Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some advice, I participate in the sport of banger racing and have done for 6 years. I'm a devoted ford man (mainly escorts) which has its problems in my formula because they are not the hardest car and certainly are not the fastest. My formula is ruled by jap crap Nissan sunny,almera & primera being the hard cars and Honda/rover duel carb engined cars the fastest. Its a 1600cc formula so I have used a 1600 black top cvh engine which has been reliable but that's it. So I've decided to go zetec next season to try and keep up but I already know its not going to be fast enough so I'm willing to have a little play to finally get a ford back on top I'm not talking thousands of pounds simply the right lump, box, head, cams etc. the zetec will be converted to carb and manifold more than likely running a 2.8L Grenada carb.
To set the picture I race around a 375m oval track only using 1st and 2nd gear so I'm looking for acceleration and revs! Any help would be appreciated thanks ricky.

 

Trouble with the 1600 is it has tiny valves. A cvh 1600 is actually more powerful.

I have however seen one 1600 zetec with a 1.8 head and 2.0 cams. Ad some arp bott end bolts and 7500 to 8000 rpm becomes realistic. Other wise get a zetec a fiesta or 1.6 puma. 120 bhp with breathing mods and stronger chassis

 

I have heard the 1600 zetec isn't a great engine so was going to go go down the head and cam route I'm amazed it does so much. Are the inlets on the fiesta and puma zetecs on the front? Because that isn't ideal for banger racing.