Hey everyone I'm new on the forum and was looking for some advice. I have a mk6 escort 1.6 zetec and I want to put an st170 engine and box in her. Apart from obviously the engine and box could anyone please let me know what else I would need to get them in and running.

here is a little pic of her she is completely standard atm but hopefully not for long. I'm planning on doing everything else myself but engine swaps are a bit much hahaha

 

My advice is not to put the ST170 box in as that box is probably the main thing that made the st170 uncompetitive against it's rivals - the gear ratios were too long and the flywheel too heavy. Keep with your IB5 (although be careful as they are weak) or go MTX75 out of the RS2000

 

I'm happy to admit when I don't know so just looking for all the best info and advice I can get. I'll look into uprating the id5 and look into the rs2000 box.

Can anyone help with mounts and drive shafts I don't know if it goes the the same mounts as a zetec or not ?? Also will focus or escort drive shafts work or will I need custom made ones ??

Any help is appreciated

 

I think I would steer clear of the ST170 gearbox too to be honest, as it's going to be a bit more hassle to fit. The standard iB5 isn't the strongest, but should be ok with a fairly standard ST170 engine. It's been a while since I messed with any Zetec Escorts, but you should be able to bolt the ST170 engine to your existing gearbox and use an Escort flywheel and clutch. That way you can retain your standard drive shafts etc, which will make life a lot easier. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether the bottom two engine-to-gearbox bolts (the ones in the sump) will line up with the ST170 engine. There may be a way round that, but someone else might be able to advise. Another option is to use the MTX75 gearbox from an RS2000, but you would also need the hubs, drive shafts, gear linkage, sub frame etc etc. The gearbox is stronger, but I'm not a fan of the standard linkage in the Escort. It's a bit baggy with some wear. You could fit the Focus MTX75, but you would need new mounts etc, so as much work as fitting the ST170 box really.

Mounting the engine itself isn't the worst thing in the world if I recall correctly. There is only one mount at the timing end. I think only two of three bolt holes to the engine block line up, so you have to modify the mount if you want to use all three. Otherwise, it's not too difficult. You can use the ST170 exhaust manifold, but I believe you may be able to use an Escort manifold too (Ashley used to make one, I don't know if they still do). The hardest part is the inlet and management. I'm not sure if it's possible to get the standard inlet in, or if you can run off the Focus ST170 ECU, so you may need to go aftermarket.

Another option, which is simpler, is to fit a 2.0-litre silver top Zetec. They're probably not that common anymore, but you can fit one of those pretty much straight in if you fit the sump, oil pump and water pump from a 1.6/1.8. Use the inlet from the 1.8 115PS engine and you can even fit the 2.0 ECU by swapping a couple of pins around. You could also fit the regular 2.0-litre blacktop Zetec, which would require the above hardware mods in terms of the gearbox/engine mount, but you could probably get away with running that from the silver top ECU. Both these options would be a bit easier from a wiring perspective and give you most of the performance.

Just depends how far you want to go really.

 

That was really helpful man thanks I was sweating it thinking this was gonna be an absolute massive job but feeling a bit better about it now I think from the information given so for in gonna try go for a st170 engine with the ib5. I'll look into beefing up the clutch and making it a bit more resilient.

As far as wiring I was contemplating a stand alone one could anyone recommend any good reasonably priced units ??

 

Does anyone know what CAN BUS data the dash from this car uses ??

 

how have you got on regards this mate? specifically with the mounting side of things?

I picked up my st170 engine at weekend to fit in to my mk6 van. Im going to run jenveys and a me221 ecu and loom to retain my vvt.

cheers

 

you will also need to move your altonator, if your car has no power steering you can remove the pump and mount an altonator here. This is what I have done and I have used a additional pulley on the side of the engine block to allow the water pump to still work in the correct rotation (it runs anticlockwise as standard) this is done by running it off the back of the belt.

 

Hey man I'm not that much further on tbh I bought an st170 winter / parts cars and its mot isn't up till April so I'm just gonna run it till then.

I'm also planning on running the ME ecu and loom but im just gonna do the engine swap atm to save some ŁŁ maybe a turbo in a few years once the body has been painted 😳

I'm also gonna run the standard ib5 till it breaks also the cheapest and easiest way. So apart from the mount at the engine side you dont really have to do any modifications. And I've heard the st170 engine fit two of the three bolts for that mount so I was just gonna fit it up the see from there how to make the last bolt work

Hope that helps dude

 

yeh mate, im gonna run my bc gearbox. ive had to mod the sump to allow the front mounted starter, saves messin around. ive got a 1.8 zetec flywheel to use so it fits in the bell housing along with a luk rs turbo clutch.

im gonna mod the zetec mount so all 3 holes line up, its just the others I havnt got with the engine and im goin in to a 1.3 mk6 van, so the 1s on that will be no use.

 

So far the only mod I have done is a new set of wheels so you could say the progress is flying 😳 haha

I picked up a set of cades from my brother in law. They are not brand new or are they perfect but they look great on the car I think 😁

I also picked up a brand new 2.5" piper cat back exhaust that I plan to marry to the st170 manifold via a universal sports cat made to fit.

I have however picked up an st170 winter/ parts car that has 100000 miles and an mot till april. It's a really nice strong engine even if the cars a bit of a shed haha I plan on collecting up the rest of the parts I need and going for the swap in april

 

Yeah from the research I've done I'm pretty sure I can just bolt the ib5 straight to the st170 block. I'm gonna throw a new clutch for safety but thats it I think. Then I have a exhaust shop close by that is gonna fit a universal sports cat between my escort catback and st170 manifold. And with the M.E ecu and loom I think its gonna be pretty straight forward. I'm sure there will he things here and there that pop up but I'll just have to tackle them as they arise haha

 

sound like its all in hand. it will definatly fit on to your gearbox, that is for sure. You just need the escort clutch and flywheel.

car looks sweet mate, ive got a mk6 van I did a mk5 rs2000 front end conversion on so that looks well now.

keep me posted mate.

 

Have you got a thread its sounds sick I love the mk5 front end. If not you should throw a pic up here dude

 

yeh its in the projects bit mate, I only got the thing a couple of weeks ago so its not doin bad.

 

its 3rd line down atm

 

Hey guys Ive recently put the st170 brakes on my escort but the brakes line ls appear to be too short could anyone help me out with what brake lines I should be running would like to upgrade to braided lines also, any info or even a link to buy would be much appreciated thanks in advance guys