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Okay, I have no illusions that my build even shows up on the Richter Scale of Horsepower that is the FI section of FJ, but here goes!
Every so often I have a couple new pics to share, and rather than continuing to pollute somebody else's thread in the future, I'll post them here.
For the record, I have a 2002 ZX3 that has had a PWSC on it for about three or four years. I really can't remember exactly, and I'm not motivated enough to look it up. I got it during the Great Sell Off, however long ago that was. The kit itself has been great, trouble free and well put together for the price point. A few things have been upgraded, like the CFM throttle body and the intercooler coolant tank.
I blew the first motor putting the car on a trailer, after I got a little frisky coming off a stop light against a Hemi Charger that thought he'd show the little Focus who was boss! I got a nice rod knock for my trouble. Talk about winning the battle but losing the war! The car had had a vibration from the time I got it, and the resulting rod knock showed where that vibration had been coming from. After I drove it far enough for the oil light to come on, I looked on the U-Haul website, saw a nice low-slung aluminum trailer and called and rented it. When I picked it up, however, it was a steel thing that normally hauled a Bobcat. My car was low enough it kept getting hung up, and I got pissed and revved it to get it on the trailer. Well, when the pistons and rods ended up on the parking lot, and the car started on fire, I knew it was bad!
I contemplated whether I was obligated to put the fire out, and my friend with me said "you know what's going to happen, it's going to burn just enough to **** up the wiring harness." He had no sooner said that when the air conditioning lines melted through, and the refrigerant put out the fire. All the wires were melted, amongst other things. The only thing that worked in my favor was that the insurance company ruled that while they wouldn't cover the engine failure, the fire was covered. I can tell you that the engine wiring harnesses are worth $550+. The insurance payment allowed me to upgrade the clutch, amongst other things.
When I replaced the long block with a junkyard motor, tada! the vibration was gone!~ Of course, nothing comes without a cost. Guess what happens when you replace your engine in a manual trans car with one from an auto? Well, if you don't know about the crank position sensor bracket, you get no spark and have to pull the transmission, clutch, and flywheel AGAIN! Live and learn.
As it is my DD, I've been much kinder to this motor ever since. I know there's more left on the table, but I've been shifting at 6k to keep it together. I'm building a new motor, and I'm trying to build it so that no matter what I do in the future, this motor can stand up to it.
It's been an education. Dummy me, I ordered pistons in the first oversize, then only afterward realized that the SVT block I had obtained needed a .020" (second) oversize. Doh! So, I got another zetec block to build, and have TWO SVT blocks in my garage that both need a .020" overbore (PM me if you want one!) I couldn't afford to spend another $640 on pistons in the .020" oversize, just to keep the SVT oil squirters.
I also have a Quaife diff in my trans, that I scored cheap when it was listed only as a Cougar part on ebay. $350, woohoo! I put in the diff, then had the only Ford dealer in the area that does their own tranny work set the backlash/preload and seal it back up. I had a CM3 clutch for awhile, and despite a careful break-in, it still began slipping in short order. The Luk Pro Gold I got from FSW solved that, it is awesome! I personally didn't enjoy the Fidanza light flywheel, and put the stocker back in when I switched to the LPG.
So here I am now, with JE forged turbo pistons that were custom made with no dish to make them flat top, along with 22mm wrist pin bores to fit the Cosworth WRC rods that I got for a really nice price because of the odd wrist pin size. The only problem now is that with those two parts together, the pistons are .068" down the bore at the stock deck height, which brings my calculated compression ratio down to 8.8:1. I'm taking the short block apart and having it decked .070" to bring the compression back up to the 10.2:1 I wanted in the first place, without placing any piston domes in the flame path or losing the thick-top FI piston construction.
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The jewel-like piston and rod combo!
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Here's what the short block looked like before being decked.
I just got a set of Ishihara-Johnson crank scrapers, grabs clinging oil off of the crank.
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I've also got a CFM billet oil pump, so I can spin this thing to 8400rpm (basically the piston speed limit) without worrying about the rods breaking and the oil pump gears exploding! Did I mention ARP main and head studs, and flywheel bolts!
All of which is terribly overkill for a PWSC, I get that. Some of it is just me finally being able to afford some of the trick parts I couldn't have as a kid. Some of it is just so that when I like 290-300whp, I won't have to re-do the motor when I want to go 350-400whp! Or 400-450whp with a 3582!
