[Burnin21]

Hey man I'm from Burlington Ontario, just outside of Toronto. I got a cottage just slightly north of Parry Sound, and i've been to Sudbury before. I love the north too bad its freaking way to cold in the winter lol. Hey i saw somewhere (i'll have to find the web page) that they were selling 70mm Throttle Bodies. Do you think the 70 would be better then the 65 or minimal difference? By the way with the stuff that you've done to your Focus what do you beat on the streets with it? Civics? Accords? Cavaliars? (the list goes on).

Thanks again


Oh and one more thing. Is it possible to put dual exhaust on a ZX3 or is there not enough room? :unsure:

[Paparoach]

First off a dual exhaust would only be good if you wanted to change the look of it, it would not change performance at all on the little 4 cyclinder. Many people believe that it is not necessary to go over 2.25 inch exhaust on an NA car. Dual exhaust are used generally on V8 when there are two headers.

70mm throttle body is definately not worth it and the 65mm is overkill in most cases. I would only move to the 65mm myself until after changing my cams and gears. 70mm is only for use when pushing big big numbers. The best and cheapest way is porting your own...just don't get Dan to do it unless you have two days.

[Burnin21]

Ok thanks again for the info. I'll definitly write that down. Dual exhaust looks kool but hey one exhaust will do just fine unless i feel like spending the money and getting creative. In the futur i'd like to add Crane street/strip cams but thats after i get some head work done along with throttle body, exhaust, intake ect.

By the way which intake manifold do you guys recommend? Steeda?

[Paparoach]

Burnin21,May 25 2004, 04:51 PM Wrote:Ok thanks again for the info. I'll definitly write that down. Dual exhaust looks kool but hey one exhaust will do just fine unless i feel like spending the money and getting creative. In the futur i'd like to add Crane street/strip cams but thats after i get some head work done along with throttle body, exhaust, intake ect.

By the way which intake manifold do you guys recommend? Steeda?

Intake manifold easy find an early 2000 model year Focus one and then port the baby....

I forget who sells them I think Chris on the Jet? Is he CTZX3 guys I forget haven't been there for a long time.

Cams well that will start a debate....

[darkpuppet]

You definitely want to hold off on the dual exhaust and 65mm throttle body for a while.

Considering that the air needs to get through the MAF which is 65mm or less, there is absolutely no gain in HP. In fact the HP gain with the 65mm throttle body is negligible, but what you do gain is quicker tip-in with on-throttle application... but you can gain most of that tip in performance by porting your stock TB. which is really cheap to do, and quick if you take a minute of your busy afternoon and find the dremel :P

As far as mods go... chances are you'd get biggest bang for the buck with some adjustable cam gears and dyno time. Production variances in the focus can net you 5-15HP just by playing with the cam gears.

From there, freeing up the intake with a volant is handy, but don't expect performance to improve drastically on hot summer days.

Exhaust wise, Borla or Bosal net the best HP numbers (according to a recent [fj] study... and you can go pretty quiet with the Bosal without sacrificing performance.

a 4-2-1 header will get you more HP as well, but you either have to relocate the cat, or lose it altogether. Since folks from Sudbury are used to a polluted environment (and 3ft tall trees), don't take their advice on emissions... one car does matter :P. A shorty will keep emissions happy, gain a bit of power...and would work dandily with a high-flow cat...hell, a high-flow cat is handy anytime you wish to keep the cat.

Another HP gainer would be an underdrive pulley kit... there's been some questions about them in the long run, but they get you guaranteed HP gains.

Next on the list might be a 2000 focus intake manifold... definitely less restrictive than later model years, but I'm not sure what the gains are on them.

Recently, there's been news of chip tuning by SuperChipsCustom tuning that FocusSport has been doing that has netted some pretty decent gains on a stock focus. I haven't researched it much, but that's another possible mod.

Other than that, you can move into more serious mods like cam gears, intake porting, and FI....

Oh yeah... as you move up the HP range, you will want to consider getting a larger MAF... the stock one seems to be limited to about 160HP max, and the 65mm size could be restricting for larger normally aspirated HP figures.

just my $0.02

[Burnin21]

So i'm assuming those intakes pump out more power then the Steeda ones right?? Anyways about the Cams, i knew it would start a debate.....I know timings a bitch but a close friend of mine is a mechanic. I'm doing all the basic work myself but i'll get my buddy to help me on the more "difficult" things. Just thought i'd let you guys know before you guys begin to freak out on me lol.

