400-500WHP Explained (Everything It Takes & What You Need To Make it)

     We will go through what is needed to produce a healthy 400whp and 500whp using readily available off the shelf parts and services.  These recommendations come from the years of experience with the k20c platform as well as many more years of tuning direct injection engines.  These are my opinions and I'm sure the keyboard tuners will have their own.

•  420+ whp ethanol blend
•  400  93 gasoline

        Major modifications for Maximum power gains on a dyno. I say dyno because making power on a dyno is easy. Maintaining the power level in a real world environment is harder to do.  If its hard to show an increase in power on a dyno, its probably not worth it to keep

     The important upgrades-

• Down pipe (catless/high-flow cat) (any brand)
• Hondata Flash Pro
• XDI High Pressure Pump 
• Drilled OEM Fuel Line
• Drop In Filter (for intake)
• Pro Tune

 

These parts alone will make very much the same amount of power on a dyno as a car with all of the following, not so important modifications.  The reason we have some of these is purely an efficiency sake and for heat suppression/expulsion. Making horsepower on a dyno is easy, keeping the heat down, intake temps low and engine cool are all what makes the dyno a unrealistic comparison between two cars. (even though we all compare dyno numbers as if it is the standard)

• Intercooler
• Flex fuel kit
• Intake System with Up-gradable Maf 
• Front Pipe/ Full Exhaust

Charge pipes and turbo inlet pipe do not do very much, if anything at all. I have left them off the list for that reason. The stock turbo breaths very well through the factory exhaust.  It is simply not necessary to make good power unless you are planning for a drop in turbo. 

Bolt on Turbo

After you are satisfied with a stock turbo and have gotten the itch for more power, a simple 60-70whp upgrade is a MHI Bolt-On Turbo.  Not only is the the OEM manufacturer of the K20C turbocharger, it also is a realistic power production unit for the average person.  It comes with a calibrated waste gate and is ready to install out of the box.  It can make 500whp with a few additional parts

• MHI Stage 2 Turbo
• Perform NC 1400cc Injectors
• 3.5' Maf Housing
• Front Pipe and Exhaust (only necessary max result)

To gain even more out of this system, we can add a Perform NC Direct Port Methanol plate. This ensures the equal delivery of methanol for each cylinder. With this plate we can have a massive amount of methanol and be certain it is equally delivered.  Methanol  = More Timing! By having this plate at the entrance of the port runner, we are eliminating the methanol being distributed by the intake manifold, something it is not designed to do.  Made from 6061 Aircraft Grade aluminum and CNC'd to precision tolerance, it will not corrode

or rust.

Well, there you have it, my recommendations for a ~420 to ~500whp FK8 K20c build packages.  Most of the parts necessary are available through our store.  Due to current climate in the industry, please contact us for availability.