Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Performance My Plans

After doing some research, and debating on a s/c or turbo, i plan on doing the following.Take a zetec from the junkyard and have it bored and stroked, bigger pistons, new rods, new custom ground cams, same for the crank, have the head shaved, ported and polished, with bigger valves, titanium valve springs, opt. TB,different intake manifold, CAI, header,UDP, and Cam gears....now my heads now are already port n polished....i found a guy who will do it dirt cheap.....should i use my heads that i currently have now, or should i do it over again...now this is just me doing some thinking,nothing is final, so please dont criticise me if this isnt the proper thing to do...oh, if i do it over again, my engine will be for sale....lemme know what you zetec gurus think.....thanks in advance...

now i know someone is going to accuse me of being negative with my somewhat dismission of the SC but...

An NA setup on a zetec is going to take tons of cash to see any real gains...unless you're going to slap some nitrous on top of that build up I see you spending a buttload of money without alot of gain.

However on a positive note, it would make for a good solid engine...the #'s just wont be there. Never hurts to do somethin new though...if your pockets are deep enough make it happen.

Isn't your car ATX?

With my 98 about 300 miles short of 200K I am looking to buy a low milage engine and do a rebuild as well. In my case I have no intentions of going "all out" but I will be doing some affordable upgrades. My question is what is a reasonable route in a mild upgrade? I hope that this is not thread jacking.

My thoughts for improvement rest mainly around upgrades to the head. I want to have it shave to bump up the compression. From the the discussions here before I believe that between .030 and .040 would give me the best results for a daily driver. I will also be having the valves done but I am not quite sure exactly what to have done with them past a normal 3 angle valve job. I will not be doing anything to the cams or cam gears.

As far as the block: I have no idea what I could do in there that would net me affordable gains yet allow for daily driving. When I mean daily driving I mean about 500-600 miles a week. I could of course have everything very well balanced when they are replaced. I am really not sure that a much bigger bore will do a whole lot for me.

So in short I will be doing an upgrade that is intended to provide me with a very efficient engine with a mild bump in power. My car is an ATX so keep that in mind with suggestion. If you guys have so direction please let me know.

well, i was doing some searching on what another CEG'er planeed to do 3 years ago, and i kkind of took his plans....yes hector right now its an ATX, but i plan on switching it to a MTX.

A good NA setup on the Zetec costs too much money for too little results.
Head package = $1500
Trans w/ LSD = $1800
Lightweight flywheel = $300
Intake = $100
Exhaust w/ header = $400
UDP = $50
Larger TB = $200
Intake Manifold = $400
Titanium valve train = $400
Cam gears = $150
Larger MAF = $50
New injectors = $150
Larger fuel pump = $100
Oil cooler = $50
Larger radiator = $100
dyno time (conservative 5 hours at $75 per hour)= $375
chip with custom burn = $300
Total = over $7000
And were looking at 200HP.

Now some of the stuff you could probably pick up used, so well drop $1500 off, so were at $5500 and we never touched the block.
And unless you do the install yourself, labor = $$$$$$$$$


On a side note;
I have a head for sale (make offer) that has been shaved between .030 and .040 to raise compression and the ports have been slightly polished (its not a full PnP).

your head is a pre98 and i have 98, but i already have a light port n polish.

When my car is under the knife, that is to say the engine is being rebuilt how much do you think that it would run to have the valves done and the head shaved?
The head has to come off anyway so you can discount the labor for the removal and re-install. Also, what should I have done? 3 or 5 angle vlave job?

Price is hard to nail down.

A true radius valve job would be the best option, and 3-5mm larger valves on both intake and exhaust.
Also bump compression to about 10.5:1 which is about a .035 to .045 shave. (Shop will know beter than my hack job math.)

And you could stroke the engine to 2.2L if you realy want to go all the way, but the shoip really needs to know what they are doing. Theres not alot of room for error.

10.5 to 1 is still regular octane compatible right? At least I wouldn't need to have a new chip or anything. As far as increasing displacement: It sounds good in theory but this will be a daily driver and I don't know any shops that know these engines well enough to do that. A "performance" valve job is something that would be easier to obtain locally. So in that sense it will be a general rebuild starting with a lower mileage engine that will be only slightly over-bored to accept new pistons and rings. I am also going to try and insure that my engine will be balanced. I don't know if I'll have to buy new connecting rods to do this or if I can just have a engine rebuilder machine all the stock ones to make sure they all weigh the same. Any suggestions on improvements to the stock crank? Again I won't be racing or reving this engine.