Hi, Guest
12-24-2014, 01:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-24-2014, 01:14 PM by juggernautmotorsports.)
Hey so I'm hope I'm not too late to chime in on this being that we run 2 ZX3 rally cars on our team in the Ontario Performance Rally Championship and select Canadian Rally Championship events!
Short answer: Run the one with the 5 speed MTX75 trans. This is because you can get a plated diff. from KAAZ or others which is what we both run. This is because you can get the MFactory 4.75 final drive and close ratio 3-5 gears later down the road and have a very competent box that tops out about 150 km/h; perfect for the car with the power it has (which we also run). Later if you want you can increase power through progressively adding parts or going to full spec by building an 8000-8500rpm redline NA motor or turbo. Remember though that the turbo has to breathe through a 32mm inlet restrictor to satisfy the rules which kills your powerband nearly completely above 5000rpm. If you aren't thinking anti-lag and dogbox etc ($$$$) forget about it in my opinion. I've been competing in rallying for 5 years so take what you will.
The big thing people don't understand is gearbox. Get a good one and the engine doesn't matter because the box always keeps you in powerband. Forget things like "the SVT header is the besssttt". It's not for rally/racing. We're rarely ever below 4000rpm because our gearbox allows us to stay there. 4-1 FTW as they say.
We have bolt ons like 4-1 header, straight through exhaust with high flow cat (as per rules), volant cold air intake, Xcal 3 with off the shelf tune etc. Just small things that way. The big deal for rally in order is: safety stuff (roll cage, seats, helmets, fire suits, harnesses etc), reliable reinforced suspension components/rally specific suspension/brakes/tires. Notice how I didn't include more power in there? That's because I set a top 10 overall stage time (2nd overall in regional ontario class) over many turbo 4wd subarus evos etc. at the Rally of the Tallpines this year on the first stage with just those bolt ons I listed. It's about experience skill and talent, not power. I also did 3-2nd overall Regional finishes this year as well. It's quite fun being on the podium spraying champagne beside two turbo 4wd cars! Time and time again low power 2wd cars driven on the limit can best 4wd turbos driven not as well.
You can of course mate a 5 speed to the SVT engine and end up with that. To be honest though if you were to go that route as the SVT has an awesome head on it, I'd ditch the complicated intake manifold and VCT for a sheet metal style or similar swap the header and non VCT cams and run it that way.
Alternatively the Duratec also has an awesome flowing head, Cosworth or Godspeed (cosworth knockoff) intake manifolds available for it and they've been seen to make near 300whp NA in full 13:1comp spec. Which by the way is far too much for a 2wd rally car. The general consensus is that max. useable whp per wheel for gravel rally is about 100-125 so total of 200ish WHP is quite perfect. Believe me you won't know what to do with 120whp on gravel for the first few years. If you have access to OEM Duratec parts for cheap then I'd be looking this way. You already have a potent engine in stock form, the proper tie rods, the best front callipers, knuckles, balljoint pin size, strut hole opening size and rotors. Hopefully you have rear disc and if you want you can upgrade those to SVT rears though it's not necessary. Remember though that a lot of what you need will be aftermarket stuff but OEM parts are always needed too.
As for wheels/tires; gravel rally tires come in 14" and 15". There used to be 13" but those are gone as are most 14". So you're basically left with 15". That means you can't run the 300mm rotor SVT front brakes. However you can run the 280mmx25mm front rotor 06+ Focus brakes which happen to be the exact brakes that came in the Ford Racing Rally brake kit along with SVT rear brakes which you already have! Those SVT rears are also 280mm which creates a proper bias front to rear. For rims you want the 15"x6" 5/10 spoke 2000-2004 Zetec rims. They're cheap at the wreckers and strong as heck. Spent years on them pushing quite hard.
Now all that being said check out Rally Sport Ontario (RSO) and CARS rally (Canadian Association of Rally Sport) for a lot more details if you haven't already. CARS governs all rally in Canada and the regional clubs like RSO setup and run events in each region.
