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BeauJanglez KRaZy build

10K views 36 replies 9 participants last post by  BeauJanglez 
#1 ·
Little introduction:

Name is Beau - I am 32 years old and work in Software Development. I started working on Hondas when I was around 16, and have had quite a few cars through the years. In my late 20's I took some time away - bought a hybrid - and focused on life, but I have been having the itch. Since I paid my Z off last year and got a new Daily Driver - I figured why not do something not many people have done.

Here is an album of some of my past cars: https://imgur.com/a/UEzs5En

My favorite was my red EK... full tuck w/brake lines.... so clean.


Anyway - So my CRZ has been a great car - and I kept it relatively stock for the most part up until a few months back when I did the brakes and threw some wheels and springs - and got the bug... but here it currently is:



Current Mod list:
D2 Coilovers
Drag Racing 16x7,.. somethings
15mm spacers in the rear
Front lip
6000K HID conversion
Stop Tech Drilled and Slotted Front and Rear Rotors w/Ceramic pads
Sony XAVAX100
Pioneer kids
Pioneer Tweeters
Rockford Frosgate 12in all in one Amp/Sub

And that is about it - it has been a car for comfort for most of its life... but big things are to come.

I am currently collecting parts for a KSwap... but my car is also a CVT model, so I will be swapping it over. Now now before everyone gets their pitchforks and say "IT WILL NEVER WORK!!!!"... keep in mind - all of the stuff that would get in the way (auto stop, hybrid system, etc) is going out the door. The car is running a 06 SI ECU, so I am not too worried about it. However I am not tearing my car down until I get my shop manuals in for the 06 SI and 2011 CRZ so I can see exactly what is on the Body Harness plug for the engine.


Ok, now that is out of the way - Back to the Swap - I picked up my K24 out of a wrecked TSX the other day - has around 110k on it so I will be doing a freshen up on it. Along with the normal bolt on swap parts. So far I have:

K24 Long Block
K20 Water Pump
K20 Oil Pump
K20 Factory Oil Cooler
RBC Intake Manifold
TSX Throttle body ---- Probably will be upgrading to the RX8 throttle body in the future once running
AEM Fuel Rail
06 SI ECU
06 SI Engine Harness


I am waiting on my mounts to get a trans. So far I have bought 2 off eBay and both have fell through. The junk yard I got my long block has a Z1 for 1200, but would like to find it a little cheaper incase I have to get other parts.

I picked up most of the 6 speed stuff from another user parting out a wrecked car (finally got EX pedals yay) and will have to get shifter cables (again really waiting for trans).

Anyway just wanted to get a thread going to document the build, as I believe it would be the first CVT to Manual K Swap CRZ in the country? (I know I'm really pulling at strings guys)
 

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#2 ·
I didn't take any before pics of the motor - because honestly it was so dirty I wanted to get it clean to give myself some hope.

K24A2


All dissembled and ready to start preparing for paint


Parts I am throwing away:

Parts I am keeping:


This is the color I will be painting the long block:


And parts are rolling in... once I paint and start putting everything back together ill go over my parts list:
 
#4 ·
Today I retro fitted some S2k Spoon Side diffusers on the z, but not 100% happy with how they turned out... tried to retain the front mud flap and should have known better.- it looked dumb.

Anyway, I had to do something to keep me busy from... PAINT!. People always ask why I tear down/clean/reassemble motors as soon as I get them - well for 1 - it has a 90 day warranty and I am not sure I will be done with the swap by then, so I wanted to fully inspect the long block. Also it gives me a change to reorganize the way the coolant lines are laid out. I will not be really "tucking" this bay (for now at least) but I do want to get rid of anything that isn't needed - luckily I live in a city without emissions so I have nothing to worry about there :)

I took a picture of my tape job - but my exposure must have been way off because the pic too washed out to use... but I taped everything up including any open threaded holes - it is worth it in the long run to not have paint and gunk cramped down the holes. Then I scoured everything over with a steel brush and laid down the primer:

then base:

then clear:


Luckily I did it early enough in the morning I was able to go run some errands and such while the finish cured enough to loosely reassemble the engine to begin the engine wiring harness. Once the paint dried, and cured it has this almost blue hue to it. Not sure if the humidity messed with the paint, or because the primer or what - but I dig it. Seems to be pretty durable too.
Finished product (I was messing with the lighting, under my boom lights it looks crazy:



PARTS!

