Hi all after some advice.

Recently purchased a 2.0 Zetec to put in my Haynes Roadster.
Engine came from an 03 plate focus having done 90k miles.

Other than the normal service, shorten sump etc before fitting how far should I go with a rebuild?
Engine was a runner with no apparent issues before the focus was broken for parts.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dave

Clean, service and leave well alone.

When you kill it, repeat.

Rebuilding it is like going down the rabbit hole. You just go deeper and deeper until you wish you had bought a crate engine.

As big_wasa says leave along although I changed the CAM belt on mine while it was out as its easy to do when out and you at least know when it was last changed then.

Thanks for the advice.
I did wonder if I would cause myself a bigger headache.

What are your thoughts on fitting the uprated ARP rod bolts? Worth doing or a lot of money for little gain?

so far i have not heard about a zetec failing because arp bolts were not used

I talked with Dave from Puma racing some years back and he said he had taken many Zetec apart some with 200k and you could still see the hone marks.
One of Fords better engines, not heard of any big issues so give it a clean, change cam belt and drive

Thanks for all the comments.

Time to stop thinking about it, and get on with working on it

[Edited on 27/4/17 by Davedew]

I have heard of big end bolts shearing when pushing over 7000rpm regularly. If you are sticking with the original 6500rpm rev limit then I wouldn't worry. A replacement engine is cheaper than the ARP bolts!

My blacktop is on standard rod bolts. My self imposed rev limit is 7250, but it has been over 8k by accident and held together.

That the engine cost less that a set of bolts has informed my view somewhat.

Thanks for all the advice.

Car is mainly on public roads so upping the rev limit to 7400 is not going to be worth the cost of the bolts.
Like you say, you can nearly buy another engine for what the bolts cost.

Have to start collecting the rest of the bits that I need. Hopefully the swap should be fairly straight forward when the time comes!

Last one I rebuilt was £600 on bits plus £250 on a low miles engine. A crate motor at the time was cheaper.

I am trying to hold my self back at the moment on one I am building.

But once you get stuck in you can soon get carried away.

I had my 1800 silvertop fully rebuilt by a local (reputable) engine builder, as I wanted a pre-1995 engine and components for a new reg once IVA'd. I think the final bill was about £1600, but that included a re-bore, new pistons, rings, shells, crank re-ground, head stripped and skimmed, rebuilt with new valves, ported/polished, cam lobes cleaned up, and then fully assembled with new belts.

As Big_Wasa said, once you get stuck in you can end up spending more than a new crate engine costs. Just make a choice and stick to it, whichever way you choose!