Cheap Zetec to RWD conversion

volvoclearinghouse wrote: What he said. Piss off the purists and stuff that Zetec into something better:

Nah, use a Dodge Dakota bellhousing with a turbo 2.5 or a 2.4L DOHC turbo and an R154 5-speed. Should be cheaper and more powerful than the Zetec option.

I tried to use the OMC adapter and found that it was too thick.  It was useful as a hole template, but little else.  I had the Zetec engine and World Class T-5 tranny so I made a solution and wrote a How-To that I posted here:

http://www.vintageandclassiccars.net/2018/04/bellhousing-blues-or-how-i-learned-to.html

Thanks for pointing out the error the the OP.  I hate net wisdom.  I have a 1nzfe aluminum intake that doesn't fit based on net wisdom. 

I understand the "I got these parts, they're gonna work..." attitude.  How much would the Kennedy Engineering or equivalent bell housing have run?  Time is money, too.  And how's the Locost coming?

In reply to Dr. Hess :

The bell housings can run north of $500.  Might be better to use the Ford T5, with the shorter tranny shaft.  Then you would just have to make an adapter for the pilot bushing because the Ford T5 tranny shaft doesn't fit the Zetec pilot b.. I think the Ford T5 requires rather minor modifications to the Ford bell.  I had to run a lot of spacers on the hydraulic throwout bearing to get the correct spacing on the long Chevy shaft.  But the WC Chevy T5 does seem to fit the Zetec pilot bearing perfectly, I don't feel any rubbing when I spin the rear output on the tranny (but this is just pure dumb luck due to the simplistic method I used to drill my spacer's holes using the OMC adapter plate and a punch/drill).  The best way to do the engine to tranny spacer/adapter would probably be to have a computer plot the motor holes and tranny holes, overlay them, and then have a shop computer cut them.  Might be money to be made here people! Although to be honest, sourcing an affordable World Class T5 was a bit of a pain too.

Things are going slow. Families are awesome, but with three kids under 5 I don't have that much garage time ha. Thanks for asking!

A Mustang II or many of the aftermarket Mustang II type front suspension kits fix the Falcon, Comer, Maverick suspension issue plus give you a lot more room in the engine bay. The rack and pinion steering, coil overs save some weight and also open possibility of dropped spindles for ride height.

NoHome...no sooner do I PM you this morn .......I stumble upon this .....into the watchlist it goes.... thanks

Brian 

I realise this thread is old and people probably aren't looking at putting Zetecs in anything these days, but here's a couple pics of what I got up to this weekend:  

 I ordered an adapter plate from a guy in the UK that mates an RX8 6 speed (Aisin 'box) to a Zetec.  It uses the stock Focus flywheel, pressure plate, disc, and RX8 release fork, bearing, and slave cylinder.  I needs a bit of grinding on the bellhousing, but appears to work just fine.

The guy who does the adapter makes other plates to bolt the RX8 gearbox to other motors.

Rod

In reply to RoddyMac17 :

Like what other engines? 

Interesting. I have seven with a zetec hooked to a t9, if it ever E36 M3s the bed, I might have to look into that. Not sure if it'll fit my tunnel though.

Appleseed,

Here's what's been available so far:

Zetec silver top/black top
Zetec St170
X flow
Pinto
I4 mk5 escort engine 2l and 2.3l

Vauxhall redtop xe20/z20
Vauxhall redtop 7 degrees
Saab b204 b234 turbo
Ford colonge v6 2.3
Ford capri 2.8i V6
2.9i V6 24v cosworth BOA/BOB

Focus 5 cylinder ST225/volvo white block
YB cosworth 2WD and 4X4
Ford ECOBOOST 1.6 fiesta ST
Ford sigma 1.6/1.7 fiesta ZS/Puma
Ford 3.0l V6 Essex
Honda civic ep3 K20
Toyota AE86 4AGE

jaguar/st220 V6 duratec AJ30
Bmw M44

In reply to RoddyMac17 :

Where is the adapter availble?  After some light Googling, I only found a guy on a forum in South Wales selling them, but nothing like a website or anything.  

