Pommyvince's BF 323 KL ZE swap

[Pommyvince]

I thought it was time that I started a thread and shared some of my hard earned ( bashed knuckles, late nights, headaches...you know the story !!!) info on squeezing the KL ZE into the BF 323 3-door.

The spec so far is KL ZE from an MS-8 with KL31 ECU, manual box from a 93 626, front struts, discs and calipers from a mid 80's GC model 626, custom rad, and various bits and pieces robbed from the MS-8 and the later 626.

I sat the motor in the bay on blocks of wood just to get the approx position and fabricated the mounts from there.....it took two attempts to get it in the right spot and I now have to lower the whole lot by 1/2" because of driveshaft issue.

Here's some pics of where I'm at now (waiting on driveshafts to be made) and of the fabricated engine mounts. Any questions just ask but replies may be a bit erratic as work is flat out and trying to get car done over the Xmas hols.

[DeeAOne]

finally! haha looking good man. definitely keep this updated. where are you getting your axles made?

[Jew_boy]

did you do any modification to the rear mount? cause DeeAone just slipped right in to spot

[worldhazard]

can't wait to see this thing finished. gonna look and sound killer im sure

[Evilist]

awesome dude, where a bouts in NZ are you?? you going to take it to the 4 and rotor nats??

awesome work man, I'm planing to do the same in my 3 door BF but not going all out with the 626 suspension and stuff maybe BG front struts and 5 stud astina hubs and brakes

[Turpro]

More and more kl swaps going on....now more bf kl swaps. Looks good so far. Good luck. Sub'n

[Evilist]

i was meaning to ask haha what did you do wiring wise?? how did you wire it up? if you could PM what wires u spliced into the BF dash loom would be awesome :D

[DeeAOne]

More and more kl swaps going on....now more bf kl swaps. Looks good so far. Good luck. Sub'n

we're taking over..

[Damkid]

we're taking over..

Ha ha yes we are lol

[Pommyvince]

A real quick reply as I was up late last night trying to sort out right hand ( looking at front of car) driveshaft.......I'll post pics as soon as get chance. A local ( Christchurch NZ) engineering company is pricing up new axles and I'll know how much on Monday.

Wish I'd known that the turbo rear mount fitted !! Fabricated mine with a lot of cursing.
Engine not wired up yet but intend to use the BF loom and splice into it for charge, start , fuel pump and fans as my car started life as a humble 1.3 base model. Will post details when I get that far.

Pics of driveshafts in next couple of days.

[DeeAOne]

cool..i want to get custom axles, but i just dont know if my bank account can handle it. lol

[Pommyvince]

Driveshaft checking

I've made some dummy driveshafts by cutting the two different shafts and tacking them together. Lengths have come out as 352mm Left (looking from front of car) and 416mm for the Right. First pic shows suspension full up/full lock, second pic full down/full lock. The problem with this side is the very short driveshaft and sharp angles that it runs causing it to bind up in the full down position. I thought that I had this right when making engine mounts but turns out I need to be lower. With a bit of playing about I came up with min.distance between top of gearbox end cover and bottom of inner wing is 16mm. I have been testing without spring fitted in the strut. Level on the manifold shows a slight slope towards the trans side. I going to try spacing crossmember down 16mm and see if this cures the problem. Pics here are taken with motor lowered using engine hoist. I'll let you know how I get on !!!

In these pics you can see crush tubes that are welded through frame rail for the engine mount and fabricated brake line bracket on the strut.

[progt91]

nice work man. lots of v6s lately.. cool

[DeeAOne]

binds up as in it wont spin..? as in thats bad? lol

how did the angle change that much? did you not measure right? or is it just because the v6 makes the length to the axles shorter..? just trying to grasp this issue. lol

[Pommyvince]

You got it You'll feel the shaft go tight as you try and turn it by hand and its crucial to joint and shaft life to get this right. At normal ride height it, with the weight of the car on the strut, it shouldn't be a problem. You've found the question to the problem....because the 626 trans is that much bigger....it makes the CV's much closer together.....if you could just move the engine about 60mm further over ...lol

This is why the swap is so much easier in a BG with the subframe and wider floor pan. I should have got the gearbox a bit closer to the crossmember but you are in danger of the engine touching it as it rocks under acceleration if you get too close......bit of a learning curve going on here !

The longer driveshaft on other side is not so much of an issue.

Anyone that can add info to this would be appreciated.