Ford ZX2 KLZE swap

Last Updated on July 23, 2024 by Mutiara

Most of these should be available at a junkyard, which is the way to go to keep the cost down. The engine came from an importer and the aftermarket parts were mostly eBay. Most parts can be found at a local auto parts store if they’re not in the junkyard.

Assembling the engine

You’ll want to put together as much as possible of the engine outside the car to make things much easier. It should squeeze in with all the accessories on it. Save the exhaust manifolds for after it’s in the car. Swap the alternator and distributor for American versions so they’ll work with the harness. It’s a good idea to replace the water pump, timing belt, and any gaskets that look iffy. The timing belt isn’t essential, however, since this is a non-interference engine.

Stripping the engine bay

Pull the engine/transmission, all the mounts, A-arms, wiring harness, lower front to rear crossmember, the front bumper, headlights, header panel, etc.. Pretty much make it an empty engine bay.

This is probably a good time to swap to a manual rack or plug off the lines on the power one. I’m not sure if there’s a way to make the rack work with the KL pump, but I didn’t do it so I won’t be talking about that.

If you want to keep windshield washers you’ll have to relocate the jug since this wont clear the new engine.

Dropping in the new engine

Hoist in the new engine. It’s a tight fit, but it’ll make it. Be careful of the master cylinder, it comes very close to the hard lines. Bolt in the 2 mx3 side mounts to hold it in place.

Cut holes in the bottoms of the mx3 a-arms so you can put the nut and bushing on the bottom of the zx2 swap bar end links. Bolt in the a-arms and attach the sway bars. Install the mx3 axles. The alignment will be way off because of the extra half inch length of the a-arms, adjust the tie rod ends to the best of your ability until you can get an alignment.

Attach exhaust manifold and downpipe. It’s easier to not tighten down the manifold to head bolts until the manifold to downpipe ones are started. The zx2 exhaust will have to be cut back to meet up with the V6 downpipe. Luckily, the flange is the same for this aftermarket down pipe and the Kamikaze header I used to run, so it should be the same as the zx2 exhaust but in 2.5” diameter.

The shift linkage from the zx2 will work, but I had to slot the floor half an inch forward to fit. The slave cylinder hard line will bolt right to the zx2 line. The throttle cable used is from a 2nd gen Escort. My firewall was modified to take a Focus cable already so it didn’t attach properly, but I believe it will in an uncut zx2 firewall.

Coolant system

I used the zx2 radiator spun 180 degrees and mounted infront of the core support. This is only a temporary solution until I can find one that fits better with the outlets in the right places. I had to cut the center out of the header panel to clear this and small pieces of the hard bumper. A custom made or modified civic half radiator might be the best bet. Use a pusher fan from ebay or a parts store.

Fuel system

The top of the fuel pump will need to be drilled and fitted for a return line. I cut the bung off a 2nd gen Escort and welded it on. Use the complete return line from the Escort and run it along with the zx2 fuel and brake lines to the engine bay. The JB Weld in these pics didn’t hold so it was later welded properly.

Electrical Wiring

This is the majority of time invested. You’ll need to combine the zx2 and mx3 harnesses. The mx3 harness is 90% complete, with just a few relays cut out. The zx2 harness gets basically destroyed. Keep the under hood fuse box and CCRM. The Mazda ECU you use will need to be chipped unless you find a jap-spec ECU for the engine. It runs without but its down on hp and the VRIS points aren’t right. Wire the fuel pump to constant power in the key on position. I wish I could help more in this area but I had a friend do the wiring. As of now, my gauges aren’t working. Ill update this writeup when this problem is solved.

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I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot in here, but ill continue to update as I remember.

Photographs and text courtesy of Ryan, MrWeeyums on teamzx2.com.