CFTech

In-depth Tech

Zetec Inside
Think you can’t afford to fit a Zetec? Use standard
management and you can — here’s a way which
proves modern power can be as cheap as chips.

O
ur recent Engine Swaps Made Words and Photos Jon Hill
Easy guide in the June 2009
issue uncovered that it costs the
fat end of four grand to swap a Zetec
into virtually anything rear-wheel
drive. To be fair, a whopping chunk of
this is the induction and ECU because
you can’t run a Zetec on standard
injection can you? There is no choice
but to fit either sidedraughts or
throttle bodies, and this can make a
two grand-sized whole in your wallet.
And when you do, there’s the fact
that the master cylinders are in the way
in virtually everything, meaning a bias
pedal box, loads more malarkey and a
phone call to a debt counsellor...
Or does it? Actually no, because
legendary engine transplanter, Steve
Taylor is here to prove everyone wrong
by doing it his way.
“Why throw away a perfectly-good
fuel-injection system, which Ford spent
millions on perfecting and developing,
in favour of at worst, carbs or at best, a
mega-expensive set of throttle bodies?”
Controversial stuff maybe, but he’s
got a point and a good one, too. Let’s
think for a minute — what if all you
want is a car with good power that
starts first time, every time — very
much like your modern car sitting on
the drive? What you need is the guts of

The Taylor Ethos

said car transplanted into your classic
— exactly like a standard Zetec’s EEC
IV-based fuel injection system...
Yes, it does go against the grain but
it’s not such a daft idea. Popular belief
is that you can’t tune it — well you
can. In fact, the standard fuel-injection
system is good to around 155 bhp —
that’s virtually a full-race Crossflow
and you haven’t even taken the head
off! Let alone the convenience that fuel
injection brings...
Steve guided us through the process
he’s chosen using a customer’s Consul
Classic; a car that looks very much like
a sleeper yet will catch a few out.
SteveTaylor’s well known for building modified cars that
look like they’re not under the bonnet.Yes the car may
well have a 24-valve Cosworth or in this case a Zetec, but
whatever it is, Steve’s way is to make it look like it
belongs; and belongs in a factory-fitted style.
Thus wherever possible he uses a mix of Ford-
produced hardware, selected to fit the best possible way,
perform better and adapted so it does all of the above...
Using this method, when you need to replace a part,
chances are, all you need to do is drop in at your local
Ford parts department, and you’ll be in luck because they
will have what you want. OK, you might get some air
sucked through teeth when they hear the car’s not
standard but chances are... you get the gist!

