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The power steering motor is on there but all the hoses and stuff is on the drivers side, he would just need to get custom hosing done and it would work again. That's exactly what Jeff at IB said.

 
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Answering number 5) Since the intake and exhaust manifold are on opposite sides now, the exhaust has a lot of room in the backside to get a turbo put in, if you look at the pictures you can see the intake manifold being really close to the front of the car, I don't think he would be ablr to get a supercharger and an intercooler for a turbo would be the same as our civics because it would go in the front of the radiator which reamins in the same position... I think, let's look at those pics again. I'll also be listening for that in the one and only film shots (mine) that we got.

 
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yea... jeff from IB said it should be easy to put a turbo on there cuz there is plenty of room... and aaron said thats what he was planning to do next...

 
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Hey guys, I just arrived back in Houston sometime on Sunday afternoon. After putting 1500 miles on the car in a 24-hour period, the car still runs like a champ! Jeff and I beat the hell out of the engine and tranny during our 'test drives', and I imagine we've burned some oil. I'm going to change the oil sometime this morning to see exactly how much has burned. The engine and tranny appear extremely strong and rock solid and they sound TERRIFIC!

Oh my god let me tell you - I've never heard anything as loud and as mean as this motor! I don't know if all Type S's sound like this, but iVTEC sounds like a BEAST when it kicks in. It sounds pretty loud during those videos, but I remember during the first test-drive I did with WD40 and my friend Willis - we had iVTEC going and the sound was absolutely ear-splitting. That was when we passed the Integra on 91 and he gave us a crazy look like "WTF???" Haha...

And it's not just the sound of iVTEC that I love... even when I'm revving the engine at idle or when I'm normally accelerating through the gears, the engine just has that unique GROWL that I can't get enough of. The funny thing about my new hybrid setup is that my engine is way louder than my GReddy EVO catback exhaust. Like I said, I'm not sure if all DC5's sound like this (because honestly I can't say I've ever heard anything resembling my current motor)... maybe it's partly a result of the particular way in which IB mounted the engine, or the fact that there's a lot of empty space surrounding the K20A2 (my engine bay looks a lot emptier than a factory DC5). But yeah whatever the reason is - I LOVE THE NEW POWERPLANT!

The close-ratio 6 spd transmission is fun to play with; right now I'm still getting familiar with which gear is appropriate for which speeds, etc. Getting into 6th gear for the first time is kind of weird, and the ratios on the K20A2 tranny are so close that when I'm accelerating from a stoplight I literally find myself shifting every 1.5 seconds or so just to get up to 55 mph in 6th gear. Unless I'm trying to go really fast, I usually try to shift around 3000 rpm or so. Well when I shift from 1st to 2nd at 3000 rpm, about half a second later I'm already at 3000 rpm again. Like I said, the 6spd tranny is definitely very cool, I just need to drive it around town some more and get really used to it. One thing you have to be careful about with this many gears is misshifting - I've misshifted two times (trying to go from 6th to 4th, and I accidentally punch it into 2nd gear). You guy saw the first misshift I did during one of the videos (when the tach goes off the charts... lol) - but I was able to punch in the clutch really quickly and nothing appears wrong with the motor.

Having no power steering is a big chore, though. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, since I drove a Mazda truck for 3 months w/no power steering. But steering the Mazda is a piece of cake compared to the Civic. Taking away the power steering on my Civic makes it extremely hard to turn the wheel when I'm not moving or moving slowly. From a standstill, my steering wheel feels like it weighs 50 lbs. and it takes two hands a lot of effort to get the wheels to move at all. But when I'm moving on the freeway, steering isn't a problem. In fact, when I'm moving, the steering is a lot more responsive and I feel the road a lot more. Trevor at IB told me that it wouldn't be that hard to get power steering working again, and I'll look into doing that real soon.

Well that pretty much sums up my review of the new setup. I'll be posting technical specs on my hybrid configuration as well as giving a recap of this weekend's events in the next few msgs.

