::home ::exterior styling ::interior styling ::engine and transmission ::running gear and braking ::ice ::security ::links and info ::mail us

Contents:

Why do it? Stripping the block Skimming pistons Exhaust cam oilways

ZVH - why do it? The ZVH conversion is probably the best way of creating a stronger engine for your car for less money than it would cost to re-build your original CVH (as I have found out). The Zetec has a great tuning potential for a normally aspirated or turbocharged applications, but in this ZVH guide we will be dealing with the turbocharged ZVH. The main reason you are seeing people in magazines and on the web doing this conversion is all down to the crank being stronger than the CVH one and the fact that you can have a larger capacity engine with a Zetec i.e. 1800cc and the 2000cc which can be bored out to a 2100cc and larger pistons fitted. I have used an1800 Zeta (Series 1 Zetec) to do this conversion. Stripping The first step is to strip the engine down to just a blank block with nothing in it or on it - you need to remove everything and put each set of components in a bag or a box all labelled up so you know where they all go when you put it all back together. Petrol or paraffin are best at removing oil and grease. Skimming Once the block is all stripped down and all the pistons are out you are now in a position to get the pistons skimmed – please read the Zetec Turbo guide for advice on skimming – not all cast pistons are safe to skim. I have been doing my research on how much you should get skimmed off the pistons and have found that 0.5mm on the 1800 Series 1 and 2 Zetecs seems to be best as this will give you a compression ratio of 8.2:1. You can run 14psi with skimmed pistons safely on a well set-up engine, but more risks piston break up as these pistons are of the cast type and are not really meant to be used with high boost applications. If you wish to go for a higher boost you WILL need to fork out for set of performance Forged pistons. For the 1800cc block these will set you back around £600 + VAT for a set of 4 from companies such as Arias or Mahle. Blanking off the exhaust cam oilways Next on the list is to block up the oil ways which were used to feed high pressure oil to the exhaust cam. To block these up I have used brass bar turned down to 15mm for the 3 large oil ways and 13mm for the small oil way. To put these in I used some blue silicon gasket paste which is resistive to oil, water and heat to a certain extent. With this gasket paste smeared around the brass bar I place it in the oil way and lightly tapped the brass bar home, you don’t want to hit the bar in to far because of the risk of shattering the block. Once all 4 of the brass plugs are in place cut the excess bar off the tops and file flat to the block, be careful when doing this as you don’t want to mess up the top of the block. Once all four are in place it should look something like picture x on the right. The rest of this article will be brought to you when Andy B finishes it, the lazy assed Essex Bwoi! [article © Andy B]

Disclaimer: Please note that you should not even think about doing these conversions unless you can afford to have the car off the road for a while. Information contained in this article is provided for information purposes only - if you're too damned daft to change your engine, fine, just don't come crying to me if you fry it.

::the block

[click to enlarge]

::the deck

[click to enlarge]

::sump

[click to enlarge]

::130ps oil sprays

[click to enlarge]

::block front

[click to enlarge]

::rear of block

[click to enlarge]

::belt end

[click to enlarge]

::clean!

[click to enlarge]

::skimmed piston

[click to enlarge]

::piston face

[click to enlarge]

[kudos to Adrian@fiestaturbo.com for the image code]

::home ::exterior styling ::interior styling ::engine and transmission ::running gear and braking ::ice ::security ::links and info ::mail us