KLZE tranplants (and other K series engines)

So you like Mazda K series engines? KL, KJ, KF, K8 or anything with a K in it? 

K8 - V6 piston engine/1.8 litre
Eunos 30X/Mazda MX3/Precidia/Presso/AZ-3

KF - V6 piston engine/2.0 litre
Mazda Astina/323F/Lantis Type R
Mazda Eunos 500/Xedos 6

KL - V6 piston engine/2.5 litre
Mazda MX6
Mazda 626/Capella/Cronos/Efini MS-6
Mazda Eunos 800/Xedos 9
Autozam Clef/Efini MS-8
Ford Probe
Ford Telstar/TX5

KJ-M - V6 piston engine (Miller cycle)/2.3 litre
Mazda Eunos 800M/800M SP/Xedos 9 Miller

Well here's some nice examples of where those motors should be...

My KLZE Powered V6 VW Baja...

Car specs here;
offroadvw.net/bajawes/.../baja specs

V6 Transplant Diary here;
offroadvw.net/bajawes/linktoV6.htm

Troy's KLZE powered VW Manx Buggy

Troy lives about 10 minutes from my house, and after being impressed by my V6 Baja he wanted a KLZE for his Manx. He used my adaptor and flywheel design to produce a Manx with a similar set-up to my Baja. Only the Manx has a shorter wheelbase and less weight.

In Queensland at a few car shows I have also seen this K powered VW Kombi ute (bus / transporter tray-back - type 2). The guy said it was only the K8 engine, but it looks like a KF or something strange?

KL powered Rail Buggy (was on ebay when I found it, I think he put the motor in complete, no sump or intake modifications);

BEELINE PICK UP STYLE TUBULAR STEEL FRAME WITH VW FRONT AND REAR TORSION. 

THIS BUG IS POWERED BY A FORD PROBE V6, 24 VALVE, FUEL INJECTED ALUM ENGINE. THE COMPUTER BOX IS FROM THE ORIGINAL PROBE IN A WATER PROOF BOX. THE ENGINE IS ADAPTED TO THE 6 RIB VW BUS TRANSAXLE WITH A MACHINED ADAPTOR PLATE. 

THE BODY IS RED FIBERGLASS WITH SILVER METALFLAKE. ALL WHEELS ARE POLISHED ALUM, REAR TIRES ARE 18" WIDE X 15" AND THE FRONT WHEELS ARE 5" X 16". THE CLUTCH AND 4 WHEEL DISC BRAKES ARE HYDRALIC. OVER HEAD GAUGE PANEL WITH TACK, TEMP GAUGE ETC. HEATER IS UNDER THE FRONT HOOD WITH 3 SPEED CONTROLS. PICK UP BED RAISES FOR EASY ACCESS TO THE ENGINE. 

INCLUDED IN THIS DEAL IS A TOTALED FORD PROBE WITH ANOTHER COMPLETE V6 ENGINE IDENTICAL TO THE ONE IN THE BUGGY. THIS IS A ONE OF A KIND GOOD LOOKIN STREET MACHINE!!

Anthony's Twin Turbo KL Powered 1966 HR Holden Ute;

"Well its a quad cam enuos / Mazda with nissan internals (bored out to 3.0, 3.2L? - ed).Vg 20 turbos, custom manifolds ,custom fuel rail ,550 cc injectors, remote oil filter, twin rx7 intercoolers, dual throttle bodies, custom plenum, custom sump, engine mounts, gearbox mount, custom adapter plate, flywheel adaptor, series 5 (RX 7) box, shorten nine inch diff. Lots more but I'll be here all day explaining..." - Anthony

http://gallery.oldholden.com/ReaperHR/OtherHrs/AntsHR/

Twin Turbo 800HP KL powered Commodore (engine has since been removed and put in Gemini below)

This is courtesy of Zoom magazine, which has an article on a VX Commodore Super Sedan race car with a 595kW (800HP) twin turbo 2.5L Mazda KL V6 in it. Now that is a crazy amount of power. The engine lives at RPM's up to 9,500 for entire races, runs 2.2bar of boost, kicks out 800HP, and uses the standard crank. I think that goes to show how well engineered the engine is standard.

http://www.offroadvw.net/bajawes/800HP_KLV6/wetdream.html

1000HP twin turbo KL powered Holden Gemini (was the engine above)

see bottom of this page...
http://www.austrackmotorsport.com.au/streetcars.html

and this page...
http://www.streettorque.com/ben.htm

250HP naturally aspirated KL Powered Fraser Car

"Fresh out of the Auckland skunkworks is Neil Fraser's latest weapon. This 2.5 litre Ford V6 (ex-2litre Mondeo Super-tourer) powered clubman is going to be a force to be reckoned with on the track. With special grind cams and purpose made injector intake manifold, it dyno'd at 250bhp @ 8000rpm and 180nm @5000rpm. Neil is using a Quaiffe 5 speed gearbox and Sierra LSD... "

It would also appear to have a dry sump?

More info here;
http://www.users.bigpond.com/vidore/A Fraser Gallery.htm

You'll also note they offer the Mazda KL engine as an option for their kit cars;
http://www.fraser.co.nz

Naturally Aspirate KL Powered Mazda MX5 (Miata) 

Except for the ZE 10:1 pistons, the engine is stock internally. I estimate its current configuration has around 210hp (180, or so, to the ground). I haven't tuned it yet, so, the off-idle and transitions are finicky. Its Autronic engine management is still using the "safely rich" start-up base map. Still, it runs great w/heavy throttle applications. And you should hear it.

