K20 project off to a good start, volume 2

[lookforjoe]

View attachment 15302
My guess: 1-3/8”

Gotcha. At a glance, I wasn't sure what the tape was indicating, but I see the inner attachment is moved back in alignment with the outer attachment. Clearly there is latitude here since the cable ends are threaded, however it would be nice to get them centrally located to allow for even adjustment as needed.

I just realized that this can vary based on the cable ends used. If I modify the original ends to fit the MWB cables, it will have to be offset further, which is what DennisH did it seems. Rodger's looks much cleaner with the Heim joints.

 

[fiatmonkey]

Gotcha. At a glance, I wasn't sure what the tape was indicating, but I see the inner attachment is moved back in alignment with the outer attachment. Clearly there is latitude here since the cable ends are threaded, however it would be nice to get them centrally located to allow for even adjustment as needed.

I just realized that this can vary based on the cable ends used. If I modify the original ends to fit the MWB cables, it will have to be offset further, which is what DennisH did it seems. Rodger's looks much cleaner with the Heim joints.

I would be interested to see if you could use the stock/original shifter cables.

 

[sub-zeroil]

I would be interested to see if you could use the stock/original shifter cables.

nope too short.

 

[Rodger]

Rodger, I forgot to ask what you found to be the correct distance offset for the modified cable mount. Is that around 2", can't tell for sure from pics.

Inside dimension is about 1.25”. I took a piece of the 1.5” square tube that I made my rotisserie from and just cut off one of the sides.

 

[lookforjoe]

Inside dimension is about 1.25”. I took a piece of the 1.5” square tube that I made my rotisserie from and just cut off one of the sides.
View attachment 15363

Thank you Rodger. I looked at mine again & they are cast aluminum brackets, but offset should be the same if I do heim like you. Do you also have the details on the parts you used? Thanks for the trouble.

 

[stingray250]

Gotta luv those heimies!

 

[Rodger]

I looked at mine again & they are cast aluminum brackets, but offset should be the same if I do heim like you. Do you also have the details on the parts you used? Thanks for the trouble.

The cables that came with the MWB kit included two 10-32 threaded Heim joints. I picked up a couple more at a local hardware store and modified the connections at the transmission to fit them. The rods that the stock shift cables connect to are too thick to fit through the 10-32 Heim joints, so I just cut off the horizontal one and drilled a hole though the shift bracket and used a 10-32 socket head cap screw and acorn nut to connect the Heim joint.

I didn't think I could get a wrench under the vertical one to do the same thing, so I hand milled the post down to fit through the hole in Heim joint and then shortened it and cut threads in it to take the 10-32 acorn nut.

 

[lookforjoe]

Rodger, do you also have pics from your old thread of the engine bay cuts? Did you follow MWB outline or deviate? Given the quality of your pics, I'd love to see them if you can add them, or I can PM you if you don't want to add clutter to the thread...

 

[Rodger]

I have restored most of the photos to my original build thread, and for now, the later ones on Photobucket were working last I looked. https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/k20-project-off-to-a-good-start.26774/. When Brayden got into the K20 build business, he asked me for my photos as well so I created a shared Dropbox folder for him of all my photos. PM me your email address and I can share that folder with you as well. As far as changes to the MWB design, I decided to cut the firewall all the way down the the cross member to give better access to the plumbing rat's nest. That moved the access panel a bit lower, and I angled the upper and lower wall of that to give better access. I am very happy with how I did it. There were a few comments about loss of some structure by doing that, but the way I look at it, welding in the box for the access panel should add back all of that loss of the firewall metal. Who knows though? To me, the rigidity of that area of the X is a function of the entire box frame of the targa sail, the lower horizontal cross member, the rear window parcel tray, and the compound curves of the firewall over the gas tank. But like most of us, I am not an engineer, so I am looking at it from my "seat of the pants" view.

 

[lookforjoe]

I have restored most of the photos to my original build thread, and for now, the later ones on Photobucket were working last I looked. https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/k20-project-off-to-a-good-start.26774/. When Brayden got into the K20 build business, he asked me for my photos as well so I created a shared Dropbox folder for him of all my photos. PM me your email address and I can share that folder with you as well. As far as changes to the MWB design, I decided to cut the firewall all the way down the the cross member to give better access to the plumbing rat's nest. That moved the access panel a bit lower, and I angled the upper and lower wall of that to give better access. I am very happy with how I did it. There were a few comments about loss of some structure by doing that, but the way I look at it, welding in the box for the access panel should add back all of that loss of the firewall metal. Who knows though? To me, the rigidity of that area of the X is a function of the entire box frame of the targa sail, the lower horizontal cross member, the rear window parcel tray, and the compound curves of the firewall over the gas tank. But like most of us, I am not an engineer, so I am looking at it from my "seat of the pants" view.

I like this very much. I think I will approach mine much the same way. I'd rather have better access for service than scrimp on space here.

This side is a little scary to look at - Does it really need that depth removed? Can't say I've seen pics of the trans in place relative to this area.

 

[Rodger]

This side is a little scary to look at - Does it really need that depth removed? Can't say I've seen pics of the trans in place relative to this area.

Yes, you are right. I don't know why my body shop took so much out of that area. It only needs to clear the transmission which is toward the front of that cut out. Here is a photo of it with the engine/trans in place. It is a little hard to photograph, but you can see that you can be a lot more conservative here.

