Swaps and General Blurb/Disclaimer
This article/discussion will share information about K swapping cars, primarily from a K24 into an EK Civic and from a budget perspective. I am situated in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and any pricing is based on local AUD prices.
If you are still reading, I will take it you are doing your research to prepare for a K swap. There’s been lots of information made available on peoples swaps in other countries, less so locally in Australia. It’s a bit overwhelming at the start of the journey, but you are welcome to join!
Engine swaps involve using tools, jacking up cars, going to junkyards etc. There’s risk of physical injury, many poor financial judgements and your partner will get well and truly sick of it! There’s a strong possibility you will never look at another car again without thinking “yep, K24 could squeeze in there”!
If you decide to proceed with the swap, you are taking responsibility for your actions in full. I am not looking to advise you with this information, merely sharing what I have done/come across for you to do as you please with it. I take no responsibility for your swap or what/how you choose to use this information.
Support System/Consultants
I recommend you have consultants organised before you start such as:
- Mechanic
- Engineer
- Auto electrician
- Insurance
- Mental health practitioner!
Part of conducting a swap means you will need to make decisions about what you can do yourself (and take responsibility for if it goes wrong) and what you need others to do for you. Its only stressful when something unanticipated happens and you have no one to go to, so organise these people earlier than later in the swap.
How to obtain OEM donor parts for the swap
General ways to obtain parts for the swap:
- Go to a non self serve wreckers
- Use a resale platform like facebook marketplace, gumtree, etc.
- Go to a self serve wreckers
- Buy a whole car and sell off what’s not required
- Non-Self-Serve Wreckers
Wreckers like this really exist to service trade. Workshops that need an engine today or body panel shop needing to fix a smash repair. They usually have skilled staff and carry a lot of stock.
Logic tells you this is an expensive operation and as a result, they charge a premium. Depending on who you deal with, don’t be surprised if they are dismissive of an enthusiast who wants to ask questions or see the goods first. They are running a commercial business and any delay represents inefficiency.
If you are in a hurry and have deep pockets, this is a viable option. If you want to do a rarer part build (i.e. type r parts) then this may be a good option for you. Otherwise, most will avoid this as its expensive.
2. Resale Platforms
I get why most people default to searching or posting want to buy ads on these platforms. You might find deals and buy stuff cheap, but personally I have not had success with this method, for a couple of reasons.
I usually find people are selling parts they have already removed, and there’s also usually a reason they are selling it. Sometimes its an honest process, sometimes its not. I usually found the parts would be missing something, didn’t work, were misrepresented or were damaged. Each to their own, but not really my cup of tea.
The greatest thing about obtaining swap parts is being able to take them apart yourself. You can obtain the most information about how to put it together and/or how to use it this way. Filming the disassembly will tell you later what the bolts looked like, possibly their length and so forth.
3. Self-Serve Wreckers
I love self-serve wreckers. For nerds, this is a playground with a wealth of information. However, some yards are more safety conscious than others.
Be wary of this particularly if its your first time.. keep an eye out for forklifts moving the wrecks, other people taking parts off in the yard and be super careful if you are going underneath a car – put other things under there to take the weight in case the car comes off its stand etc, it will be a very expensive trip if you injury yourself or others. Use car mats on the ground as there is all kinds glass, coolant, oil and nasty.. look after yourself first!
If you’ve never been, self-serve wreckers are fenced off yards with loads of cars which have usually been crashed, repossessed, abandoned etc. Wreckers buy these cars at auction houses, donated/sold them by the public and more. You usually pay a small fee (like $2) to get into the yard and you will need your own tools to disassemble parts of vehicles yourself and a price list around the exit showing what you will pay for parts. I will make a toolbox list as I have a specific set which I always take with me.
Also be mindful that it is a real example of caveat emptor. Its a legal concept meaning ‘buyer beware’. What this means is these yards make money off cars that have usually had a pretty unfortunate end – you need to be knowledgeable about what you are buying and whether its of sufficient quality for your purposes. There is a real risk of buying a lemon! Some yards have warranties which can be purchased for an additional fee which may be worth asking about before you make a purchase.
