madlowmazda
+1y
This is a repost from another post, but I thought that this should have it's own post and I have some addiutional information which is newly discovered and is very exciting!
Here is a nice essay on the kia swap. Enjoy!
The Kia sportage engine from 95-2001 is a duplicate of the infamous mazda FE3 DOHC 2.0 liter I4 engine. Kia bought the tooling rights from mazda to produce this motor in their sportage, lucky for us! The mazda FE3 is a F block, just like the mazda B2000/ B2200 FE 2.0 and F2 B2200. Also the same as the ford probe/ mx-6/ 626. The FE3 uses a block that is almost identical to the 86-87 B2000 FE engine. The difference is the oil return passages are different, for the DOHC, oil squirters are ulitized, and the water pump housing is slightly different. This makes putting a kia head on a B2000 engine impossible unfortunately. Nevertheless, the kia sportage engine is the FE3, and can be swapped right into a B2000/B2200. For more information about the FE3 engine, see any mazda website like solomiata.com, mx6.com, probetalk.com, 626.net. They all love the FE3, just as much as we mazda truck guys will too.
The mazda bellhousing bolts up to the kia block, and the stock mazda motor mounts will bolt up to the block as well. Assuming you have a manual, the Kia flywheel must be used because The Kia uses an 8 bolt pattern on the end of the crankshaft unlike the mazda 6 bolt. The flywheels, other than the bolt pattern, are the same, so your mazda starter, clutch and pressure plate can all be used, including the pilot bearing and throwout bearing. Make sure to use locktite on the flywheel bolts- not only so they won't back out, so they won't leak oil onto your clutch!
If your truck is bodydropped like mine is- you will have to watch the clearance between the head and the firewall pinch weld- it comes close. I just trimmed mine alittle. Also the heater hoses will hit the head. I am not running a heater right now- so I just bypassed it. Also with a bodydropped truck, the stock intake manifold will not clear the hood as it goes over the valve cover, not sure if it will even clear a non-bodydropped truck. I used Honda CBR600 f4i throttle bodies on mine- I cut the stock kia lower intake and reused it- connected the TB's with silicon tube and hose clamps.
The Exhaust- you definately will not want to use the stock kia exhaust manifold as it sucks- so go get a 1.8 leter mazda miata exhausat manifold and A-pipe. All you will have to do is redrill some of the bolt holes on the manifold flange and the ports will line up exactly! Bamm- Instant header!
Use the stock mazda oil pan- as the kia oil pan will hit your crossmember! Use the stock Kia windage tray, stock mazda oil pump pickup tube, and change the dipstick tube to the mazda.
Coolant hoses. I used the stock mazda lower water pump inlet on the driver side of the engine. It has a nice curve to it that points right to the lower radiater outlet. This allows you to use the stock mazda lower radiator hose- which is nice. Use the Kia metal tubes that go around the block. The mazda ones will not fit around the dohc head. I cut and fit an upper hose for the radiator, and used the stock radiator. I am running electric fans, so I didn't use the kia belt fan. The kia fan is driven by a four groove belt. It will be difficult for you to get the alternator and fan to work unless you have all the brackets from the kia for the engine accessories and the kia alternator as well.
I used the stock mazda alternator and bracket. I also used the Kia crankshaft pulley. The mazda pulley will not fit unless you redrill some holes. I didn't feel safe doing this because I needed to have absolutely no wobbling in my crank pulley as I used EDIS ignition with a crank mounted VR sensor. To use the stock mazda alternator with bracket and the kia crankpulley, you will have to take the mazda fan pulley brack- cut off the fan part so it will clear the kia timing covers. This will hold the upper bracket for the alternator. The mazda alt uses a v-groove pulley, so go get a 95 hyndai scoupe alt pulley and swap it out with your mazda alt pulley and you will have a four groove alt pulley which will match the 4 groove pulley on the kia crank pulley.
The only other engine acc I have is a belt driven air compressor for my bags, which I made a custom bracket for. Any other mazda engine accessories like ac and power steering will bolt right up to the kia block, and the kia pulley has v- grooves on the ac and psteering pulley grooves- so you are good to go!
Other items of interest. I removed the kia oil cooler and pulled the threaded oil filter shaft out of the old mazda block and used a normal oil filter setup. You can use the kia oil cooler, you will just have to fab some coolant lines to it. I used the stock mazda wiring in regards to the oil pressure sending unit, the coolant temp sender- on the kia it's in the front of the engine on the thermostat housing- just extend the mazda wire and put a female terminal on it. There is also a coolant temp sensor in the kia thermostat housing for your fuel injection setup.
I used EDIS 4 igition from a 93 ford escort. I had a local machine shop make a pulley which presses into the kia crankshaft pulley to mount the 36-1 tooth wheel onto. I made a custom VR sensor mount from scrap metal. I used the stock Kia coil packs with the edis system. Kia also used a wasted spark ignition system like ford edis, with multispark as well. So the Kia coil packs are ready to go!
I used MS2 with ignition control for EDIS. So far it's working out well!
Let me know if you have any other questions, I hope this helps you out!
_________________