means we can stop screwing around with my stuff and get to working on yours.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dc1147ee80.jpg
Got the motor back up on a stand today.
Pulling the crank was a massive PITA. It was seized up on there hard and required a lot of lube and patience to pull.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...060cd68767.jpg
VTC Cam gear swapped out. The bolt on this one wasn't quite as bad but was still on there pretty good. Very straight forward to swap on. One bolt, swap on and off. Even I could figure that one out.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1d08c4172a.jpg
Spent about an hour pissing around trying to get that little piece out so we could get that bolt in.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5441fa7f29.jpg

But we got it.
Unfortunately this is where we ran into a bit of an issue. I had all the components for the oil pump swap except it would seem the replacement wind-age tray.
Now to be fair, I was forced to move my car mid-swap, and I'm in a new garage so it's entirely possible something got left behind, but for the life of me I don't remember seeing the piece in the kit, an in one of the very first photos posted where I had all the parts together, I don't see it.
I've contacted KMiata and I'm sure we'll figure it out, I'm not too worried about it.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c08ac76c38.jpg
That oil pan is a proper work of art.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b5cff49ce1.jpg
More oil-porn.
Guess which dumbass forgot to drain the old oilpan before flipping the motor.... -_-
Can you tell I've never done this before.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...10b0ecc1d2.jpg
Feels very good to make progress on this again. Can't wait to get the motor bolted back together.
While we figure out the windage tray situation, I'll be moving onto fuel, and the diff swap.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...998161e357.jpgMy only suggestion would be putting the paper stickers not in the oil pan, but it wasn't anything some brake cleaner didn't quickly fix.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9ee2633da2.jpgLoose fitting the TracTuff RBC/RBB Water Bypass Adapter.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...56151608d3.jpgFiddled with the oil pump/adapter for a while. Like a moron I put them together dry, and they just would not move like I thought they should.

Took everything apart, threw some motor oil in there, and things started to move like it seemed like they should.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2b9a08b8e8.jpgPicked up the new windage tray, and got the new oil pump bolted up and torqued down.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f7eae6aeea.jpgStarting to come back together.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...760787ac83.jpgTimed the motor, re-installed the new chain tensioner, and bolted the timing chain back up following the instructions on the following video on their youtube channel.

You Tube

DIcky will update, but I wanted to post a couple of pics for him.

Attachment 230202

Attachment 230203

Attachment 230204

Attachment 230205

Last night was another successful night.
Don't really have much to add picture wise, but the bay and transmission was cleaned, car was put up on jacks, wheels are off, and we started the major work on the car.
Things move pretty quickly when you have 3 extremely knowledgeable people helping you pull things apart.

• Got the rear subframe dropped, PPF and diff removed so the diff can be swapped for a Torsen unit I purchased.
• Getting ready to drain and drop (the almost full) gas tank so we can start looking at removing the old lines.
• Getting ready to install the new line that runs down the driver side of the trans tunnel installed.
• Pulled the fuel pump and stripped the shit out of that little shitty Phillips screw that holds the base of the pump. Not entirely sure what to do about that.

Purchased:

• Tie rod ends
• Rear axles
• Re-manufactured K24a2 alternator
• Re-manufactured K24a2 starter

Found that more parts are missing since I swapped garages. Ugh. Missing half the clutch.
I should also mention that I reached out to David at Kmiata, and requested he check on his end to see if there may have been a mix up with the missing windage tray. He verified that it should have gone out, but if I thought it wasn't delivered with the kit he would gladly replace the unit.
Considering the hasty move from garage to garage, there's no way I can put the missing part on David, so I pony'd up the 30 bucks, called it a cheap lesson and got myself another one. Top service from David as per the usual.
No word from Wire-worx on the wiring harness, but I'm assuming that should be getting shipped out fairly soon.

I'll break out all the costs at the end, but I've now broken well into the 11k barrier on the swap. However, considering I'm doing so much general maintenance that NEEDED to be done, I'm not in the least bit upset about how much I've spent.

