Of course, there is a wide assortment of Vibrant Performance parts that have been used throughout the assembly. AES Auto was busy fabricating other pieces to ensure that everything would smoothly mesh together. The K-Tuned 4-1 header has been mated to the existing VRS 3″ exhaust with Vibrant components.
For cooling the Koyo rad that was installed for the SR20DET is repurposed and back in action. AES Auto had to do a little bit of plumbing work as the Koyo’s Nissan inlet/outlets are on the opposite sides compared to a Honda K, but that was by far one of the easier fabrication tasks of this build. A Mocal sandwich plate will be used for connecting to a Koyo oil cooler. This is simply effective insurance for any track vehicle, and I absolutely want that protection. What is amazing is that there is now so much free space in what was a horrendously tight and crowded engine bay. The absolutely astounding part of all of this is the water temperatures. Those who followed the build and story of the NX GTi-R know how heat soak was a huge issue. Five laps of our local track would be all it took to take that rad temperatures up to the acceptable limit. During the first day on track with the NX K24, the temps barely budged. I actually looked to see if the gauge was not hooked up properly!
Inside the car, the seating position has been significantly improved by AES Auto lowering the mounting points. My big request was that a seat slider is maintained, and they did that with great success. AES Auto also improved my 6 point belt installation hardware so that the mounting points are vastly stronger than how I had originally installed it. As I mention this correction, I have to tell you that AES Auto found and corrected a few items that had happened during previous builds. They were very thorough in the entire process. They built it like they were building it for themselves. It is good to know that the car is simply going to be better than ever.
While there is a lot of love in some circles for the NX1600’s digital dash, I was looking for something different and better. This involved turning to a local startup company that has been developing a dash – and I love it. MMM Engineering is based in British Columbia, Canada, and has developed a digital dash that can be hooked up to your ECU and provide a wealth of information via a touch screen. In my case, I’m repurposing the ECUMaster Classic that powered the SR20DET, which provides ECU-based information to the dash. The visuals are crisp and clear and there are several different views that you can choose from. Right now my personal preference is the standard home page, but the choices are there. The dash use is quite expansive – and allows for turbo and traction controls also. The home screen’s most useful feature is the flashing shift lights that progressively get ‘louder’ as one draws close to the red line. This engine spins up so quickly that this is invaluable. The home screen provides a speedometer, tachometer, water temperature, and oil temperature plus oil pressure information. There’s also a fuel gauge and an E sensor readout. There is so much more – but the one feature that I like is that there are five pics of my choice that appear on the start-up screen!
23 comments
you really love that car…
I’ve owned it since it came off the showroom floor – so the answer is yes.
DAMN VERY NICE. IS THERE A SWAP KIT FOR SELL ON THIS K20 INTO B13 SHELL. IM SURE ALOT PEOPLE WILL BE INTERESTED SINCE THERE SO MANY PARTS OUT THERE FOR THESE K20 MOTORS.
B13NX2K, there is no kit that I am aware of in production. Sorry.
The Ridge Motorsports Park is in “Shelton, WA”, not “Sheldon, WA”
Noch, thank you for catching that. That slipped past all of us! In the first paragraph, no less. Corrected!
Very good read on the article Frank. Enjoy the ride.
Upgraded, thank you so much. You’re very aware of the struggle that I’ve had the last few years. And know that a lot of thought went into this decision. Thanks so much for introducing me to AES Auto!
Awesome write-up Frank! Cool to see such an unorthodox (turbo to NA) swap play out in such a satisfying manner.
This K24 engine is simply silly fast. WHP drop from 360 to 280 – but at the first track day I was out all day and as long as I wanted each session with temps barely rising. I haven’t had a day like that with the DET ever.
It’s like Honda put the things it learned in the past into the K24 and made available in many platforms — Decent power, good reliability with potential for upgrades.
Awesome Build, Awesome write up! Thanks for sharing
Brycen, glad you enjoyed the article. I’m enjoying the car. It’ll be back at the track in a week.
I don’t think we got a final pic of the subframe, but it seemed like there had to be more crossbracing than the one bar with the motor mounted in it, right?
Also, that’s a 4-2-1 header that’s installed.
Hey, congrats on the build. It should be bulletproof.
That’s it for bracing, Joe! And bulletproof is the key here!
A little sad to see the SR go, but nothing better than having a track car that just works every time and nothing to think about! 280whp on a mustang is plenty of power. It would probably trap 115-120mph in the 1/4.
And for reference, my old B14 SE-R with T25 and JWT S3 cams put down 250whp on a dynoject and trapped 110mph. The poor stock VSLD wore out which made the car about worthless on an auto-x. Not too bad on a road course with big enough turns to keep from lighting up the inside tire.
Khiem, sorry that I missed your posts. I haven’t had it out to the 1/4 yet as I’m worried about the axles. I’ve lost Nissan axles in the 1/4 and they were relatively available so I wasn’t worried. These axles are one off and, while I’m having a second set built, I don’t want to risk them just yet. The M-Factory LSD is absolutely keeping the power down in corners, so I’ll have to get out to an autocross (just never been my forte), and just a few weeks ago I put down a personal best at my local track. Besting the SR20DET’s time by half a second.
Man I have a Nissan 200sx. I would love to do a K-swap in my car.
Hi Thomas, there’s now talk on the SR20 FB groups of a swap kit. Maybe it’s getting closer!
Cool to see someone throwing a K series in an NX.
I currently have the only known Nissan Pulsar NX with a K series.
Well Done! I think there are now more than one B13 chassis with the K series, but at the time this was the first running one that I knew about. Do you have some pics of yours?
Sacrilegious! what acrap of project, this articule must be remove and banned from this great webside