fowljesse's GS/SE DE/ZE ;)

[fowljesse]

I decided to list my mods, so people don't have to sift through pages of things that I've changed
NOTE; It says "Custom" all over because I wrote this out for my Cardomain. You all know it's Home Depot, and Thrift store junk

- 2.5 liter KLDE engine
- true ram air with intake where the turn signal was.
- Customised K&N air filter with air tight box, and 4" hole, instead of 3, that tapers down to about 3".
- Custom 45 degree elbow from the Throttle body with about 3" diameter on the other side that connects to the air filter. It has a GM airflow sensor in it.
- Bored Throttle body 65mm with IAC deleted, and a coolant temp sensor in it's place. TB has the linkage turned upside down, so the Intake manifold clears the brake master cylinder.
- KLG4 Intake manifold from a 2002 Mazda 626 that has been ported, and has customised VRIS points.
- Phenolic IM spacers
- Ported and polished heads (with KLZE exhaust cams) that are port-matched to the IM, and Headers, and throat ported.
- 10:1 compression pistons on a balanced rotating assembly, and oversize main bearings.
- Ported Pacesetter long tube exhaust headers with the front flange deleted, and the tubes welded.
- 2.5" exhaust with only a FlowMaster HushPower muffler, catalytic converter, and one (Mandrel) bend to side exit.
- Solid motor mounts, and AWR Transmission mount.
- Unorthodox underdrive pulley
- Exedy clutch
- Customized engine torque strut made from one for a 240sx.
- MSD 6A box
- MSD Blaster2 coil
- MSD Super Conductor wires, 50 Ohms/ foot, shortened about 6 feet
- KLZE distributor
- Indexed plugs
- MegaSquirt and Spark engine management system.
- Custom catch can that lets nothing but clean air into the IM
- H&R springs on Gabriel struts (about 1.7" drop)
- Aluminum engine crossmember, and rear tie bar.
- Energy Suspension customized Poly bushings.
- Nyloil A-arm bushings
- Whiteline 22mm rear swaybar with Poly bushings, and custom (Wytbishop) solid endlinks.
- Aerospeed front strut tower brace
- MazdaSpeed rear strut tower brace
- Falken Azenis tires on 17" Mini rims
- Widened front bumper with covered grills for better aerodynamics.
- MazdaSpeed sideskirts
- Customised Civic projector headlights with Halos, and turn signals.
- customised ferrari style tail lights
- customised M3 style mirrors with turn signals
- Leather seats
- Alpine 9805 head unit, with detatchable face, CD, and Satellite radio.
- Boston accoustics 10 speaker system with 8'5" midbass, and custom kick panel boxes with tweets, and mids.
- Custom shift gate
- TWM short throw shifter with bearings instead of bushings
- shortened shift knob
- Alpine alarm with remote locks.
- Walbro 255l fuel pump
- Mazda 626 brake booster
- Stainless steel brake lines
- DynoJet Wideband O2 sensor/ controller, guage
- relocated battery to passenger side rear corner
- Fiberglass hatch with PloyCarbonate glass replacement

Waiting to be installed:
- MFactory helical Limited Slip Differential
- custom adjustable cam gears

To come:
- Lightweight wheels

I think I can tune 200WHP out of it, and I have finally achieved neutral handling
I bought lakersfan1's car, and want to give him credit for the work he's done. I'll first list the mods he did (to the best of my knowledge, as I am awaiting a list from him). Then I'll show what I've done, and update once in a while.

- Engine -

He completely rebuilt a ZE bottom end, and put on DE heads with ZE cams. It has an '02 626 IM, chipped DE ECU, balanced crank, .050 over main and rod bearings, chrome piston rings, Jap-spec 10:1 pistons, Jap-spec exhaust cams, main and rear seals. Just installed two years ago - 10,000 miles on the engine. Gets over 200 PSI compression on 5 cylinders, and 190 PSI on the 6th cylinder, and filled motor mounts. It has an Exedy organic clutch that grabs hard.


- Suspension -
He replaced all the bushings with ones from Energy Suspension (he has an FAQ in "Suspension"), and put in HR springs, and Gabriel struts, with new strut mounts and bearings. It has Nyloil solid front A-arm bushings.

It drives like it's on rails! I've driven Porsche's, sport Mercedes, and various fast cars (My dad is a german car mechanic), and this one handles better than all of them.

- Stereo -
It has an Alpine 9805 detatchable CD, MP3, XM stereo, with custom kickpanels with Boston Accoustics speakers in them, and 8” midbasses in the doors, and an Alpine alarm with remote locks.

In the corner to the left, you can see one of the custom speaker boxes. They sound incredible!

- Paint -
He was in the middle of painting it when I got it, so it has blue paint that is sanded down, awaiting a new coat.


I did the rest.

[JM1EC-V6]

Your intake is'nt from a millenia: it's (for sure) from a 1998-2002 626 V6.

[fowljesse]

Oh.. Thanks for letting me know. I'll change it above.

[Mooneggs]

I'm curious where did you get the leather seats? I have the same ones in my car but I thought they were not OEM mx-3 leather seats...

[mx3autozam]

Its a really nice car. the H&R does a pretty decent drop as well..

You do know that for the rear strut bar you can still leave the panels in. Just cuta small notch in them for the bar to come out of.

