pigiron
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| posted on 5/12/12 at 05:08 PM |
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Zetec head gasket recomendations?
I am about to start the bulid of a 2.0 silvertop autocross engine and would appreciate some advice on which head gaskets to use.
The spec is; Newman phase 4 cams, gas flowed head 11.5:1 compresion (target), throttle bodies and MS2.
What is the consensus regarding the standard fibre head gaskets...are they up to the job?
I would love to hear from people actualy having used the regular gaskets with a similar spec motor.
This is very much a low buget exercise and I cant afford to spend cash unnessecarily.
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Charlie_Zetec
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| posted on 5/12/12 at 05:40 PM |
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I'm having my engine rebuilt now, at significant cost. I've gone for a Payen gasket set; used them before on other engines and never had
any problems whatsoever.
Mine's a 1.8l silvertop with 2.0l cams, adjustable vernier pullies, ported & polished / gas flowed head, head planed, new forged pistons and
rings, new conrods, ARP conrod bolts, new shells and big end bearings. I probably could've gone for an expensive Cometic mulit-layered gasket,
but as I'm not touching the C/R I didn't see the point (the head plane was only to ensure it was flat). I'm even using standard
head bolts as opposed to uprated items. Cometic are not the cheapest at £80-100 a go; I got a whole top and bottom end gasket set from Payen for less
than that!
Just remember, the weakest part of the Zetec engine in the conrod and bolts; head gasket failure wasn't a common problem.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity!
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coozer
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| posted on 5/12/12 at 06:00 PM |
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Go to the Ford dealers part desk and ask for a 4 cylinder Focus RS head gasket...
1972 V8 Jago
1980 Z750
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beaver34
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| posted on 5/12/12 at 06:27 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Go to the Ford dealers part desk and ask for a 4 cylinder Focus RS head gasket...
and check the effects of using this gasket in regards to your compression ratio as the gaskets differ in thickness
i can supply you any genuine ford gasket you wish to go for if you want to go down that route, which is what i would do
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AndyW
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| posted on 5/12/12 at 06:40 PM |
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I used a company called gaskets for classics
Great service
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BaileyPerformance
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| posted on 6/12/12 at 11:27 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Go to the Ford dealers part desk and ask for a 4 cylinder Focus RS head gasket...
The focus RS gasket is the same as the standard blacktop NA gasket, laminated and much thinner that the silvertop gasket so if its used on the
silvertop the CR will be raised.
We do not use the blacktop laminated gaskets, we always use the standard Ford silvertop gasket on all our engines, we have ran turbo 350BHP on a stock
gasket - those sort of pressures will never be reached on an NA engine so just use the stock gasket.
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BaileyPerformance
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| posted on 6/12/12 at 11:30 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Charlie_Zetec
I'm having my engine rebuilt now, at significant cost. I've gone for a Payen gasket set; used them before on other engines and never had
any problems whatsoever.
Mine's a 1.8l silvertop with 2.0l cams, adjustable vernier pullies, ported & polished / gas flowed head, head planed, new forged pistons and
rings, new conrods, ARP conrod bolts, new shells and big end bearings. I probably could've gone for an expensive Cometic mulit-layered gasket,
but as I'm not touching the C/R I didn't see the point (the head plane was only to ensure it was flat). I'm even using standard
head bolts as opposed to uprated items. Cometic are not the cheapest at £80-100 a go; I got a whole top and bottom end gasket set from Payen for less
than that!
Just remember, the weakest part of the Zetec engine in the conrod and bolts; head gasket failure wasn't a common problem.
I've got to ask, why use an 1800 zetec when a 2000 is available? racing class?
Conrod bolts weak? why do you say that?
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NOTE:This user is registered as a LocostBuilders trader and may offer commercial services to other users
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Charlie_Zetec
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| posted on 6/12/12 at 12:29 PM |
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I went for an 1800 instead of a 2l for a couple of reasons; one, the insurance (albeit minimal amounts) is slightly less. Secondly, the difference in
power outputs between the two items is quote negligable. By the time you've put a set of carbs or TB's on the engine, set of cams, a good
un-restrictive exhaust and made sure it's in good condition and running nicely, realisticly what are you going to see power-wise?
I'm hoping for circa 165-170bhp from my car once done - that's with 2l cams, ported & polished head, rebuilt bottom end (with uprated
bits) with standard bore. It'll be running on a set of ZX9 carbs and an exhaust that is much less restrictive than the standard item.
With essentially 130bhp in standard guise, what did the 2.0l output? And how much would you gain from similar setup with an extra 200cc? Not much, i
don't think.
And as for the conrod bolts, these were only designed in a family hatchback car.... I doubt they would like regularly screaming up to 7,000rpm or
were designed for that (lets be honest, that what they're going to be doing in a 7 if you're driving it right) - especially as most will
not be running the standard ECU and raised the rev limit. Just ask any perfomance Ford tuner, they'll tell you the same thing. It could all be
a vicious rumour by ARP to sell more items.... but I had four different people/organisations tell me the same thing, so we'll never really know!
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity!
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BaileyPerformance
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| posted on 6/12/12 at 01:25 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Charlie_Zetec
I went for an 1800 instead of a 2l for a couple of reasons; one, the insurance (albeit minimal amounts) is slightly less. Secondly, the difference in
power outputs between the two items is quote negligable. By the time you've put a set of carbs or TB's on the engine, set of cams, a good
un-restrictive exhaust and made sure it's in good condition and running nicely, realisticly what are you going to see power-wise?
I'm hoping for circa 165-170bhp from my car once done - that's with 2l cams, ported & polished head, rebuilt bottom end (with uprated
bits) with standard bore. It'll be running on a set of ZX9 carbs and an exhaust that is much less restrictive than the standard item.
With essentially 130bhp in standard guise, what did the 2.0l output? And how much would you gain from similar setup with an extra 200cc? Not much, i
don't think.
And as for the conrod bolts, these were only designed in a family hatchback car.... I doubt they would like regularly screaming up to 7,000rpm or
were designed for that (lets be honest, that what they're going to be doing in a 7 if you're driving it right) - especially as most will
not be running the standard ECU and raised the rev limit. Just ask any perfomance Ford tuner, they'll tell you the same thing. It could all be
a vicious rumour by ARP to sell more items.... but I had four different people/organisations tell me the same thing, so we'll never really know!
I good (stock) 1800 will make 150BHP on TBs, 2000cc 175BHP. Your probably right your modified 1800 will make 160BHP but wouldn't it have been
cheaper just to use a stock 2000cc on TBs? £200 from the scrappy.
Having said all that we turbo'd an 1800 and it did seem more driveable than a turbo 2000!
We set the rev limit on our stock bottom ends to 7200RPM, but peak power is less than 7000 anyway, never had an engine failure. But adding ARP bolts
is a sensible cheapish mod do do, and does no harm. Bolt / rod failure in a fast car is often due to oil problems not weakness - the sort of cars
zetecs end up in are better handling that the Mondeo, so cornering speeds are higher making oil surge more likely.
We have seen 350BHP using stock (silvertop) crank and rods and bolts, limited to 7200RPM so the stock for stuff is strong.
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