Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral 1.6zetec > 1.8zetec engineswap

Main difference between 1.8 and 2.0 except the extra BHP is the torque, Ford engines are very torquey lowdown in the rev range - This alone would personally sway me, infact it has hence why I have one sitting under the bonnet of the fiesta and also my old escort.

THe golden rule 'Theres no replacement for displacment' comes into play, your right in saying you can use the '2.0 package' but that doesnt give it 2.0 power.

If you have £800 to modify you engine you will obviously get bigger gains but having a more powerful engine to start off with, the usual airfilter/exhaust and a set of cams should see you to 150bhp - Kent/Piper cams are £500 on the zetec so save money and get yours reprofiled for £150.

Only thing is once you get to about 170bhp then you need some serious mods done, the next step is a set of throttle bodies and custom engine management - this is where the price raises alot, for example Omex management and a set of TBs recently got sold for £1200 and that was cheap!

Good thing with the 2.0 is they have bigger valves and airways so take to cylinderhead work better. Am not knocking the 1.8 by all means and if you have the engine and parts at hand and for low cost its a good improvement over the 1.6

It all depends on certain factors, i bought my 2.0 for £120 (Granted I got it cheap as a favor) and that had covered no more than 80k - then you obviously need all your fluids etc for the price goes up, i was lucky in my case as some major components didnt need to be replaced as they had not long been done - All in my engine conversion has cost me about £200 or there abouts

New idea

The 1.8 escorts front end is now stripped of headlight grille bonnet bumper etc and its time to remove the engine,so i apparently have 2 options

Do i,
a)Remove engine and gearbox and radiator+hoses as described above
or do i
b)Take it all out as 1,and i mean everything subframe+struts+hubs(all bolted together) etc..

Apparently as its all bolted to the subframe it can all come out as 1,this would be good as i could fit the Gmax suspension to the hubs while theyre off and then bolt the whole lot into the white beast.Lowering it and changing the engine at the same time.

Is this subframe removal thing as easy as it sounds

No do as I have suggested.

Its not all bolted to the subframe and wont come out as one - Mondeos it is but not escorts

The escorts subframe is only a 'cradle' held on by 4 bolts, the only thing connected to it is two of the gearbox mounts

Cheers bud, ill be dismantling the 1.8s coolant system and intake/exhaust stuff this weeek.

What is the wierd bar infront of the radiator? its like an oval shaped black bar that attaches to hoses , does it flow water?air?hyd fluid?

Not too sure what you mean?
On the fiesta theres piping that goes infront of the rad, that goes in a loop and has cooling fins on it - Its a cooler for the powersteering.

Yeah its like that,a hard pipe that goes across then back on itself.I thought i may have been a heating element to melt potential ice in the rad after sitting overnight lol. Does power steerting fluid get hot then?

AY it does, now I think of it am sure the escort doesnt have it.

Give me a shout if you get stuck, and iv seen some nice bits and bobs for the 1.8 recently such as P&P head. Depends on what money you have

im thinkin 1 thing. is it really worth it??

yes dikky,yes it is, its costing me less than 50 quid.and im gettin 25 BHP more jsut like that. Then another 15BHP by gettin the XR3 spec cams,TB,MAF,then another 10BHP through exhaust chip air filter (AT LEAST 140BHP there then)

Don't forget to change the , cam belt & ALL the idler wheels , water pump & clutch before you you refit the new engine . Trust me it's a must ........

Why is it a must?the belt is less than 5k old,and the clutch less than 30k. I know the engiens history as it was a mates

Ignore the mechanic. I mean, what would he know?

I aint ignoring him,i know this is a sensible thing to do but the belt and clutch have got an awful lot of life left. Im not wastin 160 quid on a clutch when the current one will last another 4 years at the least. And the belt will last another 50000 miles at least. And ill be damned if im messin with one of them when i dont have to

I see 1 a week that has had the belt go as a result of the idler pullies failing , most people only change the belt & not the idlers as they will cost £40 more , but compared to £400 for a head job ! ! The water pump & cluch are only cheep but as the engine is on the floor it's the ideal time to change them ....only trying to help ..

1800 is coming out of its shell this weekend,the troops are rallied,the tools present and correct and we're gonna see a challenge