The main issues at this point are: a leaky main seal; designing an airbox and, as I said, proper tuning.

As it is a diminutive engine, it fits nicely in the Miata, but there were some significant obstacles -- mainly the result of the rule set the car is built to (SM2).

The driveline is '95 Miata, except for non-turbo RX7 bell-housing, flywheel, clutch and starter. He has finally got it onto the dyno, 180hp @7k rpm at the wheels, which is pretty impressive for NA.

The gruesome details are here: http://majica.net/JNR/jnr.htm

Prodrive Mondeo Super Tourer (Year-2000)

This was recently advertised for sale. Apparently they Note the drive shaft through the V of the engine....

Just undergone full bare shell rebuild using Prodrive bodyshell and parts . Chassis No. 4. Fresh X-trac sequential gearbox , Pectel engine management, PI Dash, Fresh Prodrive 2.0 V6 engine & suspension etc, as you would expect a works built car. . Only done shake down. Widely regarded as the fastest Super Tourers ever built. Available with comprehensive spare package and set-up info for British circuits, including spare engines, gearbox, ratios, suspension, wheels etc.

And Story from Goodwood; http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/events/0309scc_goodwood/ best bits below...

"We had a budget of #8M ($13M) for a three-car team in 2000," he explains. "It took six people just to keep it rolling." Wilcock opens the hood to illustrate his point. Inside is a compact carbon-fiber box mounted in the bottom rear corner of the bay. It hides a V6 that was originally sourced from Mazda. Ford had also used the engine in the Probe coupe, so it could be homologated for competition use"

"It was originally a 2.5, but we reduced it to 2.0-liters to fit with the regulations," says Wilcock. "We used a standard casting, but the cylinder head was completely revised. Forty individual parts were welded to the head and the process was so complex that just one in three of the heads we produced was of sufficient quality to be used on the car. The rest were just thrown away. At the time, a Touring Car cylinder head was more expensive than those used in Formula One. Unsurprisingly, the price of each unit was astronomical. "A new engine cost about #85,000 ($138,000) and a rebuild took a week," he continues. "It was a crazy time."

"The crowd turns its attention to this mighty slab of automotive art. I'm intrigued by the driveshaft, which seems to disappear through the heart of the engine. "We were determined to keep the center of gravity as low as possible," says the engineer. "So we devised a way of feeding the driveshaft through the Vee. The rear bank of cylinders had to be tilted through four degrees to make it fit." Never has the concept of a front/mid-engined car been so amply demonstrated.

"Back in 2000, power outputs were guarded with feverish intensity. The manufacturer quoted 300 bhp, but Wilcock admits that the true output was 315 bhp, with 221 lb-ft of torque. Given that the Mondeo has a weight of 2,326 pounds including the driver, the power-to-weight ratio is an unspectacular 299 bhp/metric ton but these cars were built for agility rather than straight line thrust.

1993 BTCC Ford Mondeo

Also see http://www.supertouring.co.uk/the_cars/ford_mondeo.html - some extracts below...

The drivetrain and suspension could then be added to each completed shell. The engines used are Mazda derived 2500cc V6 taken from the Ford-USA Probe model. Cosworth Engineering were responsible for the race engine design, selecting the V6 due to it's excellent 24 value twin cam head design and larger piston area compared to the available four cylinder units. The all alloy 60 degree V6 was also light and compact (only 457cms) so could be fitted well down in the chassis to improve the car's center of gravity.

The rules stipulate the use of the standard production block and cylinder heads, but Cosworth replaced virtually every other component within the engine with their own custom built items. An all steel crankshaft and connecting rods were topped with aluminum pistons, the engine capacity being reduced down to 2000cc limit by changing the length of the engine stroke.

A purpose built inlet manifold and slide throttle assembly is added to the top of the engine, with Zytek fuel injection and engine management keeping everything in check. Exhaust gasses are fed out to the rear of the car via an elaborate ARE designed and built exhaust system.

The Super Unleaded petrol is fed to the engine via a series of Bosch fuel pumps from a 15 gallon Premier fuel cell housed in the boot. Also located in the boot is the remote oil reservoir for the Cosworth fabricated dry-sump system, with additional oil cooling provided by radiators mounted next to the main water radiator at the front of the car.

Only four engines were built by Cosworth in 1993, which were shared between the cars of Rouse and Radisich, but this left very little backup in the event of an engine failure so Cosworth re-built them after only 800 miles as a precautionary measure.

Drive from the engine then passes through an AP Racing 5.25 inch carbon-fibre plate clutch into an Xtrac gearbox. In keeping with the new trend at the time, the gearbox was a six speed sequential shift type, with no synchromesh, attached to the side of the engine and feeding the front wheels via Xtrac drive shafts. A plate type limited slip differential was used initially, but this was later replaced with an FFD supplied Viscous Coupling version before the end of the season.

Others...

I've also seen KL's put into lots of front wheel drive cars including Mazda MX3's, 

(I think it has a K8 manifold because the KL intake won't fit due to the brake master cylinder location)

An American LHD 323 (with a KLZE using a k8 intake for clearance)

Mazda Astina's, 

and even a 1987 Ford KC Laser. 

And of course Mazda made a few odd cars like an all-wheel-drive twin turbo KLZE powered 626 MPS;
http://www.mazdafun.com/news mps.htm

Mazda also produced factory AWD naturally aspirated KLZE powered cars like the Mazda Capella and Ford Telstar. These were only available in Japan and tend to be wagons (to the best of my knowledge).

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