B-Series Motor options

[HDuece2]

Hello All,

I have a 1988 Mazda B2200 SE-5 Extra Cab that was dying on me about a year & a half back. It was completely stock, smoked like hell on 1st start-up, but would go away as I drove it. The truck had no power what so ever & couldn't even go up a hill w/out it severely slowing down & downshifting didn't work either. I found it hard to believe that Mazda would make a vehicle w/such shitty power. Without really doing any research, I started ordering parts for a complete rebuild/performance upgrade. I did the usual, ordered the Weber kit 32/36 DGEV, Pacesetter header, & complete Master Re-build kit. I then sent the head to the Machine shop that does all my work for my Honda's. All the guides were worn out & the valve backs were beat to shit due to the HVLA's that were all bad. I had the head Fully Ported & Polished/Port Matched to the Intake Manifold, New Bronze Valve Guides, & stainless steel valves installed. I sourced the mechanical rockers from an older B, D-burred them & made grooves for the oil to run off & lubricate. My bottom end was trash & the crank was unserviceable so my buddy sourced another. The complete Master Re-build kit was installed along w/the modified crank that was knife edged & balanced. I had the clutch made @ another place that I use which made the Clutch Disc & Pressure Plate much stronger then a stock replacement. My machine shop trimmed the flywheel down to 18lbs & had them custom grind my cam. In the End, when it was installed & running the best to its abilities w/the parts it has, IT'S SLOW & has NO BALLS compared to my swapped 2.2 Honda! After working w/Weber Tech Support it was determined that my carb was jetted incorrectly for all the modifications I had performed.

My B currently gets Horrible gas mileage & falls on it's face @ high RPM's due to Weber. If this was a Honda, I'm sure I could drop in another power plant that would be a fairly staright across swap w/much more power. I have swapped many Honda motors before in my rides and I’m not sure I wanna try to do that to a Mazda. I was thinking of just fuel injecting the B w/one's from a donor that I can very easily @ any time, but I’m afraid that is just going to let me down again. I've also considered Fuel Injecting & turbo charging at the same time, but I am skeptical on the 8 Valve Single Cam holding up.

Another plan then came into my head of looking for a different motor that will swap over w/modification, but will bolt-up essentially. I then came across the FE3 or some say FE3N. I've read that it bolts up to my current transmission and uses the same motor mounts & bracket holes for the Alternator, PS, & AC. I was kind of let down when I found out it was a 2.0, but then read it's fairly easy to use my current F2 crank w/the FE3 Motor and make it a 2.3. If I were to do something like this, I would sure add a Turbo in to the mix in hopes that it may be able to keep up w/my Honda when done....LOL I'm very new to the FE3 Motor and Mazda itself, but the tinker bug is starting to take over! I'm unsure what is true & who to believe, but this site seems to be like the place that can sure help. Any thoughts or suggestions to help me make my decision on the next step for my B would be greatly appreciated.

P.S.....When I was real mad one day about this whole lack of performance the F2 has, I contemplated just making it a "confused truck" & dropping in a S2K Change-over that my friend was selling for cheap. @ least if I did go that route, it almost seems like the electronics part would be much easier as harnesses & complete data management systems are already developed for things like this....It's just a shame it's not the same for the Mazda World, @ least to my current knowledge.

[Fred]

Where-ever you read that 2.3 was good/easy, it's wrong! Besides, the 2.0 fe-dohc/fe3 will thump a 2.2 f2 8v or 12v engnie, and match a stock f2t setup with stock low boost on the f2t.

Your best bet if you want a reliable truck that isnt entirely slow is a stock fe3 swap with good manifolds and stock mild cams. If you want a bit more poke, you can add boost, a td05-16g from an evo or dsm is a good choice and will get you a fun little truck pretty easily. Same things apply to your 8v or 12v f2 engine or fe engine, though, just less revs. The bottom ends are good for some reasonable boost and the top end wont care about it. Boost + efi on your existing motor will get the truck moving.

If you want it moving quick, though, leave that hunda behind, then dohc/turbo is the answer. You can make it pretty rapid without going crazy like I did

I hope that helps!

Fred.

[HDuece2]

Thanks Fred! I read your entire build on Mazda Truckin. Great Job! I'm into performing similar things w/my Hondas... Your truck might be able to give my 90 4 Door Honda Accord (2.2/2.3) a run for its money. Maybe...Hahahaha But now I'm thinking of trying to make my Mazda a competitor for it as well. Since I can get turbo kits fairly cheap from a buddy of mine, I was thinking of just fuel injecting & Turbo Charging the current motor until it blows. In the back ground while I'm abusing the 8 valve, I can obtain an FE3 from a Kia around here. I wanna dig into it so it can withstand a good amount of Boost. I know nothing about this motor & what will work w/it, so I’m sure that’s where you and this site can come into play. Can you make some suggestions on the size of Turbo I should use on my current 8 Valve that I have modified? Thanks for the help Fred & everyone else.

[Fred]

If you read a build thread and it wasn't on mx6.com it wasn't a build thread, it was just a showoff thread. The original build has 1000 photos or so.

Good luck!

Fred.