My first mx-3

[93BlazeRed]

I just bought he car from someone at my work and he said it had minor problems so he sold me it for $750. It is a 93 blaze red GS MTX and the odometer says it has 144,444 on it but he told me that the speedometer and odometer has been broken for around 70,000 miles at least.
Current Problems-
-Loud tapping noise coming from engine (nehough to make you
embaressed at a stop light) but the sound dissapears around 1500rpm
-Car seems to idle roughly after i drive it around for a bit, then it starts
sputtering but still runs
-Looks like it has been leaking oil b/c area where front 3 spark plugs are
is covered in it
-Checked plugs and the one nearest to the oil cap has oul in it and I
cleaned it out drove it agian and the oil was back within less than 10 min
- 2nd gear does not catch well and 3rd grinds most of the time, but clutch seems fine

When I found this site I was looking around and found that you can swap a larger 2.5 KLZE into the gs with relative ease.

So I am wondering if i should swap the engine into this car to get rid of the problms with the current engine b/c i heard the the K8 is not worth rebuilding and I still have around 2500 to spend on the car to make it run correctly. Any thoughts?

[hgallegos915]

Can you post sound clips f tapping? I think its just normal HLA soud. The sputtering im sure its ignition problems. do a major tune uip. No need to change engine tho. Why dont you have it compression test? Im sure that person did not know what he was letting go.. Maybe hje didnt mantain it well. If engine is bad do a klze swap. You will NEVER regret doing it and its almost bolt on... well it is.

[wagZE]

just sell it to me for $1,000 ! Haha jk... Nice find man, if I were you I wouldn't put $1 into the old tired leaky stock motor. Just do the klze swap. Maybe the grinding isnt an actual clutch/ tranny problem. Maybe your clutch pedal height just needs to be adjusted. Anyways if it if than you can fix it really easy when you take the old motor out you can swap clutch/ tranny if need be. Do you have any experience working on cars? It's really not that hard to swap motors if you have the tools + you have this board helpin you through every problem you may encounter.

[93BlazeRed]

A;oght thanks guys for the feedback and while looking for engines I found this one from JDM Engine Depot

http://www.jdmenginedepot.com/catalog/p ... ucts_id/58

I was wondering if they are a reliable source and if there are better deals out there than this b/c this is one of the best I have found.

Oh btw Im gonna get help swapping the engine with one of my other friends he has swapped multilpe vtec engines and has all the tools needed to do it in his garage.

Maybe one day I will show up to work when I get the swap done and show him and his 2002 Eclipse GT what he was missing out on

[PATDIESEL]

02' Eclipse, sweet (not). You should beat the pants off him if your tranny will shift properly (with a ZE swap). Do a ZE swap and forget about the 1.8L. The ZE swap will cost about all of your 2500. I suggest replacing as many parts on the ZE as you can get to with relative ease so that you have a good pretty fresh motor right when you crank it back up.
As for JDM Engine Depot. I've heard of people getting the American 2.5L and not the JDM version. The ZE (or JDM 2.5L) is a good bit more powerful. I would recommend Best Japanese Engines in Marietta, Georgia. We have bought about 10 motors from them and they are all great, still running strong, motors.
You can view my swap page at http://www.atlantamx3.com/mocaforum and look under the "ZE swap guide" page for more info on what is involved in the swap and what you should replace on the ZE before putting it in.

[illapino]

Welcome, Friend!
I also had oil covering my valve cover (around the spark plugs) when I bought mine, but that's usually just the valve cover gasket. Replacing it should be done by your self, for mechanics have quoted me hundreds to do something that I found out takes less than 30 minutes. I mean, while you have the stock K8 engine and don't wanna spend $4 on replenishing the oil every week, as I have been doing, it could be a good starting point just to keep her on the road until the klze is all ready to be installed (which could take months if you're waiting for parts and studying all the new information associated with the car). Hear it from a pro

[93BlazeRed]

Another problem I dont want to run into is not being able to find the right ecu for the engine, so does anyone know where I could get an ecu that will work wiht the ze or should I order the ze from corksport that has the ecu and the engien for around $1500 w/o shippping b/c I live in south-west FL and Best Japanese Engines which is in georgia is a bit far for me to travel atm bc/ of school/work.

Also one last question before I start pouring my money into this is how long should I expect the KL-ZE to last, if i do all the neccesary preperation and maintenence to the engine, as a daily driver and whith occasional "spirited" driving here and there.
Thanks agan for all your advice/suggestions

[Steeb]

tapping that goes away above 1500 rpm would most likely be the friction gear spring. very cheap part, very expensive labor.

stuck hla also causes a tapping noise.

[Flinch]

did you check all the fluids you might be low on oil mazdas always tick but the lower you are on oil the louder the tick.

[Jay72]

I, too, had oil sitting in the front plug holes and on the valve cover when I purchased the car. I think a set of valve cover gaskets(front and back) will run you around $80 from mazda. Easy do-it-yourselfer. If that is the only place you're losing oil, this will help you stop losing oil and hopefully quiet down the tapping. Worked for me... until I did the swap.