Building a Honda EK with High Performance Upgrades

The Honda EK is a popular platform for car enthusiasts to showcase their creativity and engineering skills. In this article, we'll take a closer look at how I built my own EK with high performance upgrades, including the most expensive part - the clutch.

When it came time to build my EK, I decided to go all out and upgrade as many components as possible. The clutch was one of the first things I tackled, and I opted for a competition twin disc clutch. This was not only a significant upgrade but also the most expensive part in the car, with a price tag of just over $1,000. However, this investment paid off, and now my EK is producing an incredible amount of power.

The transmission was another area where I decided to make significant upgrades. Unfortunately, it had become completely stuck, requiring some serious work to get it running smoothly again. This was a major challenge, but with the help of some new components, including the twin disc clutch, I was able to get my EK back on the road.

One of the key components in the fuel system is the intake manifold. In this case, I opted for a stock intake that had been ported out using a Dremel tool. While I didn't do this myself, it's clear that this process involved some careful craftsmanship. To complement the intake manifold, I also installed an Am fuel rail and a knockoff Am fuel pressure regulator. These components helped to ensure that my EK was getting the right amount of fuel for optimal performance.

Another important component in the fuel system is the fuel pump. In this case, I opted for a Wbor 450 intank pump, which provided a reliable source of power to the engine. To take it to the next level, I installed Bosch 2200cc injectors, which were relatively inexpensive on eBay. The addition of an intake piping system and a boost by gear solenoid also helped to optimize performance.

In terms of other components, my EK has a Gates timing belt, which is standard in most modern Honda engines. However, it's worth noting that the timing belt was not essential for performance, as I've found with many upgrades. Additionally, the oil pump, water pump, and alternator were all upgraded to ensure smooth operation of these critical systems.

One of the most impressive components in my EK is the turbocharger system. I opted for a GTX 3582R dual ball bearing turbo, which provided an incredible amount of power to the engine. The turbo was sourced from eBay and cost around $500-$600, depending on the seller. To complement the turbo, I also installed an oil sandwich plate to feed the oil pump with oil coming off the oil filter.

The intercooler is another critical component in the system, and I opted for a high-performance radiator that helped to keep my EK cool under heavy load. The blowoff valve was also upgraded to ensure that pressure was released safely from the engine when the boost solenoid is engaged.

In terms of other upgrades, my EK has insane shaft axles, which were sourced from eBay. These are designed for high-performance applications and provide a significant improvement in stability and handling. Additionally, I installed an eBay swap mount kit, which included motor mounts that cost around $100.

Throughout the build process, it's clear that attention to detail was key. From porting out the intake manifold to installing the turbocharger system, every component was carefully selected and installed to ensure optimal performance. And with over 700 horsepower to the tires, my EK is certainly one of the fastest in its class.