Hot tip is to use pragmatic logic to decide the probability of it being worth buying. Seeing the vehicle had been crash damaged hard in the rear might indicate it was written off due to the crash. Alternatively, if it has no visible damage and is in perfect condition perhaps the engine, clutch, transmission or other expensive fix was required and the car was scrapped to the yard rather than the current owner fixing it. Think this through before taking something time consuming or expensive.
Some yards may also allow a battery to be taken in (usually removed from the car for recycling) for a compression test or similar to build confidence in the purchase. Always best to ask at the yard rather than make assumptions about what they will allow.
These wreckers usually charge based on the disassembled individual parts and sometimes have a deal (or will make one on the spot) for an overall engine with accessories. Check the price list online before you go and know the deal so you can negotiate on the spot.
Leave behind what you don’t want, take what you do. The more you buy in one go, typically the better deal you will get. So there’s a few decisions to make. Do you want AC? No? then leave behind the AC compressor. Power steering? No? Then leave it behind and so forth.
There’s an opportunity to be a bit savvy here with resale too. For example, the power steering pumps, racks typically have problems on Accord Euros. So even if you don’t want it, check the resale value – it might be worth snagging it and selling it on to reduce the overall cost of your swap.
Complete engines can run anywhere from about $350 to $850 depending on where you go and how complete it is. Yes, there’s a price list but there’s also usually a bit of leeway for negotiation on larger purchases. I’ve seen some customers of these yards be pretty hard on the staff/ pretty rude and the best purchases I’ve made have always been from being super polite and respectful.
Remember, the more you buy in one go, the more negotiable the process usually is. The advantage is being able to take stuff off multiple cars and bundle the lot to purchase at once.
Consider also buying – Charge Harness, Engine Harness, ECU & Oxygen Sensors, Transmission, Shifter, Shifter Cables, Axles, DC/EG Subframe, Radiator, CRV knuckles or callipers, rotors etc etc.
I usually use this method for odd parts of different vehicles which I need and buy a donor car for the most expensive items of the swap.
4. Buying a whole donor car
This is the option I opted for an it’s the cheapest way (usually) to conduct a swap. If you buy a damaged car at auction or privately, you can sell anything off the vehicle and of the recipient vehicle if you don’t need it.
Choosing a donor is tricky and its usually a function of availability, cost, and what extent you are willing to go to in order to make use of the parts off it.
The best donor candidate would have been a DC5 Integra as it has the highest number of reusable parts. I did not use one as I could not get one within my non-existent budget. Note the DC5 is called an RSX in the states, so searching for parts or part swapping information can also be obtained from there.
- Engine & trans
- Charge Harness
- Engine Harness
- Shifter
- Shifter Cables
- High pressure power steering line
- Axles
- Rear rotors & callipers (uniqueish to me)
- Steering wheel
- Seats (with rail modification)
- Dash (with modification)
- Radiator
- Radiator hoses
My donor car was a 2005 Honda Accord Euro, manual transmission. I chose this as a donor for a specific reason. At the time I purchased it, I could buy one for $1 – $2k and EKs could still be purchased for sub $1k, usually in rough shape. The plan was to do the cheapest K swap I could..
So far, I have used off the Accord:
- Engine & Trans
- Charge Harness
- Engine Harness
- Shifter
- Shifter Cables
- Rear rotors (uniqueish to me – most people won’t use these)
I did this because I could get one relatively easily, cheaply and had the space and time.
Rule of thumb is you really need a spare single garage and a single garage to take the car apart in – so per car = double garage. Its easy to overlook how compressed all the parts of cars are – there’s loads!
Its weird to think this way, but you do well from these financially when you buy the cars, not when sell them. So if you can get both cars cheap this method works well. Note, this is not usually when its necessarily convenient for you both financially and space wise. It would have been ideal to have bought the donor first, take off the good bits, wreck the rest and build the civic after – but that’s not how the cookie crumbled.
Also, the hard part is knowing what you can use for the swap and what you should either sell or trash. Making mistakes here can ruin the process.
- I sold my steering column, steering wheel as one chunk. Massive mistake as the ignition and its transponder receiver control unit was still attached… nooooooo!
