Ztec conversion

[Davehedges]

I have taken my 1700 supersprint off the road for a rebuild this winter and fancy a bit more under the right foot next year.

I'm considering taking the 2litre z-tec option. Can anyone offer any advice/links on this convesion, which from information I've gained so far, seems the easiest and most economical option

[philwaters]

YHM

 

Phil Waters

You mean you can drive these?

I thought it was just there to polish 😬

[yankeedoodoo]

US 7 dealers claim that the Z is installed 2 inches further back in the chassis because of the bellhousing available from Caterham USA. If you can get one of them you might achieve a somewhat better weight distribution. Try RMSCI.com for specifics.

[smithj41]

Give Chris or Peter a call at raceline.

 

www.raceline.co.uk

 

 

 

2.0 Zetec South Yorkshire Se7ens

 

[Tight fart]

Move it back 2" and you will need a new bonnet as well.

[Jaseb]

Having just done this excercise- got the car back today and am off to a rolling road for carb setup on saturday morning I'd recommend a chat tothe nice man at Dunnell as well as Raceline, I took advice from both and have had no major snags Also james Whiting used to do these conversions and are a good source of info and a fine cooling system. Be aware that the exhaust is the expensive bit!!!

 

Feel free to mail me and we can exchange numbers if you want a chat!

 

jasonboud@aol.com

[yankeedoodoo]

RPhillips: The 2" further back claim comes from the USA dealers. You can find pictures of installed zetecs @ rmsci.com. Compare them to UK installation pics and decide for yourself if the motor appears to be further back. The bonnet is no different than those in the UK. I'm curious as to why you think it would be?

[Steve Kirk]

Dave, I have a Dunnell Zetec in my garage built up with all the trick bits, for a Caterham installation. I haven't used it in my car due to change of plan so it needs using by someone. If interested please email me.

[tcrawford]

Dave.

 

The zetec is a great engine but so is your X-flow

Your s.sprint is 135 bhp? we can get a lot more for less money than

a zetec swap.

If you buy everything new from someone like Raceline it will cost

around £6000 inc asuming they do all the work.

Probably more if you want engine upgrades as well,a new exhaust will

cost £800+.

I am currently building an all steel X-flow for a customer and should be

finished soon.

I will update my website with prices and power figures asap.

Power will be measured with an engine dyno so will be accurate.

Check out my profile for web details.

 

tcrawford

[oilyhands]

Whereas the crossflow is a good engine, the Zetec has the sort of torque curve that a crossflow will *never* achieve.

 

Oily

[I.Mupferit]

Nor will it be as reliable at higher outputs nor as smooth nor have the tuning potential of the Zetec.

 

I would also take issue with the claimed £6000 figure ❗

 

I did mine for a little over £3k together with shiny new Raceline bits all assembled by them, albeit with a 2nd hand engine. However another £700 would have seen me with a brand spanking new Zetec supplied by Raceline ❗

 

In my view a crossflow, no matter how well prepared, can never compete on equal terms with a Zetec.

 

Sorry but that is my experience of the situation with both types of engine and good though the X/flow may have been in its day, it simply is not as good as the Zetec.

 

Brent

 

Zetec

 

[Steve Kirk]

At the time I bought my Zetec, I was looking for about 160bhp (which was quite an upgrade from the 85 I had at the time from my XF). I considered the "super crossflow route" before I bought the Zetec. It certainly is worth weighing up.

 

My advice would be:

 

1. be honest with yourself and decide how much power you really are going to want. Don't spend a lot of money now on a super-duper steel XF if you know that you are going to want more power than it can provide. Conversely if you would be happy with that, it may well be the better choice.

 

2. decide how much you want to spend. a zetec worth upgrading to is going to set you back at least 2k and that really is a minimum. that buys quite a lot of XF upgrades.

 

Would also echo oilyhands' and brent's comments on power vs torque - in other words measuring peak vs average power. Look at the dyno plots on the Dunnell site. I would add to that though that flat torque curves are not necessarily everything. In absolute performance terms, yes of course they are pretty important, but as many XF enthusiasts will tell you, the "character" of an engine can be just as important a factor in determining how much you enjoy driving it. I recently drove a radical sr3 which revs like a loony, about as peaky as you can get, it was just brilliant exhilaration. In contrast, my car is a VX which is "strong" in the torque department rather than peakily powerful, yet I love driving that for different reasons. It depends what does it for you - it's not always just about numbers.

 

In the end what decided the Zetec/XF thing for me was upgraditis. I knew that 160bhp would be 😬 for a while but I also knew that I would want more later. There is a limited amount more you can do with the XF at that point, but with a Zetec you still have more scope. For example Dunnells sell a 225hp injection kit as a more or less standard item I think, which requires very little work on the engine (all top end IIRC apart from rodbolts), and I know they have produced 300bhp race units in the past (if you have excess cash you wish to be rid of).

 

Related to this, a XF at these power outputs is basically on old design stretched near its limits. The Zetec at 200 bhp is still in pretty mild tune and should go more or less forever. Will the XF be that reliable? I don't have the experience to comment, but I doubt it.

 

PS although I haven't run my Zetec (yet), I suspect that it might save you a tidy sum at the petrol pump compared to the XF. Perhaps someone who has run one could comment on that (Brent?)

 

Agree with Brent's reaction on prices. Total cost for my 165bhp Dunnell based engine was 3250, minus only the exhaust, alternator, starter, air filters that I never bought. That too was based on low-mileage used rather than new engine.

[I.Mupferit]

I didn't find fuel costs too different to the X/flow when my Zetec was on carbs. however when I changed to throttle bodies, the improvement was quite dramatic despite having nearly another 20 bhp from the upgrades I did at the same time.

