Eurosport body, K20 power

Mark Olson

True Classic
This thread will document the installation of the fiberglass Eurosport body kit and the conversion to the Acura power train on my '74 X19. The high level process is expected to be:
  • Cut the body to rough fit the fiberglass
  • Totally disassemble the car
  • Sandblast the body
  • Install the K20 conversion kit
  • Rework the suspension
  • Install the body kit
  • Rework the interior
I have a K20A JDM engine, and a X2M5 Acura transmission. The engine is the low power (~150 hp) version of the K20 series so I am still looking for either a K20A2 ('02-'04 Acura RSX Type S) or a K20Z1 ('05-'06). If I get a Z1 engine I will still need the '02-'04 ECU in order to use the Hondata KPro system for tuning, and to match the frequency of the speedo sensor in the X2M5 tranny. Trying to find a low mileage engine without breaking the bank is a challenge!

There is the option of using the K20Z3 found in the '06-'11 Civic Si's. A problem with these engines is they come with a balance shaft which changes the configuration of the oil pan and won't fit the MWB subframe. So the balance shaft (along with the oil pump and chain) have to be removed and a new oil pump/chain/guides/pan installed. Would still need the '02-'04 ECU, and the throttle body would need to be changed out as these are DBW. The cost of the new parts adds significantly to the price of this engine.

Below is a pic of the car before I started:

Before.jpg


The pic below gives a some idea of what the finished car could look like. There are a few things I may do differently but will leave that for a later discussion.

Red Eurosport.jpg


The 3 pics below show the initial cuts to the body.
Initial Body Cuts front.jpg


Initial Body Cuts Rear.jpg


Initial Body Cuts side.jpg


And the 3 pics below show the rough placement of the body kit

Initial Euro Front.jpg


Initial Euro Rear.jpg


Initial Eurp Side.jpg


I am not a fan of working underneath a car, so I decided to make a rotisserie. I am following a set of plans that can be found on the internet here http://redwingsteelworksplans.com/free-rotisserie-plans/free-auto-rotisserie-plans/ . The picture below is the steel required, work on the car will stop for a week or so while I build this.

Rotisserie material.jpg
 
The JDM K20A (red top) is actually the highest output factory K20 engine, depending on the year/ vehicle it came out of it should make between 210-220hp and 150-160lbs of torque.

Neat project!
 
The JDM K20A (red top) is actually the highest output factory K20 engine.....

Yeah, but the one I have is not a redtop, has the black plastic intake manifold, no flywheel but a plate without a ring gear that looks like it came from an automatic. From what I could find out it seems many (all?) the JDM engines have the K20A code on them.

Here is mine - pretty much certain it is a base model, would love it if it were otherwise..........
Honda K20A.jpg


Honda K20A number pad.jpg
 
Brayden is likely correct. My stamped engine code says "K20A2". Difference between the K20A and K20A2 is compression ratio (11.0/1 vs 11.7/1) and the subsequent HP and torque gains.

Have you pulled your oil pan yet? According to this page the engine should have been from a
  • 2001- 2005 JDM Civic Type R EP3
  • 2001-2006 JDM Integra Type R DC5
  • 2002-2008 JDM Accord Euro R CL7
... and this page makes it sound like an automatic was possible on those JDM cars.

If it was from an automatic that might actually say good things about how the engine was treated (hard to money shift an automatic!)

Looking forward to the project.
 
I have to admit researching this engine has been confusing, and there is a lot of info that indicates ALL K20A engines are the higher performance ones. Wikipedia refers to a K20A "Eco" engine that has the lower hp, and this is what I suspect I have. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_K_engine

However I have sent an email to one of the large JDM importers with pics of my engine - hopefully they will respond with some good data.
 
Very Nice! Good to see another K-swap with body kit. Are you going to build all the arches and liners out to meet the new material.
 
Here is my engine on a JDM website - it refers to it as a K20A for an RSX Base model and a Civic EP3, both of which are the lower hp cars.
 
Regarding your engine. I'd say for the money consider keeping the engine you have and add a turbo kit to it. Lots of them out there to choose from. That will make more output than any of the stock versions and opens a lot of possibilities for a reasonable sum.

Regarding the body kit. Wow, I didn't realize they required that much surgery to install - that's some significant cutting. Well done though, keep it up. I like that kit. I've always been the type that never thinks anything is 'perfect' as it is, and therefore always have my own ideas of how it could be modified to meet my personal vision. So there might be a couple alterations I'd consider doing. But I also can see where it might be nice to keep it completely as designed for originality sake. One area that some people may be divided on is the Testarossa'esk staked side scoops. I'd retain them but make them fully functional to add more cooling air into the engine bay (something I think the X needs).
 