Cliff's Notes:

- Motor runs great
- Motor / tranny sound mean and loud - I LOVE IT!!
- Hehehe hehe hehe hey Butthead - having no power steering can SUCK
- 6spd transmission means lots of frequent shifting during normal city acceleration and takes some getting used to, but is a definite plus

 
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I spent a lot of time at ImportBuilders talking with Jeff, Jerry, and Trevor about all the improvisation, custom work, and blood, sweat, and tears they put into getting this swap to work. IB definitely gets all the props in the world from me! They showed a dogged determination to get the job done no matter what, and proved that they are one of the rare shops that is capable of taking on and finishing a project like this.

The front axle they put into my car is actually a hybrid itself. The inner axle is a brand-new factory Type S axle, but the outer portions are actually taken from a used GSR axle. Suffice to say, there is no axle like it in the entire world. Using the GSR outer portions is the only way they could get the axle to fit my car, short of spending an outrageous amount of $$ to buy an entire new factory RSX OEM front suspension setup.

The mounts that IB custom fabricated are a beautiful work of art! They tried finding a wrecked RSX to use the OEM mounts for the swap, but after calling up about over a dozen junkyards they couldn't find one so they decided to make their own mounts. For some of the mounts, IB literally took some pieces of metal and bolts and molded and welded it until they produced the structure that they needed. I know for one of the mounts, IB used a mount from a '96 Civic hatchback as a starting point for modifications. And as we've discussed before, the entire subframe is custom-made from a combination of sheet metal and OEM RSX parts.

The engine coolant container had to be removed since it was sitting exactly where the intake manifold of the new engine is supposed to go. Jerry rigged up a custom coolant return line (visible in the photos) that hooks up to a plastic container that sits to the right of the engine near the front of the engine bay (not visible in the photos). And as you can see from the photos, the battery is mounted sideways on the right side of the engine bay. Because of the way the battery is mounted, I don't think it's possible for me to install an Injen or AEM cold air intake.

There is plenty of space to add a turbo for this motor, but I'll wait for at least until the middle of next year to seriously consider that. Jeff says that the new K-series should be great for NA applications, so I'll have a lot of options available to me.

Like I posted earlier, the engine runs GRRREAT! However, the OBD system is still throwing one DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code). I need to take it to a Honda or Acura dealership to see exactly what it is. It shouldn't be that big of a deal; IB and I think it's related to the fact that the O2 sensor may be sitting farther than where it normally is. This is because Jerry made a custom downpipe and some exhaust system modifications to make everything fit correctly.

(cont'd in the next msg...)

 
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My entire stay in LA was pretty hectic. Well actually the flight was ok and everything until 5 or 6 pm was pretty chill. Then after 6 pm it got really hectic. I gave ImportBuilders a call at 6 pm to make sure everything was A-OK, and they told me that when they were driving the car, something cracked and oil started to spill out (!) They determined that a crack had formed in one of the housings that surrounded the motor, and they had all their mechanics working on the car right now to fix the problem. They told me the car would be ready in a few hours after the JB Weld had sealed and they made sure the leaks were 100% fixed. It turns out that the cracks were caused due to improperly handling by the guys who took the motor out of the original car (something to do with them using a crowbar to pull the motor out). IB has plenty of experience dealing with used motors and they've seen everything that can and does happen with used engines, so they were able to spot this problem and fix it as soon as it happened.

Well remember the LA meet was supposed to be around 7 or 8 pm. I was riding in my friend's Integra, and we still had to pick up his girlfriend and then head over to IB to pick up the car. Because of the crazy LA traffic, we didn't get to IB until about 9 pm. When we got there, Trevor and Jerry were still checking the engine to make sure everything was ok. It wasn't until about 11 pm until they gave me assurances that the car was ready to take back to Houston. I felt really bad that the LA guys who were waiting at the IKEA while I was still at IB waiting for them to fix the car. Around 9:45 pm or so, CivicHX01 (Andrew) called me up and asked if it was ok if all of them went down to IB to check out the car. Jeff was sure, and everyone rolled in around 11:30 pm, right at the same moment Jeff and I were pulling out of IB to take the Civic out on a test drive.

