The FE3 swap?

Well, sure, you would say yes, cause it is'nt your ride and money or time and you certainly would love to let your eyes feast on pictures!

I need a good opinion on this. The local junkyard has a FE3 engine from the Kia Sportage and this engine is an '01. This one in particular has around 100-120k miles on it and the other one they have has about 80k miles on it. They hav'ent shelved it yet since its not pulled and they have'nt tested the compression.

Now, Either of these motors, I can get for $650. But, is it worth the hassle to swap it in and get it running? I don't have the dist., starter, ecu, or alt.

If I remember correctly, the intake needs to be flipped so it will clear the firewall? As well, if I try finding the dist. for it, does'nt it conflict with the firewall as well? I'm sure I'd be paying a good penny for an aftermarket engine management system and I heard you also need a dist. coil pack as well to jump through the hooop.

Any opinions, wisdom of the sorts?

only in the f2 engine will you need to mod anything with the intake, the fe3 is from a rwd suv so the intake goes over the top of the engine just like fi b22's.. so no modding, only a few things like a hole on the trand to put a sensor, and some other dumb things like that.. it bolts to the trans and to the motor mounts, but youll need the computer and wire harness... and variouse sensors...


if you end up doing this good luck! its not too hard im guessing since therse no metal fabbing needed and everything just bolts up, only youd have to wire alot of things so get out your wire diagrams! youll prob be at it for days lol

Oh, okay, I know that the motor mounts have to be moved up an inch or so, maybe that will remedy the dist. clearance?

Hmmm....

does the head off that fe3 fit on the f2 block? i am understanding the block is the same right?

Good question! Are you trying to imply something?

yes it will bolt up to a fe2 block but the oil will have no were to go cause the oil returns are different. So will it bolt up yes will it work no. The Kia FE3 did not have a dist at all. so there is no clearance problems. it ran off a sensor that mounted in the bell housing of the tranny. It picked up the reluctor ring on the flywheel and told the computer when to fire the coil pack for which cylinder.

this is a pic of a reluctor ring on a flywheel.


you can get a 32 tooth reluctor ring and have it mouthed on the front of the crank and use parts form a ford escort and a MS to build your own computer system.

When you start with the megasquirt thing, I just get chills! Lol! I'm good at computers and all but when you gotta buils your own board, I'm a little intimidated!

What do you mean it does'nt have a dist? On the drivers side of the engine in the rear at the head, there was a hole there and I'm pretty sure that before I went there research stated it had a dist.?

It conflicted with the firewall and thats why the people who do the swap go to a EDIS dist. less ignition system?

What about the intake? Does'nt that conflict with the firewall? If not, will it be okay to put in my stock motor mounts and not move it an inch forward?

Wheres that Fredio guy when you need him!

My bad the true FE3 had a thing like a dist in the back of the head cause its in a FWD car. but the Kia is set up for RWD so it will not have that problem they removed the dist type thing on the Kia for the system I said before. If you get a true FE3 from overseas then you will have those problems. If you use a Kia FE3 you will not

...are you sure?

I asked the guy to show me a KIA Sportage '01 engine. He took me in and showed me the engine, and it had a hole in the back on the left side! I'm under the impression that it is for the dist. The HEAD had the code of FE3N.

Im pretty sure. There is a water hook up back there.