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Zetec build

7K views 65 replies 7 participants last post by  craps 
#1 ·
Hey guys I am kinda new to the forum and have recently been able to borrow 2500$ from family to get a new car ( maybe a little more depending on what I'd need). I love my car I have now (03 ford focus zts) and was thinking of buying a svt( sell my car to buy ) but then again I'd like to see what I could do with around 2500$ to mod my zetec motor for better hp. Looking to do a motor rebuild. Labor I won't have to be paying. Was trying to find a good kit or what internals I want to push more hp. Would it be worth trying? Vs just getting stock svt and going from there with small mods? Also would svt 6 speed transmission match up with my zetec motor? Cause im going to want to do 5 speed swap as well. I'm for sure wanting to do a tune if I do any of that. I have aftermarket headers and catback exhaust already on my car. Just wanting to push some decent hp. And if I go turbo/supercharge anyone know where I could acualy find a full kit? My car has 155k miles( reason for wanting to rebuild. Considering this would be my project car and don't like higher millage. Any help will be greatly appreciated:)
 
#2 ·
$2,500 is all you have. forget FI. SVT motor drop in would take more also due to computer and other bits you need. 6-speed swaps have been done = added cost. do a search on engine swaps and transmission swaps to see what is needed to be done.

Best would be just a normal rebuild with high compression pistons and get tuned and dyno with cams.

Just an estimates on costs:
Block work - bore, hone, clean, surface, polsih crank, and balance = $600
Head - Valve Job, Deck, assembly = $500
Pistons & Rods = $800
Bearings = $75
ARP Bolts = $225

this comes close but once you add in all the gaskets you need, any parts that brake, fluids to replace, etc. it will cost more.

I have spent over $2500 on my engine build took 2.5 years and are only 1/2 way to being FI.

No kit worth while having on the car is a "Full" kit. they will provide the major bits but you need to get your own turbo, WG and Blow off, and other odds and ends.

Why are you looking for a new car? is your ZX3 running poor? IMHO there is no reason to go into debt to build a motor. you have a perfect operating vehicle. save your money and buy little things here and there. do a compression test to see how healthy you car is.

Get a tune. get your bolt on's, get an SVT exhaust. Save up get a LSD better clutch. Get a better suspension.

Have you ever built a motor before? you will likely also have $$ in tools. I had to buy a number of tools during mine.
 
#3 ·
I work in a shop and have tools. Also have good friend I work with that will do work for me and to show me what's what. And just was thinking ur right about it my car runs fine. And was thinking forget build maybe just turbo. I found a kit with most I need. But the question is what boost could I even run with stock motor and trans without it doing damage. And it's a auto trans what could I do with that? I herd toms tune will help with the shifting and other. Will it hold up just fine with a turbo? And 155k miles I'd like to have lower Milage if I'm going to turbo it. I got oil leaks and such..and iv given my car a hard time as is. Asking bout auto trans is cause it's just slow shifting after shift it slow clim till 4000+ also resell value with car with high miles just for future if I were to ever want to sell. Not saying I will cause I do love my car, just if something comes up. Thanks for the help
 
#4 ·
Auto then don't even thing about turbo till you swap out the trans with a built one. the stock one is just enough to handle the extra power you could get with bolt on's.

Do a compression test, see what the motor health is.

What kit did you find? if its on ebay then just say no.

There are people that put a turbo on at 200k. a compression test will tell you if you can. Hell, you could put it on at 400k if the motor is healthy and a compression test will be the best indicator of that.

Stock motor you can run I think 225 or so HP safe (think some may say 250?). but not on a stock trans. boost levels are all dependent on the turbo you go with.

Any full kit should be $3,000+ unless buying used. You have inter-cooler, Diablo 3" MAFia, Tune, Charge piping, couplers, tune, Turbo Manifold, Turbo, BoV, WG, Air Fule gauges, Down pipe, etc.

Have you done anything to your car?
 