Unfortunately I did not have enough time to get a dyno run on the new hybrid Civic. This was because IB already had two cars to dyno before the end of the night - a couple of guys in an H22 Accord who had driven all the way from Arizona, and some other guy in a black Integra (250 whp all motor). If I could have stayed until the next morning, I could have gotten a few dyno runs in. But my schedule did not permit that, and I had to leave for Houston by Friday night.

Jeff and I estimate that the new motor is probably putting out about 10 hp less than it normally should because of the restrictive Civic catalytic converter. This should be easily fixed with a Carsound cat or with a straight test pipe. As it stands right now, the difference is only slightly noticeable to people who have own a Type S or are really familiar with how a Type S drives. My exhaust system makes up some of the difference, and I think that having no power steering or A/C also helps a bit. Like I said before, the motor pulls and sounds great, and it's pretty exciting to know that I have another 15 or so whp awaiting me when I fix the cat problem and get a better intake.

 
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Oh yeah, I also asked about the possibility of a B-series swap. Jeff and Jerry both said that a B-series motor could probably use our stock mounts and would have no problems fitting in and wiring up. In fact, swapping in a B-series would probably be easier than the K-series swap they just did.

This is pretty exciting news - now who is going to be the first to swap in a B18C5 or B18C1 into our cars? [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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Another thing about the new hybrid setup - as you can see from the photos, there is a lot of empty space in the engine bay. The new K-series motors are pretty small and lightweight, and I am experiencing ZERO additional understeer. If anything, the new setup weighs even less than my stock D17A2 setup. This is just in response to all the folks who are saying that my front end was going to be weighed down considerably by the new, 'bigger' motor.

EDIT: The fact that we were also able to keep the stock gauges is a big plus. As you can see from the videos, the tach is right on the dot and the rev-limiter kicks in at precisely 8200 rpm. No need attracting unecessary attention with an aftermarket tach when the stock one works just fine.

 
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Lest I forget - I had a great time meeting all of the folks on Friday night! Sorry I kept you guys waiting a while at IKEA, and I wish I had more time to hang out. But I hope everyone had a fun time riding in the car. It would also have been nice to make up to the Bay Area to meet some folks, but unfortunately I did not have enough time.

Big thanks to everyone for all of their ideas, tips, and support! And big props to ImportBuilders for getting the job done! IB has proved that they can do the impossible and will do any and everything to get the job done. I will not hesitate to bring my car back to LA in the future for IB to tune and work on.

And most importantly - I would like to give big thanks to Jerry and Trevor at IB for putting in all of their hard work. They are the two guys 'behind the scenes' working on all of the mechanical stuff, and sometimes I think they may feel a bit underappreciated, what with Jeff being the owner and representative of the shop and all. Jerry is one of the premiere welders around and did a fantastic job with all of the welding and custom work on this swap. In short - Jerry and Trevor are two of the top mechanics you will ever find, bar none.

Trevor is the tall guy with the shaved head and folded arms standing nearest the camera. Jeff is the guy in the white shirt and parted hair standing in the middle. Unfortunately I couldn't find a pic of Jerry - he was probably in the garage, hard at work as usual.

 
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How about A/C?

 
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The compressor still there but there are no hoses hooked up to it yet. Any A/C shop should be able to fabricate some custom hoses. Right now it's just blowing air at whatever temperature the ambient air is at.

 
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Welcome back to Texas! It must have been a hard drive. I just wanted to Congratulate you again on the successful swap! Feel free to come back to LA anytime... We'll even organize a meeting if you come. So I'm guessing you're going to be retuning the car for peak stock hp right? What are your next mods?

-ak

 
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Sweeeeeeeettttt swap thnxs ak for takin the pictures and thnxs for htown on doing the swap
both of yall are my heros for this year

 
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hey Aaron dont worry...all K20A2's sound like that after 6krpm



shes ready for ya if you ever want to come to one of the mid atlantic meets [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG]

 
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It's . . . just so . . . beautiful . . .

 
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Just what the 7th Gen world has been waiting for, many prayers have been answered.

 
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Um . . . so what's with the dyno results?

