Another KLZE Project Started - My ZE and Pile O' Stuff

shawno · Post by **shawno** » May 11th, 2005, 9:33 pm

I have bought at KLze engine i hope, they said it was a millina engine but the head codes say KL 1A1 and the intake says KL 47. could this be a klze or a klde im goin to take off the intake to see if theres square ports, if they are square that means its a ture klze with different head codes. But the ports are D shape it is an american engine.

vozaday2000 · Post by **vozaday2000** » May 11th, 2005, 10:09 pm

ok i checked my ze and it says 47 on the same location on yours and ontop of the throttlebody right above where the intake hose connects says kl68. so i would say yours is a ze.

and to shawno to be the klze the head cosed should say KL31 1A1 or KL31 101. i don't know what the intake says on the klde millenia's so it could be the same also. but correct me if i'm wrong.

Gro Harlem · Post by **Gro Harlem** » May 11th, 2005, 10:15 pm

uh....all kl131a cylinder heads are "square ports". The usdm millenias had em as did the newer 626's.

"square ports" is NOT a way to identify and confirm you have a klze. the best way to know is if you have a straight-neck & kl31 cams lol. if you get a curved neck, the only real way to be 1000% is to pull the cylinder heads and make sure the piston tops are flat & not dished

shawno · Post by **shawno** » May 11th, 2005, 10:52 pm

so for a fact only the klze pistons are flat so if there flat then it is a klze for sure and if the pistons have a dish in them for the valves then for sure it is a KLDE. The intake says KL 47 nad head say KL 1A1

kiwi_MX3 · Post by **kiwi_MX3** » May 13th, 2005, 5:44 am

millaj01

a quick question, Your OBX header's whats bolted on the engine
is that the complete OBX header's or is there a Y joiner as well?

And if you don't mine me asking what did you pay for them so i can
see how much im getting ripped off by a import company here.

Cheer's Matt...

millaj01 · Post by **millaj01** » May 13th, 2005, 7:05 am

kiwi_MX3 wrote:millaj01
a quick question, Your OBX header's whats bolted on the engine
is that the complete OBX header's or is there a Y joiner as well?

Hey Matt, re: the OBX headers, what's in the picture is only part of the kit. It does come with a complete Y pipe and flex pipe to complete it, which will be put in later. Regarding the price, I bought them off eBay for $300 US + shipping. Looks like pretty good quality stuff (welds, etc.), in my novice opinion.

Actually, here's a great link with more info on putting them into an MX-3:

http://www.psituning.ca/headers.html

-Jay

millaj01 · Post by **millaj01** » May 18th, 2005, 11:33 pm

Good news: the ZE is in the car. It runs.

Bad news: the blokes at the shop said they'd clean the engine bay before putting it in. They didn't.

Pretty irritating. Looks like I'll have to put some love into the engine bay on my own after all's said and done. In the meantime, here's my clean engine in a dirty engine bay (ick):

Yes, they hadn't put my CAI inlet back on yet, and I forgot the strut bar wouldn't fit anymore.

In any event, the exhaust is not done for the car, so it just had the headers and Y-pipe attached. The garage owner said to take it for a spin.......so, I did. Engine fired right off and seemed to idle well (LOUD!). New clutch (CM Stage II-R) very grabby and the friction point was right on the floor. Going to have to get used to that. Driving her around, the engine actually seemed pretty gutless to me......I didn't want to go too crazy since the car's not done, but there didn't seem to be any real torque to speak of. Would this simply be due to the lack of a full exhaust system, or something else?

Again, the car's not done yet....and the shop in question wants some more time with it for tuning/buttoning down after the exhaust's in. Should I be worried? I'll likely be getting the final product early next week.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » May 18th, 2005, 11:38 pm

Dont be worried.. if they havent finished tuning it yet AND you were running it open header.. those 2 things can easily explain a lack of torque and or horsepower. Sounds like they need to adjust the clutch too..

Tunes67

millaj01 · Post by **millaj01** » May 25th, 2005, 9:24 pm

Before saying anything else, I just wanted to thank all of you good people that have helped me through this process so far. You've been terrific and generous with your time.

That being said, the Beast is runnin'! The custom exhaust was completed (no cat, 2.25" throughout, Magnaflow pre-silencer and silencer....twin 3" tips) and I picked the car up yesterday and drove it for about an hour and a half.....couldn't stop! Yes, things are more what I would have expected now that everything's been done.....

