You want fast car get one "faster" car from factory and tune it....Im not big fan of sticking big turbos on small engines and boosting it to peaces..KLZE in not eather the perfect candidate for turbo as it has high compression but eunos the 175 engine hp is perfect for turbo..But I did drive some fun turbo cars:)... In my opinion KLZE conversion gives you power but still a car that you can drive many miles vacation etc. without you worrying if it breaks or anything+ KLZE is the cheapest hp for the money.. Still its "NOT" cheap but by far the cheapest reliable upgrade you can get for our cars.

Watch out where you get the engines there are companies selling "fake" klze's as they are dying breed. They get KLDE engines and stick JDM intake manifold on it.. And remember for every KLZE car that was sold every 5 was an curved neck so there is greater risk that you’ll end up with eunos engine with 175 hp it you order curved neck from start.

for me taking a small engine and squeezing power out of it is the fun part of this hobby.

u buy a 'fast' engine - the challenge is already gone !

Hmmm... interesting.

Mr Obsessed: I like your morals against taking a tiny engine and blowing it to pieces with turbo boost. Im a uni student, i want power and reliability. The last thing i need is a piston through my bonnet that requires me to buy another engine. (not to mention the bonnet :p )

I'm working full time soon so the funds will be there to do the conversion in which case i will sell my 1.8 hatch. One problem is that i have $2500 worth of stereo in my car and i would either have to sell it with the stereo or pull it out and buy a cheap h/u and speakers to put in it coz i gave away the stock stuff (lesson learnt). You may call me lazy, but it's just plain annoying.

It'll also depend if I can source a 200hp JDM KL-ZE at a decent price. They're on ebay from the U.S. but I'm highly doubtful that they are in fact JDMs and the postage is $500 US! I guess you gotta pay for what you want, ey.

For anyone who's done a conversion... what would be the approximate labour costs involved to have it done?

if you do it yourslef then none :) don't buy from the states, we have plenty of locals whom import the buggers from Nippon. I'll track some down for you if you are trully interested. As to labour costs.... become frienldy with a mechanic and see what he can do. It's probably an easyish swap so if you are on good terms and manage to convinse him you know a tiny bit you might be ok with not getting ripped off.

Look for one from NZ - as it's a big dumping ground for ex-JDM cars. And shipping will be cheaper.

Btw, there's no reason a turbo engine will be any less reliable - if you treat any engine badly or push any engine (whether NA or FI) beyond it's limits, it'll come back to bite you.

That is very true want a fast car buy it but. As for reliablity comes from one thing CASH. why becasue it's about maintance, even a new car can become unreliable after 5 years due to thigns breaking etc. This is why Most reliable car has had everything changed everything fixed everything done.
My Mx-6 is more relialbe then the Astina and yet ones is modded the other stock. all because one has had money thrown into it head to toe. Has no problem takeing 1 bar boost built to take 2.5 bar no worries. but it's not tuned out, it's not driven into the ground. None of the K series are good candidates for FI due to size/location. but mild boosting can easily be done.

As for no KLZE's heaps just no one brings them in. What you want now is to find a GW capella wagon/cargo FRONT CUT. they come with auto but as a microtech is so cheap who cares about ECU. they were the last model to use KL-ZE upuntil the MAZDA6

Yes NZ is "The" dumping ground for jdm gear

i can get all my parts for my Mazda and nissan ..with out having to wait "2 weeks" to get them here.....we seem to have too many BA's with F series box's tho :(

Its an risky swap every swap is.. You could end up with bad engine.. Ask for warranty and check for people who got it from company/seller ask them to do compression test etc.

As for pricing here in Europe there is no big difference between v6 and 1.8.That extra cash you use to get an v6 is well spent.. look at new prices what did 1.8 cost at the time and v6 it was more expensive by over 30%.And in some countries its illegal to turbo and non turbo car without getting it tested.
No sound can beat an angry V6 engine or V8, maybe its just me but I thought my 2.0 v6 sounded good but this is pure sex to you'r ears ZE with racing headers mmm first time i fired it up it sounded like a angry panther lol

As for other costs.. Look at it this way.. you decide how much you want to change at the same time and what you want to do with the engine you want 220+ hp or little less. You could get just engine and drop it in. But there are million of small things you must get and they add up.. The basic most important things are timing belt/pump sparks/ fluids filters etc and of course clutch. I got exedy stage 1 clutch and its perfect.

