Will this allow one to install a 2.4.x kernel as the default kernel upon installation? Or will the default kernel be in the 2.2.x series?
No; these CD's are built with boot-floppies, hence uses the 2.2.x series kernel.
The 2.4.x kernel images will be on the CD (which you can install after the base install), but if you really need a 2.4 kernel to boot your machine (I would think this most unusual), you will have to build a custom set of CDs