I blew it up good...

[Turbo Zetec 'tour]

Last saterday (April 26th), i took the turbo zetec out for a drive to make sure it was ready for Spring Zing. i was doing a couple 0-60 runs when i suddenly have no power. thankfully i was on the back road by my house so i limped it home and parked it, letting it cool for a bit. went back a little later to do a compression test and found the following.
cylinder 1: 115PSI
cylinder 2: 115PSI
cylinder 3: 70PSI
cylinder 4: wouldnt even move the needle.

so i pushed it into the garage and there is sat for the week as i didnt feel like working on it all week.

this past saterday i begin to tear it down. i got the head off and what do i find?







based on the marks on the top of the pistons it appears they were hitting the head. every one is bowed in at the 4 "corners" and they all have small cracks in the lower left "corner". i have yet to pull the block and tear apart the bottom end to see exactly why they started to hit the head but i KNOW they were all perfect when i reinstalled the head just a week prior to the runs. i cant even just replace the pistons as a piece of the piston got ground into the cylinder wall.

I now have to decide what to do with it. obviously i want to rebuild it but that takes money i dont really have. i could part it out but i dont really want to lose this car.

[luvmy99cougar]

wow dude that is some ****, i cant believe that. im really sorry man...

[MagicHallucinations]

Damn....that really sucks. So zero chance for a rebuild? How's the crank and rods? Is it just the pistons? Probably marks on the head as well eh?

Might not take as much as you think.....

[Turbo Zetec 'tour]

Originally Posted by MagicHallucinations

Damn....that really sucks. So zero chance for a rebuild? How's the crank and rods? Is it just the pistons? Probably marks on the head as well eh?

Might not take as much as you think.....

the block is toast since a piece of the piston was ground into the wall. i havent had a chance to look at the crank and rods yet but im betting the crank is toast, hopefully the rods are still good. yeah, there are marks on the head as well.

someone on CEG just posted a few links to some focus threads and there seem to be numerous people having basically the same problem with the Probe pistons (what i had) and them breaking around the valve reliefs. so it could be that the piston broke allowing it to slap which is just enough to hit the head.

[jaged]

is the 97 still the shaft style trans? either way i have a working motor sitting in my garage FS with ohsigmachis trans attached to it

[Turbo Zetec 'tour]

Originally Posted by jaged

is the 97 still the shaft style trans? either way i have a working motor sitting in my garage FS with ohsigmachis trans attached to it

yes the 97 is still a rod shift trans, although the trans is fine so im not worried about it. also ohsigmachi has made me an offer on the rest of his parts. all i would need is pistons and a block. i have my original block still (has 241K miles on it ) that could be bored to fit the new pistons and would be good as new.

edit: the fidanza flywheel might be nice though

[fordrule]

wow it lasted longer than i though. rebuilt that hoe yo......long live the little turbo that powns

[B3NN3TT]

Originally Posted by Turbo Zetec 'tour

the block is toast since a piece of the piston was ground into the wall.

Re-sleeve that bad boy.

[jaged]

that can be arranged. the motor i have only has 132ish on it

[Turbo Zetec 'tour]

Originally Posted by B3NN3TT

Re-sleeve that bad boy.

Not worth the cost since its an iron block, espicially when i have an extra engine sitting on a stand at home.

Originally Posted by jaged

that can be arranged. the motor i have only has 132ish on it

im still undecided what im going to do but if i do rebuild it, it will get a fully built and blueprinted engine with ported head and cams. probably from focus power. even building my own with the deal that ohsigmachi is willing to give me will cost me almost the same.