- I sold my drive by wire unit with my manual pedal set, big oof as I wanted to use drive by wire and knew better!!
The best part about doing this was learning more and more as I took the cars apart about the differences and had to research what to keep etc. I learned a lot about this process doing this.
Toolbox – Self Serve Wreckers
Its tempting to take all the tools you own, the kitchen sink and an chilly bin full of cold snacks. Ahhh the life.
Unfortunately, depending on the size of the yard it can be a bit of a walk carrying everything to each vehicle. If you take too many tools and end up forgetting some/leaving them in the yard – the yard usually has rules to own them, but it usually ends up finders keepers… so don’t leave your tools unattended/behind!
Also, most yards will allow battery operated tools, like impacts, drills and angle grinders so keep that in mind when buying something new. I usually buy Ozito Power branded tools from Bunnings given they are affordable, and I use them disposably. I also used this brand for other tooling for garden stuff, so try and get a brand you like for everything to win!
Keep an eye out around June/July for Bunnings stocktake sales. I usually try to wear Dewalt work pants and steel caps. Loads of pockets, durable material and a flexi band for the dad bod to roll with! Steel caps also awesome, I have kicked, dropped stuff on them and my toes are no weirder than they were before!
My toolbox contents changes depending on the vehicle I want to pick parts off. For now, the discussion will stick to what I usually take, which is my Honda/ JDM vehicle list.
- Hammer
- ½” Power Bar
- ½” Socket Wrench
- ½” Extension bars – long and short
- ½” stick of sockets – 10,12,14,17,19.
- ½” 32mm & 36mm sockets (CVs)
- T30 and T50 Male ½” Sockets (Steering Wheels & Trailing Arm Spindle Bolts)
- Powerbuilt Philips and Flat Head screwdrivers (Nice on interior stuff, doesn’t round out the screws)
- Remains of a Fuller Screwdriver Set including stubbies
- Flat heads from car tools kits as CV nut strikers
- Ring & Open-End Spanners – 8,10,12,14,17,19
- Large Adjustable Spanner (pretty useless, use it as a hammer when I forget it)
- 8mm 10mm open ended brake/clutch line wrench
- Electric Impact
- ½” Impact driver head and bits (killed the actual impact drivers)
- Vernier Calliper
- Metal Ruler
- Small 5 metre tape measure
- Window winder remover tool
- Pick set
- Wire Cutter Pliers
- Beefy Pliers
- Channel Lock Pliers
- Long Boi Angled Pliers
- Metal Trim Pry Tool
- Vice Grips
- Ear Plugs
In the back pocket I will usually carry a handful of plastic bags.
Other Tools which I may take:
- 21mm Socket (Trailing Arm Spindle Rear Bolt)
- Weighted rubber hammer (Preferred but not essential for suspension)
- Electric Drill (Nice for interior or lock work)
- Spare Battery (Backup!)
- Swazel Reciprocating Saw (Full Send)
- Latex Gloves (easier than cleaning hands on the messy jobs)
Engine
There are two main displacement sizes are available in the K series engines – K20, 2 litre displacement, K24, 2.4 litre displacement. There is a turbo K23 available in an RDX, but I’ve never seen one in person so I’ll leave that for others to discuss.
There are differences between these engines in terms of their design, capability, and power output. A simple summary of basic power figures for k series engines is freely available on Wikipedia.
K20
The most referred to is the K20 available in a DC5/RSX integra, but variants are also commonly found in Melbourne are in Civics Sports (also in some accords, CRV and a few others internationally). As earlier described, the integra is the best swap vehicle donor due to the number of parts that can be recycled off it. Further, they appear to be more common/comparatively cheaper overseas and thus there is a lot of media describing how to use them for swap parts.
K24
Commonly found in Accord Euros, CRVs and Odysseys in Australia, the most desirable of which for a naturally aspirated swap is the K24A3, found in the Accord Euro. There are a few other variants internationally which have out of the box higher power, but bang for buck, this has a good trade off particularly for those in Australia going naturally aspirated.
