jjost brought this to my attention in the group buy forum. What are your thoughts on taking a cylinder head from a '00-'01 Focus Zetec and putting it on a '95-'97 Contour Zetec?

By just doing the head swap, it would ease the pain/cost of doing an entire engine swap. That would mean that we could use the BAT pistons, BAT rods, Esslinger oversized valves, Esslinger camshaft, and the any of the Focus performance intake and exhaust manifolds.

Here is some of the info that I have gathered so far (notes in bold):

1995-1997 Contour Zetec - No VCT
2000-2001 Focus Zetec - No VCT Good

Quote:

Beenman:
I don't know the American cars so well, but if I understand correctly, the Contour is the same as the Mondeo which we have here. If so, there are some differences to the cylinder heads.
The Focus' head is changed as follows:

Combustion chamber shape different. possible problem?
Inlet and exhuast port shape different. Focus parts will work
Mechanical bucket tappets instead of hydraulic. Which is better for high-perf?
Reduction in weight. no big deal
Pressure relief valve changed for a syphon valve. possible problem?
Cam profiles changed. Focus parts perf parts will work
Valve stems lenghtened by 1mm. Focus parts perf parts will work
Valve head diameter increased by 1mm. Focus parts perf parts will work
Installed valve spring height reduced from 37mm to 34.2mm. Focus parts perf parts will work

If one looks at these changes it seems as if the Focus should perform better than the Mondeo, yet the quoted outputs on the Focus are lower than the Mondeo.
It's extremely late, so this may just be an insomnia induced train of thought. So does everyone think that I'm nuts?

Thanks in advance. cool

BP

96 Contour GL (2.0L Zetec, ATX)

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