zetec rev limit

[mmmmdonuts]

Where should the rev limiter be on a zetec?  I asked Shaun about this at the Thames Valley meet, and he said his limiter is at about 6500 revs.  Mine however revs up to 7000 easily.  Both are factory built sport carbons.  Where should it be?

[Westfieldman]

My 1800 Zetec revs to 7200 ok.

Paul.

[Nick M]

Rev limit = *BOOM* - 500rpm  

If it has an ECU controlling the rev limit then hooking it up to a laptop with the appropriate software should tell you where it's set.  Realistically there's no point in it being set too much higher than the point where peak power is being developed, e.g. if peak power is at, say, 6,000 then a limit of 6,500 would be more than adequate I'd have thought.

[mmmmdonuts]

just looked at westfields website, and they give max power as 151bhp at 6921rpm.  The rev counter only goes up to 7000, but I went off the top yesterday.  I guess mine is OK.  The limiter must be at about 7200.  Shaun - it sounds like yours is set too low.

Where would a zetec go *BOOM*?

[Stuart C]

My rev limiter on my sport carbon (schollar tuned and no CAT) is set at 7600 soft and 7750 hard. Peak power is 174 at 7200. if you are running an MBE ECU you  need Easymap to check it. I also changed my rev counter as the standard westfield VDO only goes to 7K as  you say. I now have an 8k rev counter.

Much better.

Stuart

[Westfieldman]

With ALL the right bits they will go to 9000 plus

The other Zetec's rev to 17000 [Vee 10'2 Beneton Ford, M.S. race car]

Paul.

[mmmmdonuts]

Stuart C - how much has it cost you to get the peak bhp up to 174?  Just wondering for future use.  As you know, its never fast enough.

[JonnyBoy]

Is the appropriate software for the webcon alpha ecu shareware or do i need to purchase it? presumably connector the 'black box' as it is technically known is of the serial variety?!

Anyone have any experience of adjusting the ecu settings...easy hard, guaranteed f**kup??

cheers

[peterg]

the Webcon Alpha software is not available to the 'public' so you'll have to visit one of their specialists to get the mapping done properly although you'll probably find it has a default map loaded which has a rev limit already set (I was told be one of these 'specialists' that the Alpha map is the same for all Zetecs! - I won't be going there again) - try ringing Webcon and see what they can tell you  

[damianc]

Dunnell set theirs to soft 7200, hard 7400.  It will rev higher but to the detriment of the life of the engine.

[Matt Seabrook]

A safe rev limit for a Zetec with standard rod bolts is 7000rpm 7200for rev limiter. with up rated rod bolts you could take it to 8000rpm safely but would new shells on a regular basis. My car produced 200bhp at the fly wheel at 7250rpm on carbs. I am hoping to go to Emerald on Wednesday to get my throttle bodies mapped if they can get there rolling road fixed by then. I have set my rev limit to 7500rpm with soft cut at 7600rpm but I have fitted up rated con rod bolts.

[Stuart C]

MMMM

The early (mine 1999) Zetec speedsport 1800 (Sport Carbon)were Scholar tuned without CATs. I understand that Westfield stopped using Scholar as they were too expensive. However the later Speedsports & Sport Carbons are not as powerfull 155 I think. This is why I bought my car.

As far as I know the only work done to mine is head work including gas flowed, Throttle bodies, Mild Cams (Kent) and MBE engine management system.

Stuart

[Martin Young]

My standard 2.0 litre dunnel zetec has a soft cut rev limit of 7200 rpm with the hard cut at 7400 rpm.

If you look at the dyno print out it reveals that peak power occurs at 6500rpm (164 bhp on my engine). At 6000 rpm its producing about 159 bhp and at 7000 rpm it produces about 160 bhp.

If I'm really going for it I'll change up at 7000 rpm.

From speaking to Paul Dunnell the standard big end bolts are fine if you don't go too much over 7000 rpm on a regular basis.

All the Best.

Martin.

[steppenwolf]

The 1800 Zetec with MBE ECU as fitted to factory built SpeedSports and Sport Carbons and to modular kit SpeedSports have the soft cut set to 7500 and the hard cut to 7600 in the mapping but I am informed by Raceline that the standard big end bolts should not be taken past 7200 RPM. I have, therefore, set my soft cut to 7000 and my hard cut to 7200 as I have had confirmation from other sources of this information.

With maximum power coming in at 155.2 BHP (DIN 70020) @ 6070 RPM. on my car (Westfield quote 6450 RPM in their literature), 7000 would seem to be plenty high enough for the soft cut and within safe limits for the big end bolts. It is not for nothing that the standard rev. counter supplied with the Westfield/Zetec engine factory or modular kit has a maximum of 7000 RPM engraved on it! although it is a mystery why my cuts were set by 'Mech Repairs' at such a high level when the original mapping was done for Westfield.

With stronger big end bolts, the engine will happily run to 8000 RPM and beyond but with reduced reliability to other components, in particular the big end shells.

[7 Heaven]

But are you all actually achieving anything by revving the rods of your engine.

I always thought that you would shift at the rpm that would drop you back to peak torque.

Might be wrong and talking out my  

John