1.4 Zetec Project

[Alex'n'Ane]

Having spent a while collecting the bits together, and doing various other improvements to anne (front servo'd discs, 1.5" carb, new rear springs, front tele's, new leather seats etc) since I have been back from uni, I am finally actually getting on with fitting the new fuel injected 1.4 zetec engine. The engine is out of a ginnetta g20 racecar (still all msa sealed), and comes with an ecu, standard inlet manifold, and engine wiring loom. It has an alloy bellhousing to mate it to the 5 speed type 9 box, and this will go through to a mk2 escort rear axle. Due to this being my daily driver most of the mock up work will be done on the 'spare' minor shell I have have sitting in the garage, before transferring it over
I will try to post up pictures at various stages and detail the parts i'm using and my reasons i'm using these
Here are a few pics of the car in her current state.

Firstly the engine, this is a small light and hopefully reliable engine, It produces around 80bhp in standard tune, (around double that possible with non forced induction upgrades) and 90lbft of torque and 43 combined mpg in a heavier fiesta it seemed a good choice. The engine itself also weighs less than the a-series!

[polo2k]

Should be a good project.

Im liking the interior, whats the rear bench out of?

That engine looks nice and compact. the coil pack can probably be moved, but you will need to earth it to its original mounting.
Then I would be tempted to either:
-route one coolant pipe down each side of the engine
or
-take then both down the drivers side.

the first will look neater and be simpler to make, but the other way will make it easier because you wont have all the inlet in the way

Looking at it, you might gain a load of space by using throttle bodies, but it will be a royal pain!

Also if you can somehow swap the alternator and tensioner round, then it might help with access too

WE need more pics! Whats the 'shell' from?

[Alex'n'Ane]

I have removed the water take-off and coil pack, and from other builds with this engine it would appear that only one water pipe at the rear is required, but i will have to look into this further. Throttle bodies will be the first modification in the pipeline, but i cant really see there being a major issue with the size of the inlet manifold, your not having any issue on your build with the width are you? Also ford designed this as a compromise between poer and efficiency, personally i dont see the reason to change this right now? Also i know the ecu should be set up for this set-up.

[polo2k]

I guess there will be a fair bit of research gone into the manifold, I would spend some time with a tape measure to make sure it will clear the damper as it looks fairly low down. The VR doesnt suffer from this as its quite tall and the inlet manifold is laid over the rocker cover.

It would be a result if you only need one of the pipes

[Alex'n'Ane]

Have measured as accurately as i can and it will be a close fit, there appears to be about half an inch clearence but its very difficult to measure that accurately, i guess we will see when i first dangle it in place. If it doesnt fit then the engine conversion will have to wait till i'm back at christmas as the throttle bodies and ecu would need quite abit of extra work. The manifold is a taper shape so there is slightly more clearence at the back. The wiper motor may require relocation :p
The shell is that of the stripped down 'the project' and will be very useful to check things such as clearences and making the mounts.

[dunketh]

Updates?

I looked at these little Yamaha-designed zetec engines for my daily Escort but there was next to no support for them when compared to the older silver-top Ford zetecs. I had a 1.25 version of your engine in my old Fiesta - it was a brilliant engine, so nice to drive for such a small size.

[Alex'n'Ane]

Just a little update, getting the fuel system sorted out, and looking at options for the rear water take-off.
Have got a lift pump out of a mk2 golf (thanks to polo2k) and a bosch fuel injection pump from a bmw. The lift pump fits in the tank sender beautifully but is a bit tall, so I will be making a 'top-hat' to enclose it.
With regards to the rear water take-off i need to make a slimline one to replace the current design, which for some reason has two ports.. They are available off the shelf for £130 but I reckon one could be made without too much hassle as all it is is basically a pipe with a flat flange to bolt to the block, with a tapped hole for the temp sensor.
I have also bought the haynes manual for the fiesta which the engine came from as to sus out some of the complexities of the engine wiring, sensors and water pipes.

[polo2k]

Looking good, that water pipe shouldnt be too much of an issue, use the gasket as a template to make a plate and then just figure out where you want the pipe pointing.

Its a shame that ther is so much in the shank of that in tank pump, I thought that they would have been easy to trim down Good idea with the top hat, what will you do about the max fuel level? shortened float arm?

Im looking forward to this one developing.

[chrisryder]

you could always go for a deeper, large capacity petrol tank... the pump might fit then

[Alex'n'Ane]

Well chris if your offering one for free... Tbh I think i will just have to see what the fuel sender is like, as its impossible to raise or lower the float by hand to test, and dont want to be putting things (fluids) in the tank unnecessarily. I think I will just see how it goes, we always need a work in progress.. I may shorten it but its all going to be abit of guess work as i dont know how the resistance of this gauge will compare to a minor one.. I Have bought a Haynes for an 02-08 fiesta (the car engine is from ) so this will hopefully help with things such as the water pipe routing, vac take-offs etc and things like torque settings for the cambelt change. Am just finishing stripping the mk2 escort rear axle off friends car, then its all speed ahead with a rather large parts order from our friends at JLH