I'm about to swap in a new head and wondered if anyone here has done this and has any tips. I've done major rebuilds on other motors(mostly V8) and figure there are some little tricks I might need to know with the Zetec.
Thanks
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Are you swaping due to bad parts or to modify/upgrade.
I would recomend a valve job (3 or 4 angle grind) and maybe shave the head to bump the compression a bit (If can even be done). Basicly do all the head work you want to do now so you don't have to pull the head down the road.
I would also replace the timing components, surpentine belt and maybe throw on some adjustable cams. Even if you don't port the head or do a valve job.
New head is ported and polished and has been milled to get about 2 pts of compression. ......aaaargh.....my dog just farted........gasp gasp.......Ok better now. I'm also using Cat stage 1's so the improvement should be pretty dramatic. Haynes is unusually UN-helpful in this. Half of the head chapter consists of referring back to other sections. If I don't get any surprises I should be able to do it in an afternoon.
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you didn't mention adjustable cams. If you don't have them get them so you can get the full use out of your cams.
I know this won't help one bit but i just did a head and head gasket on my toyota 4cil and the book was actually decent in showing what to do. The only thing it didn't say was the aluminum head weighs just about as much as a steal head when leaning over and streaching trying to lift it off the block. Doesn't help when you already have a bad back
Just thought of this. Might want to put a block or somthing under the exhaust so it only falls a little or none when disconnecting the exhaust manifold.
also if you can do it maybe look and see if you can take the intake manifold off after the head is out. Will save streaching and arm manipulatuion to get the lower bolts. I don't know if this can be done but if it can it will probably make your life a bit easier (for the day anyway )
Are you going to use the stock cams or aftermarket ones. If you are sticking with the stock cams it will make the swap much easier, and you won't need to have it tuned. Before you remove the head make an alignment mark on the cam gears and the block. When you emove the head keep the cams and the cam gears bolted together, put them in the new head, line up the marks and you will have the correct timming. A wax pencil works well. Also Dan's correct about the intake maniold, just disconnect all of the vaccum hoses and pull the head and intake manifold out at the same time.
If you are switching to a different cam profile you will have to get the car retuned, otherwise your timming will be all screwed up.
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Yeah, I have adj. cam gears, as well. I'm just gonna set them to 0,0 for now. I have a chip coming and will try to tune the cams as well as the other stuff all at once. I'm also planning to do my belts and tensioner and such while I'm in there. I'll also be putting on the 4-2-1 header and a ported 2000 intake with F/C throttle body while I'm at it.
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