[fowljesse]

Mooneggs, I got the seats from a guy on here. I don't know anything about them, and don't know if I'll get a chance to ask, as he owes me a bunch of stuff as part of the same deal.

Thanks, mx3autozam! I was REALLY lucky to get it (especially for the price!). I've been waiting for a ZE to come up in my area. It came without any panels in the back, or even the seatback/ trunk cover, and the seat was torn up. I actually like it bare back there, and will paint it black (maybe truck bed paint), when I paint the rest of the car.
I really like the ride height, and ride quality. I thought it would be hard and bouncy.
Just 2 days ago, I was going around an off-ramp that split at the end. I was in the outside lane, and someone decided at the last minute that they didn't want to go off to the right, and jerked into my lane at the last second, cutting the triangle, right into my side. I hit the brakes, and turned left, sliding off the road, almost into a ditch so they didn't hit me. I released the brakes, knowing I'd keep sliding right down, and turned right, as the fool slammed his brakes, too, and jerked right. I drifted leftways, turning the wheels to the left, so I wouldn't spin out, and get hit by the Semi behind me, and I came back onto the road. I was able to straighten out, and keep going. All the time, the car handled great, and was surprisingly smooth going through the dirt, and the edge of the road.
I'd like to drive an mx-3 with other springs, to see how it feels.

[fowljesse]

I'm putting up a wish list, just for fun, and will check off the stuff as it happens. I want:

A paint job
Relocate battery
A transmission equipped with LSD, and 626 gears
HEI upgrade with 60,000v coil
MSD 6AL
Turbo?
Light (laminate) hood
Light (Poli, or laminate) hatch
Put in my short shifter w/ bronzoil bushings
Projectors
22mm or thicker sway bar
SRD crossmember
SRD rear tie bar

[fowljesse]

I checked off the first thing on the list. I wanted to see what this car would look like in flat black. There were a couple on here over the years, but the body work wasn't very good, and the paint wasn't buffed out, so you could see the spray pattern.
My buddy Mooneegs came over and helped, but don't call it Moonwax, because it's actual paint, not primer
The paint needs to be color sanded, when it's cured. It will look alot better when sanded, and waxed, but here's how it looked when the rain started.

Thanks, Mooneggs for the clear signals, and markers! When it stops raining, I'm going to buff them crystal clear.
I was looking at the sunset, and thought this would be a nice picture.

I took this with my cell phone. I wish I knew how to use my girlfriend's new digital SLR
One day Cjthor said I could use his paint booth. Then the car will be a black mirror, but this will do until then. Hopefully, it will make it harder to get a fix on with a radar gun

[Stablo87]

Impressed, car looks amazing. I love the flat black thats sort of the idea i had for my mx-3 but i haven't had much time to mess with it. I've had my hands full with my 84 celica. Hopefully, one day, mine will look as good as yours.

[Kirk95gs]

Good work. Buddy of mine painted a z24 flat black. At first I was like WTF, but when he was finished it was very nice.

[fowljesse]

Thanks, felers.

Here's a list of goals for my build:
Look like factory all the way
Sound great (Low road/wind noise, excellent sound system) I killed alot of the wind noise. See below.
13.9 sec 1/4 mile WagZe has driven 9 ZE's, and Mooneggs has driven several, and they both said mine is the strongest pulling one they've driven, but I haven't been to the track yet, and have some upgrades to do still
1g on the skidpad
35 MPGI'm at 33, and have aero upgrades on the way, as well as ignition

As I get close to these goals, I'll update, in a different color.

[Nd4SpdSe]

SRD crossmember
SRD rear tie bar

Good luck on those...

[fowljesse]

Here's how i stopped almost all of the wind noise:

I got it at Home Depot, and put it on flush with the edge, starting at just below where the A pillar starts, under the top of the fender.


On the hatch, I couldn't do the very top, because it comes too close, and pulls it off. Here's what all the gaps look like now. hHopefully, they'll look good painted.

[fowljesse]

I relocated the battery, and redid the CAI. It's now a WAI, but will soon be a RAI. Ever since I made my first CAI, I became obsessed with smooth airflow. I wanted a smooth transition from the IM (2.5'') to the MAF (3"). I knew right away what I wanted, but settled for a thrift store cup, until I found a thrift store Martini shaker. Here it is with a line drawn for the 2.5" cut. The other end was already 3". This is a great mod for any intake to replace the faulty, and turbulant accordian hose.


Here it is after I cut, and shaped it, and drilled the hole for the PCV line.

I shaped it that way, so that when I put it into the reshaped 2.5" to 3" elbow, it would flow well.


Side view


Here it is complete


From further away




You may say "Fowljesse, why did you take it out of the fender, and make it a WARM air intake?". You may even use expletives. The reason is; It's in perfect position for my next step. I'm making a ram air opening out of the headlight hole. "But, Fooljesse, you'll get pulled over for not having the light!" Well.. I'm getting a smaller light, that the air will go around. There will be pictures when it's done.

[OutlaW]

jesse, maybe im just beeing an a--hole ... but ...
If you made your CAI to go into the fender, u could still make a ram air intake ...
When you put the intake filter inside the fender, it stays in a hole that is covered by the headlight
If you are making a smaller headlight, or a headlight made to let air pass inside in, redirect the air into the hole.
That way u get 2 in 1 , a Ram Cold Air intake