You decide

[oliwally]

Ask yourself this,How many Mondildos and Fcukus's are scrapped due to broken cambelts?

How many Crossflows died due to timing chain failures?

Its a know fact that silver top zetec have a rubbish tensioner that cracks over time and then explodes without warning.

black tops are not much better as they still do the same and made out of plastic

 

and i suppose they were all up to date with the service schedule on them cambelts then

yes,most of them were,i've seen one 2 weeks over the 10 year mark with only 45,000 miles let go on an 1800 black top.

but also changed silver tops at 80,000 with a tensioner so badly cracked you could see daylight clearly through the tensioner.

Modern engine are not ment to last,how many 2.4 duratorq engines fail at young ages? when i worked at dees commercials on the purley way,i must have been doing at least 2 or 3 timing change replacements a week sometimes,in 2 years i alone fitted 4 cylinder heads to those that jumped too far.

between the 4 transit techs we must have changed 1 dozen engines that were to badly damaged,all under warranty,and prob the same again in head replacements.

the zetec is based on the cvh and will always suffer from that engines worst enemy,cambelts and poor oil changes.

silver tops suffer from burnt exhaust valves,common fault,made worse by wrong oil,only ever use 5w30 never 10w40.

so even a full service history is no guarantee that the engines a good one.

ford did change lots of parts to sort this out but few people did thos outside the warranty as its exspensive.

modified parts

new valves,retainers and top caps

new stem sills

new hydraulic tappets

cylinder head oil restricter

new oil pump pressure relief valve spring and plunger.

 

then theres the oil pump leaks too,and rear main oil seal pissing out all the time.

 

ask Liam and his mk1 tina zetec turbo about the oil pump problems.

yes his is a very special engine and he's pushing the limit of it,but in this

day and age stuff like that should be rare.

zetecs make good power when an angry snail is bolted on the side.

the cost of tuning one is stupidly exspensive too.

and when they "make" the power you will be upset,my 180bhp 1800 mk2 escort couldnt pull back your foreskin but would rev high and make lots of noise,just wouldnt get you where youre going any faster.

 

 

crossflows may not be modern,has 2 cams or 16 valves,but they will run forever and if built using the right parts and built correctly will make more power than they were designed for and be fun,everyone who builds engine knows how to get the best from this engine,lots of tricks to building a nice fast road one that wont break.

a mechanic i mot for is into minis and races a FF1600 and his rubber cranked crossflow runs a dry sump 0w40 oil and sees the angry side of 8500 rpm and still goes 2 seasons without needing rebuilds.

 

 

Oh and by the way,i worked in 2 ford main dealers for 10 years

[petrolhead]

Convincing points Oli, nicely put:thumbsup:

[oliwally]

Dont get me wrong,I'm not saying those that have done the conversion are wrong,just my honest opinion i'd stick to a pinto,crossflow,yb over a modern engine.

dress the old engine with better electronics,carbs etc.

back in polleys and lees days the crossflow and pintos had in there cars maybe 150 brake at most.

today the classic hot rods are into the 170bhp marks

[jamie956]

Dont for get the essex and it sits nice in a cortina.

[zetecmk2]

i can't get any of the above engines to produce spinning rear wheels in 3rd (no pub ammo) for £50. admittedly, in the damp.....but isn't that the best driving conditions?

i have had, and loved...and broke all the above engines (never broke an essex though....always sold it first!) but the zetec is cheapest and easiest to replace...£50 and 3 hrs....off you go with between (pub talk) 150-170hp. mine spits flames on over run and pops and bangs with standard cams......result

[Grizzley Dell]

Dont for get the essex and it sits nice in a cortina.

 

gotta love an essex in a tina.

[8ball]

you could always run a zetec on trottle bodies keeping the engine standard for the min and in the future build a propper hot crossflow (if you wernt happy with the zetec)and put ur trottle bodies on to that best of boat worlds ... i think any way

[zetecmk2]

8ball.....now you're talking!!

once you have your tb's and ecu, you can change engines as you choose, just fab some mounts for said engine and search for maps on' internet if you're discussing this, i presume you can make manifoldsor modify to suit?

jiffer, didnt you say you can get welding done?

ps...be nice

[Jiffer]

the decision been made and yesterday I picked up a st170. I have the mk1 for an original OSF and the plan is the mildly tuned xflow that comes out of the mk2 is going to get a full rebuild to a screamer and going into my next OSF which hopefully will be with me soon

[redrocket]

i think crossflow,keeps the charecter to the car

 

yea, and so, if you change to a different more powerful engine you change the car's character. Just like if you lower if it or change the wheels.

[wild pete]

you dont mess about im still thinking what to do nice st170 where you get it from terrington st john by any chance

[JayPea]

Crossflow of course

Much more entertaining and easier to tune in many ways

[Jiffer]

you dont mess about im still thinking what to do nice st170 where you get it from terrington st john by any chance

a breakers down the a1 stevenage way, got all the bits now so nice amount to do over the comeing months

[wild pete]

will keep you out the pub and bookies will be good to see it in