Wow, [moderated]. Frankly I don't care of you worked for Matt building K20 conversions or not... and even if you have been wrenching and tinkering with this stuff before getting a driver's license.
*Your statements are blind with little historical perspective on automotive design history.
As you bash the Fiat SOHC engine and transaxle verbally here, you need to know a few facts...
Honda as a car company built decent cars during the late 80's and 90's come 00' Honda management choose to go for more profit which results in a good number of problems with their products. The K20 is a good engine and it you search the Xweb archives, you will discover some of the origins of where the idea of installing the Honda K20 engine and transaxle into the exxe. That said, answer what kind of engines was Honda building for 4 wheel automobiles back in the mid 1960's ???
It is easy to bash and be critical of designs when compared to what is being produced today using modern computer modeling, CNC production, modern material science and testing. So, where did the basic foundation from all of what Honda has designed come from... Did Honda do all this design work and stuff all on their own, by themselves isolated from the rest of the automotive world ???
As for stock Honda's being so very great.. Their history at LeMons racing says otherwise. The B, D and H series all have a habit of spitting con rods and popping head gaskets. They also like to grenade cv joints and axles. What may go for 300,000 miles on a easily drive street car might not last very long at all when put into race duty.
Some where there was a derogatory comment about Fiat's being total rust bucks and being the worst of the bunch. Fact is, all cars from that era had similar corrosion problems. If you claim to have worked and wrenched on sheer number of cars claimed, there would have been a FAR better perspective on this topic. By the way, Bertone built the bodies since day one as the x1/9 was never really a Fiat product from the very start. Fiat commissioned it and supported technically and mechanically for production yet the packaging design was done by Gandini at Bertone and built on Bertone's small production facility shortly after Fiat stopped assembling them in their production facility.
The x1/9 was never really a Fiat, it was Bertone's design that became their production car.
Facts are, the vast majority of cars from that era and even more so today are designed to be disposable. Some of the most coveted collectors cars from that era were never intended to endure for as long as they have. More than few of these are total textured brown shells that are brought back from the scrap heap due to market value. Those who really know vintage Ferrari's also know how cheaply they were made (where the customer/owner/driver would never know or look) and how mechanically fragile they really are.
As for the Volkswagen VR6 narrow angle V6, the origins of the deigns came from Lancia. It does not have that good history of surviving being upped in power beyond problems with the oil pump, timing chain-tensioner and...
I'll stop here..
Bernice
Yes, terribly young--only 39, and only working on cars since before I had a driver's license--and my experience of working on Fiats exclusively is limited to three years, including building Whitstone's, Berubi's, Oliveira's and MacKenzie's K20 cars as well as the supercharged K20 reboot of Kevin Stoudt's car and Rehan's 1.6L X in Dubai and tons of maintenance projects from general refurb on up. So, you're right. I don't know much.
Not sure what Honda's rust problems from the 1970s have to do with anything. All import bodies from the 1970s and 1980s had serious rust problems, with Fiat leading the pack.
Some selector fork problems, but nothing to prevent the overwhelming majority from being capable of reliably handling 350HP in stock form, and NOTHING compared to the steel-bushed nightmare the X was delivered with.
2001: A Space Odyssey allusions aside, no, it was not delivered from Sinai. The K20 engine is one in a long line of Honda engines that were the result of tireless engineering and trial.
I wouldn't say wrecking yards are full of the A2 and Z1 versions MWB uses in swaps, as those engines are hard to find for less than $3K with trans and harness. Garden variety low output K20s? Sure, no problem. Midrange is surprisingly strong as well. If you're clear of 3K RPM, there is seldom a reason to downshift.
Sure. Nothing wrong with the B series engines. Even the D series engines would be leaps and bounds above the single cam Fiat.
I didn't say anything about a mystical quality. It is simply the best engineered and most powerful engine available for the cost that fits reasonably well into the engine bay.
I lobbied heavily to build a prototype VR6 X. The VR is a super engine and would certainly make for a more economical build than the K20--as long as you stick to the 12V. If you want to go whole hog with a 24V 3.2L, that's going to cost. But $500 whole 12V powertrains are a cinch to come by. $500 for 175HP versus $3000+ for 220 is an easy call for a lot of us.
The very reason I mentioned it.
Second.
Now taking a basketcase and fixing / transplanting it... who could argue saving something that was done anyway is a bad thing?
