MX-3.com

I like the way he thinks... turbo 1.8 that would be neat and all, and I'm probably one of the idiots that would be first to do it (no, I'm not calling you others idiots, just me), but the sad fact is that if you're looking at it economically, the turbo route isn't the way to go. You're going to greatly shorten the life of your k8 by adding a turbo. Don't get me wrong, I really do like the idea, and I'm all for it, but economically, it's not the way to go. If you're looking at it from an emissions point of view, then again, the turbo loses. If you got a relatively-low mileage KL-DE (up to 80k, they're out there, several here in Nashville), along with it's ECU and airflow meter, then it will produce the same emissions numbers as it would in the probe. Which should be acceptable by any state's standards. I just finished this swap recently for a friend, and unless you really know what you're looking for and looking at, you can't tell the difference in the motor. It runs and idles just fine, and it's a VERY noticable difference in power. VERY FUN car. It was enough to make me change my mind about keeping my 92 GS stock (I've built quite a few mazda's, and this one was just so smooth that I figure it's time to make one for myself... after owning 7 mx-3's now...). You can do some searching and probably find a parts car to buy for well under a thousand dollars that will have a suitable motor, VAF, and ECU. No swapping every couple of years, just as durable as the K8 (and reliable), and very cost effective. But if you wanna go the turbo route (which can be laiden with headache and heartache), then keep us up to date on it.. I love seeing a turbo k-motor.. :)Good luck!~

Daniel

I know the tranny does not have anything to do with emissions I said that in reference to having to upgrade the tranny due to the hop in horse power. which after looking into it I would have to with a turbo set up anyhow. I know the tranny that i have would work for a while but it would not last the test of time. I was thinking it over and I am going with the KL-DE with the turbo and am going to use the probe 2.5 tranny. I will take pics of the project and keep you all up to date on cost and difficulty if ya want.

till then, thanks for all your replies past and future.

I am going to keep my 1.8 while building the turbo set up, I want to see the numbers in the outcome of it all before I drop in the 2.0.

The probe and mx-3 tranny are the exact same. No need to upgrade the tranny, there are people putting down close on 300whp on the stock tranny it holds it just fine.

mxmaz wrote:The probe and mx-3 tranny are the exact same. No need to upgrade the tranny, there are people putting down close on 300whp on the stock tranny it holds it just fine.

I think he means he has an auto

Juans_93_MX3 wrote:

mxmaz wrote:The probe and mx-3 tranny are the exact same. No need to upgrade the tranny, there are people putting down close on 300whp on the stock tranny it holds it just fine.

I think he means he has an auto

Wanna bet?

I have a 5 speed in it right now, what I want is to swap for the probe tranny cause of the gearing...

where are you guys finding these engines? yard sales? shhesh....Its not like we can walk into a local parts store and get a ZE or something. And who wants to pull an engine? Any time i have ever heard of an engine swap there is about 6 months of an unreliable car with all kinds of BS and working out all the bugs. Nobody wants to get a motor shipped, at least not me...and how do you know the condition of the new motor? who drove it, was the oil changed regularly? too many unknowns in swapping engines ESPECIALLY if you dont have the resources to do it yourself....Then you paying for the labour.

1992mx3 wrote:I have a 5 speed in it right now, what I want is to swap for the probe tranny cause of the gearing...

Ahhh its already been stated in this thread that the MX3 and Probe Trannies are identical with a 4.39:1 final drive while the MX6 transmission has a 4.11:1 making all the gears slighly longer.

EDIT: **BTW Im not 100% on the exact numbers but they're about right... A search would tell ya.

Hey 1992mx3, I would rather go with the tranny with 4.11 gears because of less wheel spin.
It really dosent matter what tranny you go for because performace wise, there pretty much the same.
the 4.39 trannys are best when you plan to hit 14s at the 1/4 mile but they are too much for hitting 12s or 13s
the 4.11 trannys are also great for 14s but also for 13s and possibly even 12s if you plan on going that far with your car

actually mx-slick if you live near any large city it is like walking into a superstore. all you do is go into there store pick out the engine you like and load it into the back of your truck. the klze's seem to be everywhere. paying for s&h sucks so i recomend finding a near city that has a japanese engine distributor. and the swap is pretty easy, all you need is the basic tools. i didn't even have a engine hoist just used a comealong and some chains. but i do recomend having a good pair of angled pliers. and for wrenches all you need is from size 8mm - 17mm. unless you are taking off the wheel rotors then i think you need a 22mm or something like that. it costs as much and is as much of a hassle as rebuilding a engine. which i had no choice (engine was hooped) so i bought the klze. just my 2 cents

i've posted this on here b4 i personally think the k8 hasent been pushed 2 the limits im sure it has over 300hp in it u just have 2 b smart about creating it, now as anyone whos built a fast engine theres no replacement 4 displacement however, i live in an import lovers heaven we just love em if u dont think so just ask around and find out who has the best rotary engines around, we like fast cars but we aint all got money for supras or rb26dett engines so we make do with what we have, i've personally gotten a hell of alot out of small displacement engines like mitsu mirage engines and honda b series engines...ive pushed em to 20psi of boost and made em go fast as hell but its alot of time and money the k8 can make power u just need 2 sit down open that engine up look at what it has and find pistons and rods that will suit your purpose, but if u just want a few ponies over stock play with your heads a bit theres always power there only prob is if your serious u have 2 get custom grinds for your cams. personally if i want a ze i have 2 get it shipped by sea and since im not really a fan of the engine design of our engine for racing i dont think that'll happen any time soon if one day i have 2 open up my engine(94 with only 38,000 miles on it) then i will mesure and cross fit other car parts and see what fits and maybe create something that hasent been done yet....but its not likely rather keep messin with my 13b

Reliabilty? Hmmm. My KLDE had 140k miles on it.

I've been making 300+ hp for 14k miles now, done top speed runs, dynos, track visits, tons of boost pulls, etc.

As for emissions? Pull the turbo kit out, take it in, done. I already passed once with the KLDE with flying colors.

My take is to build a turbo kit for the K8. Run it with stock internals. If you ever trash it, swap to a KL and then just put the turbo on that.