Learn me 94-97 Kia Sephia

From what I gathered the 95-97 use the same motor as the miata/protege, and I've heard they share a lot of parts with the 323/escort, so by the logic of the 323 being a good retro rally car, could I use the sephia? And yes I know they're lame/junk/etc, but they're cheap and I'd just like to know the possibilities.

I worked at a Kia dealer for a while. Through 2001, the automatic trannys are crap, but the engines/bodies hang together quite well. They tend to have all sorts of electronic oddities mostly due to contact corrosion. Most of that can be fixed with sandpaper, contact cleaner and dielectric grease.

Well the second gen doesn't intrest me because it's a Kia motor and a lot of Kia parts, I'm specifically interested in the first gen and the ability to use escort/323/protege parts. Weak to no aftermarket support but if I can use 323 suspension, intake, etc, it's feesable I could squeeze some good power/handle out of these crapcans. I just wanna know if anyone had experience with what parts actually do swap over.

It is in fact a Mazda BG chassis.

So swap away.

Pretty much anything important will swap over.

Including suspension parts?

Have you actually driven one of these "Korean jewels" or is this a possible project/buy? I ask because a long time ago, maybe 10 years ago, I drove one of these. It was a lowish mileage(then), 1st gen. with the automatic trans. Even with auto it wasn't really all that bad. If I wasn't driving that Kia while some work was being done on my Civic, I might have gotten serious and bought it.

Every now and then I see one of these cars, tho I imagine most have gone to pick-a-parts long ago, and think they are still decent lower price alternatives to Proteges....but everyone says they are crap, so maybe they are right?

They're basically Mazda's, so you can swap to your heart's delight. They're also reasonably tough from a build quality standpoint. That said, the 4 sp auto is atrocious and the suspension is comically squishy.

My sister has a 98 Sephia, and it makes me laugh every time I drive it. It's hard to believe you can get so much body roll with so little grip.

I bought a '97 new. It was a base model with a 5 speed. It was a darn good car considering I paid $7900 out the door. With a wheel/tire upgrade it actually handled pretty well and would run circles around the Escort of the same vintage that my POE bought for their fleet.

It's a possible buy for a rally car, if indeed I can swap these parts this easily it'd be perfect, I'm really excited about what you guys have said and now I'm on the hunt for one, of course no auto and no second gens, although they're so ugly it really doesn't matter if I can get the performance. 2011 project?

It would make an awesome rally car. Buy it, make amusing modifications, take pictures.

If I find one (shouldn't be too hard right?) you all can count on a very detailed build thread, lots of photos, etc.

D_Howard wrote: Including suspension parts?

Yep. And a nice bonus with the Sephia vs. the Protege/EGT/Tracer LTS/Escort LX-E is that the transmission has a reinforced casing, and is less prone to spectacular failure than the others. A LOT of guys swap out for the Kia trans.

Rally car you say? 1996 Kia National Pro Rally Championship Winner

Gonna have to fab up some lighthousing like that.

I hear a very popular/easy swap is to drop in Miata cams.

MrBenjamonkey wrote: I hear a very popular/easy swap is to drop in Miata cams.

That would be a new one to me...

If you want to mess with cams, (This will sound weird, i promise) run TWO exhaust cams. There's a good writeup on ClubProtege.

Intake, header, exhaust, "exhintake mod," "cut intake manifold mod," and rx7 vaf will net you a damn zippy little car.

93celicaGT2 wrote:

MrBenjamonkey wrote: I hear a very popular/easy swap is to drop in Miata cams.

That would be a new one to me... If you want to mess with cams, (This will sound weird, i promise) run TWO exhaust cams. There's a good writeup on ClubProtege. Intake, header, exhaust, "exhintake mod," "cut intake manifold mod," and rx7 vaf will net you a damn zippy little car.

IS it just that the lift and duration on the exhaust cam happens to be REALLY nice for the intake side? Because that is a new one to me. I like it, but.... it confuses me.

mndsm wrote:

93celicaGT2 wrote:

MrBenjamonkey wrote: I hear a very popular/easy swap is to drop in Miata cams.

That would be a new one to me... If you want to mess with cams, (This will sound weird, i promise) run TWO exhaust cams. There's a good writeup on ClubProtege. Intake, header, exhaust, "exhintake mod," "cut intake manifold mod," and rx7 vaf will net you a damn zippy little car.

IS it just that the lift and duration on the exhaust cam happens to be REALLY nice for the intake side? Because that is a new one to me. I like it, but.... it confuses me.

Pretty much. Gives you a nice little boost in the upper half of the powerband. It's not a huge jump or anything. Probably about 10hp. But considering how cheap you can do it for? Well worth it.

Well, as long as the dyno time to figure out the cam timing is free Miata guys have been trying that swap (led by a Protege guy who hangs around the Miata forum) and the results - at best - haven't been mind-blowing. The 1999 Miata head would fit in a Kia as well. Heck, you could retrofit the VVT motor if you really wanted to go a little nuts.

The FM "Track dog" racer was built with a Kia block. Why? Because it was super-cheap and it's a direct replacement for a Mazda or Ford one. But we had to remove all references to the Kia parts in our website because the Kia guys thought we were moving into making parts for their cars and would get all excited and not leave us alone. It was like having to kick puppies.