P2R CRV Bracket:


Billet 360 degree thermostat housing - I got this one from a recommendation from another build thread... its pretty meh - I think it would get the job done but ordering a K-TUNED with my AC/PS delete kit)


Oil Filter Adapter - Not sure if I am going to run any gauges - but these are pretty straight forward... pretty useful for different things too (catch can, oil feed, gauges, etc)


Just some detail pics if anyone gets satisfaction from clean things



my favorite part I did today - VTEC solenoid:


Valve cover I was experimenting... was going to do red but once I started assembly I went to black.


I am going bolt hunting tomorrow and going to start work on the intake manifold. Going to shave between the runners and any of the brackets I don't need then try and find someone to sand blast it to get the OEM finish back. I think I am going to finish it and the throttle body in some aluminum high temp.
 
#5 ·
Looking good! Just a tip for the next time you have to paint something and want to leave the threaded hole clean, buy a pack of foam earplugs--roll them up and let them expand in the holes. :wink2: Who knows? One day I might make my CVT a k-swap too. Sounds legit.
 
#8 ·
Yeah the K24A2 has the 3 lobe cams. the one you are thinking that comes out of accords and whatever that suv is has the 2 lobe cam. People will do K20a head swaps on them but for mine it’s pointless. It’s basically the same head that’s on the k20z3 from the 06 si. I’m contemplating on swapping out the oil pump for either a s2000 or SI pump for higher revs.
 
#9 ·
Didn’t really do much today. Washed and waxed the daily and fixed the AC


Cleaned up all the bolts from the motor. Tip- soak bolts in Apple Cider Vinegar over night. Shaking them up every little bit. Gets the rust right off!


Taped up my manifold and started grinding away. I’m not running the manifold cover (who does anyway). Also removing the emission ports I don’t need since they will be turned off with Ktuner/hondata - gotta love living in a town with a power plant close by ?

After


It got late quick. I still gotta clean it up then paint it with texture paint then silver along with the throttle body but breathed in enough metal shavings for the day.
 
#12 ·
Always enjoy a good K build. Hoping to get mine started this year..

Regarding the bolts; are you going to be zinc coating them after you have acid dipped them? If not, i'd recommend it as they will be good as new then :D
Thanks man and good luck!

As far as the bolts go, probably not. I just clean them and store them as I need them. I have replaced all the outside bolts of the motor with stainless steel Allen’s.

Not really much progress. Been researching the wiring, and what I may have to do for CVT-Manual. I think everything will be ok, just going to have to wire in a clutch pos switch to keep it factory.

Not really doing a wire tuck right now... but more like a wire-reorganization


And also added side diffusers/skirts/what ever you want to call them - I don’t care.
 
#15 ·
Regarding the CVT, I believe Nivek has this on his build, along with the relevant wiring for the K24.

Seems to be some moving on the chassis plug and de-pinning a few off the engine harness (ima etc), again seen on his build.

Quite surprised that no one does a loom for a couple of hundred £ tho. Great little car.

Annnd... Where did you get the side skirt extension thingy bc I want one ?
 
#16 ·
Regarding the CVT, I believe Nivek has this on his build, along with the relevant wiring for the K24.

Seems to be some moving on the chassis plug and de-pinning a few off the engine harness (ima etc), again seen on his build.

Quite surprised that no one does a loom for a couple of hundred £ tho. Great little car.

Annnd... Where did you get the side skirt extension thingy bc I want one ?
Yeah, you have to depin all the IMA stuff on the ECU body plug from the CRZ side. All the other stuff doesnt really come into play (gear posistion switch, etc) but I will either have to wire in a clutch switch to the ECU, or just bypass it and wire the car straight to the starter. Haven't decided which I am going to do yet.
There are 2 harnesses for the CVT/Manual conversion and I considered just buying them, but I am afraid I might run into more odds and ends pieces.

Side skirt extensions are s2000 "Spoon Style" from ebay. They are urethane and fit pretty well. I used OEM fender clips so I can take them off pretty easy (5 on each side). They are a little short but if you center them just right its not too noticeable.
 
#20 ·
This weekends goal is to get the transmission painted, replacement hardware ordered, and pretty much have it ready to go.

