Von Westy Honda K24A Conversion Project

[dublife13]

If you do make another one I would happily buy that one.

[Silverghost500]

Taking a lighter task today. Labeling the wiring.

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1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Silverghost500]

Wiring harness is going back into the van. Lessons learned about the multi-layer approach to the heat shrink. It makes for a really stiff main harness trunk that's a bit difficult to work it into place.

I won't put everything in place with the harness just yet.

I received an updated pic of the short magnesium valve cover after being painted with cerakote. It should be cured and ready for installation this weekend.

_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Silverghost500]

Valve cover is back from cerakote painting, and it
looks great!

Here’s some comparison pics of the OEM valve cover and this magnesium cover to show the height differences.

_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Silverghost500]

Valve cover installed! Now time to put the wiring back in place,
run the engine, and check for leaks.

_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[dublife13]

Wow that looks amazing! thanks for the inspiration, Im going to jumping on my swap in the coming weeks. With that valve cover the engine lid doest close?

[Silverghost500]

I had to spend the afternoon getting the foam off the engine deck lid. I still need to clean the glue and some residual foam.

But....


I test fit the deck lid, and it fits and it closes!

_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Silverghost500]

Got the interior back in and the engine management components where the oem ECU was. Will probably make some kind of cover to protect them.

Next items up will be tidying things up and ECU tuning. It’s idling really well, but part throttle AFR on the wideband is going lean. Time to review those tutorials
again.

_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Kdj]

That install looks fantastic. Are you going to replace the sound deadening with new or is clearance still a problem? Can wait for a road test update!

[Silverghost500]

Thanks! It's been quite a journey getting it this far!

I intend to replace the foam mat with a product called Fat Mat insulation. It should be thin enough to still work with the deck lid fitting over the engine.

While I have a decent "test" air intake system I want to finish up tubing and filter location inside the rear passenger cubby where the old idle air control module use to live. I may wind up needing more of a straight cylinder style filter versus the mushroom looking style.

Going to be working on ECU tuning, fuel tables, spark tables, etc. Got some lean AFR issues on part throttle opening that need to be sorted out.

It's idling well. I started it yesterday morning and at cold start it was 1,200+- RPM, then as it warmed up settled down around 900, steady.

So far every time I turn the key on to start it, it starts.
_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Silverghost500]

Update: Conversion hit a big milestone this week. Road tests finally began!

First road test was nerve-racking just due to not knowing what to expect. Plus, it was during rush hour traffic. It was evident the fueling was too rich, and there was a big 4+ second delay in throttle response when lifting off throttle and getting back on.

Second road test same evening. I changed the fuel map tables. Didn't smell like a Chevron station, but the throttle response issue remained.

Did some research and discovered that having ECU settings for fuel disenrichment and decal fuel cut caused an instant fuel cut the moment the throttle position sensor went to a 0.0 signal, causing the O2 sensor to give a "free air" error. That apparently caused the throttle response delay too.

Turned both of those off. Also turned off Classic Transient Throttle and turned on Predictive Map Tuning.

Next evening came the third road test, and wow! What a big improvement!
Throttle hesitations were gone. Free air error disappeared. This was right in the thick of rush hour, and it held it's own in traffic.

I even took it on the Interstate, and for the first time it was able to keep up with traffic. Well, except those running 90+ MPH. Not gonna push it that hard just yet.

There's still plenty of tuning and refinement to go. Gotta resolve the tach gauge issue I've mentioned in another post.

Looking forward to making some more progress, and logging some more road tests and data logging this weekend.
_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[mikemtnbike]

Keeping up with ATL highway traffic is especially impressive. My brother-in-law lives there, last time I was there was the first time I saw an interstate basically shut down by a roving pack of 4 wheelers and side-by-sides that were out cruising.

I wish I was making that up, but I'm not- it's a free for all, so congratulations on increasing your safety, silverghost.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[Pchill2]

The ECU will be using RPM signal in conjunction with other sensors to determine cam timing and fuel. You'll want to troubleshoot that RPM signal dropout before making any calibration changes. The ECU could be adding fuel to protect the engine due to the signal dropout.