Enough for now. This won't be a daily-updated thread, just thought I should start contributing.
Denny
Every so often I have a couple new pics to share, and rather than continuing to pollute somebody else's thread in the future, I'll post them here.
For the record, I have a 2002 ZX3 that has had a PWSC on it for about three or four years. I really can't remember exactly, and I'm not motivated enough to look it up. I got it during the Great Sell Off, however long ago that was. The kit itself has been great, trouble free and well put together for the price point. A few things have been upgraded, like the CFM throttle body and the intercooler coolant tank.
I blew the first motor putting the car on a trailer, after I got a little frisky coming off a stop light against a Hemi Charger that thought he'd show the little Focus who was boss! I got a nice rod knock for my trouble. Talk about winning the battle but losing the war! The car had had a vibration from the time I got it, and the resulting rod knock showed where that vibration had been coming from. After I drove it far enough for the oil light to come on, I looked on the U-Haul website, saw a nice low-slung aluminum trailer and called and rented it. When I picked it up, however, it was a steel thing that normally hauled a Bobcat. My car was low enough it kept getting hung up, and I got pissed and revved it to get it on the trailer. Well, when the pistons and rods ended up on the parking lot, and the car started on fire, I knew it was bad!
I contemplated whether I was obligated to put the fire out, and my friend with me said "you know what's going to happen, it's going to burn just enough to **** up the wiring harness." He had no sooner said that when the air conditioning lines melted through, and the refrigerant put out the fire. All the wires were melted, amongst other things. The only thing that worked in my favor was that the insurance company ruled that while they wouldn't cover the engine failure, the fire was covered. I can tell you that the engine wiring harnesses are worth $550+. The insurance payment allowed me to upgrade the clutch, amongst other things.
When I replaced the long block with a junkyard motor, tada! the vibration was gone!~ Of course, nothing comes without a cost. Guess what happens when you replace your engine in a manual trans car with one from an auto? Well, if you don't know about the crank position sensor bracket, you get no spark and have to pull the transmission, clutch, and flywheel AGAIN! Live and learn.
As it is my DD, I've been much kinder to this motor ever since. I know there's more left on the table, but I've been shifting at 6k to keep it together. I'm building a new motor, and I'm trying to build it so that no matter what I do in the future, this motor can stand up to it.
It's been an education. Dummy me, I ordered pistons in the first oversize, then only afterward realized that the SVT block I had obtained needed a .020" (second) oversize. Doh! So, I got another zetec block to build, and have TWO SVT blocks in my garage that both need a .020" overbore (PM me if you want one!) I couldn't afford to spend another $640 on pistons in the .020" oversize, just to keep the SVT oil squirters.
I also have a Quaife diff in my trans, that I scored cheap when it was listed only as a Cougar part on ebay. $350, woohoo! I put in the diff, then had the only Ford dealer in the area that does their own tranny work set the backlash/preload and seal it back up. I had a CM3 clutch for awhile, and despite a careful break-in, it still began slipping in short order. The Luk Pro Gold I got from FSW solved that, it is awesome! I personally didn't enjoy the Fidanza light flywheel, and put the stocker back in when I switched to the LPG.
So here I am now, with JE forged turbo pistons that were custom made with no dish to make them flat top, along with 22mm wrist pin bores to fit the Cosworth WRC rods that I got for a really nice price because of the odd wrist pin size. The only problem now is that with those two parts together, the pistons are .068" down the bore at the stock deck height, which brings my calculated compression ratio down to 8.8:1. I'm taking the short block apart and having it decked .070" to bring the compression back up to the 10.2:1 I wanted in the first place, without placing any piston domes in the flame path or losing the thick-top FI piston construction.
The jewel-like piston and rod combo!
Here's what the short block looked like before being decked.
I just got a set of Ishihara-Johnson crank scrapers, grabs clinging oil off of the crank.
I've also got a CFM billet oil pump, so I can spin this thing to 8400rpm (basically the piston speed limit) without worrying about the rods breaking and the oil pump gears exploding! Did I mention ARP main and head studs, and flywheel bolts!
All of which is terribly overkill for a PWSC, I get that. Some of it is just me finally being able to afford some of the trick parts I couldn't have as a kid. Some of it is just so that when I like 290-300whp, I won't have to re-do the motor when I want to go 350-400whp! Or 400-450whp with a 3582!
Enough for now. This won't be a daily-updated thread, just thought I should start contributing.
Denny
