Stock Engine Swap-in. Having Issues

[FestYboy]

2nd gen was available as 8v and 16v sohc and 16v dohc.
The 90-94 323 was second gen 8v, the tracer only got the 1st gen 8v.

[Rick the Quick]

Damn. Well, my search goes on...

I swapped in a 2nd gen. B6ME out of a '95 Kia Sephia. You will need to use the Kia distributor. Besides the distributor the stock Festiva electrics will run the B6ME engine. B6ME is 16 valve sohc. It will go in with the stock mounts and will bolt right up to the stock transmission. If you use the steel bypass hose from the B3 and the water pump outlet from the B3, you can use the stock B3 cooling hoses. The B3 down pipe will fit the B6 engine if you wallow out the holes in the flange. At the other end of the B3 down pipe you can cut off the part that connects to the catalytic converter. Now you have the B3 down pipe on the B6 and you can see it is not angled correctly to hit the cat. converter. This is easily fixed with a flex pipe which can be welded in. I cut the down pipe after it came down and curved towards the converter. So you will be welding in the flex pipe to connect the small end that connects to the converter to the engine side of the pipe. The flex pipe will also allow you to get the downpipe pointed in the right direction. This will all make sense when you get the engine in and stick your head under the car. If you can get the Mazda/Kia down pipe it may simplify things although I heard it will not bolt to the Festiva converter. The one other issue is connecting the VAF to the throttle body. The B6 throttle body exits towards the master cylinder so you will have to be creative in connecting to the VAF at the opposite side. I used the stock Festiva airtube at the VAF and used a second Festiva airtube (the same type) to connect to the throttle body. I used a large radiator hose to connect them. I can send a picture if you would like to see it. The other small issue is clearance between the intake manifold and the firewall. I figured out where there would be contact and made some clearance with a 4 lb. hammer. I did it very clean and with the engine in the car it can not be seen. Installing the B6ME requires a bit more effort then dropping in a B3 but the results are well worth it. I have not figured my gas mileage but if anything I think it has gone upi. Not to mention the difference in performance. A 25 HP gain in a 1,700 lb car is very noticable. It will now pull the long 9 mile hill on I-40 in 5th gear with no problem and will actually accelerate in 5th going up the hill. With the B3 you would slowly lose speed until you dropped down to fourth. If I haven't convinced you yet finding a good used B3 is now getting very hard to do. A 1st gen B6 is also getting tough to find B6MEs are still plentiful.

[Sid_RallyX_82]

Well I'm almost ready to pick up my b3 from the machine shop. Gonna be about $900 and it's going in my daily, so I'm hoping for at least another 200k miles. It's gonna be driven a lot(on avereage, ~1k miles/week), so that should go by quick. Has anyone use a b6 exhaust on a b3? Was there any kind of difference?

[ryanprins13]

Well I'm almost ready to pick up my b3 from the machine shop. Gonna be about $900 and it's going in my daily, so I'm hoping for at least another 200k miles. It's gonna be driven a lot(on avereage, ~1k miles/week), so that should go by quick. Has anyone use a b6 exhaust on a b3? Was there any kind of difference?

Thats 4 years, still a while, and if your putting miles on it that quickly i wouldnt expect less than 300k. When you put highway miles on a car that fast they go a long ways if you maintain them.
Quality synthetic oil changed every 4-5 months, quality oil filter, change your coolant and gap your plugs often enough... if you dont neglect maintinance on a car you drive that much i would expect 12yrs/600k if you keep driving it that much even if it already has a lot on it.
Better make the car comefy!

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[Sid_RallyX_82]

I check the oil level usually once a week, so I'll keep an eye on the condition, but I expect it'll need to be changed @ ~7k intervals. I don't bother gapping plugs, cuz if I'm gonna gap them, I gotta clean them, and that's more work than it's worth because the electrodes are being deformed anyway, so I just buy new ones. Although the miles will be almost exclusively on highway, they will mostly be in traffic, but with enough time for the engine to reach NOT, and me driving to achieve high fuel mileage, I do expect a long service life.

[ryanprins13]

I check the oil level usually once a week, so I'll keep an eye on the condition, but I expect it'll need to be changed @ ~7k intervals. I don't bother gapping plugs, cuz if I'm gonna gap them, I gotta clean them, and that's more work than it's worth because the electrodes are being deformed anyway, so I just buy new ones. Although the miles will be almost exclusively on highway, they will mostly be in traffic, but with enough time for the engine to reach NOT, and me driving to achieve high fuel mileage, I do expect a long service life.

Alright,What are you doing that youll be driving so much?
for something like this iridium plugs are probably worth the money, youll be changing copper plugs every 5 months or so.
If your interested synthetic oil, oil analysis and something to increase your oil capacity will save you time and money.
One thing i regret on my last festiva was not changing the coolant enough. Removed water pump and was shocked at how rusty the block was inside...
Learning how to diy your alignment will save you on fuel and tire wear for sure.


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[FestYboy]

You don't want iridium plugs because the coil and ICM aren't designed for them. The change in resistance will cause premature failure.

[ryanprins13]

You don't want iridium plugs because the coil and ICM aren't designed for them. The change in resistance will cause premature failure.

