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Please tell me how many miles it had, and why it died.
I just bought lakersfan1's GS-ZE with DE heads. I love it, but am concerned, because it seems ZEs are breaking down alot. I'd like to know if I can do anything to keep it going as long as a K8. It has 15,000 miles on a complete rebuild. I understand that with the high compression, it won't last quite as long.
Thank you!

bleh mine died with like 150 ish i would say on the engine... 5k after rebuild. coulda been a bad rebuild, but in general zes dont last nearly as long as k8s, ull never see a ZE with 500k kms on it with no engine work ever performed... so yeah goodluck that's all i can say

Just do the basics :change oil/Coolant/tune ups, don't rev the hell out of it, and keep it below 6500 rpms and you shouldn't have a problem with it.

lol my klze has been trouble free for the past 100k miles/5 years... of course I have done regular maintenance since I drive the crap out of it every day

i find there's alot of luck involved, you're buying a used engine, so i've maintained the hell out of mine and still had it blow, maintnance is very important but there's too little you can do if the engine had been abused prior to you buying it.

de heads? so you have a high compression klde. that guy is a reputable guy. he does good work. u shouldnt worry. Im sure he used the klde valve train. you are good to roll. engine dies? repalce it.. they are cheap. millenia klzes are like 500 and so are kldes.

Lakersfan built that motor right. The DE valve train is stronger than the stock ZE valve train. So in essence he eliminated the fault that is the most common cause of ZE engine failure. I considered buying it myself.. had even talked with my bank and was working on a loan. And believe me.. I spotted that car LONG before he posted it on this site LOL But.. I want a 2nd gen RX-7 with a SBC stuffed in it. Already got a fun daily driver

Tunes67

Well, I'm glad you had other plans, Tunes, because I love the car. I could tell he did a good job by talking to him. My main concern is the #6's oil pressure, which can only be rectified by drilling it out, which hasn't been proven a good mod, or bad. I wanted to find out if ZE's died from that in particular, and what I could do to avoid it. I know about the valve train, and wasn't concerned, since it's DE. I also wanted to find out about any other issues that could kill a ZE. I'm very good about maitanence.
It actually has some ZE cams, and I'm considering a ZE IM.
Thanks for all the input!

^^^^^
Just run top quality oil and regularly change it. Keep it clean. Don't overrev the thing to 8k as thats bad on bearings. And you won't have any issues with #6 spinning!

For some reason I have killed 2 ZE's Hydrolocked one and it broke a rod in Cylinder #5, The other one Spun a bearing in Cylinder#3 and somehow kept going then broke the wrist pin and the piston skirt, then smashed a hole into the cylinder sleeve and started breaking the piston and skirt in cylinder#1, than the motor locked up solid and never ran again.

^^ Man, that must have made some interesting death rattles.
I'm going to lower the RPMs on the rev limiter (once I figure out how), although I've never come near it, and I've always been early with maintanence.
Thanks for the reply.

when you change where the rev limiter is, just set it to 6700 rpms that will keep you safe and allow you to go through your full power band if you need to

Gracias!

I thought the subject line of this thread was like a command. I was really glad I don't have a ZE yet.

AAhaha!
The power of the mostly overlooked comma!
Everyone who had a KLZE, die!

my first ZE died about 2 weeks after install or about 45-50k on engine. However I believe it was more due to running the K8 manifold and ecu and the crappy mechanic that installed it. I installed a new one and so far have put about 8k on it and have had no problems and it still runs stronge. Proper install and replacing all the belts pumps tensioners pullys gaskets ect ect makes a world of difference on how long it will last.