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GREAT SUCCESS!!!



IT"S ALIVE....IT"S ALIVE!!!!!!! My ABS light is on because I never plugged the sensors back in, I'm not sure why the power steering light is on. I might have unplugged something when I was taking the bumper off. Does the video work?

It's not quite driveable yet, still need to bleed the clutch and reinstall the front bumper, hood, and splash guards. I was nervous as hell as I started putting the last few pieces, battery and airbox, in place. Literally shakey hands. Once they were in I had to see if it'd run. I disconnected the coils, unplugged the injectors, and pulled the fuel pump fuse. Turned the motor over for 5 seconds 4 times with a little maybe a minute between each. After that I plugged them all back up and tried it. It fired up after maybe 3 seconds of turning over. After being ran for a minute or so it settled to a smooth idle at about 1k. No CEL at all so far.

I am noticing a whole lot more vibration. I installed a balance shaft delete onto the 2.5, that combined with the solid motor mounts (solid PMM and RMM) is sending much more vibration into the cabin. When I did the mounts I noticed a bit more vibration, now with the balance shaft delete it's a lot more. I could see it being too much for some people. The car is still on jackstands though, maybe once I get the wheels back on the tires will absorb some of it. I'll get used to it either way.

I'll finish it up tomorrow, can't wait to drive it.
 
Got it wrapped up today and took it for a drive. The ABS light went off after plugging the sensors back on and driving for a minute. The Power Steering light just went out on its own. Drove 10 miles with no issues. Power delivery is definitely smooth like everyone says, there are no surges or flat spots.

Car is still vibrating like crazy, I'm not sure how I like blurry mirrors. I may go to softer mounts.

Image


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**EDIT**
160 miles on it and it's still 100%. It definitely doesn't feel like it's making its rated 175 hp. I've been calling around and pricing dyno rates. After I've got 500 miles on it I'm going to get it dynoed, despite all the people that have done this swap I have not seen any hard numbers of output logging of the 2.5 on the 2.3 ECU. I'm really curious about the A/F ratios with the 2.5 running on the 2.3 maps. Looking into a OBD2 interface but I may need a wideband O2 sensor for it to work.

I think I'm going to try putting the car on jackstands, and jacking up the engine to take the weight off the mounts, then repositioning them and remounting. Maybe I've got a mount that's not isolating well. I'm pretty sure that the solid passengers-side motor mount and rear motor mount combined with the balance shaft delete are causing the immense cabin vibration though..

***Another edit***
The wicked vibration ended up being the PMM. I think it was damaged in the swap. I replaced it and it's super smooth now.
 
I just read through the guide again, and it looks to me like on a 2006+ Mazda like mine, on top of not swapping cams, I also do NOT have to swap the front timing cover or oil pan and pick up. Wow, I just wasted a pile of time pulling the timing cover off the Mazda 2.3, glad I didn't start tearing it off the Ford 2.5 yet.

Engine is back in the car. For anyone else going on the guide posted, if you have a 2006+, you DO need to swap the oil pan. There is a big recess in the 2.3 oil pan where the A/C compressor bolts up. I'm wondering if this is why the oil pick up is different in the first place, instead of the speculated reasons mentioned in this thread?

Sure would've been easier to do this before the engine was back in the car. I would've had the whole thing back together today without this snag.
 
Engine is back in the car. For anyone else going on the guide posted, if you have a 2006+, you DO need to swap the oil pan. There is a big recess in the 2.3 oil pan where the A/C compressor bolts up. I'm wondering if this is why the oil pick up is different in the first place, instead of the speculated reasons mentioned in this thread?

Sure would've been easier to do this before the engine was back in the car. I would've had the whole thing back together today without this snag.
I don't think anyone ever said that you didn't have to swap pans, where did you read that you could use the Ford pan? I compared the two oil pickups next to each other and they are definitely different.
 
Interested to see the dyno. I still have a couple flat spots, despite everything I've changed. Just about the last thing there is to do is the maf, and I won't go into why, but there's some plausibility as to that being the problem. However the cel is gone on this archaic thing, lol. Fresh engine, fresh sensors, and getting fresh suspension. Hard to avoid this stuff with 322k original miles.

I've been chatting to a car buddy of mine about the swap, and I've been trying to find a good, flat stretch of road to do some 0-60 runs, but that's tricky to find out here towards Seattle... However, the 2010+ seems to be able to pull around a 7.3, and based on a first gear pull I captured with zero launch (more like a clutch engagement at 1200rpm and stomp), we should be a bit quicker. I clocked the 2010 as 4.2 to 40 WITH a launch, and clocked mine as 3.8 to 38mph. We have about 200lbs less to carry as well.

If I get a clean run in I'll post it.
 
Got it wrapped up today and took it for a drive. The ABS light went off after plugging the sensors back on and driving for a minute. The Power Steering light just went out on its own. Drove 10 miles with no issues. Power delivery is definitely smooth like everyone says, there are no surges or flat spots.

Car is still vibrating like crazy, I'm not sure how I like blurry mirrors. I may go to softer mounts.

