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Zetec ECU w/ SVT engine?

6K views 42 replies 6 participants last post by  slow_solo_focus 
#1 ·
So, I stumbled into a pretty decent ST170 haul from the local JY. I did a small amount of research and it doesnt seem like i'll be able to easily use the getrag from the st170 because of different frequencies for start up?

However, with the VCT/IMRC disabled and a tune... how feasible is it to run an SVT motor on a normal Zetec ECU/harness with the MTX-75 mated up?

For those interested in the haul:





Also, shout out to this guy for re-creating the aux gauge thread.
https://www.focusfanatics.com/forum...-how-use-svt-gauge-cluster-non-svt-focus.html
 
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#4 ·
Still not a bad haul, though. A lot of that stuff you can put onto the zetec and get a bit more performance out of it. Manifold, cat, and flexpipe from the svt are an upgrade, just swap the dipstick and PS hose for proper fitment. Shocks and brake setup for sure and rear sway bar, too.

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#5 ·
not so worried about the detuned part... wont be hard to ziptie the IMCR into whatever position i want it to be in (short or long). still have the bump in compression, better head and if my memory serves correctly the cams were a little better too? or was that only because of the VCT?

main thing is i'd rather just ship the car back with the st170 motor in and leave the 2.0 Zetec here. I think i have the old euro harness laying around so i might see what sensors do/do not work. if thats missing i can always plug the harness from this into the one on the car and see if it works

being friends with the guys who run the junkyards around here has its dividends, everything pictured for 180 euro
 
#6 ·
So, the old euro harness is MIA in my black hole of a basement.

I ended up taking the harness off of the ST170 motor and checking it with the motor on the car.. Everything lines up except the cam sensor, fuel pressure regulator clip and the temp sensor. TPS, IAC, oil pressure, main clip, etc are all fine and clip into the old zetec motor.

Since all the euro stuff is return fuel systems and i dont feel like running a return system ill be using the OG USDM zetec fuel rail; maybe use the st170 injectors? i'll have to check to see if SCT has the st170 injector info built into their software, if so ill do it otherwise i dont feel like scaling injectors. that means ill be splicing the zetec fuel pressure regulator clip from the old harness into the st170 harness. sure, slightly sketch, but the colors of the wiring are exactly the same... send it?

i did do a quick 'for science' test of the st170 harness on the std zetec motor. plugged in the main clip, fuel injectors, TPS and IAC only; then tried to start the car. thing fired right up with 0 issue, idled and rev'd (unloaded) as if it had all the sensors plugged in.

havent checked the power steering pump to see if the one in the car and the one from the st170 are the same/interchangeable but im sure they are. everything else looks to be interchangeable.

odd coming back to this site or a forum in general after such a long hiatus
 
#8 · (Edited)
Not cheaper though.

200 for everything I got was a steal and a half. Recaros, engine, brakes, wheels, exhaust and other small interior bits
 
#12 ·
question for tom since im still planning on pushing forward with this deal lol

the SVT VCT solenoid, if I leave it unplugged or give it constant 12V power, would i still even need the VCT delete kit? dont think i understand the VCT beyond oil pressure moves it around. does it need constant oil pressure to keep it in one spot or is the cam locked in place if its off?

the massive VCT delete kit looks like a shim and a blank pulley from some dudes in the UK... https://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=175158
 
#14 ·
That's a fair point, I'll get it squared away then. Didnt want to wait for shipping but I guess itll allow me some spare time to get any other details worked out

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#16 ·
Small update, power steering pump is the same and according to auto zones website vehicle fitment thing, so are the crank sensors.

I'm about to go to lunch with some friends and I'm trying to think of all the sensors on the motor. 'Works' is a but of a loose term but I'm confident I wont run into major issues with that. This is also gonna be the hodge podge of a US fuel rail - ST170 motor harness and the rest of the US wiring, ECU and MTX75 trans.

Main clip - works
Crank - works per autozone website (part #s match)
Cam - definitely wont but not req'd
TPS - works
IACV - works
Fuel rail - works, zetec will be used
Injector clips - works
Fuel pressure regulator - modifications req'd, prob work
Alternator - works
Temp sensor - works
Coil pack - should work, if not the standard zetec one will
Power steering pump sensor - zetec one will be used, works
Front O2 - works, prob zetec one will be used
Oil pressure sensor - should work, if it doesnt I'll add an aftermarket gauge
Knock sensor- should work, not req'd
MAF - should work, if not Zetec one will be used

That's all of the 'important' ones I can think of at the moment. Anyone think of ones I'm missing?