Overall, building a high-performance Honda EK requires careful planning, attention to detail, and a willingness to invest time and money into the project. With this article, we hope to have inspired you to take on your own build project and push your car to new heights of performance and speed.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso I just got back from the Machine Shop got my crank for waggo all polished up should be good to go and I also got my block and head resurfaced so uh when I took my old head gasket off the block I just used like an electric sander to like help get some of it off which was really stupid and I knew it was but I was just yellowing in it but he told me it was pretty uneven so that was good that I got this redecked and I also got the head redecked as well so those are nice and flat and pretty soon I will be putting my waggo back together finally so I have all the parts I need just got to bring it over to PFI and I'm going have Todd help me out because he knows these single cams really well so I just want to double check the clearances on all the rod and main bearings and make sure she's good to go and hopefully make this one last longer than the other one did get more than 1,000 mil out of it this time cuz there was no reason that old one should have uh broke down as fast as it did so there must have been something messed up with the clearances cuz all my bearings were just completely worn out but we'll see on that Brent did also get the tower back for his Dyno so it is reading numbers again and now it is also reading torque as well horsepower and torque cuz before the torque uh whatever measures the torque was messed up on his Dyno so it was only reading horsepower but now all that is fixed Dino's ready to go and I'm going to bring the hatch down there today and see what this thing puts down so before it made 648 on the old setup and as long as it can make that again I'll honestly be happy but I really am thinking it makes more than that so I would guess probably around 680 if not closer to 700 so we'll see when we get over there but yeah going to take it down and see what she makes got the dyno working it's work working good now huh yep got a new tower sent in so Dino is reading numbers again and we're going to finally find out what the hatch actually puts down so just got to let it warm up and do a couple pools what are you guys thinking what's your guess 550 600 600 610 all lower than what it made what do you what do you get well is it on the high boost that you had before yeah it's on 21 lb oh then that no 657 67 25 lb 679 680 680 not sure if we're going to break 700 but as long as it does better than 650 I'll be happy with it sure are you going to turn it up if it doesn't 6 we can only go so much before it runs out of fuel yeah but I'll Max it out Max it out sounds like me send it send it he's just going to send it you think it's going to make seven I think so I'd be really happy but I think it's going to be a little under we'll see though it felt good should look at your wheel I know my wheel's pretty bent yo 71 548 torque 548 woohoo I said over s damn 71 yeah do and you got the torque working Todd you're 100 off you said 450 I said 610 I came back it made 550 torque too that's not bad at all I like them stock sleeves God damn that's all we need that's all I came here for we're done done damn damn I knew she I knew she felt better I knew it yeah I'm actually surprised it was over 700 though n TI I thought it was going to be like 680 me too I got calls was the feel still good yeah yeah there's the reason you're out hell yes dude that's awesome need a tire yeah I need a tire bad God damn hey come here what all your viewers can know all the viewers 20 pounds of boost 89% duty cycle damn dude there's still some room there too if you really wanted it to that's awesome 750 bro n I'm good with that the tire was starting to the tire was starting to rub yeah the turbo's still going yeah I was smoking the tires a little bit once you let out of it the tire yeah on the D cell was smoking B there 7-Eleven yeah that's so sick so stoked the hatches where the other I don't know I don't know what you said super guy I said oh yeah 711 it's slurpie day you us some Slurpees I'll buy everyone here some Slurpees Dam that's that ass I told you she felt good what will it be at 40 lb we'll find Maybe we'll find out someday those naysayers and say my little turbos don't work dude these turbos kick ass took it like to 8700 is yep didn't even hit limiter I'm pretty sure it revs out to like 92 93 damn that's a lot of torque too for a Honda oh yeah those H22 it's sick so that pool was in fourth gear letting out early fourth gear goes just over 160 mph probably would go to like 165 to 170 if it actually went to rev limiter but I am really happy with that guys I am stoked well there you have it guys she's officially making 711 wheel horsepower as she sits so I am super stoked on that number that is just awesome I've been wanting to break 700 for a while now and now that I'm finally there I can officially say that the hatch is good on power for now because I mean it's just unusable on the street unless I get a nasty Tire on there which I do plan on doing eventually but I need to get some new wheels and maybe a three-piece front end to fit a much fatter Tire up front but I knew she was making more power and I just had no idea it was that much more honestly she's also making 