Well then...

[Driven]

Not sure if anyone here is following my build, but, tossing out the Pherd (Ford) drivetrain and tossing in a boosted Herder (Honda).

But, test fitted last night with a temp mount. Fits like a charm and has PLENTY of room between the firewall and engine and fits under the clam with room to spare as well. No more hot cabin!




It's a 2.4L (k24a2) from a US TSX (Accord in the UK). Shooting for 500whp, with the ability to go to 650whp. Mind you, this is all on the stock internal components (ie. cams, pistons, rods). Torque will be much lower than the Pherd.

[StreetDragster]

That's an interesting conversion, thanks for sharing. What is left to do before its on the road?

[sundance002]

The Honda K24 is a good strong engine, I looked at putting one in my Caterham, but opted for a K20, that now puts out 300 at the wheels 200ftlb torque. Intresting option for the Noble.
I understand a smaller displacement can be a good way forward, but was looking at the cost comparison with the Ford Duratec, and the cost to achieve the same power, and the cost of installation, it must cost more to go the Honda way? are there really any gains, other than weight?
Reliability I would of thought would be the first reason for this change,
If you can run a inline gearbox with this install would be a big advantage, as you could add paddle shift too,
Regarding reliability, I now run 700 horses, 600 ftlb torque from my M400, It has been fautless for 2 years now, and I have just driven it back to Spain, The engine has not missed a beat.It proves big power from tbese Fords can be produced reliable, ok at a big cost to go the way I have, but we achieved it.
So I ask, what is the main reason for you taking this route?
Did you purchase the car without an engine to start with?
Watching with intrest to see your results
Good luck with the project

[Driven]

Been a bit, forgot I had this thread, since I've been posting to NobleForums.

StreetDragster said:

That's an interesting conversion, thanks for sharing. What is left to do before its on the road?

Currently, a manifold, exhaust, then a base tune.

sundance002 said:

I understand a smaller displacement can be a good way forward, but was looking at the cost comparison with the Ford Duratec, and the cost to achieve the same power, and the cost of installation, it must cost more to go the Honda way? are there really any gains, other than weight?

I'm US based, so, the struggle with US based cars is we only have 2-3 tuners in the entire country. One charges $2000 (1400gbp) for remaps, the other was cheaper, but still quite a bit. So, want more power... $2000 for a remap, even for a slight boost increase. It gets expensive quick.
Versus the Honda, which is $500 (350gbp) per dyno session.

The main gain is the huge aftermarket support of the Honda drivetrain, parts availability, and reliability.

[quote]If you can run a inline gearbox with this install would be a big advantage, as you could add paddle shift too,

Quaife does offer a sequential gearbox for the Honda engine... not cheap, but it is available.

[quote]
Regarding reliability, I now run 700 horses, 600 ftlb torque from my M400, It has been fautless for 2 years now, and I have just driven it back to Spain, The engine has not missed a beat.It proves big power from tbese Fords can be produced reliable, ok at a big cost to go the way I have, but we achieved it.

That's amazing and is a ton of power! I don't know if I ever need to go that route, but completely unopened K24s are able to make 550-600whp. Build up the internals and engines have made as much as 900hp. I won't ever need that kind of power, as I think 600whp would be the most I'd ever need.

[quote]So I ask, what is the main reason for you taking this route?
Did you purchase the car without an engine to start with?
Watching with intrest to see your results

I had several reasons... I'm a Honda guy from the get-go, having a S2000 that I took to the track regularly that rarely missed a beat. It was rock solid and immensely fun.

Then I got the Noble and within the first two months I had a shifter cable fail, alternator fail, clutch throw-out bearing fail, a clutch fail, and a shift fork fail. Repaired all of that, then did a track day where the front turbo seal let go. That was the final straw for me.

My power goal is to get 450whp on pump gas (91 octane), which would be more than what I had with the Ford powerplant. From there, I would leave it alone so I could enjoy driving the car until I felt like I needed more power.

Other benefits:
- Able to datalog all sensors and read them without a special serial cable
- Able to remap by downloading calibrations from a few sources
- OBD2 readout. I could use a OBD2 dongle, connect it to Harry's Lap Timer on an iPhone and have laptimes with datalogging overlays
- Can upgrade the camshafts, pistons, rods, sleeve the cylinders, and complete valvetrain for quite cheap
- that weird heat and fumes you get when you roll the window down, that doesn't exist anymore
- dog gears


Thing I'll miss the most, the exhaust note. The Ford motor has an amazing sound to it.