For those using information from the United States, the Accord Euro is called a TSX and the workshop manual for this is accessible for download online. Super helpful for disassembly/assembly and wiring purposes.
Supposedly the ‘sole differences’ between K24 variants are all head based – I do not (at this time) have one of each to do a comparison on. However, note for those going turbo, non-Accord Euro K24s are usually lower compression and may have different valve characteristics, thus are a better candidate for a boosted application. Similarly, CRVs do have a 4wd variant which could be used to also donor the 4wd system, more on that later.
K24A3s have a heavy, complex balance shaft configuration and oil pump setup to reduce vibration but is less suitable for higher revolutions, so it’s common to come across the replacement with the K20 equivalent. A windage tray and oil gallery plug are also required for this modification to work and most will refresh other OEM internals parts during the process as preventative maintenance.
Similarly, gains have been identified by replacing the factory VTC intake cam gear (from memory 25 degree) with a K20 50-degree VTC cam gear. Whilst technically a reflash could adjust the tune of a factory ECU, a programmable ECU is really a realistic option with this modification as it allows for more advance the intake cam, controlled via ECU. There are pages online disclosing that the full 50 degrees will result in valve to piston contact, I have not confirmed this to date.
Given mine was a budget build, none of these parts (other than ECU) will be changed for now but may to do later.
Transmission/Clutch and Engine Mounts
Discussions around gearbox choices typically end in tables of information or tedious monotones listing different ratios. Hybrid racing has probably provided the best information I’ve seen so far in their “K-Series Transmission Guide”.
I’ve had a few questions around “which ones the best?”. There are attributes of a gearbox that most want such as:
- Optimal Gear Ratio
- OEM Limited Slip Differential (LSD)
- Compatible with other swap parts to make it work.
- Gear Ratio
Ultimately this relates to the relationship between the engines output (Driving Gear) and the output power distributed to the wheels (Driven Gear). This ratio is tweaked in relation to the torque output of the engine, the idea being a comfortable rev range (and its resulting torque) from the engine results in optimal speeds at the wheels. (Obviously, the differential gearing and wheel size will also change the output but let’s keep it simple).
This can be expressed mathematically, and we could have a right nerd of a time going through it. However, availability really simplifies this discussion.
I already had the accord euro box and anything else would have cost more. Further, the K24A3 is not about rpm, so much as it is about making torque which would be more suitable with a longer ratio gearbox for ok street driving. Allegedly OEM CL9r and DC5r LSD will fit into this gearbox as well, although I have not confirmed this. So, decision made… or was it?
On review of the above, the other 6 speed boxes are in CTR/ITR/Type S/Si variants and suggest shorter ratio gearing would also have been more optimal.
The cost of other swap parts also needs to be considered. The cheapest shifter solution would be a stock shifter, cables, a swap adapter plate and firewall grommet. The swap adapter plates are much, much cheaper for DC5. Also, the shifter is physically thinner and a better fit on top of the chassis centre console area.
I may change this in the future, and if I do it will be for the most aggressive gearbox solution – a swapped in LSD.
2. LSD
Several gearboxes, usually from type r vehicles, have a factory LSD.
I haven’t spent much time on considering these – I knew the gearbox I had did not have one, nor would I change that in that gearbox instead of changing everything entirely.
In short, the differentials take the output of the gearbox and distribute it via axles to your wheels. They have two functions in this – they can have their own gearing and can change the distribution force to one wheel or both depending on their configuration.
‘normal’ differentials are known as ‘open’ or they allow one wheel to spin whilst they other does not. This is to allow the wheels to spin at different speeds going around a corner. This is in contrast with a ‘welded’ or solid diff, which distributes equal power to both driving wheels regardless.
The truth is, particularly for a front wheel drive car, the desired distribution is somewhere between the two. Really the goal is to force the usually non driving wheel to accept as much force as possible without the tyres breaking traction.
The logic is that front wheel drive cars breaking traction fully in the front loses all ability to steering = understeer, unlike rear wheel drive, which results in oversteer.
There are different forms of LSD but for the most part, its only relevant for those seeking it out and willing to pay for type r spec or aftermarket LSDs. Those using base model parts will end up with an open differential.