548 ftlb of torque which is pretty nuts for a Honda motor it does help that I have the H20 2 which is the 2.2 L little bigger than most of the Honda Motors you will see but that is just absolutely nuts and before uh a lot of you guys start commenting because I have talked about it in several videos I'm just going to go over this motor one more time and let you guys know what I did to make that 700 horsepower so let's break it down real fast I'm sure some of you have heard this before but I'll go through it fast the head is completely stock except for valve springs and retainers I have the super tech dual Springs with titanium containers other than that the head is completely stock no cams stock cams and then yeah that's it for the head the block is a completely stock closed deck h22a block not sleeved stock sleeves has Maul gold 11 to1 compression Pistons that fit the stock H22 sleeves I have manly H beam rods with Kings rod and Main race bearings stock crank didn't touch the crank at all and that's pretty much it for internals on the motor so not too much there the is completely stock that's the same transmission we got from the junkyard for 100 bucks with 260,000 Mi on it out of an F22 Accord so bone stock transmission gear wise and I'm just running Valene Synchro mesh in there and then the clutch is a competition twin disc clutch and that is the most expensive part in this car so that ran me just over 1,000 bucks for that clutch but other than that the transmission is completely stuck and that clutch does come with its own flywheel as well in included in that price for the fuel and intake the intake manifold is just a completely stock intake that has been ported out with a Dremel I did not do that myself but that's how I bought it and I have a four bar map sensor on the intake and then got the Am fuel rail knockoff Am fuel pressure regulator and then I have Bosch 2200cc injectors which are dirt cheap on eBay for those injectors and then I have a wbor 450 intank pump with stock fuel lines and that is it for the fuel system and then I also wired a relay to give that pump direct power in the back over there so that's pretty much all that's in the motor just rods pistons and a whole bunch of fuel if I didn't mention something that's probably because it's stock for instance like the distributor part of the head that is stock I didn't talk about the oil pump either that's completely stock water pump stock I do have a Gates timing belt on there that doesn't really matter would make the same power either way and then I also have just eBay swap mounts for the H22 into the EK those are $100 motor mounts if any of you guys are wondering also got the alternator relocate kit and then the hondata obviously controls all the electronics that's just the tunable ECU and then if we move on to the turbo kit as most of you guys know I fabbed up almost everything on here I made this top mount manifold myself I made the downpipe made the wastegate d dump and the Turbo is a GTX 3582r dual ball bearing this was also off eBay these are like 500 to 600 bucks depending on where you can find them sometimes they're even more than that but a really cheap good eBay turbo and then I do have an oil sandwich plate for oil coming off the oil filter to feed that and then that just goes into 2 and 1/2 in intercooler piping right into my intercooler and then out that side just comes out right through here into the intake eBay blowoff valve and I made all this intake piping as well welded all that up myself I do have a boost by gear solenoid or it's just a boost solenoid but I use this to control the boost by gear so I can gradually increase boost as we go faster I got a tile 44 mm vband wastegate and I think that's it I'm sure there's something I'm missing just aluminum eBay radiator definitely a lot of eBay Parts on this car but everything seems to work I mean we did start this Channel about almost a year ago and a lot of you guys don't know but this motor has been put together for just about 3 years and the only issue I've had with the motor itself was that one rod that bent that's the first time I ever had to pull this motor apart so I guess we'll see how long this one lasts um another thing I didn't talk about just real quick I also do have insane shaft uh axles those are just swap axles for the EK that was one part I left out but other than that I think that's everything so hopefully if you guys had any other questions about it I just answered them but if you do still have questions just comment about it and I'll get back to you guys and at the end of the day there's always going to be one guy saying it's just a Honda just a 4-cylinder but it's whatever I just ignore it I'm really proud of where this car has come from considering that when I first got it it was completely stock not even making 100 horsepower to what it is now making over 700 horsepower to the tires and it might not be the fastest thing out there but it's definitely not slow and for how cheap I've done this I mean there are some expensive Parts in here but I've done it relatively cheap and just did it as best I could for what I had I mean this car turned out awesome so I'm really happy with where it's at right now and yeah I mean if you guys have any haters or anything like that for what you're doing to your cars or just whatever you're doing at all just ignore it have fun do what you want to do as long as it makes you happy and this car right here