kl-ze running kinda bad

FIMotorMX-3 · Post by **FIMotorMX-3** » October 27th, 2005, 8:38 am

Vozaday has a good point. There is a company Megasquirt which is a standalone management system. If you intend on turboing the car it is highly recommended to go with that setup. There are some forums you can search for megasquirt as well as a forum that BabyBlue has posted on the new turbo setup that He and MMI are in the process of fabricating and selling to the public as a bolt on setup. You supply the turbo, bov, and wastegate. The kit includes all the piping and intercooler. That kit after turbo and parts will end up running you a couple grand, but the megasquirt setup will let you tune your car for N/A or boosted applications. So if your intentions are to (down the road) boost your car, it might be in your best interest to research the megasquirt system. I haven't done much research on it yet but will be in the near future. I am considering the turbo setup from MMI myself and have to weigh my options for fuel management.

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » October 27th, 2005, 10:08 am

so how exactly can you tell if your timing is off 180 degrees

vozaday2000 · Post by **vozaday2000** » October 27th, 2005, 4:17 pm

if your timing was off 180 degrees i don't think it would start. or atleast run so horrible you would wish it didn't run. but like i said with the k8 ecu the car will still run good. Rick Johnson told me that he didn't even notice a difference when he switched from the k8 ecu to the kl36 ecu.

believe me with the je50 vaf and k8 ecu you can take a 04 mustang gt, maybe not off the line but once you are up to 70 km/h you will start closing the gap.

sorry i missed this question before, yes you can use the k8 wires, i don't know about the plugs though, i don't see why not. try switching wires and plugs.

also check to make sure you don't have any water or oil in the plug holes. that could cause your spark to arch and not get to the plug, thus causing the bogging, i don't know if you got rid of it yet. i am basically running the same exhaust, cold air intake set up.

do you have your throttle line nice and snug, so when you touch the throttle cable the butterfly opens but the butterfly does close all the way.

FIMotorMX-3 · Post by **FIMotorMX-3** » October 27th, 2005, 5:55 pm

I ran the je50 vaf with the k8 ecu and ran so rich I couldn't run the car for a long time without it stalling and not starting. You also lose about 20 hp with that set up. You won't get the full potential of the ze with the k8 ecu. There was a noticable difference with the k8 ecu and ze engine over the stock k8 engine. But there is even more of a difference once the car is running properly with the right ecu. Make sure you have an aftermarket clutch too. Stock mx-3 clutch will be a big headache. Once I got the car running right my clutch lasted a day and a half. I didn't have much wear left on my stock clutch but didn't really have the money to spend on a new one and what a mistake. It's much easier to change when the engine is out of the car and you can do it yourself. I have the plug wires that came with the ze on my engine and I am using NGK copper plugs. Had the platinum plugs but wasn't worth the money. The disty is notorious for dying on this car due to it's location on the engine. Heat problems. If you have to replace, Napa has one for 135 and it has a warrantee. It's a rebuild but if you are short on cash, it's a cheaper fix. Also plug wires can be found at http://www.summitracing.com. ACCEL 8mm 300+ for a Mazda MX-6. I think they were 74 bucks where everyplace else wanted closer to 100 for those plug wires. ACCEL also has a 5mm plug that is suppose to perform as well if not outperform those wires. But I don't believe they have an application for our car and you would have to buy a universal kit and custom fit it. There are also threads about external MSD coils and HEI units written by Gro Harlem. This will help bypass the internal coil and ignition module in our stock disty helping to alleviate the disty problem. Also approximately a $50 fix. If your bogging problem is due to fire, those should help with a solution. I still believe most of your problem lies with your ecu. I still have a missing problem under acceleration at times. Possibly due to TPS, bad plug wires or bad fuel filter. I'm addressing one at a time til I find it as money permits. Check all the small, cheaper replacement parts first and fix through process of elimination.

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » October 27th, 2005, 11:11 pm

well i decided to go with the megasquirt management system and ordered one today hopefully i can straighten everything out with that. see the problem is the person that ordered my engine from had it for a while before i could pick it up, and when i got there he only had a piece of tin on top of it. it was probably vulnerable to rain, when i drained the old oil out of it it was kind of runny, i took alot of it apart and looked for water damage but there was barely any not that i couldnt take care of anyway, but i didnt go all the way to the head, so my troubles are that it may be shot. i have yet to do a compression test but plan to soon. see one of the problems i have is the car sounds bad, kinda like older model subarus if you have ever noticed they all sound the same, its kinda like a deep tone weed eater, but if it is shot i have two options, rebuild or replace, but if anyone has any ideas im willing to try a few!

vozaday2000 · Post by **vozaday2000** » October 27th, 2005, 11:41 pm

what distributor did you use? like FIMotor said try the hei module and blaster coil mod, it is in the V6 faq. it might help. megasquirt is a good and inexpensive way to go. it is a little tougher to tune and set up but somepeople have had experience setting it up and i am sure would be willing to help. BabyBlue has had some experience tuning MS and also knows the consequences of not tuning it, the hard and expensive way to boot. you should be able to get a little gain with a NA motor, it may take some experiementing. if your motor is not blowing blue smoke then it likely is not shot. but if you go to walmart or someplace like that you can get a compression tester for like $15. your compression should be around 190-220 but is ok as long as it is not below 150. if you want to turbo your motor you can get 5-7 psi on stock but to get more you will have to rebuild it. keep us updated and good luck on your purchase

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » October 28th, 2005, 11:08 am

no its not really smoking except when you start it which it is kinda cold here, but the car still has lots of power it just sounds like crap thats my main problem. so hopefully when i get the ms unit i can get it straight.

vozaday2000 · Post by **vozaday2000** » October 28th, 2005, 3:24 pm

like do you mean exhaust wise, could your headers not be bolted tightly. or do you mean knocking sounds, or squeeling. so it blows blue smoke when you first start it but when you have it warmed up it stops?

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » October 29th, 2005, 12:06 am

its not really blue smoke just kinda white. as for the sound its the engine. it basically sounds like it way advanced in time, kindof a rumbling instead of the smooth sound my K8 had, whenever i check my time with a light its right on the money, so i dont know what the deal is, thats what i'm hoping to find out once i get the ms unit.

vozaday2000 · Post by **vozaday2000** » October 29th, 2005, 11:40 am

mmm... so you mean it is not running on all cylinders when it is idling then. that is the only source of rumbling i can think of. did you try and pull off some wires while it is idling. pull of a wire and see if the idle changes, then put it back on and pull another. if you get to a point that the idle doesn't change when a plug is pulled then there is something wrong with that plug, wire, or cap of distributor. did you make sure that the distributor went in the right way. maybe try taking the distributor out and turning it. i doubt it will run like i stated before but it could happen.

a while back i remember seeing a topic about someone thinking there timing was off either 90 or 180 degrees.

hgallegos915 · Post by **hgallegos915** » October 29th, 2005, 12:32 pm

check your ground to the disty, also check the coil relais that are on thew far right passenger side next to the fendder near the winshield.

slimmyslim1420 · Post by **slimmyslim1420** » October 29th, 2005, 4:03 pm

there really isnt much ground to the disty do you think it would be good to add one to it? I havent gotten around to adding all the grounds that i wanted to but i plan to do it soon, do you really think more ground might help?