 

To give you an idea of the difference, on carbs I would be looking for a re-fuel at approx. 160 miles but on TB's I can take that out to nearly 200.

 

I also went for the James Whiting exhaust primaries and collector which cost, IIRC, about £350 and connected into the standard Caterham silencer.

 

James does not, now, do the Zetec exhausts unless he has an order for 5 sets but not sure about Dunnell.

 

As we all seem, eventually, to want more power the Zetec allowed me to do that relatively cheaply but more importantly without compromising reliability.

 

Mine produces 209 Bhp with some headwork (courtesy of Oily), Piper cams and ARP rod bolts to hold it all together. Otherwise the bottom end is standard...........................try doing that with a X/Flow ❗ ❗

 

Brent

 

Zetec

 

[Big Brother]

Please can we close this thread now!

 

I can hear my wallet starting to groan 😳

 

😬 😬 😬

 

Steve

Se7en-Up!

Honk if U flash!

If you see a speed camera - HONK your horn to alert other road users they are aproaching an accident blackspot!

Together we can make a difference 😬

[stevefoster]

Time you got 16 of the little up and down thingys and two of the top whirry thingys Steve... 😬

 

Hants (North) and Berkshire Area club site here

Light blocks

here

My racing info site

here

 

 

 

 

Edited by - stevefoster on 19 Sep 2003 17:59:42

[millsn]

We in the 'berks' area know a man that has a newer zetec thingy under his bonnet which is supposed to be lighter too for the same power output. Supplied by Raceline.

 

Nigel Mills - 2.0 Zetec carbs

[Mark H]

Im about to fit a Zetec , built by Ammo at Raceco and i have yet to finish my conversion but i can,t see where the Big money quoted by some of you guys is going. Maybe im in for a Big suprise soon 😳.

 

If you are considering a zetec motor i strongly recomend you talk to Ammo , as for exhausts i maybe able to help out if theres enough interest . As im having a system made from scratch for my 7 .

 

By the way Ammo runs a zetec 7 so he knows all (in a yoda kind of way, infact he even looks a bit like the small green one ).

 

There seem to be quite a few of us following the same route at the moment ,Keep in touch

[Jaseb]

I've just bought my Zetec exhaust, Specialised Exhausts will do the James Whiting spec manifold and primaries for £350 + VAT but I had issue with their delivery schedule, Exhausts by Design have made and fitted an rather shiney 4-2-1 big bore system for including a major rebuild of my techcraft silencer for £550 + VAT. I believe the manifold and primaries alone should be £450 + VAT fitted if you have a silencer worth keeping.

 

My build has come to £3,500 odd including about £300 for outside labour, plus a rolling road session tomorrow of approx £150 😬 Woohoo bring it on...

[AMMO]

Mark

 

Careful you must be. I found out your nickname from the Williams mechanics at Silverstone 😬

 

Dave

 

Definately go for the Zetec. My road-going 1800 Zetec makes the same horsepower as a trick X-flow. If I cammed it up and did some extra work I would be making the same power as a hot BDR. Zetecs are great engines for the money.

 

The cost of the conversion depends how many goodies you add to the list. It is very difficult to resist saying things like "well, while the engine is in bits I might as well put one of these in because I'll only want to do that later". This is what adds to the price. I know, because this is what happened to me.

 

I have no doubts that it would be very easy to spend £6,000.00 on a conversion if you bought lots of goodies. A starting price of around £3,000.00 is probably the bare minimum. Get in touch if you need more info. I also have around five used Zetec donor engines in at the moment.

 

Nigel

 

The lighter / newer Zetec is a Duratec. These are fantastic engines. I want to put one in my car at the end of next year.

 

AMMO

[Tight fart]

I have just replaced my crossflow with a Zetec, and my comment on a new bonnet was that with a standard bellhousing the air filter is in the same place. If you change the bellhousing to move the engine 2" back then you will need a new hole in the bonnet for the air filter

[Mark H]

😳 Careful i must be Indeed , Ammo "Well" seeing as its not yet in the car what would you expect it to produce if we injected it instead of the Lisa,s

[tcrawford]

Everybody,

 

A friend of mine has just recently asked for quotes to covert his

supersprint to a duratec and was advised to go for a zetec as it

would be cheaper.

His quotes were as follows- duratec= £7602-25 zetec=£6462-50

this is with new parts and includes labour and vat.

Now we all know that some savings can be made by diy and 2'nd hand

components but it is still very expensive yes ?

All i was trying to piont out is that the X-flow is still a good option if

out and out power is not your absolute goal.

At the above prices i would sell the car get a new kit and start again.

 

I am still in the process of finalising a duratec installation kit that

comes out at a more reasonable figure [its taking longer than i thought]

i will get there in the end.

 

tcrawford.

[AMMO]

Mark

 

You have got the upgraditis bug already! I would think probably at least another 5% power and much better driveability and fuel consumption. Do it! You won't regret it. I can have the engine dynoed and mapped before it even goes in the car.

 

AMMO

[Mark H]

Now that just means i,ve got to decide between ,webber alpha or what 🤔, will the MBE cope ok or is another brain required 🤔 and i don,t mean for me

Im not sure i can forgo the carbs i just like em, and they are cheap, and as for driverbility you know i only have 2 throttle positions anyway

 

Edited by - marc hicks on 20 Sep 2003 10:16:35

[AMMO]

Mark

 

I would go for MBE with Jenveys and do the mapping on an engine brake. I suppose Emerald is another convenient option as they are only up the road from you in Thetford somewhere. They can more than likely supply an ECU with a map that will fire the engine and do all the fine tuning on their rolling road.

 

I've looked at Weber Alpha in the past but I had to become a dealer to get the mapping software and there were just too many expensive strings attached.

 

AMMO