Question about UDP and cam gears

[aallien]

I've been looking around and I'm getting mixed opinions from justa search through the forums.

What I'm looking at is the underdrive pully or pullys according to what you buy. What I don't want to do is mess the balance of the engine up. I've heard some say the Ztech engine is balanced inturnally and others say it's in the crank pully. I don't know what to think.


The other thing is. Cam gears. I understand that the exhaust gear is really the only one you'll get benifit from by adjusting -6 to -10 degrees, and if I replace the other cam gear I could end up with a major timing problem. Here again I'm at a loss.

[bubba]

i will leave the pulley question for someone else because I have debated over it too much with people on other forums.
But the cam gear on the intake is a no-no because you will lose the vct (variable cam timing). In losing that, you will lose torque and/or hp depending on where you set it (if you can even find one for the intake cam). All a cam gear does is fine tune when the valves (in this case exhaust) perform their operations (open and close). Advancing will move the powerband lower a little bit and retarding it will move the powerband up a little bit.
Now, as I understand on an otherwise stock svt you may see an increase of 1 hp. I have not seen a before and after dyno of only a cam gear on a stock engine so I can not accuretly make any further comments.

:gets off soap box:

[jstevens1]

I've read on a regular Zetec where fine-tuning cam timing with adjustable gears freed-up some decent power gains. I have yet to read of anyone doing any serious tinkering with the SVT. I'll agree, though, that you should only really need the exhaust cam gear. If you need to fine-tune intake cam timing, that's most likely better done electronically. VCT does its thing according to whatever pattern of 1's and 0's the folks in Dearborn saw fit to program your PCM with, but that's not to say it's the optimal arrangement for YOUR tastes in power delivery. I'd advise you to tune, and tune carefully...

As for the UDP, I had no issues with the one I installed on my ZX3. Hate to say it, but this engine is NOT necessarily balanced very well at all. That's part of the reasoning for the lower redline relative to our Japanese competitors. Maintaining an engine's balance during engineering of a new product is part of responsible, professional tuning. It's what I came to expect of FocusSport. Until someone proves me otherwise, I'll sing their praises. Their pulley kit is JUST the crank pulley, and you can bet they considered the engine balance issue on that product before letting it go to sales. One would think that in order to maintain some semblance of balance from one end of the crank to the other, though, that using a lightened flywheel would be a cool idea. It just seems intuitive to me. Otherwise, I would think that the crank might exhibit some tendency to try to shift its axis of rotation under hard loads, placing extra stress on the crank journals and bearings.

If you're THAT serious, though, and intend to put THAT much power through your engine, you really oughtta look into a full engine balance job from a machine shop you know and trust. In the long run, I'll bet it would be well worth the money.

Whatever you decide, best of luck to you and take care...

[jprill]

There's some guy on focaljet.com who put intake, freeflow exhuast and cam gear on his SVTF and, no BS, makes 168 fwhp. That's 18 hp more than stock.

[jstevens1]

There HAS been a lot of criticism over the exhaust side of the head, and I'm told the SVTF's exhaust cam/ports/valves are identical to the regular Zetec-equipped cars'. An extra 18whp doesn't surprise me. I'm sure some intuitive and creative port work on that end would reveal even MORE hp potential. Along with more agressive cams, this could make for a MONSTER. I just hope you brought a HEAVY wallet!

Anyhow, best of luck and take care...

[David A. Wilks]

I used the Focus Central UDP and it was a high quality part that gave every bit of value in performance. It comes as a three pulley set but with the larger water pump pulley I felt the need not to change the alternator pulley and it worked with the stock belt.

Seat of the pants feeling is a much faster reving engine and on the track the car ran cooler due to the slower water pump speeds not cavitating. So I recommend it whole heartedly.

Again, I bought my parts from Modern Performance here in Houston and received a great deal. If you are truly looking for your first low-buck mod, get the Energy Suspension engine mount bushing as I feel that was the best overal performance for dollar spent. No more engine bucking and I do not hear any more vibration than I would care to worry about. Heck, my 60 year old Mother drives the car and she never complains about anything on the car other than it could be a bit faster!

[aallien]

Cool to hear about the intake, exhaust, and cam gear thing. One thing though. I've heard that the factory exhaust isn't all that constraining. Also along that not and off subject, how restrictive is the cat?

For as cheap as the cam gear is that's been added to my list of parts to get. Probably next.