Shake's Zx2 Build

Ive had good luck rebuilding the calipers plus the $2.50 price per kit is great.

This field of drivers is quite competitive over bragging rights as there is no prize money for season winners. Some guys are running serious race tires that cost $400 each. The Federal 595 I got are suppose to be a good dollar/performance balance. I paid $330 for 4 shipped and another $85 to mount and balance them.

1. Braided brake hoses that cheap? LINKS!?

2. I think the Zetec will be ok from oil starvation. The 2 part oil pan has a really good baffle (which is incorporated as the upper pan's bottom). Also, the pick up tube sits almost dead center between cyl 2&3. In any case if it starves.. oh well I'm not going to go through the trouble to correct starvation except for keeping the oil full.

YEAH! I beat some decent cars from the Novice AM, same class as me just different time of day, stomped most of the old Hondas and even a Tesla Model 3. Honestly though I wouldn't try hard with some of those cars... wouldn't want to hurt them haha.

Replaced and modded some stuff. Fixed the window crank and deleted the door panels.



Replaced the valve cover gasket, re-gapped the plugs, and installed the header. Ended up chopping a bracket on the engine and clearance the oil pan due to interference from the header.



Current work in progress is the pots mod and cooling fan switch. I figured out a way to use the A/C pressure switch circuit to activate the fan but I need a manual switch to turn the fan off. This saves me having to run a relay and does not affect normal operation of the cooling fan(the fan will turn on as needed by the ECU even if my switch is off). I need manual control of the fan to support the pots mod. Modifying the ECT output changes fuel input and the engine temp that the ECU sees.

Next Race is a practice on 10/13/19. Nothing will be official but ill post my unofficial times as usual.

@shake , it makes me smile seeing that you beat a WRX, make me rethink the potential of our Escorts.


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The car is back in commuter mode for the winter. Reinstalled the interior and stock tires.

It is clear from the event that the race tires helped a bunch. I was running bottom of the Miata pack. About a 2-3 second gain. The bad is the Zx2 is lacking in power delivery to the wheels on corner exits and has significant body roll; I think the 2 are related. The track was quite fast. The best time was 42.5 seconds by an Evolution 9.



Installed an LC1 wideband and I finished the coolant fan circuit(works great). I did not complete the Pots or IAT mods. Over the winter I hope to do some drivetrain mods, new brakes, and struts. I'm going to go with a welded MSP protege LSD, Transaxle rebuild, Fidanza flywheel, and upgraded clutch. To get the LSD to work I'll need to make an intermediate shaft(low budget hit). I picked up a Kia driver side axle for $30 from rockauto so I can get some dimensions. I really need to clean up the garage and build a bench before I can progress on the Transaxle.

Been working on brakes. The rear brakes looked about 1/2 - 3/4 worn; I decided to not replace them. Adjusted the e-brake at the handle. Still going to flush all the brake fluid and replace the rubber brakes lines. The old brake fluid looks horrible.



The front brakes were at the squeal tabs. Rebuilt the calipers and replaced pads, rotors, and hardware. Going to cut the fenders to aid in brake cooling. I smoked the front ones in the summer on a cruise.




Going to replace the master cylinder next and bleed the brakes. Replacing the brake fluid with DOT 4 fluid for higher boiling point.

why not dot 5.1? its not silicon based like dot5 is and has a even higher boiling point.

Really? didnt even know about DOT 5.1. To bad I've already bought DOT 4. Next time I suppose.

Did you end up putting the comp cams in? Are those for a focus head?

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I have not installed the cams. They are for the Focus Zetec not an issue as long as you delete VCT. I think stage 3 and up requires grinding material from the head.

In regards to the Trans upgrade. I'm sure you probably already have these links but I'll send them anyways just in case.

http://www.mazdaspd.com/resources/Transmission_Rebuild.pdf

https://mazda626.net/topic/40913-g-series-5-speed-trans-teardown-rebuild-5th-gear-and-lsd-swap/

Also, I've read a lot of people talk about rear disc brakes not making much of a difference but for me when I AXed the wagon on a practice course the RDB's definitely made a difference. If you're going to open track the car then I would think about moving up to a larger disc which means you'll need adapter brackets for the calipers to line up to keep brake fade to a minimum.

Do you really need such a high DOT rating for your brake fluid? I can't imagine a course run so long that DOT 4 wouldn't suffice unless the course has a ton of tight turns where you need to be hard on the brakes often like in Open Track or Road Racing but for AX I can't imagine needing to use anything more than DOT 3 since the courses are usually fairly short in comparison to open track configurations.

Did you ever find a good deal on braided brake lines? I've been looking for a set for the wagon but don't want to bust the bank as there are some other parts I have my eye on(I'm looking at you Pextor! LOL!)

So far this is the best deal I've found:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Techna-Fit...843832&hash=item5411ad40e3:g:sOIAAOSwAHZUM0kN

Keep in mind the link is for a 2nd gen GT but since I pulled the RDB's from a '92 GT I need the rears to fit the GT RDB's. I've already written the company to see if they can do a mix and match(if necessary) so that I can have 3rd gen lines for the front calipers and 2nd gen GT lines for the rears.

John

Oh nice I found the Zx2 set with rear drums: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Techna-Fit...773461&hash=item58b80b02d5:g:3mEAAOSwosFUW8iP

I might get them at a later date. I'm trying to stick to the GRM budget and I'm already close to the limit OEM brake parts are 'free'. $100 could be spent in better places.

I've already cooked the pads once; visible smoke lol. I figured if I'm going to replace the fluid may as well get the higher temp stuff. I will probably hit a real track this year and really don't want the brakes to fade.

I'm still trying to figure out what is up with the brakes they seem really soft like they were before but only when the engine is running. Its like the booster is over boosting. IF I push the pedal hard enough with the engine on I can touch the floor.

Other than that, I recently bought an MSP LSD. I'm going to weld the ring gear rivets like others have. I'd like to add the 5th gear swap to the rebuild. Saw a few sedans in the J/Y it is just too cold to hit the yard.

And.. planning on cutting the lowering springs and replacing the struts.

Pull the Engine and Trans. Going to replace somethings and swap in some good stuff; Cams and LSD. I think the trans has a bad bearing or worse something is rattling around in there.

What LSD are you using?

John

The Mazda Speed Protege one.

Thinking of doing the same one day. Let me know how it goes.

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So, I split the trans today.



The Stock Diff is toast.




I'm glad I pulled this thing and am swapping the diff.

Also, the pinion gear, the one driving the diff ring gear, has a decent chip. Probably from one of the spider gear chips. The chip on the pinion looks like a ductile chip; I can see where the case hardening broke than the soft steel underneath just sheared off. This means that it is unlikely that a crack propagated through the gear. This is good because I'm going to send it haha.



Looks like reverse was ground a few times. This sent tiny flakes into the bearings on the output/secondary shaft causing the Decel roar and shake through the shift knob.



Other than that the other gears and all of the synchros look decent. I'm going to take a hard look at 3rd gear because it likes to pop out sometimes but otherwise trans should be ok with the new diff/bearings.

That's pretty fortunate that the transmission didn't start a rapid self-destruct process with the broken diffy teeth.

It looks like you lost about a fifth of the length of the one chipped pinion gear tooth. What does it mean that you are "going to send it"?

Does it look like there are any suitable spots in the transmission case to put in pipe plugs for filling and draining while it's apart?

How do you break the differentials?
Or more importantly, how do you avoid breaking them?

"going to send it" translates to I'm going to use that gear.

Don't do hard launches from a dead stop. The side gears are very weak. Or replace the diff with an LSD variant the MSP or the Mfactory(better) diffs.