Originally Posted by It's Czech Mate

Despite what some clueless idiots stuck in the 80's with old fashoned iron blocked boat anchors under their bonnets the Mk5 Z-s is a fun little car

Can be made to handle and stop very well, it after all a PUMA with a uniqely stiffened fiesta shell ( these are renowned for handling with journo's and even EVO magazine quoted about the MK5 ZS, "more fun than you'd ever believe, but nobody will ever believe you" ) with a couple of cheap mods and the engine can be given a 50% increase in power for around £1000 give or take depending on how you source parts

Engines are a great base to tune as they are at such a low state of tune to begin with despite being capable of so much more, (rather like a cossie only coming with 204 bhp, hardly shit)

The heads and valves are good for nearly 200bhp as standard and the standard inlet will see 150bhp

Some of the earlier engines are said to fail prematurely but IME its down to ignoring service shedules and not checking the oil regularly enough

A Short Block crate engine ( alloy block, nice and light and modern ) is about £400 from Ford so not really expensive if you do make it go bang, obviousdly thats just the bottom end

Tuning wise a zaust and manifold will see it up to 120 bhp, actually timing the exhaust cam for power not emmisions will see a 10 bhp gain on a standard car.

Pulleys are keyless from the factory so no need to spend out on vernier calipers

the correct cams combined with the above and a remap of the standard ecu ( MSD can do this ) will see around 150bhp depending on the rest of the spec

To go further rod bolts and a look at valve springs will help when you add throttlebodies, standalone ECU and more agressive cams. 200bhp can be seen comfortably with a bit of thought

About 230 bhp would be the limit for a 'race' style engine but I think a 50% increase in power for circa £1k shows it comes in a very low state of tune to begin with, unlike other engines which are in a higher state of tune as standard and therefore cost a lot more to tune further ( not sure why some retards dont understand this )

They also make very good torque with a nice flat torque curve as standard and this remains on the 150bhp ones i've seen with the 'right' cams