#5 ·
http://www.fastwayracer.com/Turbo-K....html?osCsid=75fb2d03c6a354c1ebf284c6cbb2a089

That was the link to what I found..and what kind of things would I have to do to transmission then?? Should I just not do anything?? Cause way it sounds I shouldn't even try to mess with it cause 2500-3k is max I'd probably be able to get..and what would be wrong with the above link I sent that turbo? It looks to almost have everything. And then I could tune. And iv yet to find any turbo/supercharger for my car other then that one. And iv only done headers and catback exhaust to my zts
 
#7 ·
Not familar with autos other than they dont handle the power...

Check out the lentech transmissions. not sure on the costs.

http://www.lentechautomatics.com/4f27ecustomers.html

Do a read through the builds and see what people have done and ended up with. There are a few options for everything but not a huge selection. Generaly they use Eagle Rods, Probe or JE pistons. I think JE only have ones for higher compression but not sure since I was not going that way on my build.

My analysis of your situation is:

DO NOT GO INTO DEBT TO BUILD A CAR

spend many more hours going over build threads on here and other sites to see what is needed, what to expect, know where it can go wrong, and figure out how much it will cost and multiply by 2.

I cant comment on the link. looks like a crappy kit IMHO.
 
#8 ·
Thanks, and im not really goin in debt its family and i will be getting the money im borrowing in 2-3months and iv done tons of reading and still couldnt find everything i was needing to know thats why i made this post. youve helped narrow down to what is possible. i couldnt find a zetec engine build thread thats got what exactly they used for internals and all, and it all comes back to the transmission an how/if it would hold the extra power
 
#9 ·
See my link in my signature.....

And see the link posted for the transmission.
 
#12 ·
Where can I find toms kit?? One more question, I got headers and catback exhaust, if I do more of tha little mods and then one of toms tunes would it be worth it? And what can that tune do for auto trans and really what is the results for tuning stock zetec and auto trans in my zts? I may go that route not sure
 
#13 ·
headers? which one? if its not a SVT kit then there is improvement.

Tom's Kit:
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226552

I would look at less of a full build if your wanting a little more power.

I would get a LSD. Get the SVT suspension kit. I would get an air intake. I would pull the head, shave it .010-.020, put in CAMS and adjustable gears. get it dyno tuned. Get a A/F gauge installed and get Tom's tune and fine tune it.

I would still wait to do this until you have your own money. The above will likly be around your $2k price point. $500 for head, $350 for cams, $200 cam gears, $300 for tune?, $200 in gaskets, fluids and other bits you need to pull the head, $200 for gauge, $200 for Dyno time?, $700 for LSD, $250 for SVT suspension, $100 for air intake.

This is assuming you do all labor and you don't brake anything you need to replace.

You are borrowing money. regardless if its from a bank or from family its going into debt unless your family is just giving you the money because they like you.

But it really depends on what all you want to do with the car. do you want more power because you just want it? do you want it to feel better in the turns? do you want to track day our car for SCCA auto cross events?

Depending on what you are looking will greatly determine what you should do or how to balance your mods.
 
#16 ·
It basically is. not sure if it adds larger sway bars, but it is lower and more sporty springs and dampers. Its only $200-300 and is a great refesh to a 10 year old suspension
 
#18 ·
I have not digged into the turbo world yet as I am still a few years off from getting one. Some of these questions will be better in the forced induction setting.
 
#19 ·
For the Price of a Transmission you could probably buy a Used ZX3 with a 5 speed. You can find them for a grand or so if you look around. If you really like the focus you could start there. If you wanna keep your current car with the Auto but just want to give the red Dragon some more Juice. Here are some things that will make it faster as well as reliability.

General Maintanence
-Motor Mounts' $70 amazon
-Valve Gasket (if you see leaking oil on engine)
-Suspension (Ford Dynamic and SVT) $300-450
-Tie rod end links
-Fuel Filter
-Synthetic oil

Power Adders
-Intake , AEM or volant, find used (AEM Cold air $230 on Amazon)
-SVT Header Swap , Find used
-Cat back Exhaust, Just buy one
-Milled Head, find a shop to do it for $50
-Tom's Tune, Pay to Play $420
-WideBans O2, pay to play
-Stage 2 cams and Adj Cam Gears - Amazon (comp and OBX)

Shop right and you can have a great Car. People with these mods make around 140-150 at the Wheels what is equivalent to a 170HP Focus. Same as an SVT.
 
