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Retro Ford Zetec Water Rail


speedtripledan

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In my latest quest for perfection i have now bought a a retro ford water rail, it is a very nice bit of kit, very nicely made.

 

i have tried fitting it today and come across a few problems with fitment.

 

The original ford dip stick tube is in the way of the rail and the original coil pack bracket is also in the way!

 

So i ring burtons who supplied it (cheaper than retroford direct) and they knew about the coil pack issue, apparently retro ford have a bracket to relocate it under the intake, no use to me with a bloody great super charger hiding under there, no mention whats so ever in the product description on retro or burtons websites.

 

So i have now had to fabricate a new bracket to mount the coil.

 

The dip stick tube is slightly easier to deal with just needs a simple bracket to secure it off my alternator mount and spinning the tube round in front of header 1 instead of through 2 and 3 as original.

 

So if you do decide to use one be prepared for hours of mods and fabrication to relocate the above mentioned parts.

 

If i had been fore armed with this info i wouldn't have bothered and gone standard ford housing.

Edited by DanE
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The raceline rail is strange. The idea of moving the thermostat away from the block and out of the flow of coolant seems a poor set-up to me. The only way of establishing a decent flow of coolant over its activating bulb is to drill a fairly decent hole in it so quite a lot of coolant is flowing through it from cold. There are also issues with air locks as it is high on the engine. If you fit a sender in the rear end of it as per the instructions it is no thinner than the standard stat housing so no space saving achieved either. I bought one when I changed to zetec and after thorough study of the rail and its enclosed instructions I never fitted it but sold it on at a loss. The standard thermostat and housing are very much better functioning. Mine maintains a solid 90 degrees under all operating conditions.

Edited by Longboarder
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when i spoke to retro they were aware the original dipstick tube will not fit, they said they designed the water rail to work with there oil sump which relocates the dipstick to the intake side of the engine.

my only gripe is i wish companys would write accurate descriptions of the products they sell,

Edited by DanE
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Guest lotusPaul

I have had no issues, and guys with similar setups in Elans have none either to my knowledge. Ive built a few zetec engines for escorts etc and none have problems.

 

What im trying to say is in many different aplications, i know of only yours thats causing problems.

 

Perhaps you have other problems that also need to be addressed.

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I have to admit I've been surprised by how good the basic Ford setup has been. When I was building, the cooling system was my biggest concern as I had no real idea what I was doing and I assumed the more expensive water rail would be better, working on the 'you get what you pay for' principle.

 

But my standard system has been totally reliable in the couple of months I've been on the road. In fact, my first IVA test was in the 1 hot week we had this summer. If anyone recalls that week, the hottest recorded place in England was Heathrow at about 36 degC and my IVA was at Yeading, just down the road. I had to drive there through London rush hour traffic, so I spent most of the time sat in traffic. And then I had to repeat the whole procedure 3 days later for my retest! I had no overheating issues and that was before I had vents cut in my bonnet - very impressed.

 

Also, I imagine that water rail setup, having so few pipes, must have much less actual coolant in it, no? If so, that isn't going to help...

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This post isn't about how good or bad race line is versus retro versus standard, it was just about the lack of info about fitting the retro to my silvertop.

 

The original post was providing info about the water rail to any potential users - how good or bad it is is just as useful and relevant, no?

 

Loads of people do use them perfectly well but it is also useful to know that the basic Ford setup also works (and for half the price, in my case).

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I agree with Dan on this. If I want to buy something from the Internet I will look at loads of ads for similar or even identical items until I find one that says in the description that it will work with this or that or it won't even if I have to pay a bit more for it. That way when it all goes wrong I have some comeback. Mind you people say I am grumpy so I don't like to disappoint.

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The difference in performance will be in another post. Race line versus retro.

It has taken me a whole day to make a new coil pack bracket which with the race line and standard set up was not required. The description for the retro ford water rail fails to mention the fact that it will not fit unless you relocate the coil... much as a standard system may work I didn't want it.... I like the bling

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