chris7273 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Hello, Yesterday I had a look under the rocker cover of my 1800 Zetec. The certificate of origin given (sold) by ford stats 115 hp. Having a look on this guide, it seems that the inlet cam is from a 130hp 1800cc and the outlet is from a 2000cc. Strange but it works and following what I read the two cam profiles are quite similar. Am I alone in this case ? Regarding the wear : Is it normal to see that on the inlet side ? the car has now 28000 miles and is 11 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenko Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 As I understand it, this is how it should be, the 130ps were inlet....Could be wrong, but have heard this before.... Re the wear...I can't fully see the tip profile from the pics, but the lobes don't look great (rounded rather than pointed)...I notice the engine oil on the cam bearings looks pretty 'black'....have you changed the oil much?.... I've recently stripped down a 2ltr engine tht had 93K miles that did look much cleaner... Another observation.....You have Thottle bodies, and appear to run a rather convoluted intake system, the air box looks too close to the end throttle body, and the location of the filter would possibly be sucking in hot air from the engine..Any reason for not using a sausage type filter...I would imagine you could get a better set up than this....Just a thought. Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris7273 Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 Thank you for the info and really good analysis for the air intake. For the camshafts : good if it looks the way it should look. Regarding the oil color : it looks better than on the picture. However, the oil change is planned for next week. For the throttle bodies air intake : I bought the car "as is". The air box is quite small and was also a little bit shortened in order to let the bonnet inact (no hole). The horns/trumpets (don't know the exact word) are indeed very small since they are in the shortened airbox and the system is "complicated" (conic filter, long bent pipe and airbox). Budget is down for this year. Next year I will maybe put a sausage filter. If I want to follow the "sausage" way, would I need to make a hole in the bonnet for fresh air input ? (I assume that the answer is in my question... ) There is also a sensor behind the conic "KN like" filter (mass air flow ?), where should it be located if I switch to a sausage filter ? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE.B Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I agree with the type of cams that are fitted and that i would of expected it to look alot cleaner with that mileage regardless of age as long as the oil had been regularly changed. Regarding the wear,is it the dull patch on one side of each cam lobe just below the peaks?.If so i wouldnt worry about this as ive seen it many times before.When the camlobe hits the follower it starts to turn the follower so that you dont get wear in the same area. Regarding the intake,it looks like an air mass meter.Is this running the standard Ford ecu etc,or an after market system?,as im very suprised to see a mass meter fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris7273 Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 Regarding the intake,it looks like an air mass meter.Is this running the standard Ford ecu etc,or an after market system?,as im very suprised to see a mass meter fitted. Yes, the dull area was worrying me, it seems like an uneven wear and the surface is rougher in this area... closer pictures hereafter The original ECU is used with a Piggyback computer (DASTEK Unichip). If I disconnect the airflow meter, the engine continues to turn but I didn't tested it further (on the road, on higher revs than idle, ...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE.B Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I might be wrong but i would have thought that you would get better performance and the best from your throttle bodys with one of the aftermarket management systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE.B Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Only just seen the close up pictures,they are scored more than i thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris7273 Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 I might be wrong but i would have thought that you would get better performance and the best from your throttle bodys with one of the aftermarket management systems. For the mgt unit : I bought the car "like this". For the cams : "More scored" : how bad does it mean ? - should be replaced now ? - time to think about for next year upgrade ? - "how do you dare to drive it ? " Thanx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomexnomad Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 looking at the close pictures it would appear that the follower is not striking the lobe squarley, and what you are seeing is lack of use in the darker area and wear in the shiney area. They don't look pitted and you can see some machining marks, but on the contact surfaces however they are very worn, the car has 28,000 but was the engine new then or was it a donor engine? If they are excessively worn you will be down on power Search google for 'cam lobe wear' there is an article on how the measure the wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenko Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Regarding the intake,it looks like an air mass meter.Is this running the standard Ford ecu etc,or an after market system?,as im very suprised to see a mass meter fitted. Yes, the dull area was worrying me, it seems like an uneven wear and the surface is rougher in this area... closer pictures hereafter The original ECU is used with a Piggyback computer (DASTEK Unichip). If I disconnect the airflow meter, the engine continues to turn but I didn't tested it further (on the road, on higher revs than idle, ...) Great picture :-) If you run your finger over it, can you feel a ridge?... It looks like a new cam may be in order, but you will also need to check the followers to see if they are worn or the follower guides are worn, something just doesn't seem right....At the moment (although you say the oil has been changed) I still think the oil may have onething to do with this...All the Zetecs i've seen (even after a fair few miles), seem to have clear oil....so deffo get an oil and filter change, then keep an eye on it... As for your inlet....I see no need at all to have an air mass meter if you are running Individual TB's, I can see a throttle position sensor so the ECU should use this for the load site sensing.....My only thought is it's using the ford ECU in which case I would hope it's been re-mapped (although I didn't think this was possible)..... but this set up could be much improved with not much money..... Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomexnomad Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 QUOTE The original ECU is used with a Piggyback computer (DASTEK Unichip). The Dastek unichip is a remap chip which is 'piggybacked' onto the manufacturers ECU give better performance, some of these come with software and loadable maps for different situations IE different boost settings on turbo cars, different fuel settings for road track etc. Dasteks are not cheap say £350 for the unit, but not sure if they are better than a specific after market unit aimed at kit cars such as omex etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Turner Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Hi You may have what appears to be an odd mixture of cams if a pair of aftermarket ones have been fitted that were reground on a "pair" of original Ford cams. If they were poorly reground that may be the reason for the strange wear pattern. Never seen a Zetec cam looking like that even after a considerable mileage. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris7273 Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 next year upgrade then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blankczechbook Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 if it works then give it fresh oil and get on with driving it. if the cams do wear again then a new set of cams and followers would be needed then anyway... if the piggyback does well enough for normal driving and is using the lambda for mixture control then keep it as it is too. you might get more horses with fresh air and trumpets but then a new ECU would be req'd for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris7273 Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 if it works then give it fresh oil and get on with driving it. Old engineer wisdom : if it works, don't fix it ;-) (or "if it's not broken, fix it until it is") A lot of tuning is possible on my car, I will go step by step when my bank account has healed (purchased this year and a lot of bodywork due to crash). It runs smooth and is quick, but knowing that the potential is not fully used is sometimes frustrating. Anyway, I learn to drive the Westfield and it's a good thing that it's not too wild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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