[naz]

i've been down this road before and so i am just sharing what i learned

i bought used turbo components and started learning how to TiG weld. all the prices i quote are from my actual experience buying turbo parts. the only parts i needed to finish up were a proM maf, oil and coolant lines, fittings and piping. i stopped and sold it all because i realized that it was going to be cheaper , better and easier to just go out and buy another car that had the option of a factory turbo motor..

before that i had exhaust, flexpipe, cams, cam gears. chip and 4-1 header and my focus trapped at 91mph.. i sold all that too because i realized it was still slow, even though had a fair number of modifications already. and it was quite an eye opener to realize that someone who got an old civic, got a B18B on the cheap for the same money that it cost to do my mods (which i bought used to save money) had a car that was FASTER.. QUIETER.... CHEAPER overall.. and MORE RELIABLE...

so no matter which way you go.. all motor or forced induction, the focus is not the best bang for the buck..

i realized the focus could not take me where i wanted in straight line speed so i brought it back to stock and just autoX it..

and the focus in autoX.. in bone stock form its a lot of fun, its a good learning car, with a good driver it can do well (but then again give a good driver anything and it can do well) but give equal drivers does not appear to be best in class.. if its modified.. it takes a lot of $$$ to get a focus competitive because there are lighter platforms to start off with

so in my opinion from a performance perspective, the focus is sub par

[Burnin21]

So what am i suppose to do now? Just wait for my car to arrive and put it back on the market or sumthin? Hey man you may not have got alot out of your Focus but i'm gonna do the best i can to get what i want out of it. My reason for buying a Focus and doing stuff to it is its cheaper on gas than a Mustang, cheaper in insurance (for me anyway) and some of the parts i find can be cheaper. If i need anything high tech or advanced installed it wont cost me as much as going to some other mechanic to get the job done. Anyway, thats why i bought a Focus.

[naz]

get some azenis sport for the OEM wheels.. leave it at that for now.. if you really feel the itch to modify spend the money on suspension, get a LSD put into the tranny.. do stuff that you can keep on when you turbo the car

when you have 7000usd drive down to north carolina to tom's shop, get him to install his turbo kit and get mike wilson to make you a chip on the dyno.. that should take care of the price of the kit, the install, the tuning, and most likely getting a 3" turbo back exhaust

EDIT: 7000usd seems a bit steep, but if you add up price of any turbo kit or SC kit, price of fuel system and PCM mods, install, dyno time, and misc stuff.. its gonna be that....

[Burnin21]

Ok I'll be doing that for sure when i get the $$$. Man i was looking at Turbo Toms stuff. Its freaking turbos on major roids. lol. Anyways I'd better get back to work before my boss finds me lol.

L8r
Matt

[chumkila]

We have been running 2.0 Zetec Turbo's with in excess of 450bhp+ (and many in 225bhp-350bhp) form reliably in the UK for some time now. All road legal.

You will not have to change your standard Rods unless you are aiming for the 300bhp+ power figure. A piston change will be dependant on your power needs.

[Drivesthebeast]

Hey Brah, welcome to the club! :)

As you've noticed, and likely will always see on here, that there is always talk of the overal reliability of the Foci, and whether or not someone should or shouldn't buy one, and do things to it or not. I'm thinking that you're probably someone like myself, someone who thought the Focus was neat, interesting, different, than all of it's competitors when it came out. Also like me, you probably did some research on the different models, their pros and cons, and shopped the market for a good deal on either a new one or used one. I myself bought a used 01 ZX3 with a 5-speed, despite many people I know encouraging me not to buy a focus coz they are "EEEEVVIIIILLLLLEEEE!" lol! But you know what, I've had only 1 single problem with the car in the last 8 months (knocking on the wooden desk as I say that...lol!), and it was only a leak of my 134 A gas leaking out of my AC system over the winter which was found and fixed cheaply.

Now, when it comes to investin' some serious coinage, I totally agree with everyone else on here...do it slowly, peice by peice, and do one thing at a time to slowly make you're Foci your own. I've done just that, with the only major purchase so far being my tires for my stock rims. Heck, I STILL don't even have my glass tinted, so don't feel bad if your car is (I'm guessing it is) still fairly plain if not stock (just ask the guys...I'm always bitter at the meets I get to go to coz my car is soooo bland still compared to theirs...lol!).

I can tell you that I wanna open the car up a bit. I already got off to a good start by replacing all of the fluids in the car, the plugs, the air filter and the plug wires to get the car running smooth and strong, and I think at some point this summer I would like to get an AEM long-tube CAI, and an MBRP exhaust (hmmm I wonder if Paul is still thiking of parting ways with his...hehehe).

To make a long story short, get your car, and just drive it and enjoy it. And just do mods one item at a time, or, as finances allow. Myself, I'm waiting to see if SHM releases their low-boost turbo kit for the Zetec in the next year...if I could have 200 reliable whp, I'd not want or need any more than that.

Do lots of research, and use the wealth of knowledge you have on this board as much as possible...everyone here has great ideas, and they know what they are talking about...

Peace. B)

[boost til'bust]

naz,May 25 2004, 02:16 AM Wrote:

Burnin21,May 25 2004, 01:42 AM Wrote:Did ya put lots of $$ into your focus? Cause i'm looking at doing some major mods to mine when i get it.

wait

you don't have a focus yet

don't get one.. get something else

its going to cost you 4000usd to SC or turbo a focus unless you have a good fabrication skills..

for that much money you are swapping in a SR20DET into G20/sentra/200SX/240SX

or 3S-GTE into a celica or mr2

or some vtec b series into an EF/EG

yea, but why the hell would you buy a nissan if you can buy a bike and run 10's reliably.


there is always something cheaper and faster out there, but he wants to buy a focus.