Buying a JDM KLZE and things to look for

[Eunos30x]

i got mine from Japco, they also fitted it (at the time i didnt have an engine hoist or anything), they did a good job except stuffed the VRIS vac lines and left a trans bolt loose. if you need a hand with the swap shoot me a PM i live near golden grove. Make sure you post up some pics in the Auspoc forum section of your beast!

one thing to add to this thread (if no body has mentioned it yet) is that a lot of places dont know themselves the difference between the DE and ZE (like where i got mine) so i got a pretty good price.

Nice, yeah I personally have an engine hoist + salve labour father who will be helping with some of the work lol. But yeah, my girlfriend lives near GG so I'm actually up there on a fairly regular basis. Maybe we should catch up at some point, wouldn't mind having someone with experience giving a hand here and there, especially with the tuning part of it, I hear heaps of people can have trouble getting it running perfect.

That is not really all that bad looking. I have seen a lot worse! I would do the cam cap and bearing play inspections. It could probably do well with a new oil pump and some good detergent oil for a couple thousand miles and then full synthetic after that. Also go with the ZR1 oil filter!

Thanks for that. Gives me a more positive feeling. I must have been distracted by some of the sludginess on the bottom half in the pics... it's fine everywhere else and the cams look shiny and smooth, no corrosion evident. I wonder if the engine could have gotten a bit dirty from simply sitting for long periods of time?

I'll def do what you said. I'll also open up the back valve cover and take some pics and post here. If you don't mind me asking, what oils have high detergent in them? Diesel engine oil? And what is a ZR1 oil filter? I usually use Ryco, they seem quite good but will give this ZR1 a shot if I can find it.

Thanks again guys, you have been more helpful so far than the Eunos/MX-3 forums lol

[KLZE Porsche]

I'll def do what you said. I'll also open up the back valve cover and take some pics and post here. If you don't mind me asking, what oils have high detergent in them? Diesel engine oil? And what is a ZR1 oil filter? I usually use Ryco, they seem quite good but will give this ZR1 a shot if I can find it.

Thanks again guys, you have been more helpful so far than the Eunos/MX-3 forums lol

Well that is because they aren't Probers. You won't get good help from Eunos/MX-3 dudes because they haven't reached our level yet.

The ZR1 oil filter is a Corvette filter as in Corvette ZR1. You can get a Napa Gold filter if you have Napa stores down under. They are very good filters. I am not sure of the years but I just got a 94 one. You have to specify the ZR1 because there are two different filter styles for that year. One is tall and skinny and the one you want is short and fat like me. Just kidding - I am not short!

[driftwood]

Well that is because they aren't Probers. You won't get good help from Eunos/MX-3 dudes because they haven't reached our level yet.

The ZR1 oil filter is a Corvette filter as in Corvette ZR1. You can get a Napa Gold filter if you have Napa stores down under. They are very good filters. I am not sure of the years but I just got a 94 one. You have to specify the ZR1 because there are two different filter styles for that year. One is tall and skinny and the one you want is short and fat like me. Just kidding - I am not short!

90-95 eyars will work...


as far as the engine... if you see no engine sludge then i think you might eb alright... but if the oil is sludgy, then that may be what discolored your heads...

if the oil is just dark & dirty & has no metal shavings, dont worry...

[stoker100]

just so you know Eunos30x i looked and couldn't find a ZR1 oil filter down here so if you find one please let me know where! (if you cant either we can order a few from the US together to keep the price down).

[Marco69]

That is not really all that bad looking. I have seen a lot worse! I would do the cam cap and bearing play inspections. It could probably do well with a new oil pump and some good detergent oil for a couple thousand miles and then full synthetic after that. Also go with the ZR1 oil filter!

Steve,

They will if you broadcast it!

Where do you get the ZR1 Oil filter?

Thanks!

[KLZE Porsche]

Where do you get the ZR1 Oil filter?

Thanks!

