Last night I ran a ZEXY list that got me a win against a shuttle/phantom list, with the Y taking out both the phantom and the shuttle.

Etahn A'baht, FCS

Dutch, ion cannon turret

Biggs

Tala squadron

I'd like to turn the Z into an X somehow, and still keep the meat and potatoes of this list.

To turn the Tala Squadron into a Rookie X-wing, you would need 8 pts. I say drop Biggs to a Rookie. That gives you 4. After that....you still need 4 points. Even if you dropped FCS you would still be short 2 pts.

Dutch w/ Ion is great, but his Ion doesn't need the boost Etahn gives. You can always ditch him and go with something different.

My Etahn list I'm going to try out tonight (surely vs. a Phantom) is:

Etahn w/ R2 and PTL

Ten Numb w/ VI

Wedge w/ R7-T1

Ten and Wedge should go before the Phantoms. Etahn will allow Ten to cause a crit with at least each time I don't fluff my rolls....even at long range! PTL and R2 are to get him into a spot where he can put people in his firing arc and live (hopefully). Wedge is just mean and R7-T1 will give him a bit of boost in manueverability. Also, I will try to boost in the first pass to be Range 1 and get some extra dice off.

Last night I ran a ZEXY list that got me a win against a shuttle/phantom list, with the Y taking out both the phantom and the shuttle.

Etahn A'baht, FCS

Dutch, ion cannon turret

Biggs

Tala squadron

I'd like to turn the Z into an X somehow, and still keep the meat and potatoes of this list.

Define "meat and potatoes".

If you mean that you want an EXXY squad, you're in a tight spot: using the least expensive generic versions of each you've already spent 87 points, and 5 of those points are already earmarked for an Ion Cannon Turret for the Y-wing. So now instead of Biggs, Dutch, and Etahn, you have to pick Biggs, Dutch, or Etahn.