MX-3.com

There's been alot of changes...! Current Spec:



OLD Stuff:

It's been a long time in the making...

Engine Mod/rebuild/spec list:
-KLZE 2.5 v6 24 valve
-KL01 cams KL31 cams
-Millenia Curved neck, polished Straight Neck inlet, polished, knife edged / back to curved neck!
-kl67 throttle body kl31 TB, hourglassed
-Cosmo Racing AFPR
-Interprep performance valve springs (7800rpm redline)
-KL03 retainers and keepers
-Ported heads (lightly done - ZE heads already have 3 angle valve job and high flow)
-Polished at exhaust heads
-Knife-edged intake on heads
-Knife-edged intake manifold
-Valves relapped
-New valve seals, oil seals, head gaskets, head bolts, main seals
-New timing belt kit, pulleys, waterpump etc
-Outlaw thermoblok intake manifold insulators
-Spec StageIII clutch - feels good, not too heavy, bit OTT but might turbo this in time to come
-Fidanza 9lb flywheel
-Polyurethane/windscreen adhesive filled engine mounts AWR engine mounts -amazing
-A whole lot of cleaning
-Taipan carbon fiber closed filter, running direct hose to foglight hole

Interior:
Special Edition Part leather part light suede buckets
CarPC with 8"touchscreen molded to dash
AEM wideband with custom molded to OEM guage pod
Door speaker volcanoes with alpines (nice but cheap enough)
12" mutant sub wedge 150w RMS

Suspension & Wheels:
KYB rears
-40mm jamex?
Mazdaspeed front strut bar
Rota Boost 17 x 7.5"
Toyo Proxes T1Rs 215/40/17

Exterior:
EU spec bumpers and side
Full length OEM sides
Super/supra style spoiler (wings west) with LED bar
Invader CF bonnet



I bought TommyD's klze last year, we both had a nightmare trying to get a courier to ship it over (all because of a gravel driveway ) So Tom got it moved (he's been a top guy throughout the whole process). In the months it took to get the engine out, palleted, moved, picked up and delivered I went on the hunt for a black mx3, with minimal rust, reasonable mileage and good bodywork. Finally got one, though travelled literally land sea and air in one day to get it back from Newcastle to dirty Northern Ireland

My first big task was clearing my dad's immense amount of crap out of the garage!

Before Christmas I started to pulled out the k8 engine from the black car


I sanded away all the rust and resprayed most of the engine bay, may as well whilst waiting for the ze!



Whilst it was all stripped away I cut a cold air hose hole, always thinking ahead I don't care much for fog lights anyway!


I bought some 80a duro windscreen sealant to fill mounts, as a 5% cost alternative to mazdaspeed/corksport/awr engine mounts. They seemed to have really helped firm up the engine mounting.


Finally at Easter the ZE came, after months of hassle from dumb couriers, and Tom having to move the engine somewhere easy for them! I was damn excited! Then I cranked it over using a breaker bar... and rusty water gushed out was totally pissed! By that night I had the engine in bits...


On the upside the heads were very nice and clean, Tom's approximation of low 40s was spot on, if anything could be younger. On the downside kl01 cams - less aggressive high end, but more grunt down low, I tried to get kl31s from mx-3.com sellers but wasn't to be.


I got the heads off and was in for a rusty shock! Thankfully it was nearly all surface rust and just wiped away But I did notice some damage to one intake valve (got a new one from mazda for £14)


This is a cut out of the ZE straight neck intake on top of the curved neck runner. You can see the straight neck is a small amount wider, but my cutout was slightly to big. I'd say there's really under 1mm difference. So I went for the curved neck, for aesthetics and to for the nice curve intake, which I think will flow better.


Damaged valve, boohoo, with nice new one in background:


Halfway through removing cast lines and knife edging intake for optimum airflow:


On the way to a light polish, tedious work doing 12 ports. Only exhaust was polished this helps get air out faster with less turbulence, polishing intake would of course detract from the desired swirling of fuel/air mix.


All done


I sexyed up some parts whilst getting my heads skimmed (took no chances there). I imported some crazy purple annodising VHT paint from USA. I wanted something different from usual blue and red, some will slag, but I think it's damn sexy!

I then rebuilt it from head up, doing new head gaskets, head bolts, seals, uprated valve springs and retainers, new gaskets etc etc. Also cleaned up the pistons of carbon big time.


Finally the lump was in Had some trouble, dizzy didn't work. Put on a working dizzy and started first time Holy shat open headers is loud


Loads more pics to follow

Things to do now:
-install awaiting megasquirt
-get some Rota lightweight alloys
-transfer UDP to black ZE car

So far so good- had a white mayo/head gasket scare but got 215 average compression (cold engine) and no leaks So must have been months of condensation. Has never came back since the first few engine starts

Finally got my catback 2 1/4" SS with decat pipe and they fixed my misalligned Y pipe. Idles SO much better at 650, and the sound is amazing! Will add a pic to this post when I get it off my phone. Intake has also been fixed since this post with a Taipan CF closed filter running a hose straight to the foglight hole.

