Hmm, here is some perspective to throw you all into a loop!!
I have a ZETEC 95 in my tour, its a manual.
I have raced a 95 civic Si and guess what , i beat him by about , well his nose was at my wheel!! So i dont see the problem, maybe you had a bad launch, but then again ,you have no idea how much that auto kills the ZETEC, i can smoke and i mean smoke my cousins 96 mystique zetec with no problem!!
So i only have a few mods, look at my sig, and i did this as soon as i put on my SS Ractive muffler...... tell me what yo guys think!