And so it begins....323BG hatch ----> V6 powa with a few extra surprises

[Dan [Sac]]

Just came in the house for the night, after another long day in the shop....and I had a hard time making it through the door on account of the huge boner I had. The car sounds sublime with the current setup. This was only at idle and mild revving, but WOT it should just sing. I'm very happy, once more.

I should have some vids in the next week...can't wait to be out there driving.

The last issue i have to work out is the fan being on constantly - I strongly suspect this is because I'm only using one of the fan plugs (the mx3 has dual fans). When you unplug one of the fans, the other goes on automatically (kind of like a fail-safe mode) to keep from overheating. At least that's how it worked on the Probe. I'll probably have to make something to fool the computer (maybe a jumper) that the other fan is plugged in.

[MD323]

just jump both fan plugs together, should cause an issues

I cant wait to hear mine with something besides open y pipe :x

[Mazda_Powered]

wow nice man! sounds like some solid progress! i can't wait to hear the thing!

md323, idk what you're talking about, open y pipes sounds right to me

[Dan [Sac]]

Ha! My pseudo-rally car is now stuck in mud on the side of the house (it's been raining cats and dogs for the better part of 2 weeks now).

Maybe I can ease her out tomorrow...I guess I should have done the AWD swap instead of the V6 :D

[Mazda_Powered]

oh **** lol, now its gonna get all dirty!!

[300BHPZE]

The last issue i have to work out is the fan being on constantly - I strongly suspect this is because I'm only using one of the fan plugs (the mx3 has dual fans). When you unplug one of the fans, the other goes on automatically (kind of like a fail-safe mode) to keep from overheating. At least that's how it worked on the Probe. I'll probably have to make something to fool the computer (maybe a jumper) that the other fan is plugged in.

Only MX-3's with A/C have the second fan. Non A/C cars, like mine, do not use that plug at all. It just hangs there. I would say your fan problem is more likely related to the number of temp sensors your ZE has and the ECU you're using. 92' and 93' MX-3s (pins 2G and 2E) had 2 coolant temp sensors for the ECU and a third single wire sender for the gauge. Later MX-3's (pin 2E only) and ZE's have only one sensor and the sender to the gauge. If your engine only has one sensor and the ECU is looking for two, the rad fan will run continuously.

When I swapped my 93' I just swapped the coolant neck from my old K8 into the ZE while I had the engine out and the timing apart. If your harness has the plug for a second temp sensor you can tap one into the coolant neck.

EDIT: The picture of "The Motivation" in the first post clearly shows one two wire sensor and one single wire sender in the coolant neck. I would bet my hat that your ECU is looking for information from a second temp sensor.

[Dan [Sac]]

Already handled that, as that would also set off the CEL (code 69).

You can see in the attached pic the 3 sensors (the one labeled #1, the 1-wire, is behind the fuel line loop, kind of hard to see but it's there).

I drilled and tapped the elbow there for that 3rd sensor, and the ECU should be seeing it. The ECU is a '93 MX6 V6, 5-sp, CA-emissions unit. I suppose I can try to find a '94 computer to see if that will make it go away.

There are no stored CEL codes, and no CEL on. The light does function properly.

[triplezoom]

Cleanest projects ever ! amazing dude really ! first time i see a shaved engine bay, very hot !

Suscribed now !

Why i didn't discover this forum early !

[300BHPZE]

I'm not sure about Probe/MX-6/626, but 94' MX-3 ECU's are different from all other years.

I would find the pinout for the ECU you're using and make sure that the feed from your coolant sensors is going to the correct pins on the ECU. Could be a harness/ECU compatibility issue.

[Mazda_Powered]

with my 93 KL 626 the engine harness is the same as a 94, but in 95 there are some changes. Hope that helps...

[300BHPZE]

According to my MX-3 diagram the water temperature, ignition switch position and throttle position are the only factors affecting the cooling fan. It is possible that the A/C switch position could affect the cooling fans as well, but I don't think the ECU is that smart. The fan motor testing procedure says to jump TEN and GRD, open the throttle slightly (IDLE off) and turn the ignition to ON. So logically with the throttle closed in that condition the fan should not operate. If it still does it could be a TPS issue.

I would start by identifying and systematically removing the fan relays. One or more of them are closed and shouldn't be. Removing the closed relay(s) will stop the fan. You then have to figure out why they are closed. Maybe incorrect engine conditions are being reported. Maybe you have a harness compatabillity problem and the pin being grounded is intended for another function. Maybe you have one or more bad relays. Could be an obscure combination of these.

[Dan [Sac]]

first time i see a shaved engine bay, very hot !

Thanks for the kind words

Honestly though, in hindsight, the shaved engine bay is one thing I would like to never do again. It was a big pain in the ass, very slow work, all hand-sanding, and I didn't fully think it out as I had a thin layer of filler to smooth everything out, and it promptly cracked when I torqued the strut nuts on it.

Other than that, it looks fantastic, but man I will never do it again unless I go with a 100% wire tuck, like the VWs, which is very hard to pull off with the sensor-ladden V6.

[Dan [Sac]]

Well after a couple of weeks with the new exhaust, I think I will make a change. The Dynomax muffler sounds fantastic up to 80-90% throttle, but at WOT it has a bit of a weird rasp. I had to cut the tip off the muffler, so I wonder if I killed some of the harmonics with that.

It's also just a touch too loud at WOT, and I want a little more ninja-ness from it. I'm weird like that, I want my exhaust to be heard when I want it to be heard, but it has to have a polished note to it.


So the change will be to a muffler from an Infinity G35, with the dual exits. I'll have to cut the spare tire well out, which suits me just fine. The width between the tips is also going to match the 323 nicely and the fact that they have a very slight downward tilt means I won't have to chop up the bumper lip. The tips are polished.

[Mazda_Powered]

cool! you should post up some videos for us to hear before you change the muffler

[viper_707]

hmm i wave one of those mufflers in my scrape bin maybe i should go get it