MrMazda92's '92 GS - New daily

[MrMazda92]

I have a KLDE UDP forsale... I just haven't taken a pick of it and posted it yet... Or do you need one with a 36-1 trigger wheel??

I need it to be both, sadly ;( Idk if they even exist, never thought about it

[MrMazda92]

They don't salt the roads where I live, I'm just on the cautious side... Powdercoating is cheap insurance, ya know? Besides, shiny isn't really my thing... I like performance parts to be subtle, it's the same reason I'd paint a CF hood if I ever bought one.

[MrMazda92]

WANT IT!!! So far as I can tell, this is not a sticker on a generic cap... Does anybody know where I could find a Mazda equivalent? This one is on a Civic, found it on cardomain... :/

[MrMazda92]

1st post edited a little bit...

I figured I would finally share some of my plans for my engine build, since a few of the ideas aren't common-place around here, and I would like to see what others think so far. I'm not posting about the intake/exhaust port modification just yet, since I'm still undecided as to exactly where I will take that. I've had considerable input from Michael Perry, and a family friend who builds performance engines in my city, and am going to be 100% decided before I put a penny towards head work.

I am of the mindset that sharing benefits all members of a community, and WILL be providing pictures, flow numbers, and all other supporting documentation for this build. You'll need to bear with me, as financing a project like this takes time.

Upon completion of this build, I will be dyno tuning the car with the aid of a very experienced tuner and lifetime drag racer. I will happily post any and all results of said tuning, so we can all benefit from the experience.

[fowljesse]

Is this what you want feedback about?;

- Back-Cut Intake Valves
- Back-Cut and Narrow-Stem Exhaust Valves - Still debating the stem machining... They ARE stainless, but how far do I really want to push this?
- Reduced Profile Valve Guides
- Shot-Peened G4 Retainers
- KLG4 Valve Locks(Keepers)
- Interprep ValveSprings
- Hollow-Stem SLAs w/ Light Shims
- Colt Tri-Flow Cams

I assume that the valve mods are the same as "Tulip"ing..
It is a good idea. I would do it.
It's impossible to say how much is too much to take off the stem without finding a valve bouncing around your combustion chamber at high rpm. I would go easy on that.

One thing I considered with my build is street-ability. It sucks a bit to go slow, especially in rush hour. The car doesn't go smoothly when the clutch grabs. I like it, otherwise.
I mention this, because of the tri-flows. They lope to the point that you have to rev more going into gear. Maybe not a big deal.
I assumed you'd be decking the heads for more compression, and "cc"ing the chambers. Of course, porting and polishing is huge. You can actually port DE heads more than ZE. I believe also that oval flows better than square, too. I don't know if all of this is what you were talking about, or if I'm going off...

[MrMazda92]

Tuliping is another name for it, yes!
I have spoken at length with Michael Perry, and he seems confident that the exhaust valves can take the machining, but the intake valves are not stainless, and may not handle the stress if cut down.

Well, which clutch/pressure plate are you using?
I had been concerned about the Tri-Flows, but I'm still planning to use them for now. That was a good assumption, I'll be going with a light decking, but only enough to ensure a truly flat mating surface on both heads, as well as the block.

The oval ports do flow better, and I'll likely be taking a fairly unique approach to that, since I'm using the Straightneck Intake, with G4 heads... I'm not portmatching the heads to the intake, rather enlarging the heads and rounding out the IM runners... I need to make sure enough material can be removed from the intake to even make it possible, before I commit to the project. If need be, I could always go with a G4 intake... Much as I'd rather stick with the Straightneck.

[fowljesse]

Indeed.
I just have an Exedy, and OEM clutch/ pressure plate. I'm concerned for when I put in the Bully2, which will grab harder, especially with the Fidanza, which will lose momentum more easily when grabbed by the clutch.
Well, it sounds like you'll be port matching by the time you're done.. you'll be rounding them both out. As much as porting the IM helps, there is restriction in there where you can't really get to it. You can't even extrude hone it, because of the VRIS. Cleaning out what you can will make a difference. I believe in eliminating turbulence as much as possible, except right at the site of air/ fuel mixture at the heads on the top side of the valves.

