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1997 Zetec Overhaul/rebuild

S

Sable23

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
578
Location
Paynesville, MN
well after searching for over 4 hours i have come up with absolutely nothing... idk if i am just searching in the wrong places or with the wrong keywords idk.

anyway i got the engine out of my contour today and it is ready for a rebuild, im not going for performance just longevity i need a reliable car, and i already put 300 into a new clutch on this one so this one is going to stay with me for a long time. i know there are quite afew of you that have rebuilt them and out of your experience what should i keep an eye out for anything with this engine that need special attention? this is not my first rebuild but i am definatly no expert at the same time.

also i was having a pretty hard time finding new parts for this engine (pistons, rods, etc.) any places that have a good inventory of Zetec parts that they offer??

thanks!
 
i think your best bet is going to be to use focus pistons and rods. you have to use them together as the rod length is longer than the pre98 but the compression height of the piston is shorter so the overall length of the assembly is the same.

there is really not much to watch out for, its all pretty straight forward. just make sure you keep the lifters in the correct spots, unless you decide to replace them (but at ~$16 a piece they arent cheap)
 
Rockauto has federal mogul pistons for $150 for the set with rings iir the price correctly. I would reuse the rods, rockauto sells oversized bearings as well so you can have your rods machined so they act as new. Definitely get the pistons with a fair oversize....might be a good idea to take the block to the machine shop first and have him do a std rehone to see the actual condition of the cylinder walls before you buy the pistons...

^I'm not sure if they make the pistons for the pre98, if they don't source some used rods from a focus or zx2^

Definitely get a new oil pump. Check out rock auto you can buy most of the things you need there. Buy new bolts for everything that is TTY.

I personally wouldn't touch the head except for new head bolts obviously.

Basically check out rockauto.com. Good stuff.
 
they do sell pistons for the pre98, but rockauto lists them as only have 3 valve reliefs instead of the 4 they should have. not sure if its a typo or what. if you search you might be able to find a good set of FSVT pistons and rods. it will raise your CR very slightly and will give you better pistons and rods.

as for the head, i would have it at least looked at by a machine shop to check for straightness. it probably needs new valve guides and seals as well. you might as well replace the oil pump and, if its never been replaced, the water pump.
 
I don't think so

I don't think so

"I would reuse the rods, rockauto sells oversized bearings as well so you can have your rods machined so they act as new. "

Unless things have changed in the last few years, you machine the crank journals not the rods for oversized bearings.
 
^No your right I just typed this really fast.^

I wouldn't go with FSVT internals though unless your planning for more power, Ford screwed up the piston rings and recalled them all and I couldn't find them....this was a little while back, they might be around now but when I looked I couldn't find them for the life of me.
 
i guess i should have listed a little more about what i am planning on doing to this thing lol. as of right now my plans are to disassemble the lower end, and have the crank, and block checked out by the machine shop, make sure everything is good. if the pistons are good yet i will reuse them (providing the cylinders dont need to be bored out) if i need new pistons it would be awesome to find some FSVT pistons but the way it sounds they can be a little hard to find, anyone else have any input on the ring problem? also if useing FSVT pistons i would assume i also need rods from a focus zetec? are the SVT zetec and regular production zetec rods the same?
as for the head i am getting one from my uncle for free off of one of his contours and i am going to have the machine shop look over that (put new seals in, regrind valves/seats, and probably install the cams again) the head on mine is fine but my dad thinks it is screwed cause the exhaust manifold has a crack in it and it ticks so i am going to swap it out anyway to make him happy. (also getting a manifold to replace the cracked one)
also going to try polishing up the cam cover to see how it turns out. i have never polished aluminum before but if i work at it i think it could look pretty nice.

thanks guys!
 
For a short while

For a short while

Polishing die cast aluminum is a real bugger, it can be done. In fact I have done it. Looked really good for a few days. Then reality got to the parts and made them dull pretty quickly. You can try to polish and clearcoat, but that is not real long lasting either. Unless you have a real hard one for a lot of work and maintenance work.
 
andreslobo said:
Polishing die cast aluminum is a real bugger, it can be done. In fact I have done it. Looked really good for a few days. Then reality got to the parts and made them dull pretty quickly. You can try to polish and clearcoat, but that is not real long lasting either. Unless you have a real hard one for a lot of work and maintenance work.
Click to expand...

