funny v6 swap question (entertain me)

[kulluminati777]

say i want to ditch the old k8 and get a de/ze. do u think i could just take the car to some random mechanic who knows alot about cars and tell him its the same engine just change and do u think he can do it with no mx3.com tutorial or hints or anything like that or do i have to stay there and walk him through the differences or is the entire swap literally tit for tat with no mods at all

[Nd4SpdSe]

If you've read about the KL swaps, you'll realised that you've already answered your question.

[Ryan]

Just throw a K8 mani on a KL, and move the knock sensor wire over in the process, and the mech won't even know.

[RX8SE3P]

Just throw a K8 mani on a KL, and move the knock sensor wire over in the process, and the mech won't even know.

Yep, providing you use the same gearbox then there will be literally no differences that I can think of apart from coolant sensors. If you have a 1993 car, then make sure you keep the coolant neck that has two sensors.

Basically if the KLZE is a newer model engine (94 onwards) then it may only have 1 coolant sensor. If your ECU is a 1993, which it will be for most real KLZE ECU's, then it will look for the second sensor and if it cannot find it, it will make your thermo fans run constantly....

[mikeinaus]

unless the mechanic works on older model mazdas on a regular basis id highly doubt they would even notice the differences between a k8 and klze. id be more then willing to bet theyd chalk the slightly different intake manifold and one less coolant sensor to year to year changes rather then different models.

[kulluminati777]

thanks alot guys cause i want to do the swap but i cant do it im not a good car mech and plus i want it done right lol

[Inodoro Pereyra]

A lot of guys came to this forum not knowing anything about mechanics, and not long after they did their own swaps.
Read, ask questions. You will be able to do your swap "the right way" before you know it. It's no rocket science, and there's a lot of information here, and a lot of people to guide you through it. And once you finish, there's no bigger satisfaction than knowing you did it yourself.

[kulluminati777]

true true

[Nd4SpdSe]

I initially thought that you were trying to get a KLZE swapped a-la-incongnito because overseas there are places where it's not allowed. If you just want to get a KLZE swap done, any decent mechanic who is capable of swapping a motor can easilly do a KLZE swap. The intake manifold is just vacum lines, which is easy do deal with and reroute.

Yep, providing you use the same gearbox then there will be literally no differences that I can think of apart from coolant sensors. If you have a 1993 car, then make sure you keep the coolant neck that has two sensors.

Basically if the KLZE is a newer model engine (94 onwards) then it may only have 1 coolant sensor. If your ECU is a 1993, which it will be for most real KLZE ECU's, then it will look for the second sensor and if it cannot find it, it will make your thermo fans run constantly....

That's jut a quirk rather and nothing you need to worry about in the installation process. As he's basically saying, if you have a 92-93, just swap over the coolant neck from the K8 to keep both temp sensors, otherwise the ran fan runs all the time. If you have a 94+, you only have 1 temp sensor, so you're fan will be on all the time unless you get the right and specific ECU (not sure which ones at the moment, I think a DE ECU and/or a Probinator fixes that). If you've got an OBDII, that's a different story, swap isn't any different, but you need to stick with your K8 ECU and use a KL02 VAF.

In the end, it doesn't matter what motor it's from or if it's OBDI or OBDII (worse comes to worse, you swap the sensors from your K8, it's an odd rarity that I've heard need to of been done once or twice), the only thing you need to pay attention in the motor is that is either had 1 or 2 coolant sensors and use the system that was originally in the car, every thing else is identical, and use the K8 distributor for ease.

[SgtLynch]

Yea, I'm a crap Mechanic, but I can swap a motor. It's really like Lego... stuff fits or it doesn't. If you have laid out everything logically and labeled/photographed connections properly you should be golden. As for diagnosing engine problems and repairing them... that's the real mechanic stuff.

[hgallegos915]

It was an almost direct swap when I did it.

Not rocket science. It does fit like a lego.

[Daninski]

Place both engines beside each other and make the ZE look like the K8 then install it. Hook up the EGR so you don't get a code but there's no need to connect the exhaust or coolant lines just the electrical plug.