[MrMazda92]

Ah, you've had no issues with clutch slipping or premature wear then I'm assuming? I'm glad to see that you're running that... I have been leaning towards it, but wasn't 100% because I have yet to see a specific example of someone in the 200 WHP range using one. For ~$100, I guess I can't go wrong

I will be port matching, but I'm still undecided on that front... I'd prefer to keep the oval shape of the DE/G4 heads, but use of the straight neck would require either D-shaped port matching, or rounding out the IM runners, which I'm hesitant to do, as they're already quite large to begin with.

I've been bouncing around the idea of extrude honing and or acid porting for a while now, but have yet to find a solution that will keep VRIS functioning properly. For the acid porting method, I could remove the butterfly valves and fill the spaces in with wax plugs, similar to the method others have used to plug the ends of the runners, but I'm not confident that this would offer adequate protection.

Do you happen to know, off the top of your head, which lobes of the Tri-Flow intake cams are 210, and which are 218? If you do, please let me know(left to right, let's call the cam gear "left"), thank you! That's related to a different idea I've been bouncing around, to try and help with the odd idle pattern the cams sometimes produce.

[crazycanadian]

I think the G4 manifold is going to be the best overall manifold to use.. It keeps the same oval ports as the DE but has a larger plennum volume then the DE manifold.. Its also a straight neck design but a little shorter then a ZE straight neck manifold... That way you'll have an easier time with brake master clearance and your intake...

[MrMazda92]

I've considered it, but I have leaned towards the straightneck forever, now that It's looking like a possibility, I'm tempted to stick with it. The G4 has always been the easier option though, and I've thought about it a lot... My initial swap will be a junkyard G4, unless finances change rapidly.

[fowljesse]

If you successfully acid port the IM, you'll be my hero.
Honestly, I haven't really got on the clutch much because when I drag raced it, it slipped more and more as I went through the gears. The best time I could get was 14.7, with about a full second of clutch slipping. That was before about +15HP in mods, so I am looking forward to upgrading. It's fine in daily driving, and a little fun.
I don't remember about the tri-flow cams. My brain only holds so much info, so I have to purge as soon as I decide against something
I don't recall anyone employing all of the tricks, and tweaks of a perfect build. I am confident that just a meticulous build, using readily available parts (not having to go with Nissan pistons, radical cams, or custom fab anything), one could get 200whp out of a KL. Of course, one would need a stand alone EMS. I am going for that whp goal, too, but lost my enthusiasm. I'll be happy with what I get when I put the rest of my parts in.

[MrMazda92]

Well, I'll certainly be giving it a shot Jesse! I've got a DE IM and 2 K8 IMs to test on, as far as preserving the VRIS functionality while the acid has its aluminum snack. I'll make it happen, one way or another!

Dragracing is about a 0% occurrence for me, I wouldn't dream of it with a FWD car, or anything under 400BHP really... It doesn't suit me one bit I guess.

Haha, I can't blame you for that one bit! I'm carrying around so much useless information, that I struggle sometimes to recall useful things. Why would I still need to know product codes for a scale at my first real job? No reason... I haven't worked there in over 4 years, but I still remember things. -.-

There hasn't really been anybody that combined every well-established trick(at least that talks about having done so), very few people honestly go past bolt-on performance. I can't blame them, it certainly is a hell of a lot cheaper, and I kind of wish I hadn't set my sights so high sometimes... I follow things through though, and I'm going to hit my 200 WHP mark as soon as possible.

Off the shelf Colt cams, pretty much any headers(cleaned up welds, internal polish), bored throttle body, gasket matched IM/Heads with port throat reshaping/angling, and de-shrouded valves, topped off with dyno tuning should get ANYBODY 200 WHP. If it doesn't, one or more of those items wasn't utilized properly. Dyno tuning brings it all together, honestly... It makes a world of difference for any build. I can do nearly limitless runs on the dyno I'll be using, but I only get so much assistance with the tuning. Maybe 2 days, if I'm lucky... I need to make that time count.