#20 ·
I've tries to turbo a zx2 with the zetec, and its not worth the money and heartache to bother trying. For the price, you could buy a much better/faster/reliable car.

Stick with the rest of the above advice... headers, exhaust, tuner, intake. I probably wouldn't go with cams unless you have a dyno readily available. My buddy (intense car guru, has built many including mustang, s2000, Tiburon, wrx) wouldn't even cam his. Said it wasn't worth the money. Good luck making decisions!
 
#21 ·
The svt headers? Does it fit just right without having to change things? The svt suspention I couldn't find for some reason all it shows is stock zx3 suspention. What would I search to find the cams and can gears? Milled head does??? I do have leaks. My tire rods are good I work in shop and just checked all is tight. My motor mounts arnt broken or anything but would that still help?? Synthetic oil from the usual 5w20??

Iv got random headers and catback exhaust but I'm sure the svt would be better the thing is will it all fit?? I for sure want to do a tune. Thanks for all the help
 
#22 ·
As far as I've seen there are a few pieces involved in the svt header swap.
Suspension doesn't exactly mean svt suspension. You can use bigger sway bars, and coilovers/drop springs.
Could check stage 2+ Comp cams? Plus adjustable cam gears.
As far as your other stuff, in would always suggest maintenance before digging into parts. Make sure the motor can handle a build. Of course an intake, plugs/wires, and a cat back aren't necessarily something you should wait to do. Maintenance usually includes a tune up, hence plugs/wires/air filter.


Definitely fix all leaks. Then build mildly, intake/exhaust/headers make a good beginning. Plugs and wires as well. Have someone when knows what they're doing help build the heads and cams.
 
#23 ·
thanks I will, i did tune up (filter plug and wires, coil pack has been replaced too)
the suspension (coilovers) i looked and its around 1k just for that. not wanting to really spend 1k on just suspension that's, my leaks arnt bad really you can jus see oil thinking oil sending unit is leaking but every time i go to do my oil change my level isn't low at all an i don't add anything between oil changes done every 3k miles.i do have some squeaking noise from my suspention right now when takein turns, i have a really messed up driveway with holes in it.(if im fixing the car up id be parkin bottem of driveway so i wouldn't be hurting anything). im for sure wanting to get a tune but thinkin bout it if i wer to jus do stock shock and strust its still gunna be around 1k probably am i right? sooooo heres the plan? fix all leaks go for cams an adjustable cam gears milled heads intake, tune and suspention, sway bars. (should i start running synthetic in my car?? now i just use 5w20).

iv got headers and catback exhaust but they are just ebay pacesetters headers i think it was and cant remember the catback (was long time ago i know better then to jus slap ebay crap on my car but i did it anyways=/)
 
#24 ·
Do your leak fixes first.
Then exhaust, port your throttle body (free),
Then i suggest looking into an intake. Gotta make it breathe or youre wasting money on bigger mods.
mill your heads and cams at the same time. Then tune. Then fix problems.
 
#25 ·
As far as oil, I don't suggest switching to synthetic if you've never used it. Some people swear by it, but synthetic oil has a habit of trying SO HARD to clean a system that has been run on regular oil, that it will actually cause leaks due to degrading dirty,old seals. Just from my experience.

I run castrol 10-40. It may help with leaks, its thicker oil. Less likely to get in small leaks as fast a a thinner one.
 
#26 ·
SVT suspension = http://www.c-f-m.com/performancepar...-Kit-for-00-05-Focus-98p1232.htm#.UrtrZ_RDuSo

if you dont know what a mill head does or how to do it then I would advise you dont touch anything other than bolt on's until you do research to know exactly what is needed.

C-F-M (www.c-f-m.com) is a great resource and a great company. William with C-F-M has done me right and have bought thousands of dollars of stuff from them. They provided I would say 90% of the parts for my rebuild and have bought previous items from them. you can search there catalog and see what is available.

so the header is a shorty? that is doing next to nothing for you. perhaps 1-2HP

SVT with a tune will net you 10-15HP dyno proven and if found on the for sale section will yield the highest HP/$ of any bolt on mod.
 
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