Chipped 1.8 Zetec Focus

FrannoBaz · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:11

What sort of tuning products are available for the Zetec Focus? And how much do they increase power?

ryder · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:15

http://www.zetecinside.com/xr2/zetectune.htm

Do you know which variant it is? It seems from that website, if its the 115bhp lump, some better cams will hike it to 130.

FrannoBaz · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:17

ryder said:
http://www.zetecinside.com/xr2/zetectune.htm

Do you know which variant it is? It seems from that website, if its the 115bhp lump, some better cams will hike it to 130.

Yeah, its the 1.8 Zetec Collection edition from 2003. Are new cams likely to damage the gearbox?

Stonedofmoo · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:17

-Ad- · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:19

ZETEC y0

saitrix · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:30

ryder said:
http://www.zetecinside.com/xr2/zetectune.htm

Do you know which variant it is? It seems from that website, if its the 115bhp lump, some better cams will hike it to 130.

Won't you need to remap it though?

Duke · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:35

Is it really worth spending much money on tuning a N/A 1.8 Focus? It would be different if it was a 1.8 Turbo.

Toker · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:39

you'll hardly get any gains out a n/a 1.8 with a remap, maybe 10bhp or so...

you could always get a sports manifold/downpipe/racing cat and full system, cams and a remap...might see 20-30bhp with that but not really worth the cash imo

Scrutinize · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:41

FrannoBaz said:
Yeah, its the 1.8 Zetec Collection edition from 2003. Are new cams likely to damage the gearbox?

lol lol lol and lol :rolleyes:

2 options that will work for you:

1) Save the 1k-2k you will spend on getting cams, remap etc and put it towards a quicker car

2) Just no

The performance increase you will get from spending a couple of k, so that the car is done properly and still reliable /driveable on the focus 1.8 will be minimal.

This is mainly due to the gearing they have and the characteristics of the engine. Case in point MK4 Astra 1.8 Sri vs Focus 2.0 Zetec. Focus is slower on paper with more power ~ 135 in the focus vs 125 in the Astra. The focus 1.8s are a fair bit slower than the 2.0s, even tuning the 1.8 to 2.0 bhp levels will not get you much ooomph.

3) Buy a quicker car

4) Buy a quicker car

Don't forget the insurance costs / premium of these sorts of mods can be quite a hike. And don't try the whole won't tell them thing either.

ZETEC NO

Muncher · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:44

Simply not worth it, buy a quicker car.

dthebuk · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:47

strip it out?

[TW]Fox · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:48

Waste of time.

Scrutinize · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:48

dthebuk said:
strip it out?

This man has a point, take everything not needed out the car and save maybe 50kgs for a whole lot of agro and unless you fit some super light racing seats and a lightweight roll cage, the car will look like your off to the tip with your garden rubbish rather than stripped out racer.

[TW]Fox;11590630 said:
Waste of time.

Don't like to agree with you but for once you have a valid point

ryder · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:49

dthebuk said:
strip it out?

I suppose, like tuning the engine, doing enough to make an actual difference won't be worth it.

Toker · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:51

spend £150 on a bmc cda induction kit then you sound fast without the expense

Stonedofmoo · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:52

The engine isn't tuned for performance, you would have to do some much work to gain any real power out of it, and even then it's doubtful you would have come close to the power of the mildly tuned ST170.

saitrix · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:53

mrk1@1,

Few k? Spend wisely and its a lot cheaper than that. Take cams from a 2.0 zetec, they are the same as the cams used in the 130ps 1.8. Manifold and decat pipe is about £100 to your door if you buy off ebay 2nd hand. 2.0 throttle body for like £20. Only question I have is what to do with the ecu and to keep it cheap.

Scrutinize · 28 Apr 2008 at 20:57

saitrix said:
mrk1@1,

Few k? Spend wisely and its a lot cheaper than that. Take cams from a 2.0 zetec, they are the same as the cams used in the 130ps 1.8. Manifold and decat pipe is about £100 to your door if you buy off ebay 2nd hand. 2.0 throttle body for like £20. Only question I have is what to do with the ecu and to keep it cheap.

Still won't help much though at the end of the day. Doing it cheaply or £££ the result will still be the same, very little performance.

Best bet is do a SS exhaust and Enclosed induction kit for a bit more of a sporty note if you must. Anything more is a total waste.

What ever is spent could be better saved towards a quicker car.

saitrix · 28 Apr 2008 at 21:00

mrk1@1 said:
Still won't help much though at the end of the day. Doing it cheaply or £££ the result will still be the same, very little performance.

Best bet is do a SS exhaust and Enclosed induction kit for a bit more of a sporty note if you must. Anything more is a total waste.

What ever is spent could be better saved towards a quicker car.

Well 15bhp for the cams, throttle body about 4bhp, manifold and decat about 8bhp. About 25-30bhp overall then, not that bad for the money, I am thinking a cheap way to sort the ecu is to use a 2.0 ecu... Being researched into right now though.

Cheap way to help out the breathing is to use the ST170's snorkel, the auto 2.0 air deflector, then maybe a K&N panel filter if you feel like it. That is a good setup on a budget.

Scrutinize · 28 Apr 2008 at 21:02

saitrix said:
Well 15bhp for the cams, throttle body about 4bhp, manifold and decat about 8bhp. About 25-30bhp overall then, not that bad for the money, I am thinking a cheap way to sort the ecu is to use a 2.0 ecu... Being researched into right now though.

Thats optimistic and assuming the engine is in good nick, all installed preperly with follwers etc and properly mapped.

As for the De-cat, can be a lot of hassle come MOT for very litttle gain.