Jump to content

Best choice of engine


Guest Matt

Recommended Posts

Naturally aspirated will cost a small fortune and be horrible to drive on the road. However, you can get very close to 200bhp on a stock pinto with a turbo conversion and Efi, which is fun if you want to do something a bit different and have the ability or access to someone with the ability to make the bits you will need, but could become expensive if you are having to pay people to make custom parts.

 

205 block tend to sell for a decent price too, so other option is buy the car, sell the pinto and put that money to something else. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Zetec design is 20 years newer than the Pinto and, with all respect to the many owners on here who still have a Pinto, it should be more reliable and has more power out the box, hence why any kits you see for sale will be more expensive with a Zetec. 

Duratecs are newer and more powerful still.

Mazda MX5 engines are increasingly popular, although seem to be a little more complex to setup if you get VVT versions and slightly less power than Zetecs in standard form. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nelmo,

If i were to buy a mk running a 1.8 zetec on bike carbs. Would it be possible to part that out for duratec or st170 engine ? Will it still fit onto the gearbox allready in the car ?

Do you also think the ecu/electrics would still be the same ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Duratec needs a different gearbox to the St170/Zetec/Pinto.  Duratec may be newer than zetec, but they are a lot more hassle to fit.  They are simple enough to get to about 200, but above that they need uprated bottom end.

A car setup with a 1.8 zetec already would be a reasonably straight forward swap to an st170, but then the st170 has VVT and needs a suitable ecu, so you would need to confirm that the one in there is suitable or be willing to swap ecu.

Is there any particular reason you are set on an MK and a Duratec?
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Duratecs will make 180-200 just by dropping bodies on. A bit of cam work and pocketed pistons will see you north of 200 (say 220), and with rods/pistons there are rally boys using them up to 250ish bhp on standard bottom ends (although some swear by keying the cranks and doing something with the timing chain) - but essentially I understand the bottom ends are pretty strong up to 250. After that you're spending the big money, though. Most of them use the 2.3 or 2.5 spec lumps anyway; "go big or go home" :D but then they have money to burn!

In the grand scheme of Ford engines, even Duratec is approaching end-of-life now, which tells you something about the way things are going. It's all going Ecoboost now. Kit manufacturers are scrabbing up what Duratec engines they can now because Zetec is almost dried up and Pinto is effectively gone, and Duratec won't be much longer (I think new crate engines are probably all US-spec where they're still using them, maybe UK/EU it's now discontinued?)...

2.5 Millington anyone :D ?! Bargain at £25-30k.... :)

Edited by brumster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is odd, a contact I once had in the engine rebuilding business said they were relatively bullet-proof bottom ends. Maybe it was only the 2.3 or 2.5 that had the better bottom end and I am confused/mixed up...? Either that or a lot of the rally guys are not letting on to the fact they've done more work on their engines than they care to admit :D which, to be honest, could very well be the truth!!

edit: you got me googling. Now I know people spout some *bleep* on the internet so you have to take everything with a pinch of salt, but SBD I do respect, and they suggest 240 should be about the limit on stock internals :

http://www.sbdev.co.uk/History_files/History_DuratecTuning.htm

Most people I've spoken to in rally circles do pistons and rods to those sort of numbers (as per my post above), so this surprises me a little, I don't think I'd risk 240 on standard rods. But the crank and design of the crank support I was told was very good for a production car engine.

Edited by brumster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...