FocusCanada Forums

Over the winter I ran into some "complications" with my ZX5 so I decided to do a little overhaul. I started at the beginning of November and I just got the car back on the road yesterday. Anyways, heres what I did:

New Pistons - Supertech's
New Rods - Eagles
New Head - Massive Ultimate Head
New Cams - Comp Stg. 3's

The point of this all?
- Learn a little
- Have some fun :)

I built this motor myself, with the added help of a friend of mine. I also got all the machining done by Head + Block Specialty in Stoney Creek/Hamilton Ontario. They are an excellent shop to go to for specialty engine machining. I would recomend them to anybody. Now for all the fun photos :)

At this point in time I just got the engine block back from the machinist. They even painted it for me :)


Given I have a new head, I might as well take a picture of that too!


I began with the main studs....


As well as the intake manifold. I also layed the camshafts in place for the time being


Back to the block, time to install the new crank and bearings!


Pistons and rods too :)


A few block accessories......


The windage tray I had to modify for the ARP main studs


Just a cool shot


Ready for the head :)


Head torqued and ready for the rest of the components!


The final product ;)


I put many many hours into this and Im proud to say that I did it. I've always wanted to build a motor and its not bad considering this is my first one and it seems to be running great so far! I'm currently in the middle of datalogging and tuning with Tom from Focus-Power. Once May rolls around I'll be interested to see what the car does on the track. Hope you guys like it :)

Awesome work! Keep us updated... or better yet, hopefully we'll have a fc bbq this summer where we can all see the finished project!

Very nice. Do you feel a lot more "oomf" with the new setup?

Matt you rock....cudos on your first built....
After all tuned and done what do you think your gonna be putting down? and isn't this built engine gonna have some form of F/I in it?

p.s. why blue?

NikiterZTS,Apr 9 2009, 08:09 PM Wrote:p.s. why blue?
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That would be Ford engine blue... Now go back to your imports. :lol:

The engine looks good. Can't wait to see what she puts down!

Fantastic matt!
Much respect.

I may need to have you over for the day to get the green monster back in shape!

Very nice nothing more fullfilling than building your own engine keep up the great work!

Nice work...Can't wait to see it.

I can't really go WOT yet for the first 800km's or so. I got 250km already lol. So far so good tho! I can feel the car has got more power thats forsure..... but I havnt pushed the pedal past 50% lol! As for FI, I have a temperary Nitrous set up that I will use at the track this summer, but in the near future a thicker head gasket and a nice turbo will really get this car moving!

As for what kind of power its putting down I dont really know. If I had to gues i'd say maybe 155whp or a little more? I know N/A Zetecs dont make a tonne of power when they are just N/A so we will have to see!
Thanks for the comments guys!

Matty holy s***! :lol:

That's awesome! Zetecs will put down mad power with the right tune and compression ratio.

Did you run a stock compression ratio so that you can go F/I easily then? I see that you're talking up turbos.

That's seriously wicked bud! Congrats on your first build!

reldridge,Apr 9 2009, 10:03 PM Wrote:

NikiterZTS,Apr 9 2009, 08:09 PM Wrote:p.s. why blue?
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Now go back to your imports. :lol:

[right][snapback]284717[/snapback][/right]

You damn right I will go back to imports B)

Hey Nick, I went with blue because I wanted to do something a little different. I have always like the Ford Blue blocks like the 302 and 429 BB In 69' and 70'. So I decided that on a gun metal car, hints of blue here and there wouldn't look too bad.

As for my compression ratio its around 10:1 right now. The way I had everything set up (machine shop wise) is if I wanted to run boost all I have to do is throw in a thicker head gasket. It already has low compression pistons ;) Its interesting the way I did it. In the mean time, if I decide to run the nitrous in a few months its gonna feed off the high compression already ;) So I guess with a little more wrench time its a win win situation :lol:

did you say u got your head from massive??? how much did it run you...and how much did the shop in stoney creek charge you....i plan on doing my engine this winter

thank you

Looks great Matt. Nice work, just take it easy while you run it in. You should be putting down some nice numbers when you add the boost.

Next step for horsepower is a much better fuel system. Stock ain't gonna cut it. So by the time I get injectors, a mafia and a re-tune its gonna be another $400-500. So I figure I'll just have fun with the N/A for now :)

Very nice looking motor

if you plan to update your fuel system, with the chances of going turbo in the future. I'd take the time and convert your fuel system into a return-style fuel system .. much easier and safer to write tunes for than the factory returnless fuel system

Thats a good point Schade. Thats probably what I'll end up doing :)

Nice Build Now buy my Turbo set up ;) I'll give you a good price. I would love to see how it does at the track good luck try to get into the low 13's with that B!tch

Same for you drunkinmonkey buy my Motor I would love to see it in your hands Let me know if your intersted and Ill price you out something special.