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#17 ·
small update

bought cam timing kit, VCT delete and a clutch alignment tool. week and a half until delivery at the soonest
 
#18 ·
Parts at the post office!

Vct and clutch will be started on soon
 
#19 ·
parts were not at the post office, but showed up this week. Not sure how my schedule works out until im stateside once again, not planning on swapping motors this close to leaving. maybe if i get a couple weeks off with nothing to do i might, chances of that are slim tho
 
#20 ·
Ended up doing a 2-3-4 pull on the way home from work without realizing that there had been a slow water leak. Euro Zetec block is now toast, well not entirely, just lots of blow by coming out of the crank case. With no water on 10lbs of boost and completely stock spec spark plugs I'm surprised it still runs tbh

ST170 swap and all new coolant hoses will be the replacement plan. I don't actually want to blow the ST170 motor...
I should have everything required to complete the swap sitting in a box somewhere ready to be unpacked still just gotta find it and do the ol swaparoo.

I don't remember my exact plan of how this was going to work I think it was:
-ST170 motor
-US harness and fuel rail
-VCT delete
-Leave Cam sensor unplugged
-ST170/SVT thermostat housing, keep the 180* T-Stat
-Zetec standard clutch and flywheel
-Tuning in SCT software
 
#22 ·
I'm not super worried about the IMRC, I'll likely rig it to be the short runner position and let the turbo do it's thing.
I got the VCT delete on and cam timing done. I set the gear to 10* off and rotated it back to 0 so that the top of the cam lobes pointed at each other/180* out. I'm not sure if that's correct or if it should go another degree or not, hard to eyeball past where I have it, not wanting to check it on the crank shaft but I may have to.

Should get out of work a little early so I'll pull the 6 speed off and probably list it for sale on facebook market place or here. Don't want to deal with it without cables or shifter for it, must've left it in the donor car or got lost in the move.
Shouldn't be hard to pull the tranny out, I think its like 13 bolts or so? I'll probably drain the liquids out of the blow motor, put it on stands and start taking it apart. We'll see how far I get
 
#23 ·
Didnt get out as early as I thought. Only got the trans off
 
#24 ·
Friday and Saturday should be the big days to get this thing running proper again. Before I go to bed today I'm gonna pull the fuel rail, injectors and harness of the blown motor and hook it up to the ST170/SVT motor. If time allows before I passout, I'll drain the fluids and disconnect the harnesses and plumbing in the car.
Did a little research on the Cam timing, it seems like the general consensus is 12* of cam timing advance. I'll fix that too.

For anyone who would care about a SVT swapped - VCT deleted - Zetec MTX & ECU'd - boosted tune, I can post a modifiable tune file on here once I get it going well enough. It will still require you to get the SCT Pro-Racer software, the X4 and a little button clicking to get the car to start. While adaptive learning could probably compensate for your locality I would not recommend uploading it to your car and hitting the road without at-least a little datalogging and fine tuning on your end. I would also not recommend trying this unless you have a decent understanding of how a motor works and how the ECU interacts with said motor. There is at least a couple decent series on youtube to help you understand before you jump off the deep end, I'll provide one that isn't bad to start with in the future. I would highly recommend getting a SCT Pro-Racer 'guide book' of the sorts, I personally used Don LaSota's book; YMMV and proceed at your own risk. I'm sure there are better books out there but I'm cheap and it fit the bill.

If you're unsure about any of it, there are always tuners out there willing to help you out. Tom (1turbofocus) is one of them, and there plenty of other fish in the sea to choose from.

Should I give the tune away for free, I'll also provide a datalog to go with it. It'll help you decide if you really wanna trust some stranger on the internet with your, albeit cheap and easily replaceable, motor.
 
#25 ·



USDM harness and injectors all set to go the ST170 motor, gotta splice the coolant temp sensor and its all plugged in and ready to go.

Still have to swap the clutch and flywheel over and mate the MTX75 trans before its really ready for its new home. Should be fun!
I'll pull apart the EDM zetec motor and see what went wrong tomorrow/ASAP
 
#26 · (Edited)
Harness is complete, I spliced the water temp sensor into the USDM one and although it's not required I lengthened the oil pressure sensor. Everything else on the Engine harness bolts into the ST170/SVT motor with the Zetec rail and injectors. I also swapped the pans and installed the oil feed on the block; I'm sure there is other small stuff I did but I just don't remember it, I think some coolany hose stuff was put on the motor? Who knows....

