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I am in the stage of doing an engine swap for the 2.5L KLZE 30. However, the more research I do, I keep reading one thing....10:1 Compression is too high for a turbo. However, I've read articles of people who have done it, and it seems to work alright. I don't know, has anyone done this yet? Should I replace my pistons, or could i just replace the slugs? Thanks guys, let me know. I'll have to post some pics when I'm done with this car. It's all show and no go right now, but I'm hoping to fix that if the turboed 2.5 will work without putting some new holes in my hood...

You can turbo it. Its the tuning and making sure your getting enough fuel to the engine.

I believe Sean Matthew's MX3 has a KLZE w/ 7psi daily driven. And I believe its been that way for 2 or more years.

You know what the HP on that motor is?

I think it was about 270

With The swap alone, I'm expecting about 200hp, as to thats what most of the resources say. I am going to be doing a stage two turbo kit, with all stage 2 components, like intercooler and so on. But I was worried about the compression being too much for the turbo. But I'm thinking if it's tuned properly, along with upgraded fuel rails and such I can probaly safely push about 12lbs of boost. Just wante to get some fellow opinions.

forget about the 12psi boost..you'll blow your engine to bits..if you want to run let say 9psi on a ze you better be running a stand alone fuel management system...a goog EFECTIVE intercooler, water injection is a + enough fuel for it (no need yet for a modded fuel rail just better injectors)

and people don't say to me you'll blow your engine on 9 psi cause i saw some daily driver and never ruined their engines and the set-up was untuned

Originally posted by hierophant73:
With The swap alone, I'm expecting about 200hp, as to thats what most of the resources say. I am going to be doing a stage two turbo kit, with all stage 2 components, like intercooler and so on. But I was worried about the compression being too much for the turbo. But I'm thinking if it's tuned properly, along with upgraded fuel rails and such I can probaly safely push about 12lbs of boost. Just wante to get some fellow opinions.

It's not a matter of the turbo handling it.. it'a a matter of making sure the engine doesn't run too lean with 11:1 compression (yes, the KLZE is 11:1 not 10:1) you will probably get like 190-195hp out of it at the flywheel n/a. 12lbs is going to require some careful fuel mods..

i dunno where your getting that the ZE is 11:1 because any ZE I've ever had or seen have all been 10:1........

As far as boosting that, 10:1 is deffinately do-able, it's just harder to tune and more sensitive to proper tuning. There's a great article in the v6 FAQ about compression and boost you should check out. Really good read.

KL-ZE 10:1
KL-DE 9.2:1

if you were thinking we were talking about KL-DE and not ZE

Yeah. Every form of documentation I have ever read says the KLZE is 10:1. I would love to see anything to prove otherwise.

Originally posted by mdavis:

Originally posted by hierophant73:
With The swap alone, I'm expecting about 200hp, as to thats what most of the resources say. I am going to be doing a stage two turbo kit, with all stage 2 components, like intercooler and so on. But I was worried about the compression being too much for the turbo. But I'm thinking if it's tuned properly, along with upgraded fuel rails and such I can probaly safely push about 12lbs of boost. Just wante to get some fellow opinions.

It's not a matter of the turbo handling it.. it'a a matter of making sure the engine doesn't run too lean with 11:1 compression (yes, the KLZE is 11:1 not 10:1) you will probably get like 190-195hp out of it at the flywheel n/a. 12lbs is going to require some careful fuel mods..

sorry bud the klze is 10:1 not 11:1. and 12 psi is going to require more than just some fuel mods. TRUST ME ive been building my kfze (same compression as the klze) and im just simply trying to run max 8psi, ive done head and valve work and im still not close enough to run 8psi safely. and Babyblue is right wet injection ( you spray water in through your intake which will lower the chance of combustion) is a good choice in running higher boost, but with that your shortening your engine life even more.

Alright. From the opinions I've gathered, here's my new thought ready for critique. Lets say that i use the KLZE with its stock pistons and the 10:1 compression, which It can handle. Then I boost it to about 8-10psi, with a good intercooler and upgraded fuel rails and injectors. Using this alone, I'm anticipating a good amount of power. (Not to mention the other mods I'm doing) But will that be safe, or will i blow up after driving for an hour? And secondly, where is a good place to find upgrades for the KLZE opposes to the 1.8L? I cant find that much for it, which kind of suprises me. I don't know, thats why i ask. Thanks

My bad @ 11:1 I'm not sure where I got that... but I could swear I've heard it many time (although I have no doubt now that I am wrong) Sorry about that :p

Originally posted by hierophant73:
Alright. From the opinions I've gathered, here's my new thought ready for critique. Lets say that i use the KLZE with its stock pistons and the 10:1 compression, which It can handle. Then I boost it to about 8-10psi, with a good intercooler and upgraded fuel rails and injectors. Using this alone, I'm anticipating a good amount of power. (Not to mention the other mods I'm doing) But will that be safe, or will i blow up after driving for an hour? And secondly, where is a good place to find upgrades for the KLZE opposes to the 1.8L? I cant find that much for it, which kind of suprises me. I don't know, thats why i ask. Thanks

i wouldnt say you'd blow it within an hour but its not gonna last long. Upgrades are all custom

Originally posted by Mnemonic:

Originally posted by mdavis:

Originally posted by hierophant73:
With The swap alone, I'm expecting about 200hp, as to thats what most of the resources say. I am going to be doing a stage two turbo kit, with all stage 2 components, like intercooler and so on. But I was worried about the compression being too much for the turbo. But I'm thinking if it's tuned properly, along with upgraded fuel rails and such I can probaly safely push about 12lbs of boost. Just wante to get some fellow opinions.

It's not a matter of the turbo handling it.. it'a a matter of making sure the engine doesn't run too lean with 11:1 compression (yes, the KLZE is 11:1 not 10:1) you will probably get like 190-195hp out of it at the flywheel n/a. 12lbs is going to require some careful fuel mods..

sorry bud the klze is 10:1 not 11:1. and 12 psi is going to require more than just some fuel mods. TRUST ME ive been building my kfze (same compression as the klze) and im just simply trying to run max 8psi, ive done head and valve work and im still not close enough to run 8psi safely. and Babyblue is right wet injection ( you spray water in through your intake which will lower the chance of combustion) is a good choice in running higher boost, but with that your shortening your engine life even more.

Hmm... head and valve work add more power, they dont make running boost more reliable.

What makes it reliable is tuning. End of story. I have been running 5 psi non intercooled on a 130k mile junkyard KLDE and so far so good. Boost will be cranked to 10 psi shortly. All this on a stock engine and pump gas (91 octane here in CO).

And dont you mean that water injection lowers the chance of detonation? Combustion is what makes power. Detonation is what kills the motor. Detonation=uncontrolled combustion

<small>[ September 09, 2004, 11:31 PM: Message edited by: rebel2k4 ]</small>