¶ High Performance K-Series Civic Build
Honda are already well known for producing some of the best naturally aspirated engines in the world . And what makes them better ? Adding a turbocharger . Welcome to High Performance Academy's tuned in Field Report podcast series .
In these special midweek episodes , we look back through our archives to find the best conversations we've had through years worth of attending the best automotive events across the globe . We've pulled the audio from these tech filled interviews with some of the industry's most well known figures and presented it in podcast format for you to enjoy .
As a quick hit of insider knowledge . We're here with Mo with his EK Civic behind me . This is actually converted to 4WD , built as a drag car by B2R Motorsport , and we're going to find out a little bit more about this build . For a start , mo , let's get to the basics . The car hasn't actually run down the strip yet , so we can't talk numbers , can we ?
Yeah , no , we haven't done anything more than a few test passes so far , so yeah , OK , let's get into the build itself , and the most obvious part is it's no longer running a B series engine . You've got a K series in it . What drove you to make that K-Swap ?
I think back in 2012 , seeing them I think that was the height of the K20 era seeing them everywhere and it was just something that I really wanted to enjoy and discover . I remember the biggest thing about a K-series back then was the torque . So , like a 2.4 litre , the torque just naturally aspirated . Feeling the torque was awesome .
So , yeah , that's what it was really .
Okay , obviously a bigger capacity to start with , and it has got probably arguably one of the best flowing cylinder heads anywhere for a four-cylinder engine . However , the stock K20 or K24 wasn't quite good enough for you . You've actually gone full billet as well . What was the driving factor behind that decision ?
Were you aiming for power levels that you absolutely knew the stock block was not going to be capable of ?
Yeah . So I would say it goes hand in hand with the four wheel drive . Front wheel drive . I don't think you'd ever really need unless you're drag racing more than what a stock motor can handle . So about that 370 kilowatt range , that's on the edge of its life almost .
But as soon as you go forward , drive and you get that first first gear traction at raw racing or on the street or whatever , you automatically want more . You know so it gets addictive at that point . So then you know you , obviously I jumped a few steps , I went straight to 1,000 horsepower and then we started learning limitations with the , you know so .
You know you had headlifts , we had calling issues , we had bearing issues , we had whatever issue you could think of .
And these all start popping up around that 1,000 horsepower mark .
Yeah , and another thing is , I would say , in America , because these are big in America . For them a sleeved block is much more cheaper . So it would probably cost them $1,000 to $2,000 USD , whereas over here we've got to buy a block core , get them to sleeve it , and then the shipping is so expensive it's actually about half the price of a billet block .
So by the time you invest into a sleeve block that does crack , they do crack , it's just you're on a limited lifespan .
The other thing I was just going to add there with the sleeve lock , I think people would assume that it is a fix for all of the problems that you have when you're making high power .
But you also need to be very , very careful about who is doing the machine work to install the sleeves , because sometimes you're fixing one problem , but the number of times I've seen other problems created with the sleeves dropping in operation and then the head gasket leaks anyway , so you sort of fix one problem and can potentially create others .
So you need to be very careful about who's doing that sleeving . In terms of the actual block itself , who is the manufacturer ? Bullet Racing Engineering , I think they're called , yeah , so Australian made well known in the billet block area .
So the other aspect is when we go to billet blocks , often people will go to a dry block for a dedicated drag application . By that I mean there is no coolant passing through the block . Great for strength and works well for drag racing , but really does limit you in terms of what you can do with the car . I've seen a radiator in this .
Obviously you haven't gone that way . Why did you decide to stay with lot I ?
think you know we're not at that point yet where we need a full dry deck . The other thing is we like to do a lot of road racing in Sydney and when you get to eliminations it's essentially pass after pass , after pass . So I don't want the complications of a dry deck or you know , a separate head or you know block getting too hot , things like that .
So I thought you know what . For now I'll just leave it simple keep it wet deck . I know it's working . We've figured most of the cooling issues out and we'll worry about that later . Otherwise , if it goes to a full drag car , yeah , I'd say the dry deck never lifting heads and stuff like that .
There's two elements actually there that I just want to clarify as well , because you used the term dry deck and wet deck . So that's really talking about whether or not water is transferred from the block up into the head .
Advantage with that is if we go dry deck , where there isn't that transfer , if the head does lift we don't get combustion pressure making its way into the water jacket , which then means we don't get water under the tyres . So that's really important for safety and reliability .
However , wet deck sorry that dry deck does bring in the difficulties of the plumbing where you're getting the water from the block to the head . That's obviously external , so a little bit more complexity around there . Now , in terms of the rest of the rotating assembly crankshaft , connecting rods , pistons can you give us some insight into what you're using ?
Sure , so me .
