Paul Turner

John Surely you can use the top position as used by Ford for the ECU sensor, when I investigated injecting my Zetec (pre 98) both Dunnell and Scholar said to use the standard sensor, worth investigating this with Lumenition. Paul

Chris Ralph is dead right if you have used an 1800 engine with an 1800 flywheel and clutch (or an 1800 clutch/flywheel on a 2 litre), the part number for the thicker bearing is (I'm pretty sure) QH CCT 133. If you use a lightened 2 litre flywheel and pinto clutch I think you use the standard bearing, if you use a steel flywheel and pinto clutch its definitely the standard bearing. Hope that helps. Paul PS Ignore the part number, that's for a 5 speed. Edited by - Paul Turner on 9 Jul 2003 21:21:36

Have been and measured them, 11 1/4 inches. They have never been fitted to the car thus must be the original length, they are a lovely shade of yellow, god knows why , they would have spent their life under the car if they had been fitted. Paul

Paul I have a pair of standard rears off a 93 x-flow de-dion (Bilsteins), they are in Dads garage but I am paying a visit tomorrow and will measure them. From memory they are either 170 or 175lbs. Paul

Mike Dont know anything about resisters but on my 1989 car the heater kit from Caterham came with a simple valve to stop the flow of water, operated by a choke type knob/cable. If I remember it was VW in origin, someone out there must have one on their car that has the part number on it. Paul (also in Notts)

Oliver Speak to Roger King, he installed a Weber Alpha kit on my x-flow back in 1998 (Zetec now in the car using a Weber Alpha bought from Roger King) and it really did improve the steel 1800 254 cammed "beast" and made it much nicer on the road. After a couple of years the engine was rebuilt using a different cam (to make it more pleasant on the road) and I expected some remapping being needed, to my surprise the local Alpha agent pronounced it fine, its performance on the road and at sprints proved this corrrect. The lack of user adjustment did not bother me, a little tampering can be a dangerous thing. Paul

Ammo Speak to Aldon Automotive in the West Midlands, they have built a very impressive 1700 installed in a Westfield that competes in hillclimbs and sprints. Its tiny (compared to my 2 litre) when all the unnessesary bits are removed. Produces an alleged 195 hp. Don't expect the sump and bellhousing to be cheap. Paul

A bit late with a posting here, I bought a 94 motor out of a burn out with a unsubstanciated 64000 miles for £150. Its in the car now, only mod was to fit the FZ2002 cams, did 2500 miles last year and it ran great. So impressed I bought a 95 out of an heavy rear end impact for spares. This one had 64000 miles on the speedo and looked like a very clean car (before the crunch) and the engine ran beautifully with quiet tappets from cold, paid £250 for that. It looks to be a cleaner engine than the one in the car having checked the top and bottom of it very briefly. My advice is the engine should be OK providing the usual visual checks for leaks etc. reveal no nasties, both my engines were oil tight as bought with no external damage. I loved my x-flows but the Zetec has made the car much better. Paul

Ammo Had 2 8V GTI's in the past, the C reg was K Jetronic mechanical injection and had a lift pump in the tank that pumped fuel to a HP pump in the rear beam area, only know this due to problems I had. The F reg was Digifant (electronic) and since I had no problems I have no idea where the pump/pumps were but would it be that different? Hope that may help. Paul

Roger did a Weber Alpha for my x-flow back in early 98, think it was the first x-flow he did. Worth every penny and was totally reliable. Bought another Weber Alpha when I fitted the Zetec, Roger again, guess that says it all. Paul

Tony I think you will find Mr Dunnell will not fit anything other than his cams, never heard anyone say anything other than nice things about them but I am a tight git and the Kent cams were far cheaper and no one said a bad thing about those either. My total engine costs including scrap engine, rod bolts, sump, cams, ecu and sundries came too approx. £1200, pretty good value for about 180 bhp. Pleased you are happy with the tyres, as you know I went the 15" route and I wish I had stayed with the 13's for most of the year. 2500 miles and 6 sprints later I have only just worn away the scratch marks that were left by a "buffing" machine. Its BMTR for me again next time, probably several years away at this wear rate. Paul

Tony Thought it was about time I added my comments to your query. I went through this deliberation myself last year and after speaking to Dunnell, Raceline, James Whiting, Roger King etc I left my 2 litre engine as standard except for a pair of Kent FZ2002 cams. Kent suggest that the cams will add between 18 and 23 bhp to a standard engine, mine produced 179.5 corrected bhp at the flywheel on John Noble's rollers. I am using a Weber Alpha ECU and 45's off my old cross flow, these are exactly as supplied by Weber i.e. only 3 progression holes and 36mm chokes. The engine runs beautifully smoothly with none of the often reported progression problems. More power could no doubt be obtained by fitting larger chokes but when it runs this well I am reluctant to interfere with it. Paul

I use Bridgestone RE720's on my Prisoner wheels, have to use list 1A tyres in sprinting. Approx £34 + vat for 195/50 15 from Micheldever Tyres. Paul