 
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Aaron anytime you want to come to St.Louis just let me know

 
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Hey Aaron how you like that i-vtec...... haa haaaa I told you it would sound like a boom and then wOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH]
Just remembering my type-s. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG] be careful with the down shifting if you don’t pay attention you’ll hit 2nd instead of 4 Th. there isnt to many people that it has happend to, But it happend to my friend he wasnt paying attention he tryed to down shift from 5-4 and missed and hit 2 nd and BOOM (dont ask how I think he's a retard)
Just a heads up..... Now you’re going to have to join CLUBRSX.COM
Hope to see you and that Civic some time soon.
Hey and about that air intake I'll get you my friends email address As soon as I find it.

 
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well shiest...I want this done to my car...Ha...If I only had dough!

 
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Did you see this HTown? I guess maybe I should talk to IB??

 
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Sorry I missed the msg the first time around. Are you interested in buying the AC parts? If so, PM me... thanks.

 
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I'm looking to get a Carsound cat or maybe even a straight pipe (if I can somehow get around the emissions laws). As it is right now, the stock Civic cat hangs REALLY low (about 3" off of the ground) and it scrapes sometimes. I also need to hook up the OBD system to a scanner to find out what code it's throwing. I start work at John Eagle Honda on Thursday, so it shouldn't be a problem to find someone to with a scanner that can decipher 2002 Acura RSX codes.

 
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Hey what's up? Yeah if you could give me the name of your friend's e-mail address, I would appreciate it. I'm thinking I could probably convert your friend's AEM short ram intake into a cold air by making my own custom extension. Sorry I couldn't hang around and discuss things more with your friend and her b/f. Things were really hectic on Friday night and I just had to take off for Houston ASAP. I even left my digital camera and a bunch of car manuals over at IB, which they are going to ship over to Houston sometime.

I've already got an account on Club RSX (same userid - htowncivicEX). I haven't posted that much except on the recent Hondata thread. I try to keep up on most of the threads though, but lately I haven't visited the site that much. I should probably poke my head in the South forum, as I hear there's tons of Club RSX guys in the Houston area. I've already met Jeremy Kimble (or whatever his username is) at the racetrack near Austin - he's the black Type S that broke 13's (13.8 I think) with nitrous... very impressive.

 
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Unfortunately, I didn't have time for a dyno. I explained the reason why in the 2nd or 3rd long azz post (can't remember which one). After I clean up the remaining OBD DTC code and get a new cat, I'll probably take it to Carboy for a dyno run. LOL they are going to be like, "You again?? Holy crap you actually got the swap done!"

 
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Ok here are some memorable quotes from the videos, and the background context for each one. I realize sometimes it's hard to hear what was said in the video, since we were driving with 2 windows down the whole way.

#1: (Aaron on the 91E freeway)

"I know what this car can do, and I know what it CAN'T do..."

I said this immediately after WD40 spotted a Lamborghini at the intersection of Euclid and 91, right before I turned onto the freeway. "Holy shjt that's a Lambo!," exclaimed WD40 immediately before the video started recording.

#2: (Aaron on the 91E freeway)

"Uh.. uh uh I kinda took it a little high there. In fact I think I took it up a little TOO high there..." <5 seconds of stunned silence in the car> "FVCK man, that went up HIGH man! That went up, like..." And then someone completes my sentence, "... all past the line and shjt!"

What a CLASSIC clip... LOL this was after my 6th to 2nd misshift. It took me a few seconds to realize the car was alright (I was worried about bending a valve or something) I can laugh about it now because there was no damage to the engine, but yeah that just comes with the learning curve of a 6spd transmission. Well at least that's my excuse for doing something stupid like that an hour after getting the car [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG] [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

Anyways, about my rant on the new 55 mph speed limit in Houston:

It is totally retarded to reduce the speed limit from 65 / 70 down to 55 mph. What has happened is that half the people obey the limit, half don't, and about 90% of the people during rush hour still go as fast as they can humanly possibly drive. So it's really hard to do 80 because some grandma is always doing 55 mph and you don't want to kill her and her bingo partners. The Houston cops themselves say they don't really give a rats azz about enforcing the new speed limits, and Governor Rick Perry is trying to get it repealed. The new 55 mph speed limit is supposedly to help reduce emissions in Harris County, but all it's doing is pissing people off and making people break the law every day. What a mess...