If you have any other questions PM me or come to an event to see the cars running!
Short answer: Run the one with the 5 speed MTX75 trans. This is because you can get a plated diff. from KAAZ or others which is what we both run. This is because you can get the MFactory 4.75 final drive and close ratio 3-5 gears later down the road and have a very competent box that tops out about 150 km/h; perfect for the car with the power it has (which we also run). Later if you want you can increase power through progressively adding parts or going to full spec by building an 8000-8500rpm redline NA motor or turbo. Remember though that the turbo has to breathe through a 32mm inlet restrictor to satisfy the rules which kills your powerband nearly completely above 5000rpm. If you aren't thinking anti-lag and dogbox etc ($$$$) forget about it in my opinion. I've been competing in rallying for 5 years so take what you will.
The big thing people don't understand is gearbox. Get a good one and the engine doesn't matter because the box always keeps you in powerband. Forget things like "the SVT header is the besssttt". It's not for rally/racing. We're rarely ever below 4000rpm because our gearbox allows us to stay there. 4-1 FTW as they say.
We have bolt ons like 4-1 header, straight through exhaust with high flow cat (as per rules), volant cold air intake, Xcal 3 with off the shelf tune etc. Just small things that way. The big deal for rally in order is: safety stuff (roll cage, seats, helmets, fire suits, harnesses etc), reliable reinforced suspension components/rally specific suspension/brakes/tires. Notice how I didn't include more power in there? That's because I set a top 10 overall stage time (2nd overall in regional ontario class) over many turbo 4wd subarus evos etc. at the Rally of the Tallpines this year on the first stage with just those bolt ons I listed. It's about experience skill and talent, not power. I also did 3-2nd overall Regional finishes this year as well. It's quite fun being on the podium spraying champagne beside two turbo 4wd cars! Time and time again low power 2wd cars driven on the limit can best 4wd turbos driven not as well.
You can of course mate a 5 speed to the SVT engine and end up with that. To be honest though if you were to go that route as the SVT has an awesome head on it, I'd ditch the complicated intake manifold and VCT for a sheet metal style or similar swap the header and non VCT cams and run it that way.
Alternatively the Duratec also has an awesome flowing head, Cosworth or Godspeed (cosworth knockoff) intake manifolds available for it and they've been seen to make near 300whp NA in full 13:1comp spec. Which by the way is far too much for a 2wd rally car. The general consensus is that max. useable whp per wheel for gravel rally is about 100-125 so total of 200ish WHP is quite perfect. Believe me you won't know what to do with 120whp on gravel for the first few years. If you have access to OEM Duratec parts for cheap then I'd be looking this way. You already have a potent engine in stock form, the proper tie rods, the best front callipers, knuckles, balljoint pin size, strut hole opening size and rotors. Hopefully you have rear disc and if you want you can upgrade those to SVT rears though it's not necessary. Remember though that a lot of what you need will be aftermarket stuff but OEM parts are always needed too.
As for wheels/tires; gravel rally tires come in 14" and 15". There used to be 13" but those are gone as are most 14". So you're basically left with 15". That means you can't run the 300mm rotor SVT front brakes. However you can run the 280mmx25mm front rotor 06+ Focus brakes which happen to be the exact brakes that came in the Ford Racing Rally brake kit along with SVT rear brakes which you already have! Those SVT rears are also 280mm which creates a proper bias front to rear. For rims you want the 15"x6" 5/10 spoke 2000-2004 Zetec rims. They're cheap at the wreckers and strong as heck. Spent years on them pushing quite hard.
Now all that being said check out Rally Sport Ontario (RSO) and CARS rally (Canadian Association of Rally Sport) for a lot more details if you haven't already. CARS governs all rally in Canada and the regional clubs like RSO setup and run events in each region.
If you have any other questions PM me or come to an event to see the cars running!