I bought three different transmissions on eBay and two orders got canceled and one when they pulled it sounded like the input shaft bearing was fuxord and they only wanted to take off 50 bucks so I passed. Then yesterday randomly on Craigslist this dude posted an 05 accord trans for 250 bucks!! I jumped on it. Since I’m converting to 5speed I need to make sure to put back some funds for worst case scenario type stuff for now. I will likely upgrade it in the future.

But mainly now that I have a good trans I can order my mounts and begin to tear down the car - likely will start on that in two weekends.

Anyway here’s a process pic of tearing down the old trans. All bolts removed. Ordered all new crush washers and going to give all the bolts a bath. Debating on replacing the housing bolts to match the rest of the swap.

 
#21 ·
Kind of a slow weekend. I bought a new daily (2006 accord) for 300 bucks from a girl from work, it needs a bit of work to be reliable, but took the 18's off and put my factory CRZ wheels on. Did an oil change/seafoam, fixed the power steering whine, changed the spark plugs and air filters, flushed the brake fluid and adjusted the rear drums, and buffed/waxed. I have on order new front brakes, new headlights, a few little trim pieces I need, foglight (cheaper than the bumper insert) and after attempting to the fix the ac only to find a locked up compressor, I have a new compressor, condenser, drier, and valve coming too.


I know not CRZ related, but this is huge because when done it should give me a reliable daily so I can take my time on the Z. So one step back for the moment, to take two steps forward down the road. I feel a lot more at ease now (or will once the AC is finished).

Anyway I did manage to complete re looming the harness and I have the motor finally fully sealed up. Also I painted the Trans this weekend to make it all match with the long block.

 
#22 ·
That Accord in 300 buck ?? what a deal!
Regarding the CVT: I have told you earlier that you dont need a specific CVT-Manual conversion in this swap because we are already using a manual k-series shifter and its cables, a manual ecu of Si and we will have to add a clutch paddle from a honda.(duh). Now if you bother to keep that cruise control than you have to buy a clutch paddle who has clutch paddle position switch.
The one requirement of wiring is that whether you want to keep that CR-Z starter bypass or not. That will decide which wiring route you will take. HAsport one will keep the default CRZ starting mechanism. Mine method will bypass it.
So in nutshell,its just wiring that one blue wire or bypassing. No biggy .
We have got your back,go ahead with the swap already ?
 
#25 ·
why did you take off the speedo and dashboard? any custom cluster? and what will you use for tuning?
i highly recommend Ktuner over flashpro because flashpro causes EVAp system not to work properly and thus the fuel guage readings are not correct
 
#26 ·
I wanted to have a 5speed cluster - since my car was CVT I didn't want to be looking at the PRND on the dash.

As far as tuner goes - yeah I will be going KTuner V2, I will be disabling the EVAP since I don't have to deal with emissions, and I don't really care about the chance the fuel gauge is off cause its not a daily, and I never let it get below a half anyway. Mainly going with it to disable the immobilizer to get it cranked.


Kind of an update (ill add pics later) - got the OEM exhaust off along with the Hybrid harness - if anyone does its a HUGE PITA without probably cutting it in half, but I wanted to leave the ability to put it back to stock if I ever wanted to.

Talked to Brian at Hasport - I am going to send my 06 harness and CRZ stock harness in for them to modify. I was going to attempt it myself based on @NIVEKSwrite up, but I think just to ensure nothing happens I will pay the 500 bucks to get theirs - so that is going to setme back a couple weeks but oh well - my orig plan wasn't to be done until October anyway, so I will probably be right on that/slightly early.
 
#29 ·
Haha for sure man - we'll have to get together for pics once your tailgate is fixed!

Yep I have my shifter mounted/clutch conversion done and bled and works great. For the shifter and cables I had to get a little creative. Since I am using a trans from a k24 (different casing than other k20 trans)they use a different shift bracket/holder for the cables so I had to use Accord/TSX 5 speed cables. In the car I had to cut about 2 inches off the metal bar part that connects to the shifter since the accord mounts further back then pressed the two ends back together. Kind of doesn't make sense but ill snap some pics one day when it isn't so humid.

I ordered a tuner but they sent the wrong one (in ECU instead of flash) but once the right one comes back and my wiring harness is done I should be able to crank this Bia up.

I still have to figure out an intake and exhaust and a few little button up items but its getting close.
 
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