Avoiding a messy 'Frankenstien' Swap

[RobMinhas]

You should consider painting your heads black, you can hardly see the stamp if it's black, plus you can get a bit of grime over it and they won't notice since an engine with grime isn't that uncommon.

And to the untrained eye the only discernible difference between the K series engines is the IM. I've seen a bunch of them and I can't till the difference at a glance at all. I doubt the visual inspector will be able to tell the difference fi the IM is right and everything is in the right space unless he's seen a lot of KL and K8s in his life.

[benyandthejets]

You should consider painting your heads black, you can hardly see the stamp if it's black, plus you can get a bit of grime over it and they won't notice since an engine with grime isn't that uncommon.

And to the untrained eye the only discernible difference between the K series engines is the IM. I've seen a bunch of them and I can't till the difference at a glance at all. I doubt the visual inspector will be able to tell the difference fi the IM is right and everything is in the right space unless he's seen a lot of KL and K8s in his life.

And if he has he would probably congratulate you on the swap

[Daninski]

Go with the DE heads, curved neck millenia IM, KL02 VAF and DE ECU if you can. They will want to see a stock looking intake including the breather box and such. With the DE heads you can connect the EGR and you'll need that to pass. Use a good quality Cat not a high flow or you'll fail for sure. When the time comes to bring it in add around 8-10 ozs of acetone with a mid grade ethanol or methanol blended gas to half a tank of gas. Finally, using an adjustable fuel pressure regulator may help. You can dial back the pressure causing the injector pulse to deliver less fuel and this may lean out the mixture. I did look into this but never did it myself so I'm leaning on Internet info for this one.

[MrMazda92]

3 posts down from the top, and I am 90% positive this message will be completely unheeded.

Save the money you could waste on a "real KLZE", and do this:
- Buy a junkyard DE, Millenia, or G4 engine
- Rebuild said engine properly.
- Straight pipe exhaust w/ a resonator, high-flow cat, and decent muffler.

Enjoy the satisfying feeling you get driving around with a brand new engine that outperforms a 20 year old imported 40,000 mile crap-box which probably still has break-in oil in the pan.

[NorCalMX3]

3 posts down from the top, and I am 90% positive this message will be completely unheeded.

Save the money you could waste on a "real KLZE", and do this:
- Buy a junkyard DE, Millenia, or G4 engine
- Rebuild said engine properly.
- Straight pipe exhaust w/ a resonator, high-flow cat, and decent muffler.

Enjoy the satisfying feeling you get driving around with a brand new engine that outperforms a 20 year old imported 40,000 mile crap-box which probably still has break-in oil in the pan.

Not sure what you're referring to here but there's less than a snowball's chance in hell of me passing anything on the visual unless it's the same class engine... The visual is pretty picky.

And your 90% intuition has failed you, bwahaha.

[MrMazda92]

Mostly the general forum misconceptions about the "real KLZE", but that's a rant I would like to entirely avoid at this point... It has it's proponents and detractors, and in the end it comes down to personal preference... Most people will go with "Well, I bought this one, so it's better.", Kind of a Chevy vs. Ford argument if you ask me...

Dollar for dollar, any non "KLZE" will be better for you...

[mx3_ryder]

Mostly the general forum misconceptions about the "real KLZE", but that's a rant I would like to entirely avoid at this point... It has it's proponents and detractors, and in the end it comes down to personal preference... Most people will go with "Well, I bought this one, so it's better.", Kind of a Chevy vs. Ford argument if you ask me...

Dollar for dollar, any non "KLZE" will be better for you...

I disagree MrMazda92. If you are able to inspect a KLZE enigine (KL31 or KL01 cams or whatever it is) before purchase and find its in clean condition w/ warranty then i would purchase a KLZE over a KLDE all day long. Personal higher performance preference I guess...

[MrMazda92]

You're entitled to your opinion... There's a reason that the true performance builds on ProbeTalk, MX6.com, and elsewhere completely skip over the "Real KLZE", and lean towards the DE or G4.

Look no further than John Kessler's high comp 10K RPM build(built DE), Leo323s built ITB high comp build(built DE hybrid), or Goldmember(hppwn)'s high boost G4 for evidence of that.

If "higher performance" means three times the price(before the $120+ ECU), for an additional ~10-15 HP at the flywheel... By all means, go big or go home.

DE/G4 + Fidanza + New clutch + MegaSquirt(built by yourself) = more power, better economy, and better reliability for equal or less investment.

[mx3_ryder]

You're entitled to your opinion... There's a reason that the true performance builds on ProbeTalk, MX6.com, and elsewhere completely skip over the "Real KLZE", and lean towards the DE or G4.

Look no further than John Kessler's high comp 10K RPM build(built DE), Leo323s built ITB high comp build(built DE hybrid), or Goldmember(hppwn)'s high boost G4 for evidence of that.

If "higher performance" means three times the price(before the $120+ ECU), for an additional ~10-15 HP at the flywheel... By all means, go big or go home.

DE/G4 + Fidanza + New clutch + MegaSquirt(built by yourself) = more power, better economy, and better reliability for equal or less investment.

I was referring to purchasing an engine with the most performance without tearing into one and building it.
KLDE-164 horse power with 156 ft/lb torque
KLG4-170 horse power with 163 ft/lb torque
KLZE-199 horse power with 165 lb·ft torque
Sure a DE or G4 makes a great build platform cause you can save that money you would have spent on a KLZE and spend it on upgrades to run high RPM NA, Boost or Nitrous.
I made my choice solely on the fact I never planned on building an engine for my daily driver or messing with megasquirt, hence the "REAL KLZE".

[WhiteFinish]

I agree with ryder.
Depending on your purpose without tearing into an engine.

Your best bang for buck is the ZE I would say.

[MrMazda92]

Bring an experienced mechanic with you to the importer to check the engine out thoroughly before purchasing.

Compression testing. Remove oil pan to check for bottom-end damage/metal shavings. Pop off both valvecovers and check for cam scoring and oil buildup in the heads, if you can look inside the coolant piping and examine for rust or other buildup.

New waterpump, timing belt/tensioner, and don't accidentally rev it over 7,000 RPMs, and you may be among the lucky ones.

[RobMinhas]

Why not buy a ZE and then buy a topline gasket kit for $120, timing belt kit, oil pump and water pump.

Off of rockauto the timing kit, oil pump and water pump will run like $200.

For like $1200-1300 you could have an overhauled ZE instead of dicking around with 500 dollar Megashit systems with a junkyard engine.

[MrMazda92]

"Real ZE" + Proper ECU/Chipped ECU + K8 Exhaust = Not 200 HP. Do the extra work to fit a straight-neck, dump another $400 into exhaust, and tell me you have 200 HP.

FYI, a "real ZE" is just the same as a junkyard engine, except you likely won't be able to properly inspect it before purchasing.

This argument is ancient and futile, spend your money where you want to. If you ever want to take things to the next level, set your sights higher. At a bare minimum, swap your retainers and springs from a different K series.

[mx3_ryder]

I'm not saying my engine is putting out 200 HP at the fly, but the factory numbers were achieved with stock exhaust manifolds, not headers and not a $400.00 exhaust system.

There is also minimal difference in power between curve neck and straight neck manifold, maybe 1-2 HP.

I feel people just get defensive when there's truth in whats being said.

[RobMinhas]

JDM mx6 had a better and larger exhaust then the k8 IIRC.

A ZE with a k8 exhaust and a ZE ecu would be putting like 180ish to the crank no problem, which is still better then a DE and it makes more torque too.