Honda K-Series ( K20, K24 )
Swap Guide
Part 2

The Hasport front axles can be fitted at this point and the front suspension bolted back into place as we won’t be touching anything else with it.

To fit the RSX shift box and cables you’ll need to cut quite a large hole in the shifter tunnel. As I mentioned in part 1 of this guide, opting for the K-Tuned no cut K-swap shifter will skip this entire step.

And you’ll end up with something like this. A much cleaner and more adjustable solution that can be covered up with OEM plastic and a shift boot for a complete stock-like look.

Here’s a good reference picture if you end up bottom mounting the RSX shifter.

In doing so, you’ll be using a mounting kit. The one pictured here is a Karcepts piece but after seeing the K-Tuned mounting kit, I’d go with that one. Don’t concern yourself over the mess that are the shifter cables, I ended up using a mismatched set hence the need to cut and do all sorts of wrong things to them. Don’t have cables for your swap, can you guess where to get some? I don’t even need to tell you by now do I.

Finally, after filling up the engine with oil, coolant, then connecting the battery you’re ready to fire it up for the first time!

Check for leaks and inspect to see if there’s anything that looks amiss. If all’s clear then burp the cooling system, ensure the power steering fluid is all topped up and go take your new K20A swapped Acura Integra (or Honda Civic) for a rip!

I realize that the engine bay looks like a total mess with hoses and wires running everywhere. This swap was done with an extremely tight timeline hence the need to leave a lot of things be. However, with some time and patience the engine bay can be cleaned up to look much better.

This is a latter and much more tidy version of the K-swap you see above. It included some new parts (like an RBC intake manifold, AEM cold air intake, wrinkle black valve cover) and I’m sure you’ll agree that it looks much better.

Funny thing is, this is by no means considered a clean engine bay. There are many tucked versions that put this to shame but I caution you going that route if you’ll be using your car for racing. Simply put, when something breaks or needs to be tested and everything has been tucked or relocated it makes it very hard to get to which can be frustrating especially when you’re at the track.

The last item and an important one in my books is to have the engine tuned so it’s optimized for the bolt-ons that you’ve added. Yes, if budget is a big concern then you can run the stock ECU as is but you’ll be losing out on a lot of power, not to mention not knowing the state of your engine and whether it’s running too rich or lean. Spend the money, get a tune, you won’t be disappointed.

That wraps up this K-Series swap guide. By no means is this the be all and end all of swap guides. I could have gone into much greater detail but sadly time and a limited amount of photos prohibited me from outlining each and every step. I still hope that this guide gives you a better idea of how to tackle this job and avoid a lot of frustration or confusion.

Happy K-swapping! You won’t regret it, it’s the single best modification I ever did to the Integra especially when the engine loves to sing well past 8000 rpm!

Oh and who knows, you may be passing Porsches and Ferrari’s sooner than you think!