fiestaturbo.com

[heeman10]

And MORE diesel-type updates! Towbar time! I was given this Towsure towbar for my birthday last month, as I refused to buy a normal bike rack as they all fit by hooking four nasty metal hooks around the top and bottom of the tailgate, then you have one or two "feet" that sit (read: rub and jiggle) against the tailgate itself. Great way to make a mess of nice paint IMO! So, my new bike rack bolts to the new tow bar and holds the bike away from the tailgate

Removing the rear bumper...made easy by Ford deciding to use rivets instead of bolts/screws at the top:



Who the hell uses one-use fittings on the part that's first to be damaged/removed in a crash?!

Bumper off, revealing rear slam panel strengthening beam and plastic bumper supports:



Lower support cut to allow towbar fitment:



Bang! And it's on!



Bumper snipping, the first cut:



A few more test fits and gentle grinding with the Dremmel saw it fitting snug and perfect, completely invisible unless you kneel down and peer up



The left hand rivet got hot while drilling with a blunt bit, and melted the bumper. Nice! A few burnt brown flakes of plastic were removed, then a bit of masking



All to spray that tiny little recess for the rivet!



All done, new rivets purchased today, my very first towbar


God this thread's boring! Can't wait till I start modding it

[oggyzetec05]

What modds are you thinking of? just looks for now?

[edders]

strap up a beefier turbo or ill disown ya

[heeman10]

The only mods I'm thinking of for now are clear repeaters, silver indicator bulbs (to de-tango it), possibly spoiler, possibly ST springs. Long term I've always been thinking Cosworth 4x4, hence the careful undersealing and waxoyling, but we'll see if it lasts that long Just as with the ZT, I'd like it fully soundproofed and comfortable, but with power.

[heeman10]

Another incredible update

I decided yesterday afternoon that I wanted to do the whole clear repeater/silver bulbs thing, so ordered some Fiesta ST repeaters from Ford and two pairs of Silvatec bulbs from ESP Design. Top notch as always, they arrived first thing this morning!

Genuine ST repeaters plus Silvatec bulbs:



Bosh:



Before/after:




The (enormous) headlight units have to come out to change bulbs, so out they came:



Silvatec bulb fitted on the left, OEM bulb on the right:



Headlight and new repeater now looking far better:



Also, when I came to pop the bonnet this afternoon, it wouldn't. On the Mk3 this may be a simple problem to get around, but the Mk6 has a lot obstructing its bonnet catch. So, up came the passenger side sill trim to see what was up. Just a touch neater than the Mk3!



This gave me access to the bonnet pull mechanism, and a good tweak on the cable with some long nosed pliers (ball is arrowed at the top) popped it straight away. For others' reference, the trim needs unclipping from the rear forwards (after peeling off the weather seal), then, once the final clip is popped out (at the top, near the glove door), the whole trim slides backwards off the white plastic slide clip arrowed at the bottom:



I'd be lying if I said I haven't been scouting around for a spoiler and lowering springs! That Van Aaken Smartbox is tempting too! It's official, runarounds cannot be left standard

[edders]

I'd be lying if I said I haven't been scouting around for a spoiler and lowering springs! That Van Aaken Smartbox is tempting too! It's official, runarounds cannot be left standard

too right... take ghosts . started off as a runaround and now its his project

[heeman10]

And my Metro! Gave that a full new interior, new bumpers with twin MG Metro rear fog lights and a full "respray"

[jimmyesh]

Clear side repeaters.... One thing leads to another - It WONT stop there!

Won't be long until it's got a 2.3 duratec under the bonnet and AP brakes!

[RS_Rawli]

runarounds are standard

[Richard_xr2i1800]

Its started you will never stop now Get the mondeo st tdi lump in it , So tempted to do some little bits to mine.

Does look alot nicer with the clear bits

Rich

[sleeky]

Don't get the Smartbox, get a proper remap, I hate them bloody tuning box things, lol. Looks good though dude, bar the tow bar

Lee.