Image


**EDIT**
160 miles on it and it's still 100%. It definitely doesn't feel like it's making its rated 175 hp. I've been calling around and pricing dyno rates. After I've got 500 miles on it I'm going to get it dynoed, despite all the people that have done this swap I have not seen any hard numbers of output logging of the 2.5 on the 2.3 ECU. I'm really curious about the A/F ratios with the 2.5 running on the 2.3 maps. Looking into a OBD2 interface but I may need a wideband O2 sensor for it to work.

I think I'm going to try putting the car on jackstands, and jacking up the engine to take the weight off the mounts, then repositioning them and remounting. Maybe I've got a mount that's not isolating well. I'm pretty sure that the solid passengers-side motor mount and rear motor mount combined with the balance shaft delete are causing the immense cabin vibration though..
If you are on the 2.5L running the 2.3L ECU....

Your fueling is off if it is not tuned.if you are looking for logging in can set you up with Mazdaedit logger. To check things. I'm sure you will need a tune. To fully benefit from the swap. Which I can provide as well

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
If you are on the 2.5L running the 2.3L ECU....

Your fueling is off if it is not tuned.if you are looking for logging in can set you up with Mazdaedit logger. To check things. I'm sure you will need a tune. To fully benefit from the swap. Which I can provide as well

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
What's your website or where can I find out about your stuff?

I got a trouble code today. Figured it was spark timing or cam timing, but it turned out to be P0421 Warm Up Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1) That code is pretty common for people that do the VTCS delete mod, which I did after I took the intake manifold off the 2.3 motor. I'll get some of those spark plug extenders to fix it. Glad the code didn't actually have anything to do with the engine swap.
 
What's your website or where can I find out about your stuff?

I got a trouble code today. Figured it was spark timing or cam timing, but it turned out to be P0421 Warm Up Catalyst Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1) That code is pretty common for people that do the VTCS delete mod, which I did after I took the intake manifold off the 2.3 motor. I'll get some of those spark plug extenders to fix it. Glad the code didn't actually have anything to do with the engine swap.
That CAT code is more common for vehicles without a CAT (like headers and exhaust). I wouldnt think you would get a CAT code from the VTCS. But I could be off base with that as the system is generally unrelated.

My services can be found on my Facebook: www.facebook.com/twistedtuned

Or my main site: www.twisted-Visionz.com

And hit the ECU tuning tab, or you can hit the Online store tab and go straight there. In terms of Tuning. For your specific vehicle I support it via Mazdaedit.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
I've advanced the timing now that the light is stable, I figure it's about 2-4 degrees advanced. Only about 50 miles on that so far. Hard to tell also with 2 grown adults and a 140 lb dog in the car! I'll find out tonight once it cools off below 60 and I'm the only one in it. Happy so far though.

Still hunting for the stretch of road for 60mph.
 
Small world man, I remember you and your red Escort from back on FEOA. I had the sliver 97 wagon but I sold it back in 13' and got an 08 3s hatch. Good to see you are still modding cars and now doing tuning, in my state as well... :twisted:

Sorry for going off topic.:eek:h:
Haha....no doubt man. Yea I kinda crashed that car back in 08 in a race.

Yea man...You know I'm die hard. I live this stuff. But yes....I was actually tuning way back then as well. Just never advertised

Good to see you're still around as well. What you rolling in nowadays

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
I got a black 2008 Mazda 3s hatch with some minor bolt-on's. I've also been working as a mechanic for almost a year now so I guess you could say I live and breath cars as well.
Oh ok. Good deal man. How you like wrenching on other peoples rides?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
GREAT SUCCESS!!!



IT"S ALIVE....IT"S ALIVE!!!!!!! My ABS light is on because I never plugged the sensors back in, I'm not sure why the power steering light is on. I might have unplugged something when I was taking the bumper off. Does the video work?

I am noticing a whole lot more vibration. I installed a balance shaft delete onto the 2.5, that combined with the solid motor mounts (solid PMM and RMM) is sending much more vibration into the cabin. When I did the mounts I noticed a bit more vibration, now with the balance shaft delete it's a lot more. I could see it being too much for some people. The car is still on jackstands though, maybe once I get the wheels back on the tires will absorb some of it. I'll get used to it either way.
Man, it sounds pretty fantastic in your video... might be largely due to the mounts, but seriously that's awesome!
 
Hey antics.. This code actually just popped up on me, too. What are these spark plug extenders you mentioned?
I found a thread where people were able to stop that code by screwing one of them into the rear o2 sensor fitting and then screwing the o2 sensor into the plug extender. It basically pulls the o2 sensor out of the exhaust stream a bit to trick the ecu into thinking the cat is working better than it is. The cat may be working perfectly fine though, this code can pop up for a number of reasons. When the value of both O2 sensors reads too close it can trip the code.

http://www.club3g.com/forum/performance/55284-how-fix-ses-error-code-p0421-about-5-bucks.html

Man, it sounds pretty fantastic in your video... might be largely due to the mounts, but seriously that's awesome!
Thanks. It's got an MS3 exhaust and the intake resonator has been removed. Still has both cats too, I've though about removing the second cat but it's already really loud.
 
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