[MrMazda92]

I just purchased an LC-1 Wideband controller and sensor on fleabay, for a decent price(Love OBO posting btw!)

If all goes to plan, I'll have a low miles KLG4 with coilpacks and no VAF/MAF in the engine bay by December 1st, tuned and drivable. Clutch will be an Exedy OEM with a 9 lb. Fidanza, feeding shorty headers and 2.5" piping... Still not 100% on which muffler, but I'm pretty close to buying the one I like. I know 2.5" is a little on the large size for a relatively stock KL, but it won't be "relatively stock" forever.

I might add that I'm actually taking the time to do a neat and tidy job of things... I'm dropping the engine and tranny together from below this month, and cleaning, painting, wire-tucking the engine bay before the swap even happens.

Since I've got a finally drivable KL MX-3 to dart around in, and a loaner '95 Civic(40+ MPG) to cut fuel costs down during this transition, I'm actually able to take my time and do things the ideal way. Slow and steady, neat and tidy.

Don't worry, I'm not throwing away my high power goals, just focusing on getting a running swap going before I go full-bore with the project.


I have a question though, for my fellow fanatics, which 3 gauges do you think I should go with for my setup?
When I track the car, I'll have a laptop/ipad mounted to my center console to monitor EVERYTHING, but I'm debating what I should keep visible at all times.

So far, I'm leaning towards the following:
Air/Fuel: I don't "need" it, but it will help to remind me to drive efficiently, as the ratio will change with throttle abuse.
Oil Pressure/Temp: I'm thinking one similar to this guy: http://www.customcarscentral.com/inn385 ... H-TYFFRx1s
Vacuum: This has obvious diagnostic benefits.

[fowljesse]

I just remembered; the Tri-Flow is designed to act similar to the VRIS, in that it spreads out the torque curve by staggering the valve opening/ closing times. Also, if they work as designed, they would create a swirl in the chamber. If they are really well designed specifically for the KL, they could work great, but from what I remember, the guys on PT weren't completely impressed. That could mean nothing, though
Personally, something just doesn't feel right about them, and I can't explain. I probably could in person, with drawing pictures and such
I'm not "into" drag racing, either, but it's fun once in a while. I've been thinking about going again.
I hope I can use your dyno tune for my car! It should be close enough
I recommend making a race gas tune, and a street gas street tune. I'm getting about 29mpg combined right now.
As for the gauges, I would just leave MegaSquirt up. It has all the gauges. I have the AFR gauge, and like to refer to it, but once it's fine tuned, I won't need it. If I were rich, I'd have a touch screen, so I could screw with MS all of the time.

[MrMazda92]

From what I can tell, the Tri-Flows have equal max lift for the intake, but the ramp time is increased for the 218, and the duration is slightly longer(starts to open earlier), and the exhaust cams are not staggered. At least the second generation Tri-Flows, I'm not certain about the 1st gen...

If nothing else, I had hoped it would promote swirl enough that I could run 87 octane around town without my knock sensor screwing my tune. I'll already be going with something different for my combustion chambers, to promote swirl in another way that compliments the tri-flows... It's a good thing I have a few sets of heads to mess with, let's put it that way. I need to get my hands on a set of them, and actually inspect them in person, manually turning them in a head, to see exactly how staggered the intake valve openings are. It'd do a lot to help me plan... Have you picked up a set of tri-flows yet by any chance?

It's not so much that it isn't fun, but I don't really see the point in a FWD car... It works, but it goes against the very nature of FWD to begin with. Idk, it's also hard on everything from your clutch to your motor mounts, tires, and more... I hate replacing a clutch, with a passion. I'm avoiding FI because of transmission weakness too... I'd rather not fix it every 3 months.

I've got an iPad I could use for dedicated gauges, but something about leaving that sitting on my seat screams "steal me!!" I'm planning to mount my gauges in the lower DIN slot, and have a custom cover that keeps them hidden when I don't want them visible.