yeah i was planning on using a ton of high temp clear coat to try and keep it looking nice if it doesnt work i dont care its more of a practice thing
 
striker2 said:
they do sell pistons for the pre98, but rockauto lists them as only have 3 valve reliefs instead of the 4 they should have. not sure if its a typo or what. if you search you might be able to find a good set of FSVT pistons and rods. it will raise your CR very slightly and will give you better pistons and rods.

as for the head, i would have it at least looked at by a machine shop to check for straightness. it probably needs new valve guides and seals as well. you might as well replace the oil pump and, if its never been replaced, the water pump.
Click to expand...


the three valve reliefs is correct as two of them are extended into each other so you have two small ones on one side and one longer one on the other
 
i dont remember my stock pistons looking like that, but its possible they were. i guess the real question is what do you plan to do with it? just leave it stock and drive it, or mod it and maybe eventually go FI? if your just going to leave it stock then stock pistons are more than enough, unless you have to bore the block for some reason. if you are going to mod it or just want more power, then focus aftermarket rods and pistons are the way to go, just stay away from Probe Racing pistons.

just remember that whatever you choose, you must use pre98 rods with pre98 pistons, and focus rods with focus pistons, but either combination will work.
 
yeah not really planning on modding it just driving it... i get enough crap for trying to make my sable look nice... if i want a quick contour i would probably go for an se 2.5 mtx for a 3L swap but not for quite a while.

as for pistons if the ones in it are good then i will keep them if they need to be replaced i will try to find a set of FSVT pistons first but i am not going to look high and low if nothin pops up then new stock style ones are going in.

this car had a blown head gasket when my dad bought it so i am hoping that the coolant in the crank case didnt eat it up too much it wasnt driven long like that so i think most of it should be ok.

out of curiosity why wont the post98 pistons/rods work?
 
the 98+ pistons/rods are, IIRC, all the same and the easiest thing to search for is Focus usually.
 
ok lol so the contour and focus pistons/rods are the same from 98+. thats what i am understanding, they would probably be easier to find then pre98 ones too
 
well finally started pulling it appart today. two of the A/C, power steering bracket bolts stripprd (the torx part) so drilled them out got it to the point where the cams and head can come off tomorrow. it sucks working weekends and school during the week...
so what are your opinions on gasket matching on the zetec? is it worth it? especially the exhaust side.
thanks guys
 
well i got it all torn down yesterday.
the crank for sure needs to be gone over it was scored up pretty bad under main cap number 1 otherwise it looked really good. pistons are iffy they have some scratching on the skirts pretty sure they are getting relaced. cylinder walls are scratched up more then i was hoping it may end up getting bored out... almoost no ring ridge though. otherwise everything looks ok so far going to see what the machine shop says when they go over it for me, timing belt is only a couple thousand miles old so that is getting reused.

i started plishing the valve cover but it was taking too long so i am just going to sand it smooth and paint it. my plan is to get it done by the end of this month all depending on how long it takes to get parts.

started painting the engine bay gloss black should look better then the green that was starting to get all scratched up and flaking off
 
If it's not too much to ask, can you post some pics of the reassembly? I'd love to see it all going back together, if not I think I'd be happy with the finished result. If it's not asking too much.
 
TribalTour said:
If it's not too much to ask, can you post some pics of the reassembly? I'd love to see it all going back together, if not I think I'd be happy with the finished result. If it's not asking too much.
Click to expand...

thats no problem i cant promise pics of each step but i will try my best lol
 
Look into the rod issue deeper. It seems Ford uses torque to yield (TTY) rod bolts which means you MUST change them once loosened. That leads to other trouble, as in any rod which has bolts changed needs to be rehoned inside to guarantee roundness. The new bolts can shift things around a bit. You can tell a TTY bolt by the torque spec, if the last tightening involves torquing to an angle instead of a torque, it is definitely a TTY bolt. Same with the head bolts, not to be reused. They are intended to permanently stretch with the first use. Second use can lead to failure.
 
yeah i plan on replacing ALL TTY fasteners this car is intended to last me a while yet so i am not going chince out on a few bolts (especially the critical ones!)

well anyway i got a few random pics loaded
DSCF8381.jpg


DSCF8382.jpg

DSCF8403.jpg

DSCF8407.jpg

here is the three valve reliefs
DSCF8406.jpg

DSCF8410.jpg

DSCF8411.jpg

DSCF8437.jpg

DSCF8415.jpg

DSCF8422.jpg

sorry more then i thought lol
now that my sable is out of commition i have to decide which to focus on for now... this may end up being put on hold for now...
 
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