Project DC5: Engine Builds for Dummies! Part 3

Welcome one, welcome all, back to another edition of "Engine Building for Dummies!"  If you missed any of my previous articles on Project DC5, go ahead and click the links below:

Engine Builds for Dummies! Part 2

Engine Builds for Dummies! Part 1

You know, it's tough-- being away from home.  It's humbling.

Being alone allows for time to realize one's faults.  Without family or friends as close as the ones back home to confide in it is possible for one to gain some serious insight into one's self.

You begin to see your faults, you begin to see your negative thoughts, you begin to see how all of those things affect you.

In a way, being away from home makes you more self-aware, in my opinion.  That's one of the things I've learned while out here-- that when you're alone, you have more time for introspection.  You have more time to think.  Sometimes it's good, but for the most part it's been pretty bad for me lately.  I miss my family.

Me by Lake Michigan in Chicago

However, I always remind myself of the positive outcomes of this event in my life.  For example, I am much more technically skilled now, especially in my career of chemical engineering.

For the most part, I have become an avid forum reader.  I frequent K20A.org every day to learn more about the K motor and what it is capable of, how to build one, what parts to use, what precautions to take, who to trust, who to talk to.  The journey of this motor build so far has been a journey in itself.

And I have learned so much more than all of these things.  I have learned how to gracefully handle myself around those more intelligent and wise than myself.  I have learned to shut my mouth when I need to and how to speak when I have to.  I have reaffirmed my belief that listening is more important than anything.  Because without listening, you can't learn.

This engine build somewhat embodies all of these learnings.  And so I am glad that I can share it with you, my readers on this blog...

Over the weekend, I had a lot of fun.  On Saturday night I went ice skating for the first time in a while.  I missed ice skating.  It reminded me of the days that I used to play ice hockey; doing cross-overs while turning, skating backwards like I was in the crease again, playing goalie, zooming down the ice like I was rushing to the bench or as if I were on a breakaway.  It made me wonder if I want to get back into hockey some day.  Maybe some day.

I also went snowboarding with my roommate.

We went to Cascade Mountain in Wisconsin, an attraction rated four stars on Google.  Although the slopes were a bit icy, we both shredded mad hard, tearing up the green circles, then the blue squares, and eventually the black diamonds.  This was my first time on the black diamond!  It was also my first time catching air off of a couple of jumps while snowboarding.  I couldn't have had more fun!

However now it's back to the work week and back to more engine building.  And I really can't complain about either.  My job is dope and this engine has been going slowly and smoothly.  I guess I just get down sometimes and I can't really help it.

If you remember in my last edition of "Engine Builds for Dummies" I finished removing the timing chain cover, and the tensioners along with the oil pan.

Well, here's the bottom end uncovered!  On top of the girdle sits some half baffles, or abbreviated windage trays that prevent oil from getting picked up into the rotating assembly, and a bulky K24A1 oil pump with heavy balance shafts included.

In theory, if the engine did experience some damage which made some metal shavings appear, then they would have appeared in the oil pan.  They would have also been apparent in the oil when I drained it.  However since there was little to no oil to drain from this motor, I figured another good place to check for large debris of any sort would be in the mesh inside of the oil pickup on the pump.  

Let's take a look at the clean pickup's mesh:

Next I removed the abbreviated windage tray.

   

 Finally, after removing the top four bolts on the back half of the abbreviated windage tray, you will see your first piece of crankshaft counterweight!  What a beauty!!!  Hahah

After I took off the half baffle, I began my work on the oil pump.  For starters, you're going to want to remove your tensioner.

I plan on switching to a K20A2 oil pump which has no balance shafts.  This will provide less rotating mass which will allow me to rev higher than on a K24A1 oil pump without cavitating the pump.  A couple of things are needed for this upgrade, including:

• A 64-link Acura RSX Type-S oil pump chain (PN: 13441-PCX-004)
• An RSX Type-S oil pump chain guide (PN: 13460-PNC-004)
• A sealing bolt and washer to plug a hole in the girdle which would have supplied the K24A1 oil pump's balance shaft assembly if it were still bolted to the engine (PN: 90004-PE2-005 and 90401-PE2-003)
• Bolts for the oil pump (PN: 95701-06025-08 and 95701-08050-08 and 95701-08075-08)
• And the pump itself, of course (PN: 15100-PRB-A01)

Notice that the K20A2 tensioner is not needed for this mod because the K24 one will suffice.  That is why I will be saving this tensioner.  That's a good 60 dollars in my pocket :)

Here's the removed oil pump chain tensioner with its bolts.  I later put this in a bag with its bolts to make sure I didn't lose it.

Next I took an allen key and a cheater bar (a large copper pipe, lolz) and removed the K24 oil pump chain guide.  Supposedly this guide is too long to work with the K20A2 oil pump chain and oil pump assembly.  To fix this, an RSX Type-S oil pump guide will be needed.  Its part number is listed above.

Here is a pic of the tensioner on the left with its three hex bolts and the guide on the right with its two oddly shaped allen bolts:

I can't remember, but I believe there are four bolts holding the K24A1 oil pump onto the bottom end of this motor.  Proceed to remove the pump after you have removed all of the stuff holding it on...like the tensioner, guide, chain, sprocket, etc.

  

Looking at the pump, you can see the balance shafts.  They're just counter-weighted shafts that spin with the pump to offset vibrations.  Supposedly they're better for daily drivers, but honestly, most people don't think they make a huge difference.  So this is another reason why I care not for the K24 oil pump.

