MX-3.com

I'm just trying to start up a discussion about one of my pet peaves...the fact that half of the mx3 owners out there claim to run a KLZE...now i know there are quite a few who are indeed, but has anyone else stopped to realize just how many probably aren't?? I myself have tried to source a ZE here in europe...out of the 4 sources talked to, 3 were trying to push a KLDE as a ZE...Now I know I'm not retarded enough to be fooled by this, as i have done quite a bit of research to educate myself on how to tell the difference between the two, as have alot of others. But I'm wondering just how many owners out there really know for certain if they are running a DE or ZE??? Especially some of our fellow members who constantly post tech questions without checking first to see if the topic is already created or if there is an FAQ for it.
Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with running a KLDE. In fact, when my K8 does finally crap out, that is going to be my first choice. But if your'e running a DE, then just list it as a DE. Don't try to jump in with the in crowd and say it's something that it's not.


Does this annoy the hell outta anyone else out there???? I just want to know that I'm not alone on this.

And also food for thought, just because it came out of a RHD car, doesn't mean that it's gotta be JDM!!! One sure fire way to check if a RHD vehicle is J-spec or British Spec is the speedo cluster...if it's MPH, it's Brit, likewise, if it's in KPH, then it's JDM.

At least here in the US, they didn't have ANY DE's at the 2 import places I went to - They had both curve and straight neck ZE's though.

Once you study the pictures of the two engines and know where to find headcodes, they are very distinguishable from each other...that is unless someone goes through the trouble of swapping the manifold and throttle body, then you can only rely on head codes...or you could pop the front valve cover and check for the kl31 cams, which is really your safest bet.


I don't know where people are claiming to have ZE's that don't, but I'd say most of the people on here who post regularly that say they have ZE's do - we've seen pictures LOL.

In Europe, Germany, Portugal, etc people seem to have problems getting ZE's imported from Japan, which is unfortunate.

Well it seems that importers are getting DE's from Japan and calling them ZE's because of the fact that they got them from Japan. Most here ask before hand, or if not, they'll register on this side and ask if they do or don't, and sometimes we tell them the bad news, but I'm pretty confident that for the most part, people know what they do, weither it's what they wanted/paid for or not.

maybe it's just a Euro thing but just about everybody on here that say they have ZE's, really do have ZE's... I don't think posers would last too long on this board lol and like it's been mentioned... ze's are not hard to find in the US...

ya ze's are easy to get in ontario, and are fairly cheap!. i only paid 800 cdn for mine. there is nothing wrong with running a DE in a mx3, its still a good swap, no intake clearance issues, and you can easily come by a de ecu and the maf to match. and its safer for boost!

There's plenty of information on this site for making sure you get what you're looking for. Im sure there may be a few people who think they have them, but Im sure the majority do have them. I myself have swapped them out tons of times, and they are very easy to come by.