Photo: BYP Racing and Developments
The second-generation Honda CR-V was little more than a seventh-generation Honda Civic platform retconned to fit into an all-wheel-drive light SUV form factor that excited the type of folks who want SUV looks and sensibilities with all the reliability of an economy car. There's not much here for people looking for anything more exuberant or powerful. Unless that's not even true in the slightest. Because we, as petrolheads, know there's usually more power to be found in seemingly normal Honda engines.
Just look at this 2003 Australian-spec Honda CR-V that's been done up by BYP Racing and Developments of New South Wales. Ordinarily, this crack team of tuners and boost aficionados specialize in endurance racing applications of tried and true JDM hardware. Famous faces like the OG Honda (Acura) Integra to a Nissan S13 and the odd Toyota MR2 every once in a while, this team is more suited than perhaps any other in Oceania to squeeze as much horsepower out of a Honda K24 motor than anyone else in the same postal code.
From the factory, Aussie-spec Honda CR-Vs from this time period with either a 2.2-liter turbodiesel four-pot, a K20 two-liter gas engine, or a 2.4-liter K24 engine that those in the know understand all too well can take more boost than most engines twice its size. With a few aftermarket upgrades, it's possible to do whatever you want to a K24 other than make it undergo nuclear fusion. Although, if you gave these Aussie tuners enough money and time, we're sure they could set about that problem as well.
This particular CR-V is one such example with a K24 engine under the hood, meaning it was only a matter of time before it was stripped down to the bare block and built back up with much more robust hardware. We're talking about BC 625+ forged connecting rods and Weisco pistons. Add on robust copper o-rings and a beefy Aeroflow Boosted G40-900 turbocharger with 2,000 cc injectors tuned to run E-85 fuel, and we've got an engine on our hands that can legitimately make more power than most V8s out there.
How much are we talking? Well, the title kind of gives it away. But still, 799 and a bit of horsepower out of the same engine they out the old Honda Accord and Odyssey? Anyone who says you need an LS or a Coyote Motor to make huge power these days clearly disregards the JDM approach to power, favoring "no replacement for displacement" like we're all still stuck in the 1970s or something. You can't argue that this isn't a more sophisticated and arguably more elegant solution, at least if making 800 horses to the tires in a family SUV is the goal.
From the factory, Aussie-spec Honda CR-Vs from this time period with either a 2.2-liter turbodiesel four-pot, a K20 two-liter gas engine, or a 2.4-liter K24 engine that those in the know understand all too well can take more boost than most engines twice its size. With a few aftermarket upgrades, it's possible to do whatever you want to a K24 other than make it undergo nuclear fusion. Although, if you gave these Aussie tuners enough money and time, we're sure they could set about that problem as well.
This particular CR-V is one such example with a K24 engine under the hood, meaning it was only a matter of time before it was stripped down to the bare block and built back up with much more robust hardware. We're talking about BC 625+ forged connecting rods and Weisco pistons. Add on robust copper o-rings and a beefy Aeroflow Boosted G40-900 turbocharger with 2,000 cc injectors tuned to run E-85 fuel, and we've got an engine on our hands that can legitimately make more power than most V8s out there.
How much are we talking? Well, the title kind of gives it away. But still, 799 and a bit of horsepower out of the same engine they out the old Honda Accord and Odyssey? Anyone who says you need an LS or a Coyote Motor to make huge power these days clearly disregards the JDM approach to power, favoring "no replacement for displacement" like we're all still stuck in the 1970s or something. You can't argue that this isn't a more sophisticated and arguably more elegant solution, at least if making 800 horses to the tires in a family SUV is the goal.
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