What tuning options are there??

Hello there Mazda MX3 drivers
I currently drive a 89 Honda Civic but I'm thinking about buying an MX3
but I wanted to know what kind of tuning option there are available for the MX3??

I mean the stock 137hp we have here in Holland is more than what I have now in the Civic, but what is the best option of boosting that?

And are there any weakspots I should look for when buying one, concerning rust, electrical probs etc. etc.

Thank you for any reply

are you talking about the v6 model? check out www.mx-3.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

Originally posted by cre8v mx3
are you talking about the v6 model? check out www.mx-3.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

Ooops, I forgot to mention that, but yeah the V6 model :D

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out and see if I can find some info there ;)

For the V6, there is the KL-ZE.

It's a J-SPEC 2.5L V6 with 200hp/195 lbs-tq.

Direct swap/bolt-in. Is the same motor as the K8 just larger bore, higher compression, and all the stuff needed for compression like cams etc.

Instant 70 hp gain over stock motor and many MX-3ers have done it. It's phanominal I've heard.

That's my next mod this summer.

~A

Where can I get the KL-ZE. I currently have a 1.8L V6 with 253,000 miles on it. I have a feeling it will go out soon. But it is still pulling very hard.

2 of the best places i've heard are osakajdmmotors.com and enginelandinc.com

how would a KL-ZE run?

opps delete last post, i ment how much does one run, in price that is.

i saw them ranging from 800 to 1500 usd

The KL ZE on osakajdmmotors.com was like $1,000, and I think that comes with a transmission...maybe...I think. And those all had pretty low miles.

yeah at a 1000$ it does come with the tranny...if I were you I'd jsut keep your stock tranny and buy the engine for 650$...That if your k8 tranny is in good shape..

would it be cheaper just to keep the k8 and bore it out to 2.7 er whatever the max is? or is getting all the pistons forged..etc. more expensive???

first it's impossible to bore the k8 to 2.7L...it's 1.8L stock and the only engine you can bore to 2.7 is the kl 2.5 engine...the klze will be cheaper than buying forged rods and pistons for your k8...and why would you wanna get forged internals on a k8 if yur not boosting

i guess i just figured that since their both the same size that it wouldnt matter....

a friend of mine is doing the swap for his mx and i was just curious what other router their are to take...possibly cheaper...but i guess when it comes to this, it's put up or shut up w/the cash eh???

you can look wherever you want but you'll find out that the ze is the cheapest and best way to go :bigthumb:

so what do you think would be the fastest times possible w/the mx-3...turbo AND non turbo, i know theres some 11.5 second turbo out there but im not positive, the guy i was talkin about (in my earlier post) is going for 13 seconds even w/o a trubo...he seems to think that everyone is right in that it cant be done but he's put in big $$$ for it, is it possible?

as far as the v6 is concerned...
i guess n/a it would be around 14's high 13's
turboed mid 12's

I've seen a 4cyl turbo in the low 11's...
impressive huh

actually there's a guy around here that is making 11's and think he'll be in the 9's..well se about that..he's running around 25 psi of boost tho

damn that's a lot of boost!!! my friend that wants to run 13's was tellin me about the dave guy who ran 11's but i guess his car is sold and rebuild by someone else??!? how much money do you think he's got invested in that car 15k easy!?

Yeah it was Dave Lauzier's car that made 11.1...he sold the car and engine separatly...the guy i talked to you about in my area has bought the car and put his own engine in it...the car is stock from the outside (excpet for the hude slicks), interior is gutted and he said he didn't change much in the internals...the only cash he might have spend is in his turbo set-up...I'm thinking more in the 6000$ or so

thats not too bad, im looking to put in about 5-7K and the only thing left on the inside of my car, short of the dash is gunna be a thin layer of carpet....cuz im gunna strip it down to the metal....

what i want to do is have 2 mx-3's one w/boost one w/o....in a 'perfect' world

are there a lot of 11's going the forced induction route...i noticed on mx-3.com that a lot of people n/a are hitting between 13.7-14.2, and w/turbo, or nos their only hitting 12.9-13.2, is this normal?

normally most people with minor mods on a ze run in the mid 14's ...
the ones with a ze with n20 runs around mid 13's..
12's?? must be hard to acheive that....the only guy i saw in the 12's is a probe gt with a klze turbocharged @9psi...he ran 12.9 untuned....
put that in a mx3 and your in mid 12's

normally most people with minor mods on a ze run in the mid 14's ...
the ones with a ze with n20 runs around mid 13's..

what's minor mods ? ? ?

here's what i plan on doing...