[joe boy]

clear repeaters, and bulbs are a huuuuge improvement

[heeman10]

Jimmy - I think I may actually end up doing what I did with the Mk3. Big TDI in the meantime before doing the petrol route properly..but only if I can see myself keeping it for a while.

Richard - It's hard not to touch them isn't it? I actually like looking at it now, with the clear bits on I will be looking at Mondeo lumps fitment-wise. Before buying this car I took a 1.8 TDCi Focus out (115PS IIRC) and decided it was too quick, since I was after something boringly economical, it's so hard to stay boring though!

Lee - Have you checked out the TDciforums? People are stepping past 90bhp with "bloody tuning box things" on the 1.4, with the standard turbo and still no intercooler. The reasons I'm not keen on a "proper remap" are a) this engine is a crap tiny 8v, non-intercooled 1.4, so I'm not keen on chucking money at it and b) if it's going to be remapped, I'd rather do it myself in a few months' time. I was reading up on one lad's 1.4 TDCi he had remapped by the good old Derv Doctor. The thing FLIES now, and he reported audible turbo spool-up and a bit of a bark from the exhaust, just how my Mk3 was with the tuned TDI in it It's hitting 60 in under 10 seconds now! But he's also got a lot of black smoke at the moment, which bugged me in the Mk3. It appears to be down to nothing but dirty injectors though.

The Smartbox should take me up from 68bhp to 83bhp, and 118lb.ft to 140lb.ft, with economy gains on motorway drives. 22% increase in power and 18% increase in torque, they'll make it a bit more useable at a fraction of the cost of a remap. I may combine that with a high-flow panel filter too.

joeboifiesta - Indeed, it looks like a totally different car to me now!

[MAD_Adamski]

COSSIE LUMP COSSIE LUMP







'lord


Ad xx

[heeman10]

COSSIE LUMP COSSIE LUMP

As above, that's where I'd like to be aiming with this one at some point

[~ John Reid ~]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsjCXaCZZ0U

cossie lump.............gotta be done.

[heeman10]

Precisely

[heeman10]

Update

Well, it's happened, I am now doing silly things to the runaround

Van Aaken Smartbox (a tuning box) arrived in the post this morning, huge thanks to tompeteRS for the mega-speedy postage! I was out faffing with the Mk3, hoovering the floor mats etc, then the postman came, I brought the Mk6 up alongside the Mk3, tore off all the paper and whipped the box out to get to work immediately!

I've done a brief write-up on the TDCiforum here if anyone's interested.

I'm really happy with the changes Van Aaken claim power is raised from 68bhp to 83bhp, and torque climbs from 118lbft to 140lbft. Both claims (at least as a percentage increase) feel very believable, it's been completely "woken up"

There is a "gain" adjustor on the box, and the first time I took it out it was set to 3 (there are 10 notches). On 3, I immediately noticed more power and torque, and where the useable power range previously was about 2,200rpm to 3,200rpm or so, it was 2,100rpm to 3,800rpm or so As I drove off up the drive in first gear to try it out it spun, so I knew I was in for some fun

I then played with the gain...trying it on 10 saw the ECU cut the fuel as a reaction to excessive fuel rail pressure. I turned it back down to 5, and that is where it has been left for now. On 5, power is up again from 3, and it now pulls hard to 4,000rpm from a genuine 2,000rpm. Before fitting, even in first and second gears it would tail off so hard from just past 3,000rpm that 4,000rpm was practically a dream, only to be accomplished on downshifts

I'm extremely happy with it now, but have a K&N panel filter in the post, hopefully arriving on Monday, which I actually believe will open it up a smidge more once again. I am also looking out for suitable intercooler and a few inlet tract mods which, twinned with a minor boost pressure increase should see me pass 100bhp and probably over 175lbft.

Go runaround!

[knuckles]

Have you run out of things to do on the Mk3 then james ?

