Weak points on turbo K20A3

[lemonhead228]

Why try to push the a3 to 350 whp and worry every time you go wot... well you have plans already if it blows so why not just test it out and prove us all wrong.. they just mention swaps cuz its gonna be more reliable than the a3..

[gtimportfanatic]

Why try to push the a3 to 350 whp and worry every time you go wot... well you have plans already if it blows so why not just test it out and prove us all wrong.. they just mention swaps cuz its gonna be more reliable than the a3..

if you read the thread u would realize why.. its not to make the power its to prove that the power can be made... it's called venturing lol

[Onasty]

if you read the thread u would realize why.. its not to make the power its to prove that the power can be made... it's called venturing lol

Venturing is fun but not on a daily driver, unless you have a back up engine. I had to worry too much on my setup when i was venturing.

[lemonhead228]

if you read the thread u would realize why.. its not to make the power its to prove that the power can be made... it's called venturing lol

I did read the whole thread and I understand what he is trying to do. Of course he will make the power but how long will it last? If its my dd, I wouldn't think twice wasting my money to prove a point. Well good luck on it if you go.

[Ba82Ep3]

On top of that, there's probably 10,000 posts of people dogging on the motor because regurgitated BS they heard from a friend of a friend who probably had a shitty tune in the first place...

This is the number one reason you should do it... to show it can be done.

Kevin's post holds merit. Single dingle (d15/16) owners have spent YEARS trying to prove to the community that boosted power can be reliable on the engines so many people threw away years ago for more popular swaps.

Sound familar?

One can consider the tunability of KPro (or any standalone for a k series for that matter) an asset that d/f series owners would have killed for 20 years ago. Even moreso... the knowledge and EXPERIENCE that comes with TIME spent finding out what works... and what doesnt (hole in the block).

Sound familar?

So... heres to the daily beaten k20a3.

Admittedly mine isnt boosted yet but... every time i turn the key im reminded of how wrong so many people are/have been over the reliability of the k20a3 (small rods and mains take a beating NA as well yanno?). Anyone that knows me/how i drive, will attest to the durability of what is under my hood. But they will also tell you how much time i take tuning and maintaining my shit box. Its all part of it.

If it were me, i would tune at 15psi with less advance than 10psi and more advance (and mind you my boost tuning is based mostly on SC'd setups, so feel free to tear this statement apart). Let the boost do its job without excess advance. The only bad thing about this is (and this will be more noticeable if he tunes each cam angle, which in itself can be a roll of the dice with every pull)... some cam angles will work best with more advance and others will work best with more boost. So, if you tune around complete reliability (less advance), depending on the turbo used, i can imagine the engine being extremely weak off the snail. Either way its going to be a compromise...

[MugenReplica]

Not a K20a3, but I've always thought a K20a2/z1/z3 bottom end with a K24a1 head would be an amazing setup to play around with....

[Ba82Ep3]

Not a K20a3, but I've always thought a K20a2/z1/z3 bottom end with a K24a1 head would be an amazing setup to play around with....

Thats basically what i have... minus the crank and rods... and the k24a1 head has flipped pin VTEC. The only thing im missing is another 1k 'safe' rpm VS an a2/z1/z3 complete bottom end (which is debatable). The plans were to boost (10psi), so i wasnt concerned about that tho... power to 7500rpm was all i cared about.

[gtolio]

every time i turn the key im reminded of how wrong so many people are/have been over the reliability of the k20a3

This is the reason for the thread. I think that a large amount of the information about how much various K-series motors can take, which is presented day in and day out as fact, is inaccurate. People told me for years before I turbo'd my car (and people still tell me today) that "there is absolutely no way" a stock A3 can handle over 300whp. Well guess what, I'm at 322 and have been for 4 years now. People say the rods are weak on the K24A4 because they are small (which is correct). I have a friend that ran that motor for over two years at over 500whp with zero issues.

I have a perfectly good motor in my car right now. I'm not looking to swap (right now anyways) unless something does go wrong. I'm not asking what the best way to get to X amount of horsepower is. It's clearly a different motor. If I wanted to make 500+, I'd know exactly how to do it already. All I'm asking is, how much can this one take. I'm sorry if that rubbed anyone the wrong way.