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MB2 K-Swap Civic project - from base spec to race spec


btjtaylor
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Amazing result mate! Now she's on the road it makes it easier to iron out any little teething problems and get her spot on. 

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Posted (edited)
On 7/25/2026 at 12:27 PM, Dave said:

Amazing result mate! Now she's on the road it makes it easier to iron out any little teething problems and get her spot on. 

 

Thanks both - exactly - i've already found loads of little things wrong but I was expecting that considering how much has changed!

 

I've managed to move it to my place now (it was stuck at the in laws before) so I can do a few jobs on the driveway as and when

 

Tidied up some wiring under the dash that I wasn't really happy with and mounted a fire extinguisher in front of the passenger seat - hopefully it'll never be needed but better safe than sorry!

 

The bracket I used ("The Bracketeer") wasn't really the best fit for this car, It's a bit wonky as I could only get one adjustment bolt in on the right hand side as it's a bit too short, but I managed to make it work and it doesn't foul on the seat moving back and forth

 

PXL_20260729_084813997.thumb.jpg.a0e413f7dc61b66595b0f633b7a1ceb1.jpg

 

(And yes the entire car needs a clean both inside and out. It was parked in a garage with a large german shepherd for 18 months and I swear half of her is still in the car!)

 

Edited by btjtaylor
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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Ive been test driving the car and noticed a pool of oil underneath. Inititally I thought it was power steering as i'd been making a lot of changes there but on closer inspection I found a pool of oil on the gearbox - uh oh!

 

PXL_20260729_120930598.jpg.57af665404939272c5077a0d09fa0c73.jpg

 

It turns out i'd installed the driver's side gearbox oil seal completely wrong and it had been chewed up by the intermediate driveshaft

 

 f699461c-ad10-42c2-8092-c05ee027d8b4.thumb.jpg.16fdee0cca514bae778397263aa26968.jpg

 

it SHOULD look like this (after installing a new one, this time installed flush with a seal driver)

 

PXL_20260806_174206884_MP.thumb.jpg.f934d6b5ed4dda0c977e4d4e7d03ccfa.jpg

 

Topped up the gearbox oil and so far so good (or more like refilled... it had lost over a litre which could've ended badly. At least I found it after only doing about 30 miles in the car)

 

It's going on the dyno on Monday ... fingers crossed there's no more issues and it makes good numbers!

 

 

 

 

Edited by btjtaylor
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Speaking of "bangs on the dyno..." (subtle foreshadowing)

 

What a day! 

 

Day started well with my 160 mile trip without any issues, with a half way pit stop to check for leaks. On to the Dyno, car seemed happy:

 

836147993_Carondyno.thumb.jpg.730a97c81a695c84fe81ebb1e5887714.jpg

 

It all seemed to be going well, then about half way through the session the engine coolant temperature started to climb so Jesse aborted the run. At first we thought it was just low coolant but then we noticed coolant all over the Dyno cell...

 

786198846_waterneckfail.thumb.jpeg.16942188203c20e75cefe7a8939ef1d7.jpeg

 

Turns out this pipe had managed to push itself out of the water neck. I had no idea they could even be detached until that happened! Fortunately the owner of the workshop had another K24 water neck in his stash so we managed to get it sorted, refill the coolant, and finish the session.

 

828362029_Dynograph.jpg.ca26ad2cfde7dca6a6ae397da5b116ea.jpg

 

The car made just shy of 250hp at the crank, which is about right for this setup with stock camshafts, but I'm most impressed with how flat the torque curve is - the car definitely has a lot of grunt in all gears!

 

Unfortunately, whilst this got the job done, there was still air in the cooling system and when I started by drive back the temperature reading was going all over the place, so I found a local Halfords and bought some coolant and attempted to bleed it in the car park, which wasn't particularly successful (I didnt think it would be as I had such a painful time bleeding it initially and had to invest in a vac bleeder).

 

However, after getting a lot of strange looks from passer by, I did manage to get enough air out for the heaters to start blowing warm, and this let me get the car home with no overheating. Due to losing a bit of confidence in the car, I didn't drive it home particularly hard, although I'm looking forward to having a proper ride out in it once the system is bled properly...

 

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