Hi I am new to site as have just bought a 03 2.0ltr petrol zetec mondie as a spare or repair. It has eaten its butterflies which has rendered engine U.S. We are in the throes of fitting replacement engine and have been informed that you can fit the inlet manifold without the butterflies and the only effect is a slight loss of power in the mid range, this information came from a ford mechanic but just wondered if any of you wise people had heard of this or better still tried it. If it works its got to be a trade off to avoid this happening again as I understand that this a common problem and a total crap fitting from messrs ford.

Hi,

I have read on another site the same thing, you can discard the butterflies and block up the holes with plastic metal or araldite, I'm trying to find out which holes to block. The person who done this also passed the m.o.t so it shouldn't affect the emissions, sounds like a cracking idea. After further reading, once the butterflies are removed with the spindles, block the spindle holes with plastic metal put new gaskets on and refit most of the people who have gone down this route say there is no disernable difference.