Marco's Black Beast aka 'Sooty'
-
Long story! …It's been a long time in the making...
Engine Mod/rebuild/spec list:
-KLZE 2.5 v6 24 valve
-KL01 cams
-Millenia Curved neck, polished
-kl67 throttle body
-Interprep performance valve springs (7800rpm redline)
-KL03 retainers and keepers
-Ported heads (lightly done - ZE heads already have 3 angle valve job and high flow)
-Polished at exhaust heads
-Knife-edged intake on heads
-Knife-edged intake manifold
-Valves relapped
-New valve seals, oil seals, head gaskets, head bolts
-New timing belt kit, waterpump etc
-Outlaw thermoblok intake manifold insulators
-Spec StageIII clutch - feels good, not too heavy, bit OTT but might turbo this in time to come ;)
-Fidanza 9lb flywheel
-Polyurethane filled engine mounts
-A whole lot of cleaning :)I bought TommyD's klze last year, we both had a nightmare trying to get a courier to ship it over (all because of a gravel driveway :shock: ) So Tom got it moved (he's been a top guy throughout the whole process). In the months it took to get the engine out, palleted, moved, picked up and delivered I went on the hunt for a black mx3, with minimal rust, reasonable mileage and good bodywork. Finally got one, though travelled literally land sea and air in one day to get it back from Newcastle to dirty Northern Ireland :lol:
My first big task was clearing my dad's immense amount of crap out of the garage!
Before Christmas I started to pulled out the k8 engine from the black car
I sanded away all the rust and resprayed most of the engine bay, may as well whilst waiting for the ze!
Whilst it was all stripped away I cut a cold air hose hole, always thinking ahead :wink: I don't care much for fog lights anyway!
I bought some 80a duro windscreen sealant to fill mounts, as a 5% cost alternative to mazdaspeed/corksport/awr engine mounts. They seemed to have really helped firm up the engine mounting.
Finally at Easter the ZE came, after months of hassle from dumb couriers, and Tom having to move the engine somewhere easy for them! I was damn excited! Then I cranked it over using a breaker bar… and rusty water gushed out :x was totally pissed! By that night I had the engine in bits...
On the upside the heads were very nice and clean, Tom's approximation of low 40s was spot on, if anything could be younger. On the downside kl01 cams - less aggressive high end, but more grunt down low, I tried to get kl31s from mx-3.com sellers but wasn't to be.
I got the heads off and was in for a rusty shock! Thankfully it was nearly all surface rust and just wiped away :) But I did notice some damage to one intake valve (got a new one from mazda for £14)
This is a cut out of the ZE straight neck intake on top of the curved neck runner. You can see the straight neck is a small amount wider, but my cutout was slightly to big. I'd say there's really under 1mm difference. So I went for the curved neck, for aesthetics and to for the nice curve intake, which I think will flow better.
I sexyed up some parts whilst getting my heads skimmed (took no chances there). I imported some crazy purple annodising VHT paint from USA. I wanted something different from usual blue and red, some will slag, but I think it's damn sexy! :P
-
looking and sounding great there fella/ loving the colour on the covers. where was the paint actually from. gives me and idea for colour coding in with boot install design. anything else going to happen to her??
Just to note last two pics are not showing up.
-
I then rebuilt it from head up, doing new head gaskets, head bolts, seals, uprated valve springs and retainers, new gaskets etc etc. Also cleaned up the pistons of carbon big time.
Finally the lump was in :) Had some trouble, dizzy didn't work. Put on a working dizzy and started first time :D Holy shat open headers is loud :lol:
Loads more pics to follow :lol:
Things to do now:
-install megasquirt (got it for £100 prebuilt - probetalk group buy- with mazda tails)
-sort out air feed
-get some Rota lightweight alloys
-transfer UDP to black ZE car
-fix exhaust Y pipe alignment, get cat backSo far so good- had a white mayo/head gasket scare but got 215 average compression (cold engine) and no leaks :D So must have been months of condensation. Will change the oil after some run in and hope it never comes back!
-
Thanks mate, paints from amazon.com - US site, i just love the annodised look :)
-got the megasquirt to put in
-get rota boost 17s
-car PC/touchscreen
-black altezzas
-transfer supra style spoilerposs some more things, a fair bit to do yet!
-
i want one lol! that engine looks sooo nice! well done mate! the purple does really set it off too! i was thinking of getin teh anodised candy apple red or pearlesent black for mine but think gna wait til i can afford to do conversion now! :)
-
Awsome job mate, i wrapped my water pipes in heat proof wrap as they were ever so close to the headers. The one that goes to the heat exchange on top of the oil filter housing.
Top job +++
Oh love the rockers :D
-
cheers guys :D
Sounds good Simon get a 2.5 in first :) But if you do pimp up your valve cover(s), they actually fit the ZE from what I can tell
Mechanic that sounds very sensible, might still wrap my headers for the exhaust scavenging/air velocity and keep the heat where it should be. So much to do at once! Going on holiday for 2 weeks soon though, so can't afford anything atm :lol:
-
My ZE still sits on the bench at work, goin on hols 2 morrow be back towards the end of June, i drop mine in then. How does the power feel?
:evil: I hope :)
Edit: Correct me if i am wrong but is that an M16 in the first pic?
:roll:
-
Took it out for a few laps of the block last night, the pull is awesome, you're going to love it! At the minute it's got no rear bumper, headlights, tax or insurance atm so just a few first gear wind ups around the block.. This engine just feels so right, it's what the mx3 should have had in the first place!
It's an SA80 (british army style), it's to protect my cars :lol:
-
Well i have not been to busy at work, and was inspired by your brave colour scheme. So my inlet was black, then metalic blue now bright yellow :lol:
I have lost the plot…. think i am going paint it black again. lol ... :lol:
-
she looks unreal, i knew it would be special, but holy god it's unreal.
Defo in top mx on the forum, if not the best!
-
I have lost the plot…. think i am going paint it black again. lol ... :lol:
dipping it in the paint might have helped cover iy better. looks like you got it everywhere. lol :oops:
-
wow marco this is an excellent worklog! :o
-
wow mechanic that's nuts! How about black intake, and paint the accents like fuel rails yellow? Best take them out and mask the injectors for that. Thanks for the feedback guys :) Got FA done this weekend, was in bed all bloody weekend with a fever then come monday morning/work im fine :x
I did install my guage rings though, they are classy :) pics to follow
-
One of the most interesting threads here… :) I really like your "super style" spoiler. Shall u keep it or is it for sale?
-
Nice engine detail 8)
You must be proud indeed. :)
-
welcome to the world of klze now get it road legal and start making hondas cry its hours of fun :D
-
lol cannot wait to get it on the road! Something to look forward to after the holiday :)
Yea Greg keeping the spoiler, planning to transfer to the black car, sorry :P
And steven, I'm damn proud, well more relieved it works!
-
cant wait to see pics of the supra soiler on it then ity will probs make my mind up what spoiler to get or whether to not get one at all! looks smart on utr red one :D
-
here's some pics I forgot about! Nothing majorly exciting :lol:
Damaged valve, boohoo, with nice new one in background:
Halfway through removing cast lines and knife edging intake for optimum airflow:
On the way to a light polish, tedious work doing 12 ports. Only exhaust was polished this helps get air out faster with less turbulence, polishing intake would of course detract from the desired swirling of fuel/air mix.
All done :)
-
Do you know the website where you got your rocker cover paint?
i wanna pimp my bay!!