I also removed the Zetec clutch to swap it onto the ST170/SVT motor, lots of hot spots and the disc itself looks low to me. If I have to get them turned, I was wondering if there were any benefits to using the SVT/ST170 flywheel. I could weigh them and see if there are any weight differences but since I'm at work at the moment does anyone know if there is any reason it wouldn't work? They both clearly bolt on to each other and the only differences I see are on the clutch discs are the spline counts; pressure plates look identical as well.

I'll probably get a new disc from autozone/rockauto/whatever and send it assuming flywheels are interchangeable.

EDIT: no point to the ST170 flywheel, did a little research and it turns out dual mass flywheels are not as good as single mass flywheels for performance. I'd like to get this car on NCCR or VIR a few times this year and a single mass flywheel just fits the bill better. Also, replacements are 5x cheaper
 
#27 ·
More clutch numbers...

For reference zetec and SVT flywheels/pressure plates must match, can't get around that one BUT the discs are where things get interesting.

At its highest point, the 'snout' of the spline hole, the zetec disc is 5mm taller than the SVT disc. I dont think this is a big deal if you want to use an SVT flywheel(fw from now on)/pressure plate (pp from now on, childish yes but it works) onto a Zetec disc and trans. Just more for the input shaft to grab onto.

Might be an issue using a zetec fw/pp on an SVT disc and trans;less input shaft to grab onto. That said I doubt 5mm is really going to be a big deal when the input shaft has to go thru the disc, into the crankshaft anyways. I'd run it if I were u, it's probably a moot point either way.

Disc similarities are the diameter, both just shy of 9" like a 1.5mm short.
From flywheel snout end to friction disc is identical both at 12mm.
Same with friction pad depth, both were iirc 28mm?
Both discs sandwich inbetween each others fw and pp the same as far as eyeballing it goes. SVT into zetec slightly easier and zetec into SVT slightly snug-er. No contact that shouldn't be there though.


Guy at clutch masters says only CM clutches will work with their light weight flywheel for the SVT. Not sure if I believe them yet so I bought a used one for $60 shipped. He says it's a conversion one so only CM clutches will work; I'm pressing "x" to doubt and will verify with the stock stuff here. I bet one if them fit just fine
 
#29 ·
Good to see you are still tinkering with the ol girl.

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Been tinkering with her on and off. Just haven't returned to the forum in awhile. Getting a little more into IG, more so than Facebook but still trying to limit time online.

Im sure once this project is done and I don't need a venue to write out long drawn out thoughts for the sake of the project I'll probably disappear again unfortunately.

Every forum I've joined for the cars I've had over the past 5 years has been dead. Turbo bricks and GRM are the only exceptions to that...
 
#30 ·
So clutch masters flywheel must go with clutch masters pressure plate.

You MIGHT be able to get away using your own disc. The friction surface is only a couple mm wider than the disc on a normal focus, which is good I think. Clutch masters fly wheel is essentially a SVT disc with those springs on it, smaller diameter disc but wider friction pad.

Also, slammed SVT motor into the car today, tried to start it but no start. The motor makes odd, deep thumping noises when cranking. I think I may have screwed up the cam timing on the car, which sucks because it's way easier to do it with the motor out of the car.

Almost, I'm awfully close
 
#31 ·
found a PDF link on here for setting cam timing on a SVT motors. I definitely screwed it up. i guess you're supposed to loosen the cam bolts when you put the belt on and I did not. I can almost guarantee that when i put the belt on the crank rotated a little bit to get the belt to fit.

UGH, this is something that I easily shouldve researched first.
 
#32 ·
It runs! sorta...

just want to verify, per this thread, that Retarding the cam is counter clockwise and Advancing the cam is clockwise.
 
#33 ·
It runs! It works!



Some splicing of wires, Zetec ECU/harness/Flywheel & clutch assembly, MTX75, Adj Cam gears, VCT delete and I stole the front cover off the SVT to retain my Zetec poly mount.

I still need a coolant hose, brake booster line and fluids for the gearbox and cooling system. Other than that, its tune and drive!
 
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