1.6L Headers Available ???
Marcor the North American importer and
distributor of Genie exhaust products wanted to test
fit a 323 1.6L SOHC header on a '92-'93 MX-3RS (1.6L
SOHC) . The problem was no one wanted to lend them a
car to do the test fit and development even, though
there was a lot of people saying they wanted them.
They are still available in mild steel and stainless
steel for the 8valve 1.6L SOHC. For those of you with
late '93 or newer MX-3RS with the 1.6L DOHC, There is
not much of a chance that there will be one made for
this engine . Marcor was trying to a feel for the
demand before asking Genie to go through the product
developement process of making a new header for the
DOHC. Response was very poor, totalling three people.
Now that the car is been out of production for more
than a couple of years chances are very slim that any
company will consider manufacturing one now. Let
Peter at Marcor know your are interested at sales@marcor-genie.com or at 1 (800)
263-8621 Ext224. although at this point in time
I believe it is to late.
Pictures of a 1.6L SOHC Turbo
 
 
I first saw this MX-3 at Napierville
Dragway in June 1998. Talking to the owner Pierre-Luc
from Trois Rivieres at the track this year found out
a few more details about his car. The turbo
hardware is a hybred KKK turbo from two Audi's
(similar to a T3/T4 combo). Features included
front mounted intercooler, oilcooler, 2 additional
injectors and MSD ignition system. The car has also
been recently painted a "Burnt Orange"
metallic a color that was used on the Isuzu Rodeo for
part of one a model year.
Stock Header Modifications
At the show in
Albany I saw a couple of points of intrest on Jenn's
MX-3RS. Her car has the 1.6L SOHC (not the 1.6L DOHC
found in the later models). Everybody asked me if I
know of an aftermarket header for the 1.6L. After
seeing Jenn's car the factory tube header, the
primary tubes are a little short but other than that,
the design isn't that bad. She had the heat sheild
removed, all the tabs ground off, sandblsted and
ceramic coated. They looked as good as any
aftermarket parts you could buy. What can be done to
improve them? If you were to cut off the collector
flange and extend the primary to where the flex joint
ends, you should see an increase in power and torque.
If you are good with a welder, companies like Hooker,
Hedman and most other header manufactures sell
pre-bend tubing and collector flanges.
Ceramic coating
the headers also improves the header performance by
keeping the exhaust gas temperature higher farther
down the system. Hotter gas temperatures flow faster
which in turn helps to pull more air in the the
engine on intake stroke and keep the exhaust gases
flowing through the rest of the system.
Air Intakes
My
custom air intake for my (8 valve)1.6L SOHC 323
 
I didn't
plan to modify the the 323 but I did do about $500 of
junkyard tuning. I made a velocity tube intake system out
of 2.5" mandrel bent pipe. One unusual feature I
incorporated into the pipe is a 2.25" anti reversion
tube TIG welded in the center of the S-pipe. The filter
adapter on the Air Flow sensor was a spare piece from PRM
that I got from a friend. Not including the filter the
total cost was around CN$60 in materials. Note: the
larger air flow meter from a (F2) 2.2L. I also ported the
cast iron exhaust manifold which is a lot better that
most tube headers and had the exhaust enlarged to
2.0" The final modification I made to the engine was
to change the cam to a custom performance grind that was
given to me by a friend that races 323 in the past.
Jenn's
Custom Set-Up
Jenns car also
had a custom made intake pipe and cone filter made by
DOWN FORCE CREATIONZ (914) 294-6332, the shop the
helped her do most of her modifications
Adapt any
Cone filter to the '92-'93 MX-3RS
Picture of
adapter for Nippon Denso (Bosch) trapdoor type Air
Flow sensor with generic cone filter.
 
Adapter sell
for approx. CN$25 Available from Lazer-Auto or
most other performance parts retailers
PRM's new Air
Filter Kit
PRM is a new
Canadian manufacture of air intake systems. They will
be releasing a kit listed for the 91-96 Escort GT.
Under the hood the 323, Protege, Escort GT and MX-3
with 4 cylinder engines have intake systems are
basically the same. This kit should fit with little
or no modification. The intresting feature of this
system is the cone filter is installed backward and
is enclosed in a venturi like housing. Physically
this system is very small filtering area but don't
let size fool you. On Honda's this system really
seems to work. There is a significant gain of power
more so than a conventional cone filter and
3"diameter plastic or metal tube.
Read the Original messages and
picture from Sean Allgire that were posted to the
MX-3 mailing list
Check out the
Escort GT Performance Homepage
Almost any
modificaion that can be made to the Escort GT's
engine suspension and exhaust can be made to the
MX-3RS. I have been receiveing E-mails from David
Evans as well as several other EGT & Protege
owners since the 4 cylinder MX-3 is very closely
related. David has posted very good instructions on
fitting a K&N cone filter on his EGT but it
should also work on the MX-3RS. Subscribe to their
mailing list you never know what info will come your
way.
GUDE
PREFORMANCE
I completely
forgot that Tom Bitanga and myself had talked about
Gude Performance about a year ago and what services
they offered for the B6 & BP 4 cylinder engines.
Tim, one of the guys that E-mails me on a regular
basis reminded me of this when he sent this
message.
I ran
across some info that might be helpful with getting
your 4-banger section running. I got in contact with
a company in California by the name of Gude
Performance they informed that they can and do
performance camshafts,head port and polish, enlarge
the throttle body and enlarge the intake manifold.
The person I talked with rattled off a thousand
differant prices with core charge without core
charge. These parts can be obtained by sending your
part to them. They are going to get back with me
about if a package deal is available for the stuff
mentioned above or if they only charge for individual
items. The person I spoke with also mentioned that
they offer headers for the MX-3 also. All the info I
recieved was for the 1.6 DOHC 4 CYL. When they call
back I will Check to see what is available for the 6
CYL.Hope this info is as helpful to you as yours has
been to me.!! GUDE phone number is 909-244-3533
Thanks Tim
|