Vovchandr

Will vanilla Zetec work with my Pectel ITB map, cams and modified timing? I dont think I can plug the vanilla ECU into my harness, but I could be wrong.

Brief search found these (sold individually) on eBay from a UK company of sorts https://www.ebay.com/itm/262501818413?hash=item3d1e53e02d:g:CMEAAOSwvg9XcpSu https://www.turbosport.net/ Are there recommendations for specific brands or they all do the same thing realiably?

That's good advice @JohnCh After a brief conversation with @Kitcat Mike I think I was lead down a reasonable path of research and conclusion. Without looking into it further yet, I've found some decade old posts by the great @1turbofocus describing how while SVT engine + head are better to start, it makes no sense to put just the head or even do the upgrade to the engine overall as regular Zetec can pretty easily match the SVT numbers with basic upgrades. That plus the consideration of going FI over the winter with the Rotrex leads me going down the path of fixing what I have to make it through the approaching track day before going with further upgrading. Currently pending getting ARP head studs (back ordered everywhere, checked with my mechanical guru and he said I can use OEM head studs and it won't be the end of the world in a pinch), new OEM head gasket and replacing whatever else that could use the love as needed once I'm there. Also pending a fresh tune once everything is sorted out. Tom said I'd need adjustable cam gears to get a good tune so will get that upgrade done while head is off as well. Would like not to get into another ECU unless I can get a bolt on affair. Really trying to avoid getting into rewiring things. Not sure what my options are. I've gotten an Omex unit with my Rotrex purchase but I don't believe it's an easy conversion. While you're right really old Pectel requires some finicking to work, the fact that it does work and there are means of tuning it, keeps me happy until it no longer works or tuner(s) demand otherwise.

I see. How involving of a rebuild are you fearing? If I don't need to re-bore the walls are these pistons still good? I assume the valves could be shot which would further encourage the hunt for SVT head. @Kitcat or maybe a whole SVT swap if bottom end has to come out?

Compressor is an option but will take some organizing. All spark plugs still look like they did before; At this point getting ready for a head gasket but that's at least a few weeks away so I can keep testing and stuff in meantime. Also earmarking to see if I can score a SVT head in the meantime... Losing about 5psi of pressure over 24 hours. From 20psi to ~15psi or so. Took a camera to the cylinders. 2 look mint (1+4), 2 middle look worse for the wear. #4 \\\ #3. Can't tell what the liquid/discoloration is in the center or whether it's a gash by the cutouts or just discoloration #2 #1

I moved the line further away for now but might do that too. I'm starting to feel like I need to either go Hail Mary or throw in the towel. I tried to follow @Croc advice so far but due to new variables and limitations of access to a compressor without driving 30 miles to a shop are making my heads spin. Haven't been driving much over the last week, just a few circular highway stints to let Prestone radiator flush do it's business. The "falling flat on it's face" periods have become more apparent and consistent. Typically happens right after I really get on it hard, rev high through a gear or two and then let it coast down to lower RPM's. Then when I get back on the throttle it stumbles/likely misfires. Running theory from the last outing is that if I do have a bad head gasket, then while on the throttle it pushes gasses out. However on no throttle/vacuum condition I could be sucking coolant in through the hole and obviously stumbling on that for next few seconds when on throttle again. Alternate theory is that the chafed ignition coil wire is acting up on decel somehow. So I ripped out the plugs and inspected cylinders today. Saw nothing out of ordinary. Put everything back together to do a double chamber coolant/head test that I just got, to eliminate the false positive. Ran it hot, revved it, pumped the tester, pumped it, pumped it, while getting on the throttle and getting upto temp. No change in color. Coolant started rising and I sucked in coolant into tester. Still didn't change. While doing all this car didn't want to maintain idle and was wanting to stall. I shut the car off and let it cool down. Notably the cat area started to be burning off and giving a weird smell. I grabbed the infrared gun and discovered that it appears cylinder #4 is cold? Started the car and it was really stumbling. Pulled it back into garage, pulled cylinder 4 plug and it looked fine. Hot cat. Could be normal but still strange that it smelled Cylinder #4 is dark. I highly doubt I did a drastically better job on that one cylinder when I wrapped it Radiator shot with oil cooler in front. Top cap always seems to stay cool. Heater core bypass Taking a break for a few days. Started looking up headgaskets to make sure I have my motor right (as ZX2/Contour/Mercury Cougar/Mercury Mystique?) and trying to find ARP studs. Most places seem to have those on back order at this time. I'm leaving 20psi on cooling system overnight. I'll pull the plugs and drop the camera into them tomorrow to see if I can find water.

So can just the head be purchased? Their "240hp" head seems to be $1100 GBP. Not in particular need right now but curious

I'm curious I looked over the parts list, what exactly sets them apart and gives them such high figures? I in the meantime am window shopping around for an SVT head or a whole SVT engine. They seem to be pretty cheaply available around.

What have you decided @Bartman

Rut roh. Looks like an anniversary badge on the stalker.

I feel like I've just been caught with my pants down and getting a stern talking to It's ferrous, so steel?

Found these pictures I took in 2018 when I first bought the car Coolant rail

Oh and by the way, for those tuning in. Once this season of cooling/throttle issues ends, I already have next season material lined up. Teaser: Occasional "falling flat on its face/hesitation" for a brief period of time at low RPM.