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Fitting it: Induction
1 3
2
4 5
1 There are dozens of Zetec plenums and most
are big, plastic and meant for front-wheel-
drive.The best is from a Mk5 Escort or Mk3 Fiesta
— obviously with a Zetec!These are alloy and more
than likely attached to an 1800, but they bolt
straight on to a 2-litre.
Their best quality is they site the throttle body
directly over the top of the cam cover. From there
the induction pipe exits straight out the side,
meaning you can place the air filter wherever you
want to put it.
2 Next, the throttle body — the 1800 is pretty
small and a bit of power potential’s always
worth it, so it’s best to use the Mondeo 2-litre
throttle body, which is 55 mm as opposed to 42.
3 The throttle position sensor (TPS) is mounted
on the base of this and they’re all basically the
same although they differ in configuration — here,
the Mondeo’s on the right (plug socket facing
down), Escort on the left (socket facing upwards).
Depending on your application, you can switch
these around; it doesn’t really matter — use what
works best for you.
4 Under the throttle body is the idle speed
control valve — the Mondeo’s isn’t
particularly attractive, so in this case Steve’s used
the Escort one.
114 August 2009
5 Moving on, you can use a section of silicone
hose between the original Ford inlet pipe to
connect to the airflow meter, which Steve’s
mounted on the right-hand-side (facing the engine);
making a bracket for it to fit to the engine.
6 From here, he’s fitted a K&N 57i induction kit in
place of the cumbersome Ford airbox — this is
one of the only components Steve’s swapping in
for looks (and future performance) rather than use
an original piece (although these can work well
with a good-quality panel filter too).
7 For convenience, Steve’s used a Mondeo fuel
rail and injectors, which comes with its own
wiring harness — there is no special reason for this
although it does come with 2-litre injectors.
However, the harness itself works out better for
this application but in truth, you can use either; it
doesn’t matter.
8 Within the fuel rail is a fuel-pressure regulator,
into this is the feed from the fuel tank system
— they’re all the same; usually using the supplied
unit on the fuel rail.
9 This is the MAP (manifold absolute pressure)
sensor, which you need to connect to
measure the air’s density and flow rate in
conjunction with the airflow meter.
Steve mounts this on the car’s inner wing within
easy reach of the loom’s wiring.
Fitting it: Wiring
10 This is the bit that puts people off but it’s
actually pretty simple. However, it’s best to
work in conjunction with a proper fuel-injection
data book, which will give you the information you
need for proper pin and wiring identification.
There are two main systems that are used on
the Zetec — the early (SilverTop) Escort/Mondeo
engine uses EEC IV, while the later BlackTop Focus/
Mondeo one uses EEC V. Generally, this is to be
avoided since it uses PATS (Passive AntiTheft
System) and makes things a lot more complicated
— you need a red-coded ignition key for a start.
11 So for an easy life use EEC IV, which will be
written on a printed label on the ECU.There
is also a huge amount of ECU variants which all
have weird names — this example’s called DEEP.
Suffice to say, if you can, break the car yourself.
That way, you get all the wiring from the same
vehicle — it can be difficult and frustrating to mix
and match.
10
6
11
7
13
8
16
9
While you’re there get as much as you can — the
fuel-injection rail loom, the engine loom and the car
loom — although this latter bit, you’ll bin most of.
15 ...The main car loom — the male versions
on the main loom are the critical bits you
need. Every pin is numbered, which can be
But unless you know what to bin, it’s best to get as identified using that data book.
much as possible and work through it.You’ll also To be honest though, you could leave about a
have a nice collection of Ford-code wire too! foot and cut the rest off.
12 The engine loom is pretty straightforward
to wire up — Steve uses a fuel-injection
data book, but all you need is a Haynes manual of
16 This is the main car fuse box, which you
could use, but look at the size of it and,
unless you’re using the loom to rewire your car, it’s
say a ’93-’00 Mondeo, and it tells you exactly pretty much irrelevant — Steve bins it in favour of...
where the wires go.You may not use all the wires
and you can cut off what you don’t.There’s some
adaption you’ll need to do too (such as the water rail
sensor) but we’ll come onto that in a bit.
17 ...This small bank of relays with fuses
covering the fuel pump and ignition.
13 This all connects into this plug, which slots
into the ECU — obvious stuff, but...
18 From the main loom though you will need
live feeds for the fuel pump, ignition, brake
circuit and an earth, which are easily separated or
spliced into — Steve actually identifies these wires
14 On the other end of the engine loom are
three plugs, which correspond with...
first, saves them at full length then removes the
rest of the main loom.
12
14 15
17 18
August 2009 115
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Fitting it: Adapted Sensors
19 20 21

22
19 Virtually every Zetec installation needs a
redirected water rail and there are several
on the market. In this case, Steve’s using a Raceline
manifold, which puts the thermostat housing at the
front of the engine.
There is also provision for the various water
temperature sensors too, for which the engine
loom may need adapting. In our case it was a
simple matter of unpicking the loom, re-routing
the wires and then re-taping the loom back up —
easy stuff.

20 Don’t forget the Lambda sensor either,

which will need to be fitted into the
exhaust system. However, Steve’s left out the cat
in the name of performance...

21 Another reason why Steve’s method is

cheaper is because you don’t need to
replace the alternator — you can use the standard
system.The reason it’s normally replaced is
because the control system is contained within the
ECU, so if you bin it in favour of carbs or an
aftermarket system, there’s obviously no system of
control; dictating a conventional alternator.
The same goes for the water pump which is
generally swapped for the Escort system, which
runs the conventional way as opposed to the

Fitting it: Fuel System

Mondeo, which runs backwards. Keeping the
alternator means you can also retain the standard
water pump too...

22 This little chap’s the speed sensor, which

you need otherwise the ECU will go into
limp-home mode. It’s easy to hook up with the
MT75 ’box Steve’s used but slightly more head
scratching with aType-9. However, the very last
Type-9s had such a unit, which can easily be
retro-fitted to earlier boxes.

How Much?
Using Steve’s method, you could actually
shave about £2000 off the £4000 cost of
fitting a Zetec into say an Anglia.
However, that’s using conventional,
readily-available engine mounts — Steve
made his own to correspond with the sump
and ’box he’s using.

23 For non- fuel injected cars, a suitable fuel

tank or system is needed. In this case,
Steve’s used an in-tank pump, which he’s actually
adapted into the Classic’s original tank. We won’t
necessarily have these skills so the alternative is
to use a lift pump such as a Facet-type; feeding
into a swirl pot, which then feeds to a fuel-
injection pump before directing along a fuel line to Contact
the pressure regulator via an in-line filter.You will SteveTaylor/Performance Conversions
also need a return feed back to the tank. 07931 426815

116 August 2009