Oh, ok, i thought they worked ok. But dont use platinum plugs, my car didnt run great with them.
I guess your down to changing copper plugs 3 times a year.
Just dont forget to do it. I left mine too long once and had the porcelin fall off a plug and score up the cylinder wall bad.

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[Rick the Quick]

Synthetic oil is the way to go, just not for break-in. I once worked on a Honda 750 that spent it's life in coastal Florida. The spark plugs were rusted to the head so severely that I had one snap off in the head. It didn't strip, it cleanly snapped in half. Pulling plugs once or twice a year is cheap insurance. i like to use a little bit of anti-seize on the threads. I wish the previous owner of the B6ME did.

[Dragonhealer]

I check the oil level usually once a week, so I'll keep an eye on the condition, but I expect it'll need to be changed @ ~7k intervals. I don't bother gapping plugs, cuz if I'm gonna gap them, I gotta clean them, and that's more work than it's worth because the electrodes are being deformed anyway, so I just buy new ones. Although the miles will be almost exclusively on highway, they will mostly be in traffic, but with enough time for the engine to reach NOT, and me driving to achieve high fuel mileage, I do expect a long service life.

If your engine and management system are working correctly, plugs should be almost white on the insulator. We use NGK V-Power and check them annually. Typicly run them 50K.
They come with a .044" gap which we regap to .025" for the Festiva coil, .032" for coil pack engines and COP.

[reddragon]

If I haven't convinced you yet finding a good used B3 is now getting very hard to do. A 1st gen B6 is also getting tough to find B6MEs are still plentiful.

There's plenty of good used B3 on this side of the Pacific. The later model ones (1995 - 2000) from Mazda 121 have 16V heads, approx 10hp more than the festiva/aspires. Cheap to buy, but would cost a fortune to ship over there!

[Sid_RallyX_82]

It's my daily driver and I car pool with my dad. We live ~96 miles from our shops. When I drive by myself, I just stay in that area with my mom, but when he's with me, we make a round trip each day, 5-6 days/week. I need to replace my steering rack before I do an alignment I'll get a hydrometer and check the coolant once a month. I recommend ALWAYS using anti-sieze when putting spark plugs in aluminum heads. Good to know on the NGK regap, thanks. Btw, for the break-in procedure, guidelines vary between manufacturers. How harsh should I be on this engine? Half throttle, rev up to 4k, accelerate and decelerate frequently for about 500 miles?

[ryanprins13]

If your engine and management system are working correctly, plugs should be almost white on the insulator. We use NGK V-Power and check them annually. Typicly run them 50K.
They come with a .044" gap which we regap to .025" for the Festiva coil, .032" for coil pack engines and COP.

That tight of a gap on a na b3? I thought a tight gap was only for turbo cars?

I do know that at 0.06 gap on a b3 with low compression means that the lowest compression cylinders wait until they warm up before they start firing... oops

It's my daily driver and I car pool with my dad. We live ~96 miles from our shops. When I drive by myself, I just stay in that area with my mom, but when he's with me, we make a round trip each day, 5-6 days/week. I need to replace my steering rack before I do an alignment [emoji14] I'll get a hydrometer and check the coolant once a month. I recommend ALWAYS using anti-sieze when putting spark plugs in aluminum heads. Good to know on the NGK regap, thanks. Btw, for the break-in procedure, guidelines vary between manufacturers. How harsh should I be on this engine? Half throttle, rev up to 4k, accelerate and decelerate frequently for about 500 miles?

With the coolant its the anti-corrosion additives that wear out and then things start corroding. I believe a hydrometer only checks freeze/boil point doesnt it?

With the break in every one has a different opinion including manufacturers.
If you really care buy an actual break-in oil.
To share one of a million opinions break it in how you intend to drive it.
Some people believe if you break it in real gentle and then drive it hard after it will burn oil/wear. And if you break it in hard and then drive it easy it doesnt work out so well.
But engine builders here will give you a better answer than me.


So heres my spark plug. I thought i had put platinum plugs in. Took them out and found this. Looked back in my records and i had gotten 3 copper plugs and 1 platinum from the junkyard. Put them in to see how much quicker the coppers gap got bigger. Forgot about it and i had em in 130,000km on top of whatever they already had. Oops.



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[Sid_RallyX_82]

I imagine the tighter gap is for adjusting total resistance between the coil and the block?
Which is copper and which is platinum?
Right, a hydrometer will give readings relative to freeze/boil points, but shouldn't that be a good enough guide for anti-electrolysis qualities?

[Dragonhealer]

I imagine the tighter gap is for adjusting total resistance between the coil and the block?
Which is copper and which is platinum?
Right, a hydrometer will give readings relative to freeze/boil points, but shouldn't that be a good enough guide for anti-electrolysis qualities?

The narrower gap is easier on coils and wires. The wide gap spec provides better emissions at idle if everything is working properly and slighter better fuel efficiency they say, that part I never noticed a difference.

You want to keep the voltage differential as small as possible, at 1.0V coolant to ground, your cooling system is going bad fast. At 0.4V I do a caustic flush and lots of rinsing.