 After you've removed the pump, then you should be seeing something like this:

 ;)

Thanks for reading guys.  Until next time, you will just have to wait and see what the condition of the rest of this motor is in!

Peace.

Project DC5: Engine Builds for Dummies! Part 2

Engine Builds for Dummies!  Part 2

If you missed Part 1, check it out here.

Story Time

After sustaining a single injury from the accident I spoke of in the last post, life has been a nuisance.  I hurt my finger, so I bought a splint for it.  Before going to the gym I put a liquid bandage over my cut and headed out.  I took off my splint, proceeded to get swoll, and went home to make dinner and go to bed.

Laying in my bed I could not help but notice an extremely itchy sensation coming from my finger and the area around the cut that I received.  So I turned on the light and looked at my finger.

My finger was red and a bunch of little, red, bumps showed up all over the area on the back of my hand!  What the heck!

It turned out that while I was working out, the liquid bandage actually "ripped" and allowed the cut on my hand to slightly open up.  I touched it a couple of times working out, thinking "eh, it'll be okay" but I did not think that the gym has a WARM, MOIST ENVIRONMENT conducive to nasty things...

like ringworm -___-

Needless to say, I am living my life with a bulky finger splint and gobs of Lotrimin Ultra and antibiotic cream.  Be grateful folks..

Be grateful.

Anyways, let's cut to the chase and talk about cars, shall we?

________________________________________________________________________

Engine Time

When I last left off I had finished taking off the flex plate, crank pulley, and timing chain cover.  It took a bit of time but using the Honda Crank Pulley Tool and some big pipes I made it happen.  So here's where I begin today:

With the timing chain cover off it was time to remove the timing chain tensioners from both sides of the engine.  Using an allen wrench and a small copper tube for a cheater bar, I began to pop off the bolt for the first tensioner on the exhaust side of the engine.

Then I took a ratcheting wrench and a socket and popped off the tensioner on the intake side of the engine-- the side with the VTC cam gear which changes cam angle based on oil pressure.

Cam phasing allows the engine to run more economically at low RPM's and to obtain more torque, while providing more power at high engine speeds.  This combined with the two different cam profiles of the VTEC system is what makes many of today's engines so efficient.

Here's the water pump that comes off of a K24A1.  On the K20A2 motor for the RSX-S (02-04), the difference is that there is a small wall separating a second galley which allows for heat transfer between oil and the coolant that flows through the water pump.  This basically means that the K20A2 has a oil to water heat exchanger.  I'm just using fancy engineer talk :)

People often switch these water pumps for the K20A2 water pumps, however another water pump housing and other miscellaneous parts are needed for this conversion.  The logic is that having an oil cooler is more beneficial for the engine-- so why not use an OEM one.  However, my friends and I question that logic...considering water is hot...and so is the oil, so how efficient can these K20A2 water pumps be as heat exchangers?

I will most likely be running an external oil cooler if I get this engine back together and in my car.

The water pump on the left is K24A1 and the one on the right is for the K20A2.

So now let's go over how to take it off.  There are six bolts holding it on.  All you have to do is get an extension, a socket, and a ratchet.

Next I began to remove the water pump housing.  Again, this is something that must be changed out to do the oil cooler water pump mod from the K20A2 motor.  The reason is because the face of the housing mates to the face of the water pump and the galleys would be different.  Check out the pic below:

To remove it, there are three bolts and one nut to remove.  I already moved the top bolt and the top nut, so the following pics show the loosening of the bottom two bolts.

Before taking the whole housing off I cracked it slightly away from the block because it's sealed on there.  It's a trick we use at my chemical plant to prevent excessive spills of fluids when opening flanges.  I know the coolant would have spilled out with the pump already, but I'm more cautious than others I guess.

Here's the mating surface of the housing to the engine.  It looks like oil flows on one side of this housing as well and is separated from the coolant.  I imagine some heat exchange occurs here.  Maybe a mechanic could help me know for sure!  Comments are welcome!!

 Here's where the block mated up to the water pump housing:

For hot weather in PA and for the sake of retaining daily driveability, I will most likely be keeping AC.  However if I'm looking for extra power and saved weight I may actually delete the AC.  The thing is, I don't plan on deleting power steering.  Even though it will save me weight and make me power, the plan for this car is to auto cross and eventually hit up the road course for some racing.  Without power steering this would be very difficult...though AC may be able to go!

The reason I bring this up is because the next thing I did was remove the AC compressor bracket!  This part is replaced when buying the Hybrid Racing power steering and AC removal kit.

And if anyone needs it for any reason...here are some pics of the AC compressor bracket...not sure why I took these.

Then I lined up my sweet Menards Bucket that I stole from my landlord and prepared to DROP THE PAN!!!!!  HAZAAHH.

This was my first time doing this so I was excited and nervous to see what kind of damage and wear was existent on the bottom end.  I was mainly concerned with the crankshaft and not the big ends of the con-rods considering I plan on using aftermarket i-beam rods.  And considering I've never built an engine before, I'm going to assume I'd be replacing all of the bearings anyway.  I will be using OEM color-coded Honda bearings.

Flipping the engine over on the stand...

With the block upside down I proceeded to remove all of the oil pan bolts.

Then with the engine upside down I proceeded to remove the bolts holding the oil pan to the girdle.  Then I took a dead blow hammer and knocked the pan off of the bottom end.

And checking the oil pan, there were no metal shavings!  So far it's looking good :)

Anyway, I'm going to have to end it there and let you guess what comes next.  Stay tuned for the next installment of "Project DC5: Engine Builds for Dummies!  Part 3."

Until then thanks for tuning in :)