E production Zetec questions...

[Paul Hill]

I recently became aware of the use of Zetecs in Caterhams in this SCCA class when we were lucky enough to see one at a buddy's shop.

 

Could someone please share their knowledge about this installation? We are upgrading a 70s Caterham with a Zetec and are curious about how the oem injection works. It would seem to be an economical answer vs throttle bodies or Webers since it appears to use oem Ford parts that came with the motor.

 

Thanks

[Kitcat]

Google "cherik's super seven" for one person's account of that engine swap. Bottom line: it's not simple, but it is possible.

[pi7ot]

I removed a ford zetec zx1, aka zetec E management kit from my 7 last week.

on my example, only the bare minimum interface was used .

It was using the coolant temp sensor, the throttle position sensor plus a crank position sensor and the Exhaust cam position sensor.

The only other connections to the car loom were tach and power.(I cut three wires).

Only the engine speed signal wire and 12v constant and 12v switched were disconnected.

It has been reported that for the ZX1, the intake manifold limits total power out put to around 145hp?.

This particular ECU failed to function correctly after I had the head machined to raise compression.

 

m

[Paul Hill]

pi7ot......

 

Interesting to say the least!

 

A few questions if I may:

 

-is this "E management kit" something off the shelf somewhere?

-why did you remove it?

-were you using it with carbs?

-can you please elaborate on your manifold comment?

 

As I mentioned, we are wavering between webers and f/i of some sort, have the oem injection system AND a pair of 40 Webers, as well as a set of Suzuki throttle bodies to choose from. Each has its pros and cons but ignition choices become a variable with each option.

 

Thanks

[pi7ot]

The engine is the 2.0 litre Zetec. There are 3 versions of this engine available in the USA.

The engine first arrived in the US in the 1995 Ford Contour.

1995-early 1997 cars had the hydraulic valve followers.

In the US it is called the ZX1. In Europe it was called the Zetec E or silvertop as it had a cam cover made of aluminum.

In mid 1997, the hydraulic valvetrain was replaced by mechanical bits and the exhaust cam was fitted with an emmisions facility to alter the cam timing. This ZX2 variant has a black plastic cam cover and a sensor in the cover over cylinder #1. This engine can also be found in the Escort coupes in 1997 to at least 1999.

The third variant is the ZX3 that is found in the ZX3 badged Ford Focus.

There are a couple of warmer mechanical valve train Zetecs found in the Focus SVT and in the Escort ZR2.

My Engine is the ZX1 and it used the Factory Ford contour engine management, fuel rail, injectors, intake manifold , and throttlebody. it had the OBD2 wiring removed.

It ran fine with the engine at the factory static compression ratio of 9.6:1.

It failed to run properly after I had the cylinder head shaved in order to raise the CR to 10.6:1. The ignition curve was no longer appropriate. Hence the switch to twin Weber DCOE 45s. and a Weber Alpha Ignition kit.

The convoluted plastic factory intake manifold as fitted on the donor Ford Contour is reputed by European ford tuners to limit power due to its restrictive nature. It has a single throttle body.

See here, (hopefully) for the English take of the Zetec...http://www.burtonpower.com/tuning-guides/tuning-guide-pages/ford-zetec-e-tuning-guide.html

 

m

[slomove]

We could confirm the limitations of the stock intake in a local dyno shootout. See below, the yellow line for Stan's ZX3, even with larger 65mm single throttle body. Pretty good low end torque but runs out of steam around 5500 rpm. Not that this was a slow car by any means, or maybe even superior for road driving.

(Disclaimer: Randall's Athens' and Justins' engine were not measured on the same dyno, thus the comparison may be off).

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_242PlvPtVpE/SxMlkjN3VsI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/Zoe4cHf82co/AllDynoResults.jpg

Edited June 2, 2011 by slomove

[dallasdude]

This is all very correct. I get a little more HP than this with a stock manifold Zetec but not that much. Manifold is limited by the throttle body size but much more so by the lenght of the individual intake runners (about 17 inches). What you want for higher RPM apllications is more plenum and less runner. (Which is what the Ford Racing and SVT manifolds have) Getting the cam timing correct to match what the manifold wants or can do is makes quite a difference. Like 14 hp from having the cams timed straight up in my case.

 

I just converted one of these cars from the orginal ECU. I saw three options:

Option 1 stay with the factory ECU. My wiring harness was kind of a mess and I wanted something more modern and tuneable, although SCT (and maybe some others) make a unit that lets you tune the factory ECU. You can do a little bit of tuning with a variable fuel pressure regulator also, but this will only affect WOT if the engine has not faulted to open loop.