Ian,

I think that's the guy, John Hughes or something like that.  He has a website but you can't purchase items from it if you're outside of the UK.  He's on FB ( RX8 Gearbox Adapters UK) , and does respond fairly quickly to inquiries.  He also sells via the FleaBay, you should be able to find him as freddy686868 . 

All in all, I it was very easy dealing with him.   All I have to do now is build a car around it.

Rod

Oooh, I'm thinking Duratec V6-powered RX8 now.

RoddyMac17 said:

....... All I have to do now is build a car around it.

 

Rod

 

I've  enjoyed all of your other builds, so I'll be following along with interest.

RoddyMac17 said:

Here's what's been available so far:

Focus 5 cylinder ST225/volvo white block

RX-8s ave essentially the same bellhousing layout as every other manual trans rotary going back to 1974, just the flywheel and input shaft changed diameters.

I happen to have RX-7 transmissions stacked like cordwood and a surplus Volvo five cylinder.  Also an RX-8 transmission

Knurled. said:

RoddyMac17 said:

Here's what's been available so far:

Focus 5 cylinder ST225/volvo white block

 

RX-8s ave essentially the same bellhousing layout as every other manual trans rotary going back to 1974, just the flywheel and input shaft changed diameters.

 

I happen to have RX-7 transmissions stacked like cordwood and a surplus Volvo five cylinder.  Also an RX-8 transmission

you know you want to

In reply to Knurled. :

YES!!

A Volvo 5 cylinder in my 780 would be awesome!!

MrChaos said:

Knurled. said:

RoddyMac17 said:

Here's what's been available so far:

Focus 5 cylinder ST225/volvo white block

 

RX-8s ave essentially the same bellhousing layout as every other manual trans rotary going back to 1974, just the flywheel and input shaft changed diameters.

 

I happen to have RX-7 transmissions stacked like cordwood and a surplus Volvo five cylinder.  Also an RX-8 transmission

you know you want to

Not really.  I have nothing with a long and tall enough engine bay for it.  If I had a 240 or 740, sure, but I don't have the room to house one of those.  (Like, they are too big to fit in my garage)

I forgot that I also have a rotary to T5 adapter and enough of a T5 that a couple hundred in parts would make it a trans.  New problem:  Stock boost is more torque than a T5 is rated for.

fatallightning said:

Interesting. I have seven with a zetec hooked to a t9, if it ever E36 M3s the bed, I might have to look into that. Not sure if it'll fit my tunnel though.

Doubt it'll ever be an issue in that light car. I had a 300ish hp XR4Ti with a stock t9 for years! I did break one... but was never very easy on them. :)

Another interesting engine option is 1.6 Ecoboost.  Everyone's been wanting a rear drive trans for the mini-Ecoboost, here it is.

I would personally want to use a smoothcase RX-7 box to save weight vs. the ginormous RX-8 box.  That all would depend on how big the flywheel is.

Might have to go pull the MGB GT out of Kijiji ! Setec and Rx8 gearboxes are not expensive. What does the adapter plate cost?

Pete

In reply to NOHOME :

FOB Vancouver it was approx. $225 CAD,  which may be pricey to some, but I found it quite reasonable.  Mainly considering I had only click a few keys, instead of weeks of research, then develop a CAD/CAM file, and have it cut. If I get some time in the garage this weekend, I'll tidy things up a bit and post a few more pics of the conversion.

In reply to RoddyMac17 :

Can you measure a few things for us?  Overall length of the engine/trans assembly.  Shifter distance from the engine edge of the bellhousing.

Thanks

In reply to RoddyMac17 :

$225 Cnd is couch change.

The GT is listed at the moment so I will let it ride,but not going to give it away, so if it does not go I might have a next project to do.

Pete

In reply to Ian F :

I need the same info to plug into a CAD model I'm creating, so yes will do hopefully this weekend.