I'm an OEM guy . I bought a brand new K20 crank from Honda . I've always kept OEM cranks . I've never seen them break . You know what I mean ? I have seen billet ones break and stuff like that and I think people move more towards the billet stuff when they de-stroke , stroke up et cetera , et cetera . I think the Honda ones are so reliable .
There's really not many options , even if you did want to go off the market .
¶ Factors in Engine Component Selection
I think a lot of people overlook that some of these Fatsha crankshafts are actually exceptionally good and even though it's designed for a low horsepower naturally aspirated engine in stock form , these are a quality forged crankshaft . Low horsepower naturally aspirated engine in stock form these are a quality forged crankshaft .
They are really really good and you can sometimes go well over 1,000 horsepower with that stock crankshaft . The benefit is , if and when it does start to crack or fail , it's also much cheaper to replace than a billet crankshaft correct .
Much , much cheaper . The other thing is as well off the shelf rods , off the shelf . Rotating assembly period . You know what I mean ? I know a few friends with billet or d-stroke or whatever it's six month wait for rods , just rods you know .
So having that off the shelf availability means if you need to replace a part , you can do it almost instantly of course I was .
I was going to do a 2.2 liter setup because this was a 2.4 , and then just looking into how long I had to wait for a set of four rods or whatever , or if I broke a crankshaft or anything , it was six months the car's out down .
So you know , and they're not cheap parts to really keep stock , or if the part fails then you've got to use this brand new part in the box there . So you know , keep it , keep it simple , keep it OEM .
I want a combo that I can pretty much buy the parts in two , three weeks and get back together , because the reality is we are racing and you know things do go wrong . Yeah , absolutely .
So ultimately you are at 2.4 . No , no , it's two later now , okay , two later . I was going to ask the difference there , or the way up between the 2.4 , the , the difference there or the way up between the 2.4 , the additional capacity , the additional bottom end torque and boost response you get with larger turbos .
How did you weigh that up against the ability to rev the engine ?
I mean obviously you've decided to stay 2.0 litre . Yeah well , I was originally 2.4 but I had loads of issues with harmonics . So once you get up to around over 9.5 , 10,000 rpm with a 2.4 litre , you either have to de-stroke or just drop the rev limit down back to nine .
The reason why I went two litre was because that was Honda's engine that they designed to rev and you know I just thought , with the shorter stroke and all that , it would be much , much happier to rev .
The interesting thing , what we did see is the two litre actually makes more power up top with the RPM , so it carries power way better , whereas the 2.4 , you've got download torque brings on the turbo better , but it drops off a lot earlier than the 2.0 .
And I think it's all about sort of understanding your application as well . The 2.4, . If it's a street application or maybe a hill climb car , you want that lower bottom end torque and the boost response .
But when you're drag racing or road racing you're launching off a two step , you torque and the boost response , but when you're drag racing or roller racing you're launching off a two step , you've got that boost and you're probably only operating between I'm guessing , maybe 8 and 10 and a half 11,000 RPM .
So you're always within that power band , is that right , yeah ?
especially with the paddle shift , the clutchless , you never drop out of boost . So the shift is that fast that you're always in boost between gears .
Now , the next element I want to talk about is the pistons themselves , and then the compression ratio , and that sort of brings up the other question is , what fuel are you running ? Because that obviously drives the decision on your compression ratio .
Yeah , so 9.5 to 1 compression ratio . It's a Speed Factory Outlaw Aries piston made by CP Curillo and I think it's a BME alloy rod . The fuel varies , so E85 , e98 , c85 , really depends on the application Straight drag racing . I'd say we'd use C85 just because it's much , much safer .
No interest in moving to a full methanol fuel as opposed to alcohol-based or ethanol-based fuels .
Look , there is interest , but the only interest would be , purely speaking , of how expensive E85 fuels are getting over a methanol fuel . I think it really is getting ridiculous , because we can't rely on pump quality anymore .
So you've got to go to a race-grade E85 . Yeah , so it's not like a full .
I know everyone says streetcar , streetcar , streetcar . But if you're driving your car to work and you need a bit of power and you put E85 out of the pump and then sometimes E70 , e75 , yeah , that's cool .
But when you're at this level , you don't want an e75 fuel .
So you want a guaranteed ethanol content . So you buy a barrel that's e85 or higher , right , but the barrels are just getting ridiculously or there's no stock because everyone's buying them . So you know , the methanol looks extremely , you know , tempting in terms of budgets , availability , etc . Etc . Etc . Not , I don't . You know , power is power .
You're going to make power the way , but you know , is it like a tempting in terms of budgets , availability , et cetera , et cetera , et cetera .
Power is power . You're going to make power the way , but is it like a methanol is cheaper than 98 ? Now I think the thing that is worth mentioning is that the methanol does come with some significant downsides . First of all , you need to run around about twice as much fuel in order to make the same amount of power give or take .