 

Option 2 use of of the "niche" ECU's that have been used with these cars. Emerald, Pectel and MBE (think I got all that right) These mostly use all factory sensors. There are some prefabricated harnesses available.....Dick Brink had one with a Pectel T2 for sale at one time. Pectel is the spec ECU for FF2000 Zetecs. Apexspeed is a good source of that information. I have a file for a Pectel done with a stock manifold and TPS. Biggest problem I saw with this route is the tuning software is not that modern and getting a replacement unit or repair in case of a failure was not that easy.

 

Third option is go with a modern mainsteam ECU. Motec, Haltec, Electromotive, etc. This is what I did and required fabrication of a wiring harness and builing a file from scratch. I did it with a Haltec so I could use the factory crank sensor, although I had quite a bit of experience with Electromotive. You could use the crank pickup with Motec also, but their units are far more expensive.

 

Also if you go much over 150 hp you will need to increease the fuel pressure or change the injectors in the stock manifold. The Focus ones are only about 18-19 pounds.

 

Hope this helps.

[RossD]

I've heard good things about Megasquirt, and the online community is huge. Matt from DIY Autotune sells them, co-wrote a book about EFI, and is healthy contributor on Grassroots Motorsports' forum. Lots of options on amount of time or money you'd like to spend and what you want your end result to be.

[MichaelD]

reach out to Folis Jones. His car was the prototype for MegaSquirt. n57fj@verizon.net

[Paul Hill]

Thanks for all the input guys. Some interesting info... but:

 

What I was looking for was info particular to the oem setup used in the E prod class in SCCA. It SEEMS like a complete oem drop-in as opposed to one engineered to suit the aftermarket pieces. I was told that with increased compression (12:1 now) and uprated cams the motor we saw had purportedly shown 210+ on an engine dyno. Supposedly everything else is oem Ford. My thinking is that even with a stock '03 Focus motor there will be lots of power with the great reliability of a modern engine, the only mod being the Caterham headers.

 

We aren't looking for a killer Zetec, just a relatively simple, already engineered motor upgrade that will be mostly trouble free. The car is to be for my other half, and even 140+ hp will be enough for her to handle. The object of the exercise is to make it as easy to drive as possible, hopefully that sips gas, that never gives grief like overheating or hard starting. Turn the key and go have fun.

 

I have some experience with more radical (?) versions of the Zetec as I have a Hilborn injected, Megasquirted unit in my '70 S2 Europa project, so was looking for a simpler approach for the Caterham.

 

Thanks again. Will try to contact Folis for some Megasquirt input on the Europa.

[S1Steve]

This is all very correct. I get a little more HP than this with a stock manifold Zetec but not that much. Manifold is limited by the throttle body size but much more so by the lenght of the individual intake runners (about 17 inches). What you want for higher RPM apllications is more plenum and less runner. (Which is what the Ford Racing and SVT manifolds have) Getting the cam timing correct to match what the manifold wants or can do is makes quite a difference. Like 14 hp from having the cams timed straight up in my case.

 

I just converted one of these cars from the orginal ECU. I saw three options:

Option 1 stay with the factory ECU. My wiring harness was kind of a mess and I wanted something more modern and tuneable, although SCT (and maybe some others) make a unit that lets you tune the factory ECU. You can do a little bit of tuning with a variable fuel pressure regulator also, but this will only affect WOT if the engine has not faulted to open loop.

 

Option 2 use of of the "niche" ECU's that have been used with these cars. Emerald, Pectel and MBE (think I got all that right) These mostly use all factory sensors. There are some prefabricated harnesses available.....Dick Brink had one with a Pectel T2 for sale at one time. Pectel is the spec ECU for FF2000 Zetecs. Apexspeed is a good source of that information. I have a file for a Pectel done with a stock manifold and TPS. Biggest problem I saw with this route is the tuning software is not that modern and getting a replacement unit or repair in case of a failure was not that easy.

 

Third option is go with a modern mainsteam ECU. Motec, Haltec, Electromotive, etc. This is what I did and required fabrication of a wiring harness and builing a file from scratch. I did it with a Haltec so I could use the factory crank sensor, although I had quite a bit of experience with Electromotive. You could use the crank pickup with Motec also, but their units are far more expensive.

 

Also if you go much over 150 hp you will need to increease the fuel pressure or change the injectors in the stock manifold. The Focus ones are only about 18-19 pounds.

 

Hope this helps.

 

DallasDude, I think this is an excellent post on options for tuning a Zetec. I still don't fully understand how it all works, but this really helps. Thanks Steve

[dallasdude]

You have to decide if you want to pull the wiring harness out of a 10 year old econocar with all its switches and relays and transplant it. There was a reset button added to mine that the previous owner didn't seem to know what it did. Maybe your freind knows or you can copy that installation. After 10-12 years in these race cars they are becoming problematic, but that is a pretty harsh environment. Chip Bond (GT Classics) and Jeff Sloan (British Auto Speicalits) built most of EP cars, if there was build information they would have it. They were mostly ZX-2 based, not ZX-3 however, but a ZX-3 should be less complicated because of the fixed cam timing.