Tuning the Honda K24

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Honda K24 engine!"

The Honda K24 are popular engines and with the ultimate parts like ECU maps, turbo kits and camshafts you will definitely maximize your driving pleasure.

TorqueCars will look at K24 tuning and highlight the premier mods that work.

When talking about the best and most optimal modifications for your K24 engine, we are going to focus on the modifications that give the best power gain for you spend.

Altering your K24 cam will make a dramatic difference to the engine power band. Choosing a higher performance cam profile raises the power band accordingly.

NB: Fast road camshafts normally push up the bhp through the rpm range, you may lose a little low end power but top end will be higher.

Motorsport camshafts, push up the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Race camshaft makes it harder when in heavy traffic.

You should ideally optimize your torque band to your usage of the car so for a daily driver stick with a fast road K24 camshaft

Some K24 engines respond better to different cam durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The engine timing and fuel pump and injectors also will say much on the bhp gains you'll get.

Altering valve durations can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

Stage 1 modifications: Intake headers, Fast road camshaft, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold, Panel air filters.

Stage 2 modifications: induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades.

Stage 3 modifications: Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions.

The K24 engine blocks make great tuning projects and we're finding that there are quite a few choices of mods and performance parts out there.

ECU flashing should help to fully realize the full potential of all the modifications you've fitted to your K24.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the outcome usually differs on the modifications you've applied and the condition of your engine.

It is vital to any car tuning project to pull more air into the K24 engine

The intake plenum take the air from the air cleaner and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders.

The bore size, shape and flow characteristics of the Headers can make a noticeable change to fuel mixing and power on the K24.

Most air intake manifolds are needing motorsport parts, although some makers provide reasonably well designed air intake manifolds.

Adding a K24 larger valve kit, carrying out port matching and head flowing will also raise bhp, & more importantly will allow you to get increasing the bhp increase on other parts.

Turbo upgrades

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your K24

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes impressive power gains.

When an engine has forced induction tuning mods are relatively easy and turbo charged engines are built using stronger components.

However every engines have limits

Research these restrictions and upgrade to better quality components to cope with the power.

We've seen drivers spending a loads of money on turbo charger upgrades on the K24 only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the engine block literally blow up just after it's completed.

Larger upgraded turbos tend to experience no power at low rpm, and small turbos spool up more quickly but do not have the high rpm bhp gains.

In the last 10 years the world of turbos is always increasing and we are seeing variable vane turbos, permitting the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end performance.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust gases into 2 channels and direct these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there is a limitation in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the K24 when a lot more air is being sucked into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited torque at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large performance gains, although harder to configure. We have this in depth look at twinchargers if you want to read more.

Fuelling upgrades and mods

Don't omit to uprate the fuel delivery when you are increasing the torque - it makes the car more thirsty. It is important to be generous with your flow rate on the injectors.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% capacity when specifying an injector, this allows for injector deterioration and gives some spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

Exhaust upgrades and mods

Only look to upgrade your exhaust if the existing exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the flow rate is fine even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Please dont run with the widest exhaust you can find you'll slow up the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Common exhaust restrictions come around the catalysts installed, so adding a faster flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots, Issues & common problem areas on the K24

The K24 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the K24, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

History of the K24 Engine

K24A1

  • 2002–2006 Honda CR-V 9.6:1 160 hp @ 6000 RPM 162 lbft @ 3600 RPM

K24A2

  • 2002–2008 Honda Accord Type-S 10.5:1 197 hp; 147 kW @ 6800 RPM 171 lbft @ 4500 RPM
  • 2003–2008 Honda Odyssey Absolute 10.5:1 197 hp; 147 kW @ 6800 RPM 171 lbft @ 4500 RPM
  • 2004–2005 Acura TSX 10.5:1 197 hp; 147 kW @ 6800 RPM 166 lbft @ 4500 RPM
  • 2006–2008 Acura TSX 10.5:1 205 hp @ 7000 RPM 164 lbft @ 4500 RPM

K24A3

  • 2003–2007 Honda Accord 10.5:1 197 hp @ 6800 RPM 171 lbft @ 4500 RPM
  • 2003–2007 Honda Accord Euro 10.5:1 197 hp @ 6800 RPM 171 lbft @ 4500 RPM

K24A4

  • 2003–2005 Honda Accord 9.7:1 160 hp @ 5500 RPM 161 lbft @ 4500 RPM
  • 2003–2008 Honda Odyssey 9.7:1 160 hp @ 5500 RPM 161 lbft @ 4500 RPM
  • 2003–2006 Honda Element 9.7:1 160 hp @ 5500 RPM 161 lbft @ 4500 RPM

K24A8

  • 2006–2007 Honda Accord 9.7:1 166 hp @ 5800 RPM 160 lbft @ 4000 RPM
  • 2007–2011 Honda Element 9.7:1 166 hp @ 5800 RPM 161 lbft @ 4000 RPM
  • 2008–2014 Honda Odyssey 10.5:1  180 hp & 6100 RPM 161 lbft @ 3600 RPM

For more information on Tuning your Honda engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss K24 tuning options in more detail with our K24 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Honda tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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