Leak, Improvements, etc...

[David Maloney]

I was kinda worried as I traded out of an Elise and put down some extra bucks. I was originally told it was the honda in it and from what I heard, that was what I was supposed to want. As the deal progressed, it came out it was the ecotec. I kinda let the salesman talk me into it as the price was tad lower than any other pre-registered and pre-plated road-worthy cars I saw and I wanted it before Dec, and I presumed the lower price that was because it was an 06' with 13K miles on it. I then spoke with another dealer who made me feel like I made a huge mistake from a resale standpoint getting the ecotec and paid too much for it. It is so nice that there is a forum like this to address these things.

[bolus]

Dealers dont know crap about these cars (unless they are Eddie Hill or Shinoo at sector111 or TMI themselves). The current highest HP atom in the world (700 hp) is running the ecotec.

Your engine probably running a little over 200 ft lbs of torque. The Atom V8, running the hartley V8, a $50,000 engine, maxes torque around 250 ft lbs and does not get there until 7000 rpm. If you took your ecotec atom and ran against the $250,000 V8 atom off the line, you would probably beat it to 60 mph.

I dont have a dyno on the K24 atom but the dyno's I can see online for that engine will put the k24 honda at 160 ft lbs of torque and 230 hp.

So dont worry about the engine you got!


Now it is known that your probably not running the full 300 hp. The supercharger on your car runs really hot and will heat soak the cooling system and it will pull timing (and thus power) when it gets hot. That's why several of us have gone turbo to get some more power and drop that heat pump that is the supercharger.

But you are still beating out a new Atom 3 on power

[MadMaxAtom]

Personally,I prefer the Ecotec...FWIW...and have bought three Ecotec Atoms.I still own two..and didn't lose a penny on the one I sold after owning it for 5 years...(well,maybe a couple of pennies..) so it's really more about condition and options rather than what powers an Atom that makes it "worth" more or less...

....unless you happen to be a Honda or nothing person,and then you MUST have a Honda...get it?

And if you are worried about it being "just" a Chevrolet engine,it's really a Saab power plant,so it's BORN FROM JETS...

[David Maloney]

Got it. Thanks everyone. Anyone have any battery issues?

[MadMaxAtom]

7 years on the original Braille AGM batteries if maintained properly..and they aren't expensive to replace.

[David Maloney]

Wow. I was using my kill switch. Drove 8 mi after it sat a week and parked it without killing it for 10 min and it was dead. I got a back-up but makes me wonder about the alternator.

[bolus]

Wow. I was using my kill switch. Drove 8 mi after it sat a week and parked it without killing it for 10 min and it was dead. I got a back-up but makes me wonder about the alternator.

the imobilizer is always on and will drain the battery. I use a battery tender to keep it topped off or just disconnect it in the winter. I've replaced one battery now even though I always used the charger to keep it topped off.

[David Maloney]

Got it. Learning. Thanks.

[McFred]

Your engine probably running a little over 200 ft lbs of torque. The Atom V8, running the hartley V8, a $50,000 engine, maxes torque around 250 ft lbs and does not get there until 7000 rpm. If you took your ecotec atom and ran against the $250,000 V8 atom off the line, you would probably beat it to 60 mph.

I dont have a dyno on the K24 atom but the dyno's I can see online for that engine will put the k24 honda at 160 ft lbs of torque and 230 hp.

So dont worry about the engine you got!

Bolus is right, don't worry about the engine. Either platform will be very sporty on or off the track. Resale will likely not be an issue in any flavor so long as all the kinks are worked out of a AA2 "300."

That said, personally, I prefer the Honda. It is cake to get 200ft/lbs from a K-series. Mine makes 200ft/lbs without a charger... 210 with the RBB Acura TSX manifold. The Honda platform is a pretty competent design. Adding a charger will only make it better. Anyone that tells you 155ft/lbs of the NA Honda is insufficient needs to reconsider the gearing between the two. High torque 5-speed is the same as a lower torque 6-speed, if you run dyno plots of power versus vehicle speed. It's a wash. So rock what you got and don't sweat it.

FWIW I've got the same Braile battery since I took delivery 7 years ago. It's not 100%, but it still cranks over alright when not bitter cold.

Lastly, one of the things I had to address on the fluid reservoirs was that there was a casting seam that was interfering with the O-ring seal. I polished it off and reclamped it and it hasn't been an issue in years.

Have fun and good luck!

[Rick R]

Bolus is right, don't worry about the engine. Either platform will be very sporty on or off the track. Resale will likely not be an issue in any flavor so long as all the kinks are worked out of a AA2 "300."
That said, personally, I prefer the Honda. It is cake to get 200ft/lbs from a K-series. Mine makes 200ft/lbs without a charger... 210 with the RBB Acura TSX manifold. The Honda platform is a pretty competent design.

Don't want to hijack the thread, but since we're speaking of the Hondas, I wanted to ask you guys if I got my facts right so far based on my reasearch, or please correct me:

1) JDM K20a (2.0 liters)
Some late-cycle Brammos were produced with this engine, as well as some TMIs. It's got better internals than other K20 iterations, which give it a bit more punch in stock form (220hp at the crank). Apparently another 20 to 30 hp could be easy low-hanging fruit, but a lot of work and money to get it much beyond that in naturally aspirated form (while there are forced induction builds with impressive figures).

2) K20z3 (2.0 liters)
Engine of the early model SRAs. Basically a poor man's version of the K20a. Same block but different cylinder head and cams, lower compression -> a bit less power than the K20a, meaning that in stock form at just a pip over 200HP at the crank and 142 lbs it's the least-performing engine to be found on a US Atom. However, you can build it out as much as a K20a, and if you plan to upgrade the internals right off the bat it might be cheaper to start with the K20z3.

3) K24a with K20 heads (2.4l)
Never offered on any stock Atom, although one guy here did it as a project. The badassest aspirated K2x build you can get, very popular among Honda enthusiasts, easy to get to 300HP at the wheels (and a 5-digit redline), plenty more with forced induction.

4) K24Z7 (2.4l)
Current engine of choice for both straight and SRA Atoms. More torquey than the K20a, but doesn't seem possible to increase power much at all without going forced induction, all internals are different and not interchangeable with older K2x engines. However, some sick numbers floating around with Turbo or sc setups. Also, seems more suited to a Turbo than a S/C according to a guy in an epic pi**ing match thread on a civic forum (" was designed with an integrated manifold meaning it was made for a turbo").

Does it sound right?