Steve I went through this last year, had a steel 1800 x-flow in the car for 8 years that had been both reasonably cheap to build (using mostly second hand parts) and bullet proof but with a 254 cam and 175 ish hp was not the most pleasant car on the road. Changed the cam to a milder rally cam and it was more pleasant but still no super sprint. Thus decided to fit the Zetec with the Kent FZ2002 cams, 45's and Weber Alpha ECU, expected 180 hp and got a corrected 179.5 @ the flywheel, it has totally transformed the car on the road, and my times at Curborough have slightly improved, not bad for an engine that cost £150. As several people have said before at this level of tune you are only just starting with a Zetec, a x-flow is almost at its limit and reliability will start to be compromised. If you are going to be happy for ever with 150hp the x-flow route with forged pistons and a 244 cam will be cheaper as the bits to fit the Zetec all add up to a fair sized bill. Having had both I know where my vote goes. Paul

Ammo I have an ignition switch off a 88/89 chassis if you need one. Paul

I fitted a 94 63,000 mile 2 litre Zetec last winter, completely standard except for the Kent FZ2002 cams as recommended by James Whiting. It is a revelation on the road compared to the previous 165hp x-flow, pulls from tickover to 7200 limit with no hesitation or spitting, I too am sorely tempted to investigate some porting over the winter if funds permit. On John Nobles fancy Sun rolers it gave a corrected 179.5 @ the flywheel, not a bad figure for the £290 spent on cams. It is on 45's with 36mm chokes. Paul Edited by - Paul Turner on 19 Jul 2002 20:21:21

Tony How are the tyres? I fitted a BGH box to replace my Quaiffe as the noise had begun to bother me as I was using the Seven more as a road car. It has been excellent, would definitely buy another. Terry Dutton has been using one for about 6 years in his 200hp VX with no problems. Paul

Andrew I converted to Zetec over the last winter and I am delighted with the results. Previously the car had a 1800 steel x-flow with approx. 165 bhp, now it has a 2 litre with approx. 180 bhp. The whole project cost about £3000 including cams and it has transformed the car, no coughing and spitting, more economical and much quieter. I would never knock the x-flow, one day mine will re-emerge in something, but for a car that is used more on the road than track now the Zetec gets my vote. Paul

Pete Two thoughts for you, when I was preparing the 2 litre for my car I noticed that one of the cam belt idler pulleys had a rough feel with some bearing play when compared to the other and I replaced it whilst it was easy, don't know what it would sound like but the dealer had sold a few when I asked. Secondly I had a hideous rattle after approx. 100 miles in the car, after much listening I came to the conclusion it was either the water pump (unlikely as it was new) or alternator (more likely as it was a recon.) and I decided the easy thing to do was to take off the drive belt but whilst removing the belt I noticed that the alternator bolts were slightly loose and were allowing the alternator body to catch the bracket. I filed the bracket to prevent future contact and refitted the alternator tightly, rattle gone. The alternator is mounted under the carbs (bugger to get at)and the said rattle appeared within a minute of a cold start at high idle revs. Hope this helps. Paul

Pete I carried out this conversion on my car back in 94 and it was very straitforward. The main difference was my car was a 92 de-dion chassis and I used a long input 4 speed Quaiffe pro box and Caterham 5 speed prop. With no tunnel floor fabricating and fitting a mount was easy, I fitted the engine and box and with everything in line I simply made one from card and had it folded in metal at a place in town and bolted it to the chassis and 5 speed mount. With no chassis down the tunnel you will need a larger plate to spread the load and with the tunnel floor access will be more difficult but its only skinned knuckles after all. Clutch drive plate was 5 speed, the speedo cable was off the 4 speed sport and I used the speedo drive from the doner box, luckily the speedo was reasonably accurate. Try and locate an alloy bellhousing, it saves approx 6 kilos. As mentioned above there is a Quaiffe kit for the 4 speed sport box, I had one before fitting the rocket and it was an absolute delight, very quiet for a strait cut box and from experience I know they will handle 180 hp x-flows OK. The only reason I changed was I also knew that they would not handle hillclimb starts on 8.2 inch rear sticky slicks without becoming a kit again. Well worth considering as they are a direct swap. Paul PS I now have a BGH 5 speed and I am delighted, have you considered fitting a 5 speed, there will be very little (or no) extra work but they weigh a ton.

I towed with a Golf for several years and set up the trailer to have the recommended by VW 50kg on the tow ball, it was no problem but on the recommendation of a caravan towing colleague I bought a stabiliser, after using it I would never tow without one. Paul

Ed A bit off track but I am running one on my Zetec and it seems fine, easy to fit, fully finished wiring loom but watch the preset rev limit, mine came at 6600 and had to go back to be reset to the 7200 requested. Paul

I used the 26" x 6" 2.25" bore Techcraft silencer used previously with my x-flow and had a local exhaust fabricator (Nottingham) make a set of headers to suit. It came polished and was about £450 all in. Nice and quiet, the Mrs does'nt hear me pull off the main road now. Paul

I used a large stainless jubilee clip tightened around where the 4 primaries entered the collector to stop the rattle. Paul

Steve The gearing would be changed by approx 5% (Toyo chart) but be aware that the tread width on a 55 is less than that of the same width 50. I have a pair of unused 720 195/55 15's that prove the point, they are about 1/2" narrower than my 195/50 15's. Bit of a mistake that one. Paul