On the back burner, sedan build.

Stay away from the MSD coil!!!!!!!

It's proven to be worthless on high horsepower cars (they made more power with a stock coil), so while it will work on your car you won't be getting any real benefit from it.

IMO, get some Motorcraft plugs and a Motorcraft coil pack from Steve, then get plug wires from CFM (I have had a set on my car for about 80k miles, no issues at all, they're great).

I not going to be doing any huge horse power builds just looking for a reliable coil the won't crack and gives off a good spark every time.

Motorcraft, Motorcraft, and CFM are your answers. When in doubt, OEM.

Ok i get the point. Lol

I'll chexk out CFM tonight when I get off work and see what toys can make dent in my checking account.

FYI, if a motorcraft coil pack has a crack in it, you can take it off the car, make sure it's good and dry, then fill the crack with JB weld and it'll more than likely work good as new for a long time.

But yeah, I'm a major proponent of sticking with the OEM stuff. Hell, even parts store coils aren't bad, I put one on my Dad's ZTS and it's been on there for like 50k miles with no issue.

I've heard that MSD coils really are not any more reliable than stock ones, and more often than not people regret buying it (or wish the previous owner of the car hadn't put one on the car)

CFM doesn't have a damn thing for the SPI not even plug wires.

Love the car, hate the SPI.

I know I get it a lot. Its staying though I rather buy a zetec focus than do a motor swap. I'm just going to do a head rebuild and keep till the wheels fall off. Lol

TheGlassMaker wrote:CFM doesn't have a damn thing for the SPI not even plug wires.

Great excuse to swap in a Zetec

Honestly I love to go down south and hunt down a rust free 2.3 first gen.

The advantage of the swap (either duratech or Zetec) over buying a whole new car is the cost. Find a wrecked car with the right engine pay $500.

just do an engine swap get one that's in good shape and install it. that's what im doing I just gotta find an engine the one i was gonna buy has been sold. so i gotta start all over again.

I have a dumb question what do those breather filter's do anyway? I never really understood it could someone please explain it.

Well in my case I used it in place of the pcv tube that went to the stock air box. Once I removed the box the tube didn't go any where so I added the filter in it's place.

There is probably enough people around you that would come and help, that you could swap in a day or less, depending on how many hands ya got.

Engine swap! The car looks too good, And as SVT3658 said, Zetec has more performance parts, that alown is a good reason.

It's your choice, car looks great either way.

Thanks man. We'll have to see later down the road.

Because racecar!



Got some new tires in today will get them on tomorrow morning.



After a short conversation on FB Jason gave me link to get that problem fixed.
http://forums.focaljet.com/stance/649295-how-diy-alignment.html

Wow that's really bad.

You're better off calling around and asking places if they have alignment specials. There's always at least one place around me doing a $30 alignment special. You're going to be at a tire place anyway....

So far the cheapest I found around here is $125 for all four wheels. But the front is good tires still look new. Most people want around 200 for all four.

What?!?! That's absurd

I've thought about hitting up sear I've heard there good and I like how they do a print out of your specs before and after but not sure on the price yet.

Ok, I meet up with 02_Z_X_3 to buy his white bumper off him for 30 bucks. i can finally replace my old broken bumper.





Then went to store to buy all the primer, paint, clear and sand paper to get it repainted. Plus I got so high temp paint of the valve cover finally.






Jason has already smacked my hand on the paint I bought and point me in the right direction. lol

shave it first!!!

Looks like the right paint to me

I havnt done a test shot yet as it does look close but I think it be a lil dark. I'll see what duplicolor has to offer first.

I picked the duplicolor paint still haven't had time to test things out. I'm off work for five days after tuesday so I'll get to work on it then.

Anyway I stopped to use the restroom at this park along side Grand Lake St. Marys. I snapped a couple quick pics before getting in the car a moving on. I didn't think they came out well on the camera screen, but I viewed them today and not to shabby. lol

Nice pics.

TheGlassMaker wrote:Honestly I love to go down south and hunt down a rust free 2.3 first gen.

I may know where an 04 2.3 sedan is sitting in a junk yard.... manual too. Low miles if I remember right. Car is totaled, but for a swap?

That would be sick man! No moneys right now though at least in that price range I'm sure.

Alright alright it's finally painted.

Doing some late light paint prep. I hope to have it on the car and painted by sunday.

Color matched the mirror caps.

Painted mirror caps are always a great mod! They look good man

How she sits right now. Still need to get the other bumper done then after that I can get the lower grill done. Then I'll probably be done for a while, id like to work on the cai but I dunno right now.

Oh yea I still need to get the fogs wired up too.