#3: (Aaron on the 91W freeway)

"I think he's trying to take a picture. I sure hope he knows what he's doing."

This was when WD40 was riding in his Civic alongside us, window down, and leaning over trying to take a picture of us while we were both still driving on the freeway! I was worried he was going to wreck or something, but he ended up getting the picture off (I saw the big flash) and all was good.

#4: (Aaron hits a dip going 40 mph)

LOL another classic... the car is ok, trust me... it's been through a lot worse than what was on that video. My car is slammed pretty low, and I've high-centered it on a piece of pavement before. In that particular situation, my car was literally teetering see-saw style on a piece of raised pavement. I had to rev the shjt out of it to get it moving. And now there's a line scrape on my exhaust pipe that goes all the way down the b-pipe. But anyways, I totally forgot about that dip in the middle of Williamson street. Silly me - now you understand why Jeff pulled into IB from the OPPOSITE direction (see the video 'Aaron pulls into ImportBuilders'... it was actually Jeff driving the car and me riding shotgun).


So I hope everyone enjoyed the videos... they sure bring back memories of a crazy night I don't think any of us will forget for a LONG time!

 
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We will never forget, right guys? Jeff? Chacho? Eric? Andrew? Enrique? And the rest?

Thanks for taking us out for a spin. How was your trip back to Texas? Did you try to Top your car (mph)?

 
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Well the fastest I took it was probably around 85 or 90 mph. I have to be REALLY careful now not to get a ticket. I just got hired by John Eagle Honda last week, and my new boss said I can't get another ticket for like a year and a half, or John Eagle won't be able to hire me. This is because I racked up 3 speeding tickets from 2000 through 2001, and if I get another ticket then John Eagle's insurance will probably refuse to cover me. Keep in mind that employees at a car dealership are expected to drive customer's cars around, so this is one case where an employer actually cares about petty things like speeding tickets.

So yeah notice in those videos that I was careful not to take the car over 80 mph on the freeway. I also had to be careful with WD40 riding alongside us, because if a cop even thinks we were racing each other on the freeway, then I could get a ticket for that as well. Needless to say, I'm not going to be racing my car on Westheimer street in Houston... ever. I WILL be at the legal drag race strip in Baytown (east of Houston), though. I've had a number of cars rev at me in the past few days. It's tempting to show them what this car can do, but I usually just ignore them or give them the thumbs down. That's not to say I don't rev really high just to hear the wonderful sound of the engine... I just won't do anything risky like street race or drive at excessively high speeds.

I did redline the car quite a number of times on the trip home. Especially in that I-10 tunnel in Phoenix. As soon as I entered the tunnel, I decided to kick it into iVTEC just to hear the roar in an enclosed area. Haha when I emerged from the tunnel all of the other cars were staring at me like, "WTF was that sonic boom I just heard???" LOL

The drive back home to Houston was ok but I was in a super rush. Basically I drove for 24 hours straight (!) from 1 pm Saturday until about 1 pm Sunday. I stopped about half a dozen times to take quick 15 min. and 30 min. naps, but other than that I drove pretty much from Blythe, CA (border of Arizona and California) to El Paso, TX (border of Arizona and California) by midnight Saturday. I had to be back in Houston by 1:15 pm Sunday to attend to some urgent familiy business, and El Paso to Houston is a 11-hour drive, so I didn't have time to stay at a hotel or even sleep, for that matter.

I didn't even have any coffee or Red Bull to help me out. All I had was two Subway sandwiches, 3 bottles of Powerade, and lots of willpower. So step aside, Jared - I think I could be the new spokesperson for Subway sandwiches [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]

After I took care of bizness in Houston, I just ate a quick meal and crashed for like the next 10 hours. I woke up and never felt better in my entire life [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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yea i sure will never forget that night.... and don't forget my cousin oliver too! hahaha!

all he could think about is getting his car... i think he wants a hatchback now and wants to swap something in there...

 
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aaron, glad everything worked out and got home safely. i really wish you could've stayed here in LA a bit longer... remember though that you are always welcome here and like alex said, we'll organize a little "welcoming party" for you when you come back! maybe by then i'll have my B20 swapped in by IB ahhaha!