KL V6 into the 323

Having looked at the rules and my irrational fear of having a turbo motor in a race car I've decided to undertake the KL swap into the 323. According to the Grp 2 CRC rally rules, this motor should fit the requirements. The bigger question is how does it fit in the car?

I'm reading build logs on Clubprotege, or at least trying to. Any advice from the folks here? I'm located in Toronto. Anyone want to help? This is the 'Icy' (as it's become know) rally 323. Help me make it a vintage/track demon.

Thanks,

Jeff

Step 1: Acquire MX3 GS donor
Step 2: Acquire KL
Step 3: Dump all the pieces from MX3 into your 323, making it an MX3 that looks like a 323.
Step 4: Drop KL into your MX323.

There's two ways to do this... one is retaining your 323 control arms and steering rack. The other is to go to MX3 arms and rack. You can use whichever brakes you'd like, just be aware you can't really mix and match. It's one or the other.

I would HIGHLY suggest just going all MX3. Makes things a lot easier and straightforward.

Just to get the motor sitting in there, you need MX3 transmission crossmember, all four MX3 mounts (including left and right mount brackets on the body.) From there, the rest depends on if you're using 323 or MX3 suspension/steering, and how you want to approach controlling the motor.

Swank actually started at Step 2

Step 1 was in with touch with Swank as he's the KL guru (in addition to the F2T guru)

I wouldn't say i'm a KL guru, but rather that i did this swap, in the most hellish situation(s) possible. Rusty donor car. Rusty bent donee. My KL was purchased as just... a block with heads.

It was a really terrible way to go about it. But forced me to become intimately familiar with every last nut, bolt, washer, and part that needs to be used to do this swap.

Didn't you also build a huge HP NA KL motor?

I've got a Hotbits rally suspension in there now and a Bilstein for the car that needs a re-build. Would switching over to the MX-3 bits affect that?

captdownshift wrote: Didn't you also build a huge HP NA KL motor?

Relatively. That one probably would have only made 240whp if it had held together.

Next one will crack 300whp.

Jeff wrote: I've got a Hotbits rally suspension in there now and a Bilstein for the car that needs a re-build. Would switching over to the MX-3 bits affect that?

Yes and no.

MX3 stuff bolts onto your 323 anyways. However, using the MX3 arms and such will change your camber/caster/whatever, so some adjustability (a set of camber plates will bring you back in) would be a good thing.

Basically, you can still use your 323 suspension, as i'm not necessarily suggesting you swap to MX3 hubs/spindles unless you really wanted to, and even if you did, it still shouldn't matter.

Also worth mentioning: Using ALL MX3 stuff (which you can do) will make the car wider. Track-width wise. It feels awesome.

Thanks for the info SFO. Other than headers and some simple intake this will be stock. I like that my racecar starts every time (a few guys that I run with always seem to have issues). I like driving a whole lot more than wrenching ;-)

Ah ok... in that case you'll want the engine harness and possibly the main fuse box from the MX3 as well. And ECU. And VAF.

KLs actually run quite well using MX3 1.8 V6 ECUs and VAFs.