Just this morning I was very, very close to getting a great deal on pistons and rods for my chosen engine. Then, I started thinking about it all and canceled the deal, but let me back up and explain. I preface this with, once again I’m going mid-engine.
My brother, who’s using the GM supercharged 3.8l V6 in his Stalker, of course thinks that it’s the no-brainer obvious choice. I said there aren’t decent transaxles for it, and adapting one to it seemed silly, but he said with enough effort I could make it work. Exactly… I don’t want to reinvent the wheel when there are already FWD drivetrains waiting to be used, and not really heavy one’s either. I’m comfortable with Honda engines, having built Kimini using a Honda H22A1. Because of the awesome aftermarket support, both in parts and forums, I’ve decided to stick with them.
So over the last six months I’ve been thinking about which drivetrain I’d like use. While Midlana will accept many drivetrains, I still had to pick mine. Naturally I was drawn to the largest 4-cyl that Honda makes, the K24 (2.4l). There are four variations, going in the CRV, Acura TSX, Euro Accord, and USDM Accord. Each has different power levels, with the TSX being the highest, Unfortunately for that very reason, it’s the most desirable and sought after. On the other hand, the Accord, making about 20% less power, is typically about three times cheaper – really. Many people convert these over by adding a better head, changing the pistons, rods, and so on. It wasn’t until today that I started rethinking my whole engine selection. If I get the Accord engine, I’ll have to build the engine before I can use it; that wasn’t the intent at all, I want to drive the car as soon as it’s on its wheels. Then I started adding up the costs of getting a Accord engine to what I want and was surprised that, for the money, I could just go straight to a 200hp TSX engine. It’s a slam-dunk solution; buy it, put it in, and I’m all set. Even better is that when I go forced-induction, zero internal modifications are needed. [that’s what I thought at the time, hah (Sept 2016)]
Of course, don’t expect what I say today to be what I do tomorrow, as I’m full of vague nebulous ideas that come and go all the time. Just because I come up with something doesn’t mean it’s going to stick around, and it can be discarded like yesterday’s Hollywood starlet. On the other hand, I realize people like reading along, following my thought process, be it smart or completely idiotic. Anyway, the more time I spend typing the less I have to work on the design, so I’m off to work on that. I’ll discuss the plan in more detail in future entries.