I got the engine from

http://feedback.ebay.com/ebaymotors/...:feedback:1:us

http://enginesus.com/inside.html

And im happy with my purchase. We had some problems with shipping company.. They wanted to rip me off for 300$ and he got trough for me he contacted them several times and ending up paying them the amount.. He could say hey **** it let him deal with it but he didn’t.

I am very serious about doing this, but I have alot of homework to do before I can. Ie, find appropriate insurance, get everything out of my current BA, sell it, and then buy a V6... and then i'll begin the search for an engine. I'm not one to rush into things either, uni's gotta finish first.

I have another question.. you guys are talking about this F-series gear box? Is it not compatible with a KL-ZE? And will i find it in all V6 hatch astinas? Therefore needing a new gearbox with the new engine.

Thanks for your help lads, appreciate it

Yeh... i love the sound of a modded 6 cylinder. My mate has a 2.0 V6 mivec in a mirage, it's friggin awesome and it flies.

All v6 manuals come with G series boxes
So no dramas there
You are in Australia
So you will need to engineer the KL-ZE which means you will need to upgrade your suspension to something compatible to the additional engine weight (and prove it)
You may be forced to upgrade brakes to be engineered
You will need the engine
You will need to mod the wiring loom
You will need another ECU
You will need to check with insurer as they may void your insurance

If you are going to buy a v6 Astina
Do you really need to change the engine immediately
There are upgrades

UPDATE..

Engine runs great now :) So running straight neck with MAF no problems... There are 3 things not used on ZE extra coolant sensor,knock sensor and EGR stuff. There are no codes :)

Just need to hook up VRIS and solenoid with 3 vacuum lines that has Mitsubishi logo on it correctly.. If anybody can help with this could be great i forgot now where they go lol :)

Yeah I had thoughts on Kl-ZE auto swap as the Astina Ht I 'got is auto. used by my family so auot only. I found a whole Mx-6 front cut with viscus LSD.
Got sold before I made up my mind. but according to engineer here in NSw he said brake pad up grade only as the discs are bigger then on the Mx-6.
He said it's basicly only a engine capacity up size - like making a 304 a 355.

The thing is Do you buy a whole Astina, if you can you get a V6 smashed slighlty or engine blown. even eunos 500 I've seen some engine No good $2000 and they have imaculate ineriors etc. and they are just the same as a Ba astina.

BA V6's don't end up in the damaged car auctions too often in NSw but I know in vic -WA heaps have gone through.

Been speaking to some people about engine conversions in general. I've been told that engine mounts aren't that expensive or difficult to be modified, so im considering whacking a klze in the BA 1.8 hatch. Only problem is i'll need to get a new gearbox also... ahh the joys of decision making (not to mention finding the right parts).

Anyone got any experience with modifying engine mounts?

Let me know, cheers.

The one time I did it I got a local engineering place to change the bracket. I never investigated if they did the rubber themselves.

You wont be modifying them - you'll need completely different ones. Just buy V6 ones. Simple as that.

And also new gearbox, new gearbox mounts, driveshafts, clutch, flywheel...let alone the wiring side of things.

I have done engine swaps for Astina (they called them Lantis) hatchbacks 1.6 / 1.8 to 2.0 V6. Basically, a swap from BP to KF.

Would like to point out that the mountings are all the same. It is just differentiated by either its an auto tranny swap to manual or from manual swap to auto tranny. Only the rear mounting need to change. You can interchange all mountings.

However, for those who wanted to swap from a 1.8 to a KF, then you need to whole wiring system as it is completely different.

Mr. Obsessed,

Are you currently running your KLZE with a KF33 ecu and MAF sensor ?

Yep the rear engine mount is part of the front crossmember so you will need to change that as well
Expect this kind of conversion to cost over $5k

I got ZE that had automatic G box no problems here.. Engine mounts are your smallest problem its brakes drive hafts and wiring I would be concerned about. Smallest electric defect can affect your engine not running you really must be expert in this area I had some simple problems but its hard locating them and I wouldn’t touch wiring loom and alter the whole thing without having knowledge about everything.. My advice don’t do it. People that want to do this must get a V6 car K series engine from factory. This is the beauty of this swap it all clicks together I wouldn’t do this if there were serious rewiring problems.

Yes its standard setup for 2.0 v6 runs with no problems with ZE.

Price difference between 1.8 and V6 now no way near worth putting a KL in an I4,

V6 you get bigger brakes, ABS, Air Bags, Wider Tyres, G Box, ??Strut brace??, Lower ride height all of which are prefferable in a FASTER car.

Not to mention CD, AC, Foggies, and other things.