definitely makes me happy and we would not be where we were at if it weren't for this hatch right here so hope you guys enjoyed the video and as always thanks for watchingso I just got back from the Machine Shop got my crank for waggo all polished up should be good to go and I also got my block and head resurfaced so uh when I took my old head gasket off the block I just used like an electric sander to like help get some of it off which was really stupid and I knew it was but I was just yellowing in it but he told me it was pretty uneven so that was good that I got this redecked and I also got the head redecked as well so those are nice and flat and pretty soon I will be putting my waggo back together finally so I have all the parts I need just got to bring it over to PFI and I'm going have Todd help me out because he knows these single cams really well so I just want to double check the clearances on all the rod and main bearings and make sure she's good to go and hopefully make this one last longer than the other one did get more than 1,000 mil out of it this time cuz there was no reason that old one should have uh broke down as fast as it did so there must have been something messed up with the clearances cuz all my bearings were just completely worn out but we'll see on that Brent did also get the tower back for his Dyno so it is reading numbers again and now it is also reading torque as well horsepower and torque cuz before the torque uh whatever measures the torque was messed up on his Dyno so it was only reading horsepower but now all that is fixed Dino's ready to go and I'm going to bring the hatch down there today and see what this thing puts down so before it made 648 on the old setup and as long as it can make that again I'll honestly be happy but I really am thinking it makes more than that so I would guess probably around 680 if not closer to 700 so we'll see when we get over there but yeah going to take it down and see what she makes got the dyno working it's work working good now huh yep got a new tower sent in so Dino is reading numbers again and we're going to finally find out what the hatch actually puts down so just got to let it warm up and do a couple pools what are you guys thinking what's your guess 550 600 600 610 all lower than what it made what do you what do you get well is it on the high boost that you had before yeah it's on 21 lb oh then that no 657 67 25 lb 679 680 680 not sure if we're going to break 700 but as long as it does better than 650 I'll be happy with it sure are you going to turn it up if it doesn't 6 we can only go so much before it runs out of fuel yeah but I'll Max it out Max it out sounds like me send it send it he's just going to send it you think it's going to make seven I think so I'd be really happy but I think it's going to be a little under we'll see though it felt good should look at your wheel I know my wheel's pretty bent yo 71 548 torque 548 woohoo I said over s damn 71 yeah do and you got the torque working Todd you're 100 off you said 450 I said 610 I came back it made 550 torque too that's not bad at all I like them stock sleeves God damn that's all we need that's all I came here for we're done done damn damn I knew she I knew she felt better I knew it yeah I'm actually surprised it was over 700 though n TI I thought it was going to be like 680 me too I got calls was the feel still good yeah yeah there's the reason you're out hell yes dude that's awesome need a tire yeah I need a tire bad God damn hey come here what all your viewers can know all the viewers 20 pounds of boost 89% duty cycle damn dude there's still some room there too if you really wanted it to that's awesome 750 bro n I'm good with that the tire was starting to the tire was starting to rub yeah the turbo's still going yeah I was smoking the tires a little bit once you let out of it the tire yeah on the D cell was smoking B there 7-Eleven yeah that's so sick so stoked the hatches where the other I don't know I don't know what you said super guy I said oh yeah 711 it's slurpie day you us some Slurpees I'll buy everyone here some Slurpees Dam that's that ass I told you she felt good what will it be at 40 lb we'll find Maybe we'll find out someday those naysayers and say my little turbos don't work dude these turbos kick ass took it like to 8700 is yep didn't even hit limiter I'm pretty sure it revs out to like 92 93 damn that's a lot of torque too for a Honda oh yeah those H22 it's sick so that pool was in fourth gear letting out early fourth gear goes just over 160 mph probably would go to like 165 to 170 if it actually went to rev limiter but I am really happy with that guys I am stoked well there you have it guys she's officially making 711 wheel horsepower as she sits so I am super stoked on that number that is just awesome I've been wanting to break 700 for a while now and now that I'm finally there I can officially say that the hatch is good on power for now because I mean it's just unusable on the street unless I get a nasty Tire on there which I do plan on doing eventually but I need to get some new wheels and maybe a three-piece front end to fit a much fatter Tire up front but I knew she was making more power and I just had no idea it was that much more honestly she's also making 548 ftlb of torque which is pretty nuts for a Honda motor it does help that I have the H20 2 which is the 2.2 L little bigger than most of the Honda Motors you will see but