Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance respect for the zetec engine

Don't get me wrong, I love Mustangs, but there are so many out there with just about any mod that you can dream of. They are wonderful and one day I will own one, but for now with my child, the 4door is the way to go. Everyone knows Mustangs are fast so if you pull up to one chances are it's worked and ready to race. You can hardly find a stock stang. But if you pull up to a light next to a Contour(non CEGer) you have no idea of how fast it could be. The sleeper look is nice and none of these rice bangers know it's coming when you hand their asses to them with your Contour. Anyways modding is different for everyone. I don't like lettuce but I won't give anyone else sh@t because they do, it's their choice not mine. So if you already have your car paid for and lightly modified to your own taste, I'm sure lots of people would rather pay a little extra(turbo/SC) to make their ride the total package instead of buying a whole new V6 or V8 car. Anyone who does their own thing gets my respect. It's very easy to buy a Mustang/Camero/Firebird/etc., bolt some parts on and be fast, but it takes a lot more skill and challenge to make a little 4cylinder to be just as fast........and sometimes even faster!

D,

I didn't actually take it out of context...I just deleted some of the text. The fact of the matter is that he did say he didn't respect the Zetec and turned around and told us not to say that he did. The fact that he wasn't necessarily talking about it in a general sense doesn't mean he respects it.

I got a Zetec ATX because it was about the only used tour around at the time, and it was the best car I saw that I could afford to buy with cash. I also got ATX because there's a nasty hill with a stop sign at the top that I have to go up 80% of the time I drive anywhere. It would be murder on a clutch. And ATX is nice in city driving.

Now, when I want a faster car, all I have to do is spend $150 here and $300 there -- the rest of the performance is already paid for.

Seems like a pretty decent rationale for modding to me.

I'll probably drive it another four years or so. Then I'm going electric, if I have to build it myself.

Don't knock 4 cyl. performance... many of the world's fastest and best handling cars are 4 bangers.... The quickest (0 to 60) street legal (stock) car is a four cylinder.

If you want to go in a straight line (most of the time) fast and use more resources than a power plant... Go get yourself a V8...

Don't get me wrong, I love all kinds of cars, but a car does not have to have a big engine to be high performance... AND how about the pleasure one may find in proving you wrong, by making a Zetec Contour quicker than a Mustang? Defying naysayers....

My first car (I turn 17 at the VERY end of July) is my Contour, and for a student it is good. I prob get 50+ more miles per tank of gas than a v6...plus for my age the insurance is awesomely prices. Also, if someone has to borrow my car for some reason (me being too drunk or whatever :rolleyes: ) i won't have to worry about then crashing really...most people once they hit over 160 hp (my age anyways) always want to race...and yeah. plus, this was the only contour i found, and mine has a 3 year extended warranty on it

oh, and 4 cylinders aren't good? i was reading a mag one day and with [b]1[/b liter, a 4 clyinder, they managed to get more than 300+ HP out of that mofo...i'm thinking it was considerably more than 300. i plan on having this car until it breaks apart, with a mod once in a while. i plan on getting a second car when i can that will be a powerhouse...

i originally wanted a 2nd gen eclipse, frankstein that biotch, and i would have 400+ HP...but things didn't work out...and plus those have a lot of electric problems

oh well. i'm happy with my car...at least it's a contour. and what will be even more awesome is when people think they can beat me just cuz i have a 4 clyinder, but then they find out i can play around with 250+ hp cars

How about dropping the zetec into a Caterham? Wheres the Mustang then. The Zetec has been race modified many times over here with over 220BHP NA, its an exceptional engine. As for performance, it doesn't make large power figures due to the emission systems on board.

As for V8's, why, whats the point? All your doing is burning up the worlds resources, no offense but thats what you guys do!

Besides we can't have them cos our petrol works out as $1.13 a liter! : :rolleyes:

Oh forgot to say:

Mitsu Evo 6 GSR 0-62MPH 4.4Secs, and thats stock.

V8's are as dead as dead can be, look at the last three months of Motortrend, automobile, and Car and Driver and look at all the concept cars, almost 75% are V6's or less. C'mon, car manufacturers are going the forced induction/small displacement/high efficiency route(thank god they ARE bringing back rear wheel drive though). V8's are alot of good things, but efficient they are not(not as efficient as a pressurized 4 banger w/ the same peak HP). Considering increasing restrictions on emmisions small displacement/high efficiency engines are the future, when the Technology catches up 4 and 6 cylinders will smash the performance profiles of even the most legendary V8's of yore. Oh yeah, the Zetec(at least mine) is going to lead the way

Personally, I like being unique. Will a rice boy civic driver ever supect my stock tan 'tour of kicking his ass...hell no.

Am I going to try and compete with an engine two times my size...hell no. But it'll be nice seeing the look on his face, the first time.

tbunder must think I'm nuts...My 'tour cost me $1500 after selling my Honda, and I'm planning on putting anoth $10k into it.

What car is that? I assume you're not talking about something like a Lamborghini Diablo, which as I recall has about 26 cylinders.

The Zetec is a pretty wonderful engine, in theory, but sometimes the manufacturing isn't perfect. All in all, though, the one major thing wrong with our Zetecs is just that the car they're put into is too heavy.

The future was supposed to bring us lighter and more efficient cars, but instead what we're getting is that even small cars keep getting heavier. The Focus is way heavy for its size, and so are lots of other compacts. For instance, the New Beetle is 500 lbs heavier than the traditional one. The old Ford Pinto was a bulky and wasteful design for a compact by modern standards, but it weighed less than any Escort. A Miata weighs way more than the old English roadsters it imitates. Etc.

The weights of some SUVs are beyond insane. For a Toyota Land Cruiser to weigh 6000 lbs -- considerably more than the old GMC Suburban despite being smaller -- makes sense if it's a serious off-road vehicle, but is it really made for that purpose any more?

Saturn has shown that you can make a moderately sizeable modern car a good deal lighter, but nobody else is following the lead very much... it would require a bigger budget than buying enough senators to kill a mileage bill took.

I want to see me one of them Fisher Fury roadsters. Same engine as my tour in a car that weighs half as much.

Caterham Superlight R500 and Caterham Super 7 JPE
4 cylinders.... naught to sixty in 3.4 seconds (and that's with a full tank of petrol)...

It'll leave a Ferrari F40 for dead... Let alone a Porsche 911 Turbo...


http://www.Caterham.co.uk