Changing over to ZE disty..Help

[Mooneggs]

on the diagram you can see the little square on the plug - this represents the clip on the plug. plugs can only go on one way so just make sure the clip is facing up (he laid it on the diagram with the clip up as it should be)

[wytbishop]

Is that the plug from the ZE harness? I don't think anyone has ever documented the wire colors.

Look at the pics in thisthread. I wired both plugs into the wire harness so I could switch between ZE and K8. The locating slot on the K8 disty faces up, but on the ZE disty it faces the engine. If you lined the locating slot on your 4 pin plug up with the locating slot on the existing 6 pin plug (so that the locating slots are back to back) the wires match up.

You don't need to do what I did, but it sort of illustrates the orientation a little bit.

[Nd4SpdSe]

on the diagram you can see the little square on the plug - this represents the clip on the plug. plugs can only go on one way so just make sure the clip is facing up (he laid it on the diagram with the clip up as it should be)

Exactly! Ya, those wire colors I got was from one harness, but it doesn't mean it's the same colors for all Mazda's that use that connector. As you can see, I added an (*)asterix saying that the wire colors may vary. That's also the reason why I numerated the connections, you can match them up without the wire colors, just by going by the wires running to the connector

[lucifer]

is the 1k ohm resistor a must??

greetings kevin

[wytbishop]

Yes. without it your tach will not work. I got a pack of 100 resistors at Radio Shack for I think, $11. It contained 5 1K ohm resistors.

[WhiteFinish]

If i would place the KLZE disti on the engine. Will it self adjust (for timing purposes)??

[mccabe]

no it wont you gotta get pistion 1 to its max stoke hight by covern the spark plug hole to that cylinder and rotate the crank untill you feel compersion on you finger, i took a flash light and looked down to see were it was and made sure that it could go any higher , after that just make sure that the rotor is face on the number one spark tower and you should be good to go. thats what i have done but the engins not in my car yet so if im wrong can someone correct me. but thats how i did it. not mean to thread jack but is there any pros to this other than great spark power through the rpm range

[wytbishop]

The point of the HEI Mod is mostly reliability. Getting the coil and igniter away from the head will help them last much much longer. Also not having to replace the stock disty if something does fail will save you hundreds. If you want to see any performance increase you have to get into MSD ignition or other higher intensity systems.

To answer Whitefinish’s question, the ZE disty works exactly the same as the stock one. Moving the distributor without jumping TEN and GRD has no effect. If your base timing is properly set, you can just swap it on. If you’ve never set the base timing I would do so according to the online manual.

[mccabe]

ok so i have to ask what is the base timeing? , i just put a klze ditys onto my klde and timed like i metioned above so it should work fine should it not?

[wytbishop]

The ECU is capable of adjusting the timing based on various sensor inputs. So it will advance or retard the timing of the spark based on the conditions present in the engine at any given nanosecond. The base timing is the timing of the ignition without any adjusment by the ECU. So you set the base timing in diagnostic mode and that sets the instant that the spark will occur based on nothing but piston and cam/crank position. The base timing should be set to 10ºBTDC (I think...I'd have to check to be sure). That means that in the absense of any other input requiring a timing adjustment, the spark will occur 10°BTDC.

Then when the taken out of diagnostic mode, the ECU will either add or removing timing from that value as necessary based on sensor information and its programming.

Savvy?

[WhiteFinish]

So, do you mean that the ecu changes the igintion timing or do you have to leave to rotor loosend so it will set itself?

[wytbishop]

You set the base timing with the ECU in diagnostic mode by turning the distributor as you would on any car. Then when the ECU is in control it adjusts the timing electronically by controlling the trigger signal to the ignitor.

[WhiteFinish]

Oke, today tried to set my igition timing.

When I put the paperclip in the diagnostic box I can't start the engine. (It dies directly)

If I set my ignition timing when the car is running, then put it in diag mode its possible.
But when it's in diag mode @ 10 btdc, it switches to 3 or 4 btdc when I remove the paperclip.


Is this normal?

[wytbishop]

If it won't start in diagnostic mode I'd say it's way out of tune. I don't think it's possible to switch to diag mode with the engine running...I'd have to check that. Assuming what you did is in fact a workable procedure, the fact that the ECU is advancing your timing 4-6 degrees supports the idea that the engine is poorly tuned.

Try playing with the Idle Air screw to see if you can get it running with the paperclip in. Once you get the idle set, get the TPS set and then try the timing again.

[WhiteFinish]

Oke, so if I understand correctly the timing should stay @ 10 degrees. In and Out of diag mode.


My next steps would be:

* adjust the idle screw in diag mode so the car wil start
* adjust the tps
* set the timing correctly