AutoZone, Advance Auto or Napa. I prefer the Napa Gold filter!

[Nyteryder]

for those curious about tigerjapanese, i bought my ze from them about 3 weeks ago, and it is now in the car and running great. i paid for it on friday and it was at the shop where i work the following thursday. it looked like it had been sitting around on a dock for about a month but inside it looked almost new. it was a straight-neck, with the correct heads and cams(checked). i dropped the pan and it was clean, no particles(and very little oil, but it was lightly brown, not black or sludgy), nothing loose, no scoring on anything, top or bottom, and most of the old wiring was still hooked up(but chopped) which made reconnecting things very simple. i checked the timing belt and everything was in good shape and in time. i was very happy overall. two things were about my only gripes, one was the distributer was mashed up and useless, which really wasnt a problem because i had intended to use my old one anyway for ease, and the second was that the water pump had no pulley on it, so i had to reuse my old one(which worked great, but i had to adjust the impeller in order for it to not rub). all in all i would recommend buying one from them, or not be too concerned if i had already bought one and checked nothing out when it arrived. but that is never a good idea, especially when it comes to a large purchase like this one.

btw i paid $835 for the engine and ~$200 for shipping to washington state.

[malaeum]

Well my ZE seems to be in pretty decent shape. I've torn it down almost completely and rebuilt most of it already. I do have rusted cams and am somewhat worried about them. I called the seller and they said not to worry about it; I was worried. I asked my best friend who has built many a motor, he told me its normal and not to worry about it; I am less worried now. I still am afriad to see what happens to my HLA's but at this point there isn't too much that I think I can do. I'll let you guys know how much it mattered after its been running for a bit.

[Venchman]

You should try to find clean cams that arent rusted!!!

I had the same problem, when i got my second ze from noyan...

[malaeum]

I think I am going to CAREFULLY scotchbrite the the rust off of the lobes. I don't want to damage them but that is extremely hard martensitic steel. As long as I pay attention to what I am doing I should be alright. I am going to test the scotchbrite on the DE's cams first to see how easily it mars them up.

[Venchman]

How deep is the rust?

[RoadRage]

scotch brite will not marr up those cams they are way too hard to tear up with scotch brite. By hand anyway, you might be able to do some damage if you use a die grinder and Roloc ScotchBrite Disks.

[malaeum]

Oh I used the die grinder with the Roloc discs. I used the finest ones sold and it turned out pretty damn well. I prolly should have taken before and after pictures. I tried steel wool (Grade #0) first but I spent 30 mins and got almost nowhere on the bad lobes. I THINK that it turned out pretty damn well. I didn't remove all of the rust as I didn't want to remove to much material from the cams, I got it down to a very thin layer and made sure it was smooth. I'll let the motor take the rest off over a couple hundered miles or so.

[1badmx-3]

STREETIMPORTS.COM LOVE that site bought my ZE from them and it runs like a DREAM was clean as a whistle when shipped i have pictures if anyone is curious about what she looked like shipped its a Curveneck which i keep hearing is a glorified DE!!! is this true?? its stamped properly on the heads and block that was first thing i checked to make sure heard horror stories of DE motors being sold as ZE i got the full deal from Street imports in 2wks from order date with insurance and a 30day warrenty that i did not use so i had to replace the throttle body linkage at own cost o well, 1300 shipped from newyork to Arizona since the motor is jspec but its Euro. so check out Streetimports.com if yall want a good ZE.-

[BliZzArD599]

Buying A KL-ZE? LOOK HERE!

A couple months back I purchased a KL-ZE engine for my Probe. When I received it, it was in GREAT condition, the engine looked like it had 20k or less miles on it! I was very pleased with the engine that was sent to me, and I just wanted to give a heads up to the community about my good experience with JDM Engine Depot.

No, I am in no way affiliated with them. No, they didnt ask me to do this. I am simply doing it to show my appreciation to them for the outstanding customer service and the great engine that was shipped.