First impressions:

- Wow, hey, torque!
- Exhaust note is great...nice, muted, low burble at idle. Sounds good through the rev range.
- The radiator fans constantly go on, but that's to be expected from what I read
- Really miss my front strut brace already
- Idles well, seems to run well, but it did stall on me once
- Haven't really pushed it too hard yet....wanna break it in a bit

So far, I'm extremely pleased with how it came out. Don't know how to really judge it since all I have to compare it to is my 130k mile K8 that I just left behind. Definitely a huge improvement. Certainly lots more power and torque....are there any 'tell tale' signs I should look for to ascertain if I'm getting proper power/using the potential of the KLZE? I guess taking it to a dyno would be one surefire way.

I can tell the engine is really happiest in the 3-4k range....much more so than the K8. I can tell when the VRIS kicks in, so that seems to be functioning properly. Anything else? Since I didn't do the work myself, I'm going to be second-guessing the install job and combination of parts for a while.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » May 25th, 2005, 10:09 pm

millaj01 wrote: The radiator fans constantly go on, but that's to be expected from what I read
Do you mean both are on? Passenger side should only come on when the AC is on. Drivers side could be a couple of things. Your tuner hasn't quite found the sweet spot when setting the TPS. OR, If you haven't migrated the water thermosensor/coolant filler neck apparatus from the K8 to the ZE than you need to do that. The ECU is looking for that info from that water thermosensor (actually there are 2 there - 1 green and 1 black). So your drivers side fan should not be on all of the time.

- Really miss my front strut brace already
Modifying the attaching bolts on the top of the IM to a rounded (button head) allen head bolt should increase your clearances, however, I still had to grind a small hollow on the underside of my Ractive strut brace.

- Idles well, seems to run well, but it did stall on me once
Again, this may be related to the previously mentioned TPS adjustment.

'tell tale' signs I should look for to ascertain if I'm getting proper power/using the potential of the KLZE? I guess taking it to a dyno would be one surefire way.
Checking the colour of the plugs / doing a psuedo plug chop should reveal how good of a burn your getting.

ProjekMX3 · Post by **ProjekMX3** » May 26th, 2005, 1:09 am

Dude u need to swing by kalamazoo so we can compare ze's. I have sort of a crazy engine so i'm interested to see what it feels like with the right ecu.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » May 26th, 2005, 3:02 pm

Millaj01 and ProjecMX3 are either of you near Grattan Raceway just west of Lansing and I believe NE of Kalamazoo. I'm thinking of going to the Ducati meet at Grattan the 30th and 31st of July.

millaj01 · Post by **millaj01** » May 26th, 2005, 8:34 pm

Hey John and ProjectMX3.....

I'm about 20 miles north of Detroit....which would be about an hour and 30 minute to an hour and 45 minute drive to west Lansing.......

I sure would love to meet some other MX-3 enthusiasts at some point. I don't know if I'm comfortable taking the new transplant on any longish trips right away, but once I'm confident things are running reliably it's definitely a possibility!

Just gotta watch for potholes.....since I did the ZX2 struts w/H&R springs I've really had to keep my eyes peeled.

lakersfan1 · Post by **lakersfan1** » May 26th, 2005, 11:09 pm

shawno wrote:so for a fact only the klze pistons are flat so if there flat then it is a klze for sure and if the pistons have a dish in them for the valves then for sure it is a KLDE.

No. All Mazda engines have a cut out for the valves in the piston. It's flat topped because the piston is flat EXCEPT for the valve reliefs. The lower compression pistons start out at 'flat' and then step down even lower on the inner 75% of the piston face, and then it's stepped even further for the valve relief.

millaj01 · Post by **millaj01** » May 28th, 2005, 3:51 pm

Tunes67 wrote:Sounds like they need to adjust the clutch too..Tunes67

I ended up fixing the friction point on the floor problem myself.....I just used the clutch pedal adjustment screw that a lot of other people have referred to. I honestly didn't think it was going to make much of a difference, but jeez, it only takes a few turns of the thing to make quite a difference in relative friction point height. Much more fun driving around without having to worry about cramming my foot to the floor on every shift.

BTW, if it's of any help to anyone who hasn't looked at adjusting this before, the lock nut for the adjustment screw/bolt is 12mm, while the actual bolt itself is 10mm.

Anyways, since I've been driving a bit more, I think that I'm suffering from the same 'running rich' issue that a lot of others have with their KLZE. I've got the JE-50 VAF and KL31 ECU, but it sure seems like I'm sucking a bunch of gas.....that, and I swear I've heard a small backfire once or twice while driving it a bit harder.