And then obviously it affects your fuel system , sizing pumps , injectors , et cetera , and also I mean E85 has its problems , but methanol is another level of corrosiveness to the entire fuel system . So there's those considerations as well . Are you interested in expanding your automotive knowledge ? Start your free lessons with us today at hpacademycom . Forward slash free .
All right , let's get back to the
¶ Upgraded Turbo Engine Cylinder Head
engine . The other element you've really gone top shelf here with is the cylinder head . So the factory cylinder head wasn't going to cut it for you . Talk us through what you've chosen .
So we've went for a four piston kingpin cast head . So what happens with the factory cylinder heads ? Is they crack . So after you stop cracking your factory blocks and you go billet , then you start cracking your heads .
So we're just chasing the problems down the line . As you fix one and start making more power , you find the next weakness .
Yeah , so the head lifts third or fourth gear , whatever , and then head cracks whatever , et cetera , et cetera . The kingpin head has three times as much material . It's got more clamping force . We've tested them . The kingpin head has three times as much material . It's got more clamping force . We've tested them .
There's me and two other guys in Australia that have had very successful results where they've put their cars on methanol , put their cars on other fuels , done everything except for dry deck with a factory head , and nothing's worked . We've put these heads on coolant pressure's perfect , right across the line 30 , 40 passes .
One of the biggest problems with high output turbocharged engines is always that head gasket integrity . And yes , there's different types of head gaskets , there's better stud materials , but the reality is , ultimately you end up limited by the amount of material on the deck surface of the block and similarly on the deck surface of the head .
So these aftermarket components , much , much thicker in those areas , makes it much more rigid , much less likely to flex and on that note we talked off camera you're actually not using anything too exotic for the actual head gasket itself . Talk us through that .
Yeah , so it's just a multi-layer head gasket . We've got a stainless O-ring machined into the block and that's it . So it just crushes into the head gasket . Talk the head gasket down . You know what I mean . Check your head studs every couple of passes , whatever you know , make sure they're still talked down correctly , and that's it . Man .
You know , my method is always just keep it simple . As soon as you complicate things , you're never going to finish the car Like you've just got to find that next issue , deal with it and then find that next issue and eventually you just get to a point where there's no issues .
I think that's solid advice for those building project cars . It's always tempting to just continually iterate the car and never actually get it to the racetrack , but when you do that , you never really find out what the problems are that you need to work through , and you also don't get to enjoy the car on the track , which is just as important .
Alright , the next question that's going to be on everyone's minds is power level . Can you give us some insight into , first of all , what turbo it is , what boost pressure you're running and what power level , even if you can give us a bit of a ballpark as to where you're at ?
So the guys . I don't want me to say any figures on camera or whatever , but I can give you a rough ballpark Right now . It's sitting around 56 pounds at first and it is a very conservative , a very large figure , I'd say so . Definitely in the four digits . We're over 1200 , I can tell you that . But we are planning on taking this car to 80 , 90 PSI .
It's really enjoying 56 pounds right now .
You mentioned off camera before 56 PSI and you referred to that as low boost . So that's still no joke .
That's SP1 as we call it .
And the actual turbo spec you've got on .
So it's a next-gen 8085 Precision . Absolutely love this turbo . I think it's a match made in heaven for this engine . To be honest , I never would believe that I'd be pulling a turbo this size
¶ High Performance Honda Drag Car Interview
before . 6,000 RPM on the 2.0 later .
To be honest , 6,000 , that is truly impressive . And what do you rev it out to ? Ultimately , we can go all the way to 12 if we really want to . That is a very wide power band .
People think 6,000 is a little bit late , but it's not late in the case series . To be honest , you feel it like that .
That's one of the things that I've seen since I stopped drag racing with turbo technology . It's come so far , and back in my day I was running a 2 litre 4G63 and we weren't seeing full boost until after 7,000 RPM , revving to 11 . So if you can get that sort of boost at 6 , that is simply amazing . Electronics what are you running to control this engine ?
Yeah , so ECU-wise Link G4X . We've got MoTeC PDM , PDM30 . I've got ProWire , who's wired the entire car in Raycam DR12 . We've got Tafcel , whatever you name it Full mil spec loom , full mil spec loom . You know a few things I didn't seal just for maintenance , like injector clips and all this and all that , because I knew I'd change them .
So everything else is sealed . We've got the PRP new coil packs which are rated to 4,000 horsepower in the right application . We have maxed the 35 ones out on this setup . We've got a elixir fuel pump , custom made , 16 and a half liter per hour . We have tested the fuel pump and on this setup it will do 1500 remethanol .