• Tie Rod ends: 13.38 x2 = $26.76
• k24a2 Starter motor: $141.79
• k24a2 Alternator $71.89
• Shipping 14.00
• Axles 63.00 x2 = $126

Total: $378.44

Plugging away at what I can while I wait for parts. Starting on the more interesting piece of this build, which involves swapping the now single fuel line to the driver side frame rail.

In case you haven't noticed, the intake/exhaust manifolds are flipped on the K series motor, which leaves you with your fuel lines feeding the exhaust manifold side of the car.
Occasionally what I've seen for fuel delivery involves a -6AN fuel fitting on the stock line in it's stock location, and running a stainless steel line all the way around the back of the firewall, to the regulator, then to the rail.

This option sketches me right the fuck out, because if the fitting on the stock fuel line fails you're spraying fuel directly on the exhaust manifold. The following pic of an Ecotech swap shows some of the stuff I've seen.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c3f97c17c0.png


In the interest of not turning my new toy into a pile of ash, we pulled all the fuel lines, dropped the tank, and started pondering the options.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...32f81ed370.jpg
Effectively what we're going to try and accomplish is moving the entire fuel delivery system over to the driver side.

I didn't like the idea of bending the fuel line over the transmission tunnel, and I didn't like the idea of keeping the stock fuel filter location and running the fuel line up over the diff. In the event that drivetrain were to fail, I don't want the fuel line getting smoked by a driveshaft and potentially starting a fire.
Maybe I'm over thinking this portion of the swap, but that's what we're going to shoot for.

Couple of other things happened yesterday too.
I pulled the nasty ass clutch hydrolics that had likely never been changed and swapped in some shiny new ones.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a9b5eff2d5.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...30f71c137f.jpg

Got some reflection tape installed on the firewall. Because I'll be running interiorless for the rest of the summer while I figure out how to make my own carpeting, I figured it was a cheap way to keep interior temps down.
Also.... I mean...... look at it.....
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a4eeaf6ff8.jpg

Installed the fuel regulator.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cb81639aaf.jpg

And finally, appropriated some Subaru culture. *rips vape*

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...38140c47f0.jpg

Just ordered all the fittings and fuel line for the -6AN delivery. Does anybody know how to get a -6AN fitting on the outlet of the tank? Is there an adapter of some sort, or am I looking at welding a fitting on the end of the tank?

Emilio just posted some the Vegas build thread: https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...-89595/page10/

That is the exactly what I'm looking for.
Thank you!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6a9d6f7619.jpg

Those are for an NB tank. The NA pump hanger has bead-rolled tube ends for rubber hose, so those adapters won't work. You could flare the tube ends of the NA hanger 37*.

Maybe the smartest route forward would be going with rubber hose from the outlet on the tank to the fuel filter, then running AN from the outlet on the fuel filter....

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4550f365e7.jpg
If I look happy it's only because I'm deluded enough to think this car is going to start at some point in the near future.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f1089a1f75.jpg
THIS CAR IS NUTS


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...60e597df16.jpg
New interior look.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...509722867c.jpg
Full NA wiring harness out. Gonna pull out what we don't need.....



https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0f51832ace.jpg
Wiring harness pulled, bay as clean as it'll get.

Progress looks great. And you're so well-dressed too.

I don't think i've ever looked that clean while standing inside an engine bay ever in my life.

If only I had a hat to match that shirt ;)

It helps that we're chunking this out over the course of a couple weeks worth of work. Got the greasy stuff out of the way first so I can wear my nice shirts to the shop for the photo shoots.

Sub'd! Keep on goin!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d565adc0e6.jpg
I was hoping to have the motor in the car this weekend, but this is South Dakota after all, and mother nature decided we deserved a final blow out. Over a foot of snow, and of course no parts.

The motor sits waiting for the J series flywheel bolts and the heater delete kit. Once those are installed we'll be slapping the trans and the motor together one last time, and dropping it into the car.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d0b6eb98f9.jpg
While we waited, we busied ourselves with other things.