Just tried to change the fuel filter, just cause I'm trying to change all the little things. But it was a no go this lil bolt is not coming off even after I let it soak in wd40.

Ok as some of you may know the engine is offically toast. Went bad tuesday afternoon and was finished today. Before you all jump to conclusions. It was NOT the valve seat. The top end is still good, shove that in your pooper. The car spun a bearing and shut off. Had it towed to my mechanic he started to listen to it, let is sit over night then started it again to drive it into the building and it threw a rod. I'm keeping the car due to the fact I love the thing and I can't afford a new car. She is currently waiting on a heart transplant. I hope to get it back in a week or two. I'm going to see her tomorrow to get some things off the old engine that I've recently replaced, so im not out that money. I'll keep you guys updated with pics if I can.


I was also excited to find out the zetec will bolt up to the SPI trans. How ever the mechanic doesn't have time for the extra hours required to do engine swap. So it staying a SPI, it will get a completely refurbished engine. He was willing to take to the car to someone who is willing to do the swap but I don't have the time or the money to move it.

This is my cars first and only problem, go big or go home right?

Yea to it yourself go with a zectec spi is crap my car has 150k on it and it sees limiter and 100+ almost daily and yea it's had issues but has never left me on the side of the road

Do WHATEVER it takes to put a zetec in your car.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Don't put a second SPI in there, you'll just be asking for it.


Zetecs are well known to last a long time. My SVT Zetec has 230k miles on it, my Dad's Zetec in his 01 ZTS has 218k on it.


Not to mention a used Zetec will probably be a lot cheaper than a rebuilt SPI...and I'll bet you they did nothing to that engine to prevent the valve seat from dropping. So if the rebuilt engine you're getting had 100k miles onm it, it's a ticking time bomb.

I bet yo could find some locals that would be willing to help you transplant a Zetec into it.

^ Listen to these people.

If my circumstances were a little different I would have thrown a zetec in my car so fast.

Find a donor car, and some locals willing to help and knock it out in a weekend.

You can probably buy a whole car for less than the cost of another spi. I know this was the case in my situation at least.

Ok went to check out the car today and took a few things off the old motor. I also pulled all four plugs to see if infact it was a valve seat. The number four plug was smashed but all the chambers are clean and intact. The rod must have boke off on the fourth piston and smashed the plug. Any how. Here a pic of it sitting among others waiting to get worked on.

James, what's this shop charging you?

I dunno he hasbt given me a quote yet. I've talked to him twice on the phone and today in person. He just keeps telling he'll get back to me with a quote later in the day. I think he is having problems finding a engine. I really hope it comes down to he has to swap in a zetec cause he can't find a spi. It also worried me he going to find a spi in a junk yard that was pulled from a wrecked car.

It sounds like you're letting him tell you what to do with your car. If you want a ZETEC, tell him. You're paying him, he should do it. If he's not willing to do it, have some friends help you move it somewhere that will, or have them help you do the swap

Yea maybe a little. But I cant find a complete engine at all any where, I can find zetecs all day long. But no one has the harness or ecu. It's like they junk everything after the pull the motor. Even the top salvage yards have nothing. No body has SPIs at all. I figured he has better resources than I do. I dont want a junk yard motor no matter zetec or spi. I don't know it's history.

Junkyard Zetec > any SPI, new/rebuilt/used

FYI, my Dad neglected his Zetec for a while. It didn't start getting proper oil change intervals until I turned 16 (2007) and started dong my oil changes...he asked me to change his too, so I started keeping track of his miles and doing them every 5k with synthetic. Long story short, his valve cover was off a little while back for a timing belt job, and it still looked new with a layer of oil under there.

Even if you redline a Zetec on a daily basis and half-ass the oil change interval, it's pretty hard to kill one. Even if you get one from a junkyard with ~100k miles and an unknown history, you've got like a 99% chance it will outlast your car. Seriously.




http://www.ebay.com/itm/00-01-02-03-04-FOCUS-ENGINE-2-0L-DOHC-ZETEC-86K-MILES-/290542972447?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43a5b5ee1f&vxp=mtr#ht_2187wt_1163

86k miles, $700 OBO. Offer them 400, see what they counter with.


Also, try calling CFM. I know they used to have Zetec crate engines for a decent price.

Well I found severl zetecs at carconnectionohio.com that plce is a hour from me. I going to look into doing this myself. If I can get my buddy to use his garage and hoist.

Also try checking your local craigslist. That where I was able to find a couple complete donor cars.

If you can't find any of the little things like a harness and PCM let me know. I can find that stuff all day everyday. Just pay me for it and the shipping.

I did my entire swap for $850. If all your doing is the engine you can do it easy and pretty cheap.