The tuner world is like a ‘Pandora’s box’ which will never close and the fact is you can get creative in a lot of areas. Especially outside India, the likes of Nissan’s SR20 DETs and RBs as well as Honda K-series blocks are renowned for making cheap reliable power. The K24 is one of the most popular blocks from Honda’s long list of great engines. It generally likes to rev high where peak power comes in and can rev to or more than 10,000 rpm. However, builds which get that serious tend to ignore reliability so let us delve into how to do it with a smart approach.
As the K24 is commonly used by Honda, the engine has tons of aftermarket support to do research and development. A lot of new parts are required to build this behemoth including the likes of ZRP Crankshaft made out of aerospace quality 4340 billet steel. This will be connected to pistons from JE Pistons via a set of longer rods from Eagle (from a 1.53 stock rod ratio to 1.63). The change in length reduces piston speed at the Top Dead Centre (TDC) which improves volumetric and thermal efficiency ensuring a smoother power delivery. The rods are paired with ARP 625 Custom Age rod bolts. JE also recommends piston pins with thicker walls which add weight but improve reliability when the throttle is tested to its limit.
In addition to it, the first piston ring is steel while the second one is iron and both measure around 1.1 mm in thickness. The Oil rings are also adapted to be thin and low tension which comprehensively better the flow of the liquid. The King Racing metal bearings and a Fluidampr harmonic balancer effectively mobilise the engine for handling the revs. The cylinder heads needed to be changed as the K24 now gets a Drag Cartel CNC ported head which increases the size of the ports and cleans up the short side radius. There is also the use of Drag Cartel Parts which include Camshaft which utilises the VTEC, individual throttle bodies and timing assembly parts. The intake and exhaust valves, retainers and springs come courtesy of Supertech.
A high-revving engine build also mandates the use of a Dry Sump Oil system as it prevents oil starvation when you may need oil pressure the most and this one comes from UK-based AT power. The engine build is still in process and when all is said and done, it will have an impressive compression ratio of 11.5:1 as the block is being bored out by half a millimetre and destroyed by 6mm from 99mm to 93mm.
This setup is good for 310hp on 91 Octane fuel and as much as 330hp on E85 fuel. Thanks to this, it is making a lot of power whilst being reliable and we hope this comprehensive look at the engine shows how it will stay reliable throughout the process and that should be the dream with the tuner builds after all. A comprehensive build like this helps potential people be more accepting of the idea of tuning as the amount of maintenance it will require would be lower as compared to unreliable builds. Talking about whether should you do it, we would say yes. It would be the best way to brag to your friends for thinking creatively about going about a first-world problem. Moreover, you will have the thrill of knowing you could’ve played safe and done another boring VW/Skoda build and the satisfaction of knowing that you didn’t. Just enquire with your CA before you embark on the journey of financial enlightenment.