One electric pump okay so you've got enough fuel pump to last in eternity yeah , and when I'm idling , when I'm cruising around , whatever I like , you know I drive it to work and stuff . You know , streetcar , streetcar , yeah , it runs like a 255 . You don't hear nothing , so it's extremely quiet .
It's like a factory pump that can flow to , you know five , six pumps . It's crazy , you know . So I'll give a shout out to elixir . Ai aftermarket industry supplied the um hanger and the fc 1500 , the ventura system and all that . I love his stuff . I've never had an issue with it . I've used it for years . His engineering is top quality .
Now I notice in the back you've got a nitrous bottle as well , so talk us through how you're using that nitrous . Is this just to spool the turbo on a two-step ? I've never actually used nitrous in this car . You watched the Fast and the Furious too much as a younger guy , didn't you ?
It's just kind of one of those things like when I built the car . I've noticed from past experiences if you don't put something in , you're going to not have a place to put it .
So when you build your cage and your boxes and your firewalls and stuff like that , put everything you think you're going to use and then use it later because so future-proof the project exactly , I don't want to . I don't want a nitrous bottle sitting next to me where my hand brake sits and stuff like that . So you know .
But um , in terms of spooling , I'm very happy with how it spools , until we start racing on a slick and see how it leaves the line . I guess we might use it , you know . But uh , if I'm not happy with the 1500 horsepower from this turbo , I'll put another 200 in it , whatever it takes .
Easy , as the other aspect of this car we obviously need to talk about is the four-wheel drive conversion , which is now , I wouldn't say , commonplace with the Honda platform , but it is becoming more and more accepted , more and more common . What is the transmission that you're using and what is involved in that four-wheel drive conversion ?
Yeah . So I'd say the four-wheel drive is the next case swap . That's what I call it . So right now this is running a Quafi sequential . It's the all-wheel drive sequential . So you've got the Quafi part of the box , which is the casing , and I've got a Billet Bell housing that mates up to a CRV transfer case .
So the CRV transfer case is the Honda part that really is the key to this four-wheel drive conversion .
Yeah . So you need the Honda transfer case and on the back you've got the Honda wagon or the CRV diff . The ratios just work . You know what I mean . In the middle we've got a viscous coupler , so essentially the wagon is so much harder to find . They're a 1980s car . None of them came to Australia refined . They're a 1980s car .
None of them came to australia . Not many went to america . They're more of a japanese four drive sort of thing . Factory components are about three and a half four thousand us without shipping . Then you've got to get them . I've got to . I had to get the viscous rebuilt .
I had to get the diff rebuilt it like I'm going to go out on a limb and say these stock components probably really weren't designed by honda to support 1500 horsepower either . How reliable are they in a drag application ?
look , I've never broken anything and I've been launching this car , so it does hook to , yeah , yeah , so I would say like I don't like to refer to america just because you know , I feel like we don't see a lot of stuff that break . You know what I mean . But they're saying they're going sevens on factory components . We have seen them go 6s .
So yeah , look , it's an awesome bit of kit and the factory stuff will do you anywhere up to 1000 . It's just when you really want to go drag racing , like you're going to have a freewheel drive or you're going to have a , so you want to have those D in the back and all that , etc , etc .
But yeah , Alright , ultimately , I know you haven't really laid down a full pass in this as yet . Can we get some predictions on where you think it might be running ?
Yeah . So the real reason why we haven't run a pass in this is not because of engine troubles et cetera . It's actually we've had trouble finding a clutch to support the power , because the car does get a lot of grip surprisingly . So you know , there's a lot of times where we do pass .
We get a really good 60 , then by third gear the clutch is slipping and the pass is gone , you know . So at kudamandra I did a one five on straight tires with 30ps on the tires and then the clutch just let go and I did like a 10.5 at 100 mile per hour . So you know , I was on the brakes halfway down the track .
Hopefully I've got a new clutch system in it now and that's just like the next thing . You know what I mean . So if the clutch holds , we are aiming to go low . Eight sevens , we're trying to . For Australia , the current ET is 8.00 .
You need to be in that seven-second bracket .
Yeah , so we're trying to break the Australian seven-second the brick wall we're trying to shoot for and no one's on that drag car , et cetera , any Honda . No one's on that drag car , et cetera , any Honda . You know what I mean . So that's what we're aiming to do right now and hopefully we get there .
¶ Building a High Performance Car
I have taken a lot of weight out of it . There's a carbon roof , there's lots of carbon components and , yeah , hopefully we get there .
Oh look , mo , the car is an absolute credit to you . It is a really unique build and we definitely wish you all the best with getting into the 7s . Thanks , mate , I really appreciate it and I love your channel . Cheers . If you enjoyed this podcast , please feel free to leave a review on whatever platform you've chosen to listen to it on .
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