Hello everybody!

A month ago I became a happy owner of 323f '95 with 1.8 DOHC engine.

I should admit that my previous car was a microscopic Daihatsu Cuore '97 with 0.85 engine and 600 kg of weight

So now get back to the topic. The engine of Mazda feel very different from Daihatsu and not always in better way. First of all it doesn't rev up as quick as I expected and what is worse it does rev down pretty slowly when I release throttle pedal. Revs go down a bit lazy I can say. Is it normal behavior? Daihatsu small 3-cylinder engine had more motorcycle-like responses and Mazda's one feels like something big and heavy.

The second thing that bother me is acceleration. It's very impressive over 4000 rpm!!!! And I realy like (even LOVE) it! But when I drive as usually in 1500-2500 rpm and need a quick acceleration even 1 gear down doesn't make a deal. I ought to make 2 gears down! Is it should be like this? On Daihatsu it seemed to be more easy and predictable. Are your engines lazy at low revs too?

Hope you dispel my doubts guys!

well a stock bp puts out a 162nm at 4200 rpm, and a 115ish hp at 6200 rpm.
I d recon you should replace air and oil filters, new plugs, replace oil.
that should make a difference.

[b]ph3n1x[/b], the previous owner was very pedantic person and gave me his own (not official) service book. And it says that oil + oil filter + air filter were replaced 5000 km ago. Spark plugs were replaced 20 000 km ago so maybe it's time to make a change. Fuel quality in our country is pretty low and spark plugs die earlier then normal.

wow, Ukraine, didnt even notice that hehe.

Must admit, throttle response ís a little low. nothing to worry about though.

[b]MrKikker[/b], Amsterdam .... red lights and something to smoke My first associations Unfortunatelly never been there.

You have a little calmed me about that slow-going revs.

The revs will obviously be slower to change than your old daihatsu - the engine is almost twice the capacity therefore, there's a lot more rotating mass to get moving and to slow down

And as with all Japanese cars, power is higher up in the rev range - 1500-2500 is nothing. I keep my revs low in the cold, but once the engine is warm, they're usually between 2000 and 4000 rpm

oh and mounting a sport air filter (or open air filter) and/or removing the resonance-box won't help
atleast, not in my opinion.

[b][color=#006600]HughieW[/color][/b], it' actualy more then twice capacity And I was thinking about all these things again and make a suggestion that perhaps Daih never run on low revs (1500-2000) 'cause it's impossible on such small engine. There was no tacho gauge on Daih so I don't know the rev range I were driving. Maybe Daih run stable let's say from 2500 rpm and when I drop 1 gear down I hited the range where torque and power is raising up for quick acceleration. And Mazda runs smoothly 1500-2000 rpm but in a kind if "sleeping" mode and to wake her up I need a 3500-4000 rpm. Tht is my answer for my question

Max torq is at about ~4000rpm and max power is at about ~6000rpm, so keep pounding if you want to go fast

[b]MrKikker[/b], it does't help at all or it doesn't make a difference on low revs? Frankly speaking I was thinking about to change air filter element (I mean standart box) to something with increased airflow. You think it's not worth it?

Oh yeah, my maths is rubbish

But you're correct there - our engines have most power higher up in the rev range, so if you want power, keep the revs higher

I've found driving slightly higher saved me fuel too. I used to drive around with the revs quite low, but I always had my foot down because it wasn't quick enough, and my fuel didn't seem to last long. Keeping the revs a bit higher got me an extra 100 miles out of a tank

[quote="shcherb"][b]MrKikker[/b], it does't help at all or it doesn't make a difference on low revs? Frankly speaking I was thinking about to change air filter element (I mean standart box) to something with increased airflow. You think it's not worth it?[/quote]
Oh a good Cold Air Intake system with decent air filter will definently help.
I found out however that my throttle response did not (at least not noticable) improved by mounting this.

however performance will increase when fitting an aftermarket airfilter like Pipercross, K&N, etc.

[quote]
Keeping the revs a bit higher got me an extra 100 miles out of a tank
[/quote]
it sounds very attractive must admit! I'll try to keep 2-3K for next tank. But if it won't work you owe me the difference

[b]MrKikker[/b], I got it. It won't heal throttle response. Concerning overall perfomance I'm satisfied at the moment. So I'll wait with new improved air filter till this one wears out.

The only real fix for better throttle response as far as I know is a FSE Boost Valve, which lets you adjust the fuelpressure. Though this comes at a cost; fuel economy will drop.

[b]MrKikker[/b], oh, thank's a lot for pointing at this item. I shall study this question. It seems not to be very expensive and I also found some other (cheaper) makers of Boost Valves.

yeah, only thing is you need to setup the FSE valve very precise, and to have a rolling road (and, besides the FSE, some other mods such as a CAI, decat, etc) to tune your car is a bit of a necessity here.

Running a better air filter will improve your response times, however it will limit th ultimate power in low revs (approx 10hp loss).
The best cure for low-rev driving is :

Clean MAF (intake pipe)
Clean throttle body (first metal block after intake pipe)
Slightly higher air pressure in tires (lower resistance)
Check vaccum system for leaks and cracks (was a problem in my case once)

Is your car auto or manual?

If manual you should consider lightening your flywheel

Hughie, what rev range gave you the best economy?

Well i wasn't being overly technical about my testing, but when accelerating I tried to keep the revs in the 2-4k area, obviously going into a higher gear if I'm not changing speed (2nd gear, 4krpm is about 40mph, but if im going to stay at 40, id stick it in 5th). Engine braking also helps!

I have an auto, currently trying to set a new economy record,
98 fuel, 1-2k revs (2.2k max)
trying to make it i 1L per 10KM

[quote]
Is your car auto or manual?

If manual you should consider lightening your flywheel
[/quote]

it's manual. I was thinking about flywheel lightnening. May be will do this while changing clutch in a few month because it feels like my clutch is going to die.

[b]Cypher[/b], 1L of 98 petrol per 10 km looks like normal consumption in the worst (city) conditions. I use 95 fuel and got 7.5L per 100 km while driving 1000 km from the place I bought my car. It was dry and temperature range about +2-10 C degrees. And now when it is cold (-5-10 C) and snow and I drive slower because of these conditions (about 60 kmh) the fuel consumption is about 9.5L/100km. Do you have 1.8 or 2.0 engine? What is your driving style?

I have the 1.8 BP engine, and the 1L/10km is a combined cycle (mostly short 30KM trips on interstate).

On the economy mode, i never exceed 2.2k RPM and brake as little as possible.

i've got about the same economy as Cypher in a 1.8