KL-ZE, ZE ECU, 67mm throttle body, Polyurithayne Motor Mounts, Port/Polish, Millenia Intake Manifold (heard it's better), Clutchmasters Stage III Clutch/ACT Clutch (havent decided, know i want high performance though), thermal spacers (saw em on mx-3.com), shaved flywheel, Underdrive Pulleys, Cold Air Intake (PRM), Wires (NGK), Hotshot Headers, 2.25 inch exhaust w/high flow cat, B&M Short Thrower

lots of weight reduction, like i said, no back seat, no spare, no A/C or useless stuff, probably a carbon fiber hood if i can find one that doesnt look ghetto, i want to beef up the car as much as possible before going N2O

[i found a lot of this stuff on mx-3.com...it's a pretty usefull resource]

where do you think that puts me, im guessing 13.8's...thereabouts?

let me know if you've got any tips

since you want almost EXACTLY what i have...i would have to say..low 14's but i doubt you'll go in the 13's....just my opinion tho

that's rather disappointing. i was really hoping to break the "wall" and get down to 13's. do you have some times that you've run you can post?

sorry to be a copycat, i just dont wanna mess w/forced air!

sorry man i didn't mean to say you copy my car..lol...I was just saying since your mods will be the same as mine you'll probably run in the same range as mine...

I didn't went to the track yet with my car so I can't tell you an exact number..BUT i've seen people with the same mods running 14.2-14.3...

Yeah forced induction is a lot of work but it's about the only option for big HP...I'm getting a t3/to4E on my car by the end of the summer...I'm hopping to run 10 psi on it...that shoulf run me in the low 13's high 12's

OK ya lost me!!! t3/to4E? not to knoledgeable on the turbo's.. would love to dip into 13's w/o the turbo...i think that would be a great goal. i found a 13.7 time from someone but it didnt say what the mods were.

ya think boring out the ze to 2.7l would put ya over the top...but that would probably cost as much as a turbo to get all the stuff made huh?

how much would it cost to forge a KLZE so you could run boost?

t3/t4E is a hybrid turbo.. it has the quick spool up of a t3 (turbine) with a t04E compressor for high power..I made the math and concluded that with my application a t3 turbine with a to4E 50 trim compressor is the best...

you don't have to go forged internals to go with boost..i all comes down many different things like compression ratio, type of octane, what size and effeciency intercooler you've gotm how many psi you wanna run...

yeah forged internals will cost an arm...a set of custom JE pistons could come around 800-900usd adn the rods too....machine shops don't work for free too...anyways all the bottom beef up it can come to around 2500 jsut for that...AND you didn't touch the upper part yet (valves, retainers, springs etc...

yeah forged internals will cost an arm...a set of custom JE pistons could come around 800-900usd adn the rods too....machine shops don't work for free too...anyways all the bottom beef up it can come to around 2500 jsut for that...AND you didn't touch the upper part yet (valves, retainers, springs etc...

so basically at that point it's cheaper to run forced air then to fork over the cash for the internals....unless you've got something to prove by going n/a (if i had the $$$ i'd do it, just so i wouldnt have to mess w/the turbo, i just dont trust it 100% ya know!!?). thanks for chattin w/me about it...good luck w/your turbo i'll check back on your cardomain page to see how it's going.

how much would it cost to make a automatic into a manuel on a mx3

a manual tranny isnt that expensive (200-300$CDN)... but it is the man-work that will kill you. You have to remove the motor and that alone will cost you 500-800$ a most shops. I would guess a tranny swap would cost you ~1500$

yon don't have to get your engine out to get the tranny out.. true it costs around 20-300 for the tranny itself and can cost around another 300 do change it so 500 for a tranny swap

...dont you have to take off the mounts to lift the engine a bit? I thought you had to... so if the motor doesnt need removing... how hard would it be to do yourself?