Also got my drilled and grooved front discs yesterday (I like the looks ) along with ferodo pads and SSlines on the way. My brakes are mega dull atm, ABS is complaining too, replaced one dead sensor and it's still not happy Hopefully a good bleed, new discs, pads and SS lines will tighten it up.

Nice work! I like the wee Irish carriagehouse, too. You MUST give me a ride, when my girl and I go to find my relatives in Sligo.

Excellent work, if your filled mounts are anything like mine you'll need to put dampers on your dash board. lol Take your time with your TPS, it really makes a difference if you set it right on the money. I found playing a bit with my idle screw (top of TB) over a couple of days was time well spent as well. Looks like you have new O2 sensors too. Great

EDIT: Screw the antiskid. I hate that system. IMO

Wow, I really like the look of the valve covers and the polished up intake is also nice. How did you paint the mazda on the valve cover? I need to do that but how do I tape off all those small areas?

I really like the purple!! As for the letters, you can tape them off the cut out with a blade, or while its still wet, wipe the letters off. If you wait till it dries, you risk chipping off more than what you want too.

fowljesse wrote:Nice work! I like the wee Irish carriagehouse, too. You MUST give me a ride, when my girl and I go to find my relatives in Sligo.

haha yea it was a tight squeeze doing it in there! Anytime dude

Daninski my mounts havent been too bad yet, though I fear my speedo rings might vibrate off! Love the feel though TPS I've spent ages already! I was ridiculously precise with the multimeter, took quite a few goes. Yea I definately need to have a play with the idle screw again, it was a bit impossible with open headers! Yep o2 sensors were off ebay I think, barely used, looked as new ABS is checked annually by MOT inspectors

Spot on Savin, for my k8 I put masking tape over them, then just leant hard round the edges, scoring the excess off with the sharp edge of a flathead screwdriver. npspears-this time I painted the whole cover, left to dry, then back masked the painted stuff surrounding the letters, and actually wet and dried (1200 grit+) the purple off MAZDA. That way I got the letters shiny and clean

Thanks for the comments guys It's thanks to this forum and its users that it happened!

Holy mama that deal is seeeeeex on wheels. Gets my vote for sexiest car that I'll see today. Makes my little RS seem like its a suffering, tortured, dying creature....

well my stupid ABS light means that my car isn't road legal SO...

I spent ages trying to find a guide to pull ABS code which I have now posted in the brakes forum. My codes were clear as mud really, but seemed kind of like a messed up sequence spelling out 53 - ABS motor, motor relay. I knew my relay was good as I swapped it from my red car which works, and still ABS light.

So today I finally pinned it down to the worst part of all- the ABS motor I got stuck straight in and got the bandit out, it was MESSY!

This is how I capped the lines, but make no mistake it will need a full bleed - 4 brakes and clutch


The offender!:


Rusted POS Now I play the waiting game... trying to get a second hand one of german ebay, seems the best place to get them!

After this is fixed it will be time to hit the roads wooooooo

So is it illegal in the UK to drive a car without ABS?

It is illegal in Canada, and I suspect most places, to drive a vehicle equipped with ABS on which the system is not working. If the car is equipped with it, it has to work.

Great work on the car in such a limited space. Looks really good.

spot on wytbishop, if it was OEM it has to work as they bring up your cars data and check for things like ABS, number of seatbelts etc... And thanks dude was one tight squeeze doing the swap! Quite the talk of the my street

I am envious. I dont' even have a small space like that. I would like to do something like what you've done with the ZE, but between the lack of space and simltaneously saveing for the car and the bike (taking it to the track next season ) it may be a while before I get where I want to be with my car.

So last thing to fix before she's roadworthy = ABS.


Installed it after work in an hours And BAM no more ghey light. Round the block and still no light, time to tax and insure this beast! No wait a minute....

Well my dad kindly reminded me that one of my cam sprockets was running wonky, which is visable as I removed the circular rubbers from the covers. SO I tore the engine apart, this thing hasn't even made it out of my street yet!

Turns out my 'key' had ovaled the hole in the cam AND made a hairline crack! So the poor old K8 was further robbed of another sprocket and bolt. Thankfully just a few weeks before I pointlessly bidded on some kl31 cams, with no real intention of ever bothering to swap them with my installed kl01s... a sign??!!

Cam Party! ( and crackhead kl01s aren't invited )


'DIY Rebalanced' kl31 cams so far so good! I mean c'mon with all those caps, I don't think I'm going to have a gram of trouble


All in, no more kl01s


First time it started Getting good at this...I hope.


Hopefully I'm due some carefree running now, REALLY wasn't wanting to be tearing it all apart so soon! On the upside I'm running the faster cams