k20a3 swap

[02hondaEx]

hello everyone, i just bought a complete k20a3 swap with 14,600 miles on it, if i swap this in my em2 coupe and a cop pulls me over would i have to take it out, i live in california, i dont know much about this swap

 

[kyle10182]

take it to a shop that does BAR swaps. But they'll tell you that a A3 is a waste....they only make 155 hp and 139 trq....not really worth it.

 

[02hondaEx]

it is a waste but i was thinking of turboing it by greddy so hopefully the car is legal, if i turboed my stock engine it would not be as good as the k20 though

 

[kyle10182]

it would make more power then the k20a3...i would hope.

 

[jonathan2006]

it would make more power then the k20a3...i would hope.

?

 

[kyle10182]

?

putting a greddy turbo kit on his stock motor.

 

[J_MAK]

k20a3 motor is really not worth it unless, of course u take the head of a k20a motor and get a k24 block put that together as your swap ...only then you will be making serious power...thinking about boosting the car??? you might wanna think twice if you really wanna do that, like most people would say, you're only shortening the life of your motor if you get it boosted...but hey its your car so do what you gotta do!!!

p.s. about the your car being legal if you swap...its legal if the motor is newer than the car you're putting it into...for example: 02 civic ex...motor you'll be swapping...k20a3 out of a 03-up base RSX or 03-up Civic si...

 

[kyle10182]

the A3 head is useless, too. it uses a completely different design (VTEC system included) then the K20a head you are thinking of...

 

[2k5civic]

boosted d17 FTW !

 

[toneekay]

hey if you boost the d17, itll cost you 4k the most.. if you swap the K, itll cost you at least 6-7k.. snakeshit has a boosted d17 and he was putting out 240whp.. thats the better way to go from how i see it.

if you need me to explain more.. k20 = $7k to get your car running... turbo d17 = $4k to get your car running.. pretty much you'd have an extra 3k left for whatthefuckever you wanna do with it.

..sounds like a plan to me ;P

 

[kyle10182]

i dont think it'd cost $7k for an A3 swap in an '02 Civic...

 

[02hondaEx]

thanks for the comments guys, to be honest im not sure about boost, i was thinking of swaping the engine, and doing all motor to it, i only paid 2k for the whole intire motor from my freind and it has everything, i know im going to need alot of stuff for it but i dont think im going boost i dont want to harm the engine, all motor is the way im going, and i was wondering i i can get a type s head, would i get more power?

 

[toneekay]

not $7k for an a3 but for an a2, itll cost roughly that much.. but i was just throwing out random ideas

 

[kyle10182]

if u want to go all motor, you are not off in the right direction... the A3 is just a poor choice. i dont know much about the headswap....if its possible it'd be a good idea, but im not sure what type of compression you'll get from the block.

 

[kyle10182]

NA is best though....just not with an A3.

 

[J_MAK]

thanks for the comments guys, to be honest im not sure about boost, i was thinking of swaping the engine, and doing all motor to it, i only paid 2k for the whole intire motor from my freind and it has everything, i know im going to need alot of stuff for it but i dont think im going boost i dont want to harm the engine, all motor is the way im going, and i was wondering i i can get a type s head, would i get more power?

personally i'm not sure..but then again with a better cylinder head assembly am pretty sure you'll gain quite a few HP out of the head of the type-s..please correct if am wrong!!!

 

[kyle10182]

personally i'm not sure..but then again with a better cylinder head assembly am pretty sure you'll gain quite a few HP out of the head of the type-s..please correct if am wrong!!!

i'm positive you'd gain something, but u have to consider that the a2 cylinder head is made to run on a block with a lot more compression. the A2 block has 11.0:1 compression, and the a3 block has only 9.8:1. that is going to hurt your top end quite a bit...even with the A2 head.

But again, i am not sure if this head swap is even possible.

 

[kyle10182]

the stock a3 redline is 6800, the a2 stock makes power to 8200 rpm...

 

[J_MAK]

i'm positive you'd gain something, but u have to consider that the a2 cylinder head is made to run on a block with a lot more compression. the A2 block has 11.0:1 compression, and the a3 block has only 9.8:1. that is going to hurt your top end quite a bit...even with the A2 head.

But again, i am not sure if this head swap is even possible.

yeah, technically you're right...

 

[LowNotSlow]

Swap the A3 if you just want a car that's a little more fun to drive. People bash on it a lot but it's not a bad engine, it just isn't what the A2 is.

But there are a lot of Si and base RSX owners who are plenty happy with their cars, they get good gas mileage, you can run 87 octane, they make their torque lower in the rpm range which means they're easier to drive around town (A2 makes 2-5 more lb feet torque but higher in the rev range).

They also boost reliably if you stay under 300hp and get a good tune. All in all not a bad swap for 2k and certainly more fun than the D17.