@all Its you guys that deserve a beer at the end of all this for chiming in and helping me out in this adventure Updates: The good, the bad and the status quo. Got my new fuel pressure gauge in. Was going to take the car to the shop today, got all strapped in go to start it and it cranks, and cranks and cranks. Turn it off, turn the key and I hear the fuel pump. Sounds good. Go to start and more cranking and cranking and cranking. Think back to driving it back yesterday for total of 60 miles and starting it late at night to pull it into garage, all was well. Frustrated took another car to the shop (had other business there). Thought to myself maybe the head gasket actually went completely and won't compress on Cyl1 or along those lines. Went back home and retraced my steps. Last thing I did was unplug the wideband from the spare fuse to troubleshoot erratic jumping rev counter. Lo and behold, blown fuse. Put a new fuse in, go to crank and I see sparks in the engine bay. Peculiar. Take a look to find that my ignition coil wire was rubbing up against my slave cylinder remote bleeder braided hose and making contact/shorting. Separated the two, wrapped new electrical tape and hopefully problem will be fixed (it's raining can't go out for a spin right now). Car starts fine! Small win, I'll take it. It was very frustrating to drive with and until figured out could have been a symptom of a bigger issue. Erratic RPM's shown below Also my coolant filter came in. Interesting unit. Looking forward to testing it. Bled the coolant again to install. Some minor browning visible. I know I still have a source with my coolant rail inside being rusty, possibly flaky. I don't have any good replacement sources right now, but I'm sure I could source something if needed. Installed the unit and did another round of pressure testing. Everything good. Pending going on another drive tomorrow if the rain holds out. @FE07 thank you for chiming in! You're right, similar but different. Sounds like that was quite an adventure as well. I believe the plumbing is fine. I'm sure I run too much fluid most of the time during this testing but it still shouldn't vacate and increase in volume in the way that it does when it does it. I'll get another Mini cap in the future, I'm curious what the OEM pressure on them is. Reason for doing this myself is multiple fold. 1) It's certainly quicker and 2) I shoot the S with my shop friends anyway and they don't have any direct ideas as to what it is either. If they are just going to be doing basic checks and guess work, I might as well do it myself and learn a thing or two in the process. I've certainly learned quite a bit so far. (especially about YouTube..) @Croc as always sincere thank you for taking your time and chiming in with constructive and concise plan. The water was part from the shop and part from the house. I don't like having multiple variables so what I'm going to do on next spill is fill it with real coolant and do another test. I'll do leak down tests when I'm at the shop next week. I also appeared to have shot myself in the foot by using soapy water to help get the hoses back on. A very little bit appears to have been enough to have lasting issues at the moment. On the plus side it may have also caused this even to happen. It's pretty damning but who knows. It was the first start after filling. Peculiar

Tom thank you for sharing your experiences. I did keep in mind your situation as you either posted about it earlier in thread or I came upon it from the past when I searched the forum for "head gasket" key words. Im going to do another block test and play with thermal gun and likely put in the see through coolant filter over the next week before committing to the tear down. I believe one of the only tests I have left is a leak down at this point.

Fair I did two tests back to back. The third strip on right is control untouched. Only pH seemed to have changed to green. Making it high pH

I also found that @FE07 had similar issues in the past on his Zetec when his head gasket was blown

Decided to test the theory that running lean is what was getting me hot. Doesn't seem like it. Ran hot while being rich. Long video but I knew it was going to happen. This was after a 20 min drive on the highway parking at the shop. I knew it would run hot while sitting at idle. Skip around to see the temp climb and car shut itself off when it got hot.

Updates: Video editing: I'm getting quite good at it. Formatting, cropping etc. Practice makes perfect and I'm getting plenty of it Cooling: After pressure test passing and pressure holding for hours at 20psi, and cap holding 13 psi drove it today and yesterday. Still runs fine at speed and still gets hot, over flows and spills when idles. I've witnessed a very rapid expansion earlier when was at the shop troubleshooting things. I believe we got a positive ID on exhaust gasses in coolant but I'll double check to make sure it wasn't a false negative. I also got a thermal scan of the radiator to look for hot/clogged spots. Seems fine to me and I still have the thermal gun to play with for a couple more days in case there is anything else obvious I can shoot with it to help diagnosis. I did the coolant test strips but not sure if they really reveal anything while testing water. Gunk in reservoir doesn't look pretty. @CarlB @Renottse It started to turn yellow/green. Lots of bubbles going through it throughout the experiment while getting hotter. Started to turn towards the end before overflowing.

Thats on a regular Zetec? Those are very healthy numbers

@Croc is an omnipresent 7 deity. I once posted a random video of a Caterham in Singapore and Croc was reminiscing about the hotel that was seen in the background. Posted another picture of a 7 on a track with the ocean in the background and Croc was commenting on how it always rains there and turn 3 becomes complicated.

Thats a good idea I haven't heard yet. Not going to hurt to back flush it. I'm starting to get brown deposits back in the pressure tank. Not sure if it's remnants of rust, current rust or blowby from HG at the moment.

Very nice unit. Buyer will regret not finding a way to grab this as well. This can be towed with most passenger cars with a class II trailer with a 7 on it. @Brightonuk Looks like a 4 pin plug with no brakes right?