Where I wish I had a little more room was lateral to the transmission at the inner fender lip. You can see where I scraped the black Rhino-liner putting the engine in. It is very tight there.

 

[lookforjoe]

Yes, you are right. I don't know why my body shop took so much out of that area. It only needs to clear the transmission which is toward the front of that cut out. Here is a photo of it with the engine/trans in place. It is a little hard to photograph, but you can see that you can be a lot more conservative here.
View attachment 15477
Where I wish I had a little more room was lateral to the transmission at the inner fender lip. You can see where I scraped the black Rhino-liner putting the engine in. It is very tight there.

Thanks Rodger - so I can reduce the cut height on the inner rail, but take a little more off the outer lower lip

 

[Rodger]

Thanks Rodger - so I can reduce the cut height on the inner rail, but take a little more off the outer lower lip

Yes, not so much height needed and not extending toward the rear of the car so much. I would just punch out the lower fender lip about a half inch as opposed to cutting some away there. Be conservative with your first cuts until you do the try in. Then you will see where you need to cut more.

 

[Rodger]

There has been a fun discussion about K swap thermostat options in Hussein's new build thread, https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/preparing-for-honda-k24a3-ast5-6spd-conversion.35244/. One thing that really piqued my interest was hotx19's post of a picture of the new version of K-Tuned's universal swivel neck thermostat housing. http://k-tuned.3dcartstores.com/Swivel-Thermostat-V2-Direct-mount_p_807.html. The nice thing about this one is that it allows for the stock recirculation circuit as well as a heater return port that is on the back side of the thermostat, unlike their original one. Even though I had finished my cooling system, I was still not happy with the crammed in rat's nest look of it, even though I tried my best with the original K-Tuned housing. Ever a sucker for a pretty piece of machined aluminum , and inspired by Hussein's knowledge and creative use of the Volvo parts world, I decided to revisit my cooling system layout.

Here is the K-Tuned V2 thermostat housing. It comes with two ports on the top for the recirculation circuit and the heater return.

For the X install, we actually need three ports after the thermostat since we use an expansion tank. Since I was using the under body heater pipe for my heater return (which is opposite from the stock direction), I decided to see if I could add a third port on the bottom and use the two on the top for the recirc and expansion tank connections.

Here is my drilled and tapped new port.

Here are the three fittings installed and the housing in place.

The connection to the heater pipe is right below the lower fitting.

Since I have eliminated the external thermostat, I decided to change the supply for the recirculation circuit to the stock Honda location. The K-Tuned upper coolant housing comes with a 90 degree fitting just for that purpose.

I was using the pipe that was originally the heater return pipe in the stock engine as my recirculation supply line to the external thermstat. I cut that shorter and connected the heater supply hose to that, so now it is circulating the same as the stock Honda layout, except for the addition of the expansion tank.

I am waiting for a couple of new hoses to finish the revised install.

 

[darwoodious]

Nice Rodger. I figured I could leave all the hard work (i.e., posting to XWeb with details) up to you.

I too picked one up - not that I couldn't make my own like Hussein, but I have other fish to fry (been distracted with this)


Regarding the V2 t-stat - yeah, I saw this post from "hotx19", one of our Aussie friends, and was hooked. The original one just didn't work for me which was why I was planning on building something like what Hussein did, but while it is stupid expensive my time is still worth something so I picked it up along with the other housing.

I called the K-Tuned people and asked if the front plug on the t-stat could be used for the heater as I considered using the two top ports for the expansion tank and recirc. He said "no" but when I got the unit, I thought he was crazy as there's no reason not to do what you did. Glad you did so I think I'll follow your lead - looks pretty straightforward - just chuck it in the mill and cut away.

Haven't done mine yet, but put in on the engine - really good outlet area for our needs.

 

[hotx19]

Glad I could help you guys in someway seeing all the the tips and information you guys have given me
John

 

[kmead]

...but I have other fish to fry (been distracted with this)

That is some fine fish. Another excellent reason to dump that damned washer tank

Any chance of a picture at 90° to this, ie parallel to your wires?

 

[lookforjoe]

Nice! Should be a much cleaner layout when it’s all said and done.

I would suggest using a “pipe dope” rather than Teflon tape for all the pipe thread fittings however. Loctite makes several that are intended for high heat installs.

Darwoodious I want to know more about the lathe - maybe you can elaborate on your thread?

 

[Rodger]

I called the K-Tuned people and asked if the front plug on the t-stat could be used for the heater as I considered using the two top ports for the expansion tank and recirc. He said "no" but when I got the unit, I thought he was crazy as there's no reason not to do what you did.

I think the reason he said that was because that front blind port is not threaded the same as for their heater fittings. It is a bit larger so that fitting is too loose. It could probably work with a lot of goop in it to seal it but the angle of it is not ideal for connecting the heater for my install. It would probably be fine for a stock heater circuit where it goes through the firewall to the outside of the spare tire well, although the flow will be reversed from stock. Not sure it matters for a heater core.

Looks like you are building some sort of triangulated cross brace for the trunk. After more body stiffness, I assume.

 

[darwoodious]

Yeah... I've posted over on my "Project Overkill: Chassis" thread the details.

Regarding the thermostat and heater hookup, are those NPT threads? You had a machine shop do it or did you do it by hand? I love the idea, but I also like the idea of using the drain plug on the water pump housing as another member here mentioned - but it too would need similar treatment (drilling and threading).