whats people thought on these zetec rwd water rails?

[1sttimezetec]

ebay Item number: 350467651082

has anyone used one of these? the ebay seller is flakspeed & the compnay is ik engineering

i'd like to know peoples thoughts/opinions, wether this would be any good

has anyone got one fitted & in use on thier car?

[alladdin]

looks a little deep,, maybe ?

[1sttimezetec]

i'm asking as i'm currently collecting a few bits n pieces to do a blacktop rwd conversion

i'm actually on the tightest budget ever as i have just lostm my job, hopefully wont be out of work too long, well.......not long enough to postpone my conversion plans i hope

the water rail is my main concern as they are all pretty pricey for effectivley what they are/do

i am comtomplating a DIY water rail as i canweld & fab pretty well (big-head)

the one on the dreaded bay of E loks cheap enough but not seen one used/fitted to a working car so any opinions are truely appreciated guys/gals

what route do you gouys think i should take? i'm a rubbih decision maker lol )

[looneytune]

I.K.E is/used to be, a member on here. He does a lot of fabrication parts. I think he does the swedish style plenums

[ryan.minshall]

make you own i did and cost me in total of £4 lol

[mk2mania]

looks a little deep,, maybe ?

if your puttin a zetec in u want it as far back as possible, that rail wont let you either make your own or put a bit more to and get a raceline or RF one

[savvi]

make you own i did and cost me in total of £4 lol

Where's the pics then ?
I like Diy cheap stuff like that

[1sttimezetec]

same here, i could do with a little DIY inspiration to make my plan of attack, really would appreciate any pics of diy water rails do to my lack of finance at present!!!

really appreciate the advice all!!!!!

also out of the water rails on the market what would you consider the best of the ones out on the market! my zetec will be a daily driver so reliabuility & good temprature control is top of the list!!!

[looneytune]

cant you recess the bulkhead and stick with the original housing?

[1sttimezetec]

hello fellow midlunder. not really i have just painted the shell & its metallic so a bit of a ball ache to redo now, & i've done it myself in the garage & i have got a heated garage so i defo cant be bothered redoing the engine bay D lol

so much for my idea of forward planning lol - to be honest i was going to put a tuned pinto in my car but cost & fuel econamy wise the zetec has won the fight! last minute decision as usual

[ryan.minshall]

Here's mine

If you look at my build thread on the left <--------- you can see some fished pictures of it in the engine bay

[looneytune]

Efi the pinto. Theres only 10-15 horses difference between them. Fuel economy is pretty well matched

[alladdin]

Efi the pinto. Theres only 10-15 horses difference between them.

really ? are late sierras 150 bhp?

[1sttimezetec]

where do you get the bits for an edi setup though? its all a bit thin on the ground around where i live, my ideal would be an injected blacktop zetec with simple wiring to get itin & running

[looneytune]

Pinto efi: 115 bhp. Zetec: 130 bhp. 130 - 115 = 15

[looneytune]

Ebay. Sometimes you get a complete kit or you might have buy individualy but they'te still out there. Simpler to wire up than a zetec

[alladdin]

Pinto efi: 115 bhp. Zetec: 130 bhp. 130 - 115 = 15

i see, yes in std trim they are indeed close and tbh its not worth the expense or trouble to fit a std zetec but of course a set of webers/bike carbs/throttle bodies and the 15bhp becomes 50 bhp and the balance shifts.

[evans2822]

Pinto efi: 115 bhp. Zetec: 130 bhp. 130 - 115 = 15

Std efi tune =130 but even a basic twin choke carb and megajolt will see 140-145 bhp on a std 2.0 zetec Ken B on here saw 139bhp with this set up on a 1.8 zetec... as theres no air con,no egr valve crap etc etc...And I doubt IMO that a injected pinto actually gave a genuine 115bhp In the first place...

[robrs2]

My zetec one

[1sttimezetec]

cheers robrs thats fantastic, looks like it'll do the job treat, i think i'll be doing diy jobby myself!

is that 4mm plate you have used for the bit that mounts to the head, sort of the baseplate if that makes some sort of sence! i like the thermostat part on yours, looks like it'll do the job very well!!!!!

really appreciated guys, i'm a little new to doing an engine swap using a differant engine, i have done like for like engine swaps, just going one step further i suppose

[robrs2]

Just bolts flat to the head.
But none of the water rail kits are correct for the zetec. The zetec needs to have a fast warm up. The thing that looks like an oil cooler is a heater. The thermostat has two parts to them. One is the oil heater circuit and the other is the water part.
If your using it a lot it is well worth trying to keep this as ford had it. It will save engine wear.

Also don't put a low rated stat in. The zetec runs warm

[ryan.minshall]

Very similar to mine as above in the pic I used a pinto thermostat so it stays hot and gets warm quick, just as I planed it. and also has a temp sensor in the right place.

[robrs2]

You copied mine then, lol

[ryan.minshall]

na here's is a pictrue of mine when I was making it the front part is made from pinto thermostat housing with alloy pipe and the back piece made from cardboard lol, no steel and the temp sensor is in the bottom middle of that.

[savvi]

Think you need to make another one of those Ryan .........

[ryan.minshall]

if i had a tig welder i would make loads and sumps too but don't have the cash, but have templates to do so

[savvi]

I got a excellent welder local to me and is fairly cheap for what he does.

[robrs2]

I have bits for another if anyone is after one

[savvi]

I'd like them if possible mate, i'll Pm you for some details