that is just absolutely nuts and before uh a lot of you guys start commenting because I have talked about it in several videos I'm just going to go over this motor one more time and let you guys know what I did to make that 700 horsepower so let's break it down real fast I'm sure some of you have heard this before but I'll go through it fast the head is completely stock except for valve springs and retainers I have the super tech dual Springs with titanium containers other than that the head is completely stock no cams stock cams and then yeah that's it for the head the block is a completely stock closed deck h22a block not sleeved stock sleeves has Maul gold 11 to1 compression Pistons that fit the stock H22 sleeves I have manly H beam rods with Kings rod and Main race bearings stock crank didn't touch the crank at all and that's pretty much it for internals on the motor so not too much there the is completely stock that's the same transmission we got from the junkyard for 100 bucks with 260,000 Mi on it out of an F22 Accord so bone stock transmission gear wise and I'm just running Valene Synchro mesh in there and then the clutch is a competition twin disc clutch and that is the most expensive part in this car so that ran me just over 1,000 bucks for that clutch but other than that the transmission is completely stuck and that clutch does come with its own flywheel as well in included in that price for the fuel and intake the intake manifold is just a completely stock intake that has been ported out with a Dremel I did not do that myself but that's how I bought it and I have a four bar map sensor on the intake and then got the Am fuel rail knockoff Am fuel pressure regulator and then I have Bosch 2200cc injectors which are dirt cheap on eBay for those injectors and then I have a wbor 450 intank pump with stock fuel lines and that is it for the fuel system and then I also wired a relay to give that pump direct power in the back over there so that's pretty much all that's in the motor just rods pistons and a whole bunch of fuel if I didn't mention something that's probably because it's stock for instance like the distributor part of the head that is stock I didn't talk about the oil pump either that's completely stock water pump stock I do have a Gates timing belt on there that doesn't really matter would make the same power either way and then I also have just eBay swap mounts for the H22 into the EK those are $100 motor mounts if any of you guys are wondering also got the alternator relocate kit and then the hondata obviously controls all the electronics that's just the tunable ECU and then if we move on to the turbo kit as most of you guys know I fabbed up almost everything on here I made this top mount manifold myself I made the downpipe made the wastegate d dump and the Turbo is a GTX 3582r dual ball bearing this was also off eBay these are like 500 to 600 bucks depending on where you can find them sometimes they're even more than that but a really cheap good eBay turbo and then I do have an oil sandwich plate for oil coming off the oil filter to feed that and then that just goes into 2 and 1/2 in intercooler piping right into my intercooler and then out that side just comes out right through here into the intake eBay blowoff valve and I made all this intake piping as well welded all that up myself I do have a boost by gear solenoid or it's just a boost solenoid but I use this to control the boost by gear so I can gradually increase boost as we go faster I got a tile 44 mm vband wastegate and I think that's it I'm sure there's something I'm missing just aluminum eBay radiator definitely a lot of eBay Parts on this car but everything seems to work I mean we did start this Channel about almost a year ago and a lot of you guys don't know but this motor has been put together for just about 3 years and the only issue I've had with the motor itself was that one rod that bent that's the first time I ever had to pull this motor apart so I guess we'll see how long this one lasts um another thing I didn't talk about just real quick I also do have insane shaft uh axles those are just swap axles for the EK that was one part I left out but other than that I think that's everything so hopefully if you guys had any other questions about it I just answered them but if you do still have questions just comment about it and I'll get back to you guys and at the end of the day there's always going to be one guy saying it's just a Honda just a 4-cylinder but it's whatever I just ignore it I'm really proud of where this car has come from considering that when I first got it it was completely stock not even making 100 horsepower to what it is now making over 700 horsepower to the tires and it might not be the fastest thing out there but it's definitely not slow and for how cheap I've done this I mean there are some expensive Parts in here but I've done it relatively cheap and just did it as best I could for what I had I mean this car turned out awesome so I'm really happy with where it's at right now and yeah I mean if you guys have any haters or anything like that for what you're doing to your cars or just whatever you're doing at all just ignore it have fun do what you want to do as long as it makes you happy and this car right here definitely makes me happy and we would not be where we were at if it weren't for this hatch right here so hope you guys enjoyed the video and as always thanks for watching\n"