I agree, that is some significant removal of metal. I know the X was over-engineered from a crash safety point of view, but I would still think that removing the entire fender structures would allow for more flexing of the body. I would be concerned about cracks developing in the fiberglass seams with road impacts and such. I hope it works out well and will follow this build with interest.
 
Found an engine today, bought the whole car, an '05 RSX with a K20A2 (second motor). Good even compression across all 4 cylinders. I also got the original K20Z1, it is seized - been sitting outside for a couple years. Might just be scrap. Trailered it all home - it was only 15 miles away from my house. I will part out the car and recoup part of my investment.

Dr. Jeff, I agree re the side scoops, they need to be functional. I will also do something with the reveal in the door and front fender - looks like a mismatch with those scoops - just not sure yet what I will do about it.

I do intend to support the fiberglass with wheel arches and other bracing, hopefully it will be sufficient.
 
The mismatch of the strakes to the body line is unfortunate in the red car image, as are the FWD offset rims.

Try to find some rims with some dish to them, the flush front wheel drive look is just so weak looking, the car will look so much better.
 
I do intend to support the fiberglass with wheel arches and other bracing, hopefully it will be sufficient.

The main concern (IMO) is the front upper L&R corners where the fender & nose tie in. Since you have no fender sections left there, it will need bracing to utilize the existing headlamp assy bracket for starters, and some sort of triangulation to reinforce the fender upper sections to the frame. The entire nose should be bracketed to the inner fender apron that drops from the frame rail, that will help prevent some of the flex that will occur. On mine, different kit I know, the seams at the fender tops started to crack where I made the covers to eliminate the headlamps, granted I had expoxied those instead of welding (correcting on the revision), however it does suggest to me that that entire area needs proper bracing, especially since yours is all fibreglass.
 
I suppose it would depend on the fiberglass construction - type, thickness, technique, etc - but there are cars made with entire fiberglass bodies, where the body is a structural component. I'm wondering if this kit was bonded to the chassis appropriately, could the fiberglass structure be a integral aspect that does not require a lot of extra bracing? I'm not saying it could, just posing a thought.
 
I was a chicken when it came to sawing away the metal. I left quite a bit, bending some of it to actually become bracing by bonding it to the fibergalss in several spots. This seemed to help retain rigidty. All the fenders were cut like the pic. The total weight for my car is still slightly under 1900lbs.
 

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Progress update: I welded up the rotisserie and assembled it, I removed the engine from the donor Acura, and I removed every nut, bolt, part, wire, and line from the body of the X. I still need to strip down the doors and then I am ready for it all to get media blasted. There is a local fellow with a mobile media blaster - he primarily uses fine glass beads - and he is very experienced with automotive. He will come to my place and blast it all except for the hood - too much risk of warping on the hood. Then I'll find out if I still have a car left after all the rust is gone! And how much repairing will be required - some is obvious but I expect to find some unknown areas as well.

Here are some pics:

Body on Rotisserie2.jpg


Body on Rotisserie1.jpg


Might take a year just to sort out this mess:
Wires.jpg


Here is the K20A2
K20A2.jpg
 
I would like to use the instrument cluster from the Acura. Pretty sure I could make it fit. I have the pinout, have tested some of it and for the most of it I am sure I could make it work. However the charge light and the coolant temp gauge do not have their own pins. The honda system runs partially on a CAN bus - basically a network protocol as I understand it - and there is a single pin that handles the traffic from this system. The coolant temperature and the charge light data must be part of this traffic flow. I am not able to provide the traffic info, so I would need to use a separate back end for the coolant needle as well as the charge light............not real sure the effort is worth it but maybe............

IMG_20200607_134427.jpg
 
I stripped down the seized K20Z1 engine I got with the donor Acura. Here is what I found:

IMG_20200607_134722.jpg


Every connecting rod was bent, some more than others. The crank looks real good - no spun bearings. The block looks good too - a fair bit of rust on the cylinder walls but would clean up easily with a .5 mm bore. There are some marks on the bottom edge of the cylinders where the rods may have impacted, but nothing significant. The valves look good but I have not disassembled the head yet to confirm they are all still straight.

Not real sure how this could happen - the guy I got it from indicated the previous owner had gotten water into it. If he drove it into a body of water and sucked a bunch into the chambers, could this have been the result? Seems to me if a person hydraulic'd an engine only one or two rods would get bent..............
 

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Agree with Karl.
I guess the good news is hydrolock typically doesn't cause scored bearings, burned walls, damaged head, etc, as most other failures do. Might be worth rebuilding it with new rods and pistons. Great opportunity to install forged ones with the right compression ratio for a turbo. ;)

Nice work on the X1/9 tear down, very comprehensive job.

The Acura gauge cluster would fit in a classic "hump" shaped benicle, similar to this:
Ferrari-F40.jpg
 
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