I have not done it myself but I guess you can just take it off from underneath..I think that's how the shop did it..You got to have acces to a lift tough

hmmm.. i might try that this weekend and see how hard it is. Ill try out my PGT tranny to see if she works. ;)

well the DE is another Option if you would perfer a Turbo... it's a 2.5 like the ZE just has a lower compression (9.2:1 instead of 10.0 :1), similar to the K8... The KL-DE is also know as the K03. This engine was found in A-spec MX-6s, and the late (2nd Gen) Ford Probe V-6... it's cheeper than a KL-ZE depending where you live and availibility.. but that's the road I'm takin to only puts 170hp to the wheels stock though... but easier to turbo!

by the way a ze IS 170 whp and a DE is around 135whp

u ever take ur car on the Dyno babyblue? We should have a Dyno-day with Phil, Steph, you and me this fall when u have your Turbo, I have my ZE, and Phil gets his Boost controller going. It'd be cool.

for sure...when the turbo is going to be in I'm going to the dyno right after

just wondering but when somebody says horspower not wheel brake or crank, just HP were is it mesured from?

it could be either one, thats why people have to specify what they are talking about. Most of the time people say the crank because it is more impressive that way. But on Mercedes, BMW's and cars that do dyno-runs are all listed in Wheel horsepower... im sure there are more cases of car comanies that do so, but I am unaware eof them.

well the US lists the HP from the Wheels if I remeber correctly to give Net HP. and when I did the check on it it was 130 hp for the MX-3 (160 hp in J-spec model) 170 HP for the MX-6.. it can't be too much less cauz my friends MX-6 raced my Friend's Camaro V-6 and the MX-6 won... both were automatics so it's got nothing to do with the shifting of the driver. and for a 200hp engine to loose to a MX-6 (which isn't but so much lighter) so it must have a descent amout of HP compaired to the K8.

The MX-3's 130hp is at the crank, and just slight correction, but the MX-6 has 164hp at the crank.

there's no company that list their engine in whp..that all give hp (crank or whatever)...
the only time we get whp is when a car is dynoed

really? KBB said 170.... but thanks I couldn't remember where Net HP was taken from....

actually thats not true Babyblue, Mercedes and BMW both give their cars with WHP... I was talking to a mercedes dealer last week about that. ;)

well the US lists the HP from the Wheels if I remeber correctly to give Net HP. and when I did the check on it it was 130 hp for the MX-3 (160 hp in J-spec model) 170 HP for the MX-6.. it can't be too much less cauz my friends MX-6 raced my Friend's Camaro V-6 and the MX-6 won... both were automatics so it's got nothing to do with the shifting of the driver. and for a 200hp engine to loose to a MX-6 (which isn't but so much lighter) so it must have a descent amout of HP compaired to the K8.

wait wait...so your saying that a KL-ZE rated at ~ 200hp (crank) in an mx-3 could NOT beat a stock mx-6 with 160hp (crank)? i'm a bit confused...

Yea, I was about to post and say something along the lines of "How the f**k did you get that out of what he said?", but now that I read it again, I see what you mean. lol I think Lone_Night_Fox was just rambling at that point... i dunno, because an KLZE MX3 will beat an MX6 no problem. :sly:

sorry for the confusion... I was saying how that the HP rating couldn't be too much lower than 170hp for the MX-6... mainly because it beat a 200hp Camaro. also the weight is closer between the Camaro and the MX-6 (the MX-3 is a little lighter than the MX-6). thats all. I know the KLZE or KLDE(k03) MX3 will beat a MX-6 no problem... and should also beat the Camaro too!

If it is a stock camaro then yes, most likely, unless it is an IROC-Z or the newer SS versions, they would blow your doors off. A 98 Z28 SS does 13.6 in the quarter.... so forget about that, but chevys are all straightline cars... put it in the twisties and your KLZE would smoke it.

You could probably beat a camaro on mountain roads without the KLZE swap. I'm not sure about that cause I don't know a whole lot about domestics, but I'm pretty sure it can be done. The camaros RWD would suck on those corners, and i pretty sure the weight difference is pretty significant.
I'll have to try it sometime!

OOOOOOOoooooohhh...ok well yah now i understand...i was getting worried there! After i reread it for about the 7th time and read foxes post i understood! Thanks for clearing it up.

no problem... also it was a stock camaro V6... I know it couldn't do but so much and not to touch the Z28, SS, or Iroc-Z

check out www.flashoptions.com klze 500 usd w/tranny

is that where you got yours?

Ive heard bad things about flashoptions myself. And think about it... How can they offer half the pice yet promise the same quality? It just doesnt add up.

same here... that's why I was wonderin

no i didnt get mine from them i heard they got good motors but it could take up to a year sometimes to get your motor i actually got mine from www.jkjapaneseengines.com good motor but some vacume lines were broke when i got it