The commissioning process should be fairly methodical with the first step being key on vehicle off sensor readings, start and idle data log, then road data log.

Post up a screen shot of your idle run log with RPM, A/F Ratio, A/F Commanded Ratio, Cam Angle, Cam Angle Command, TPS %, and Knock Count.
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87 Syncro Westy
Honda K24 swap

[Silverghost500]

The cool thing about the Haltech NSP software is the data presentations.

As far as the RPM signal, in the NSP software that signal has steady, reliable performance. It's the physical signal out to the tach gauge that's being the high school dropout.

I'll get a few more road tests going and post some additional details and some screen shots
_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Pchill2]

[Silverghost500]

That it is! The Haltech NSP software has been pretty good to work with, once I got settled with the workflow.

I discovered this morning though some additional research that Haltech recommends using wire DPO-1 purple/black wire, which is a digital pulse wire that has some voltage adjustment. While I did use a DPO wire, it wasn't that one. DPO-1 is one of my spare wires. I may just go ahead and swap the wires out, and see if that brings any improvements to the tach gauge.
_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Kdj]

Great to read that your road testing, and working through bugs. When you get a chance I would still very much like to know what you oil pan to ground clearance is. Also your rear wheel center to fender measurement. Very much want to do this swap in near future.

[MSGGrunt]

Watching this very closely as I am doing the same swap. While I can most all things mechanical, wiring and tuning I am just slightly above clueless. In fact, once my K24Z3 is installed, I will probably have to seek out someone to do the wiring and tuning.

What made you go with the Haltech ECU over the Hondata? I only ask as I have read a lot of threads on multiple different forums and a lot of them are using the Hondata ECU for their conversions.

[Silverghost500]

I decided not to go Hondata for the following reasons I researched:

-core ECUs are getting harder to find, plus they're 18-20+ years old.
-core ECUs are getting more expensive when found.
-capacitors probably need to be changed out because they tend to leak (add $300 to the cost)
-the retrofit Hondata module is about $800.


When I would find a Hondata ECU (module already installed), prices ranged from $1200 to 1600.

Wiring Harnesses-not one single vendor that has harnesses for Hondata could or would tell me the length of their harnesses. Plus, you'd have to have the chassis conversion wiring harness to interface between the engine and vehicle chassis.


With all of that I decided to go Haltech. I was seriously thinking about going Fueltech too, since their US shop is about 15-20 miles away from me.

With the Haltech:

-brand new ECU, newer, faster processors
-same price as high end of Hondata prices.
-flexibility
-multiple plug-n-play modules.
-their "flying leads" premium wiring harness.

With the Haltech I can still use it if I decided to ditch the K24A and go with a K24Z series engine by changing the wiring harness, and loading a new ECU map.

For your build if you decided to go with the Hondata I'd recommend getting a RWD wiring harness in the hopes you might get a longer harness...if you want to fit your ECU under the OEM locations. I believe if you go Hondata for a K24Z engine, you have to retrofit the front timing cover to a K24A cover, plus K24A crank timing wheel. I seem to remember you've done that with your build already.

If you decided to go Haltech for your Z3 build I'd recommend getting it physically installed first. Then you can use the rope harness technique on laying out your harness routing and components as shown in this HPA video.


Link

_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA

[Silverghost500]

Got the air intake completed last night. Pay no attention to the "pink tube coupler. It'll get replaced as soon as another black silicone coupler arrives next week.

Getting the air filter in the passenger D pillar cubby made a world of difference in keeping the intake air temps down during a quick test drive.

Also worked on the engine deck lid to get it cleaned and ready for the next insulation product.

_________________
1986 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia "Von Westy"
Honda K24A converversion-Road Testing Phase
3-Speed Automatic

Von Westy YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbhyZYxJEQrUuLnMbLleeIA