Guide to tuning the K24 engine from Honda

"Tuning the Honda K24 and best performance parts."

We provide a guide to K24 tuning and highlight the ultimate modifications.

Honda K24s make awesome project cars and with a few sensible tuning upgrades you can greatly improve your driving experience.

We rely on our visitors to pass on tips and tell us about their projects and what worked on their car, and this article is the culmination of the feedback we have received. First let us look at the history and specs of this engine and then consider which tuning modifications work best on it.

History of the K24 Engine

K24A1

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

K24A2

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

K24A3

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

K24A4

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

K24A8

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

What are the most effective K24 modifications

Just because a parts is popular with K24 owners it doesn't mean you should fit it, instead we will optimum parts that will give your K24 the biggest power gain return for your cash.

The camshaft profile plays a big part in the engines power output so camshaft upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake & exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen camshaft profile, so large bhp gains are on offer for camshaft upgrades.

Fast road camshafts normally boost the bhp and torque across the rpm range, you could drop a little low end bhp but your high end rpm power will be better.

Motorsport camshafts, boost the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

On a car used daily should ideally to optimize your engines power to your cars usage.

You'll never have found a Motorsport and race camshaft is a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute.

Different K24 engines respond better to more or less aggressive camshaft durations check your engine on a rolling road.

The ECU mapping and fuel pump and injectors also will make differences on the torque gains you'll make.

Extending exhaust or intake durations can alter the torque 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.

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Modifying to Stage 1:

 Remaps/piggy back ECU (Hondata or Apexi), Intake headers, Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Sports exhaust manifold, Drilled & smoothed airbox.

Modifying to Stage 2:

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

Modifying to Stage 3:

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

Mapping helps fully realize the full potential of all the modifications you've done to your K24.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and 15% on NASP engines, but you mileage will vary depending on the modifications you've done and the condition of your engine.

It is the main goal to any engine performance tuning task to feed more fuel and air into each cylinder

Intake manifold transmit the air from the intake filter and allow it to be fed into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Shape and flow rate of the Intake manifold can make a noticeable improvement to fuel engine efficiency on the K24.

I usually find intake headers are in dire need of an upgrade, although some makers provide fairly well optimized intake headers.

Adding a K24 larger valve kit, doing some port matching and head flowing will also raise performance, this will afford you a greater performance increase on other parts.

K24 turbo upgrades - which are best?

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

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

When the engine is turbocharged, tuning parts are going to net you a larger power gain and you'll see that turbo engines use uprated components.

However you will find all engines have weakspots which show up when tuned.

See where you'll find these restrictions and fit stronger pistons, crank and engine components to utilize the power.

It's not unheard of people spending a lot of money on turbo charger upgrades on the K24 only to watch the motor catastrophically fail on it's first outing after it's used in anger.

Large upgraded turbo units will usually experience low end lag, and low capacity turbo units spool up more quickly but don't have the peak end torque gains.

Thankfully the market of turbo chargers is always evolving and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, where the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust flow into 2 channels and direct these at differently angled vanes in the turbocharger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there is a restriction in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on these engines when a lot more air is being pulled into the engine.

We note 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped bhp at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp and torque gains, although more challenging to setup. We have a twincharger bhp and torque adding guide if you want to read more.

Fuelling

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to ramp up the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a torque increase. It is important to be generous with your flow rate on the injectors.

As a rule of thumb add 20% to the flow rate when fitting an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and gives you some spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

K24 Exhaust

You should look to boost your exhaust if the existing exhaust is actually causing a restriction.

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

Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow out of the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too large or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Usual exhaust restrictions can be located the catalysts installed, so adding a better flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots Issues & problem areas on the K24

The K24 engines are generally reliable and solid as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.

Regular oil changes are vital on the K24, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.

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.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which tuning parts work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Acura, Honda. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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