About a year ago I purchased a freshly rebuilt 1.8 torsen, with the intention of swapping it in when I had the time. New diff seal, + new 1.8 axles = a brand spanking new rear end.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3ebe4c440f.jpg
The car is now a roller, so we moved onto fuel.



https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a8a584c2dc.jpgI picked up a couple of 10ft rolls of stainless steel -6an fuel hose off Amazon (because 5% cash back yo), and wouldn't you guess it, a 10 foot roll is about perfect for the main run from the fuel filter to where I have the fuel pressure regulator.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...539db0f7ab.jpg
I have the fuel filter installed there temporarily while I figure out exactly how everything is going to work together.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f9e730a71f.jpg
A little yanking here and there, and that 10 foot run should be about perfect.

The new fuel line placement was a breeze. Installing it all down the driver side fuel rail ensures there's no fuckery bending lines around drivetrains, or keeping things hot side of the motor, and it wasn't terribly expensive.
However, I did buy some wrong fittings, so I'll be burning some more cash to finish this part of the project up.

For some reason MT.net hates my high res images. Progress on fuel and the rear end is in the imgur album below.

https://imgur.com/a/KrkR3

That was the good news, now on to the not so good news.

My wiring harness previously supported a LINK ECU, and was nicely hacked up.
We're in the process of de-looming and stripping out all the motor components of the wiring harness, but it's quickly turning into a shit show and I honestly have no idea if the car will even start all things considered.
Pic related:
https://imgur.com/a/016kO

Effectively we've started stripping the old harness by de-looming it (RIP my fingers), tracing all the wires that lead away from those plugs, and eliminating all of those wires.

https://imgur.com/a/B2nkq
I'll upload better pictures of what all we've eliminated so far here tonight.


Fortunately I've got confirmation that my new harness from Wire-Worx will be shipping wednesday, so hopefully that will be here fairly soon.

I am about as far from competent at wiring a car as somebody can get..... sooooooooooo
Long story short I'm lowkey researching how hard it is to wire up a car without a wiring harness in the event that this fails spectacularly, which to be fair shouldn't be the end of the world considering I'm only running:

Headlights
Headlight motors
Turn signals
Rear lights
Airbag stuff ...?

No HVAC, no audio shit, it doesn't seem like starting from scratch would be the end of the world. Just more time and fiddling.
Just on the surface it looks pretty straight forward, and considering I've already chopped my dash in half, what's adding a switch panel to the list of things to do?

If anyone has input on the wiring, I am 100% all ears. All the pieces of the puzzle are coming together, and this is the only piece of that puzzle that's got me worried.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4a1025acfb.jpgFlywheel installed.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9bbc0022d5.jpgClutch installed.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...568f4fb61b.jpgTransmission installed.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...267c06bead.jpgMotor sits cockeyed, love it.

So many shiny things. I love it.

So much bolted together. Now to sort out the wiring mess.

I am having nightmares already...

You're like 1-2 weeks ahead of me on everything. I'm figuring out fuel lines and bolting up the trans for the first time this week, and then starting down the same exact path for chassis and engine wiring. I'm dreading the wiring portion too.

Build looks great so far. Thanks for sharing the fuel hose stuff.

A properly installed FM link ECU should only move 3-4 wires and splice into one at the diag box. If it is hacked up more than that, I would beat the PO.

That said, the things I have seen done to used car wiring harnesses....

The only thing I can recommend is that you don't pussy out and try to re-use the old fuel lines. Do it right and just go for it with -6AN down the driver side. It's really not THAT expensive (considering the total cost of the build) and it will be so much easier to screw with in the future.

Hose was 20 bucks for 10ft on Amazon, fittings were in the league of 10 bucks a piece, plus you get that sweet sweet 5% cash back on the Amazon credit card you can waste on shit you don't need.
I'll have spent less on the entire fuel delivery system for my car, than I did for the watercooling setup on my PC.

>properly installed.

It honestly wasn't THAT bad, but considering this is the most anxiety ridden portion of the build for me, any amount of fuckery with the electronics makes me uncomfortable. When I turn the key, I want this car to start. I'm not 100% sure that'll happen at the moment, but we're gonna give it a shot.

Dropped my first motor today. More details coming.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d4c5e86078.jpg