3. Compatibility
The parts affected are the engine mounts, shifter, shifter cables, subframe, intermediate shafts, and sensors. Other than engine mounts, subframe and possibly intermediate shaft – the simple answer is to get all of these with your gearbox if you can.
Shifter and cables must match the gearbox in their operation. So, if you can get them both from the donor, do it. You can always buy a fancy billet shifter later or a set of race shift cables, but OEM work fine.
Intermediate shafts have caused me a world of pain. Accord Euro intermediate shaft has the right hanger to gearbox distance but is too long for a civic or jazz swap. You need a K20 intermediate shaft, you need it off a manual car! Do not punk yourself with an automatic K20 intermediate shaft – the hanger bearing sits further away from the gearbox and is not correct.
If you have a intermediate shaft, but your not sure if its the correct one, a K20 shaft measures about 38cm in length. A CL9 or K24 shaft measures about 44.2cm in length – which is too long!
Also, you must have a K20 intermediate from a manual car. The hanger bearing of an automatic sits too far away from the engine/gearbox and thus will have the wrong angle if you try to insert it into a manual gearbox/it will foul.
I do have a spare K20 auto intermediate shaft and a K24 manual shaft, yet to try pressing the K24 hanger and bearing off the shaft and pressing it onto the K20 auto shaft.
The meat and potatoes here is the engine mounts.
Engine mounts need to match your engine series, your gearbox, subframe choice and your chassis. The options range from making your own, eBay or similar or buying branded.
Making my own wasn’t really an option at the time of starting the swap. eBay or similar really means rolling the dice and hoping they both fit and don’t break. Given these were about $300 at the time, and branded were about $900 it was tempting.
I copped it and bought Hasport engine mounts from a local, well known Honda performance shop, following discussions with the proprietor/mechanic who advised they would help me out of there was an issue with them but returning it on my behalf to Hasport if need be etc etc.
Low and behold, one of the frame mounts had a hole that did not line up with the chassis. Attempts to deal with the same person at that shop were made very clear – they were as unhelpful and discouraging to fix it properly as possible, advising ‘it will take months’ ‘just grind them out its fine’. This was disappointing given the promises made – bare faced lies when I spoke to the same person to sort it out and the kind of work required from cheapo eBay mounts instead of Hasport!
Anyway, I contact Hasport direct and was fortunate enough to deal with Brian Gillespie himself, Honda legend! Not only was that a cool experience, but upon receiving photos, a manufacturing error was acknowledged, and he sent me a replacement piece the same day! Legend! This much appreciated firsthand Hasport experience is the reason I will continue to buy Hasport mounts.
To know which mount kit to buy, is determined by the choices you make around subframe, engine height and axle angle. I will only continue to discuss Hasport mount options here, given they are my preferred mount supplier.
The front subframe houses the power steering rack and dictates the position of the rear engine mount. The position of this mount, in conjunction with the gearbox and engine mounts dictate how far forward the engine and trans are position in the engine bay.
Early attempts at producing mount kits relied on using the EK subframe and has the obvious benefit of not requiring a subframe change. For those not looking to use AC and go turbo, it will allow slightly more room behind the engine for a turbo manifold. These are still available from Hasport.
Since then, Hasport has designed mount kits using the EG/DC front subframe (EG, DC2, DC4). These kits were designed to shift the engine and trans further back in the engine bay, allow for AC (the AC compressor on the front of the engine otherwise could foul on the bottom of the radiator support) and more room for a full-length radiator to run to the now intake side of the engine bay (drivers side). The most recent iteration of these mounts appears to be their lean mount kit, which both uses the EG/DC subframe, but also tilts the engine forward allowing for more turbo manifold room without compromising on engine and trans position/ ability to run AC.
The also have two different mount positions so you can raise or lower the engine depending on whether you want ground clearance or less underside bonnet modification for fitment.
Less advertised is the improvement to the axle angle and supposedly reduction in axle stress leading to less breakages.
Things may have changed since I did this research – check out other brands (innovative etc) and see what they have on offer before buying.
To be continued