I liked the amber indicators better

[Brammer]

Excellent power from a 1.4, looks an interesting little runnaround but i wonder how long before it become a full time project car

[Turboboy67]

Nice one James, I put a tuning box on my Berlingo hdi ,
boosts bhp from 90 to 115 and torque is now over 200nm, certainly shifts for a van

They do claim better fuel economy for these tuning boxes.
NOS next ????

Cheers.

[tompeteRS]

Glad your pleased with it

You don't hang about fitting things! I've got loads of bits at home that I've not got round to fitting yet.

I'm convinced that a 1.4 with the Smartbox fitted is quicker than my Zetec S TDCi although neither are a match for the Focus.

[heeman10]

knuckles - Yeah, the Mk3 just sits there waiting to play! The amber repeaters and indicators were annoying me, though I'll admit it looks a bit monochrome now. Still prefer it to the way it was before

Chris - Probably not long at all! The way my career is about to turn, I'll probably use the Mk6 to develop some diesel jiggery pokery, so I'll need another runaround once I start fiddling with it on a greater scale

Mr Turboboy - They do indeed claim better economy! I'll be doing 200 miles tomorrow so I'll see how it fares, thankfully it's almost entirely motorway driving NOS...I doubt it. Once I've intercooled it, tweaked the boost and maybe changed the inlet tract as a last resort, then hopefully remapped it, the next thing will/would be a 2.0 or 2.2. I feel the 1.4's a bit of a waste of time and money really.

Tom - I like to get things done quickly, specially on such an amazing day like today was! I'll have to hunt out a Zetec S TDCi and see how my little 1.4 fares I'll perhaps wait till the intercooler's on Your Focus sounds like a thoroughbred miscreant!

[Max M4X WW]

Fun fun, Nowt wrong with smoke though

[mike_wall15]

Lol at modifying it!!
Is the box designed for your car? And if so, why can't you set it to 10? Do you only achieve the quoted figures when set at 10?

[niracka]

LOL!!!!! I knew this would happen. It always starts with a few tiny little things like clear side repeaters or a set of springs and away we go.

I have to say those are very good torque figures from such a small engine. However it is still a diesel.

What am i saying!!???? your in farmland. The place were diesel dreams come true

ollie

[Excursion]

Is it a returnless fuel system on the 1.4?

I've never liked tuning boxes, they seem to be really crude and tend to end up meaning more soot out the back. What's it like in that respect?

[heeman10]

Mike - Yep, the box is for the 1.4 TDCi Mk6 Fiesta with the Siemens ECU. The tuning box "interferes" with the ECU-to-commonrail pressure signals, so effectively multiplies the original figures by its own pre-determined factors, giving you more fuel pressure, and therefore more fuel with each injection cycle. When I turned the gain up to 10, the ECU cut the fuel, because an excessive commonrail fuel pressure was sensed at WOT for more than a couple of seconds. At 5 it is happily running with no fuel cut. Once the intercooler's on I'll have far cooler air, and will increase the boost a bit, at which point I'll want as much fuel as I can get with the tuning box without it cutting fuel, so I'll aim to run it as close to 10 as possible.

niracka - I know I know...it's hard not to get caught up in developing things! I won't push this engine hard, just wanted to have a play and make it more useful on the road. LOL at diesel dreams!

Jordan - I can't tell you if it's returnless or not. The back side of the engine is hidden by so much junk you can see hardly anything, even with the airbox removed. Tuning boxes are very crude (you only have to remove the lid to appreciate that - there's hardly anything in there!) but they don't need to be particularly sophisticated, and an enormous portion of the population are appreciating the gains they bring. Mine isn't sooty at all, and it was only on Sunday night when pulling away sharply from some traffic lights in Manchester with a car on my tail that I was able to see some smoke in his headlights. On the road in the daytime, and revving it when stationary and looking to the back of the car, there is nothing to be seen. The Mk3 used to leave black smoke clouds on WOT in the latter days, but this is clean as a whistle


Update

Intercooler will be here at the weekend/early next week, and a compressor map will shortly be with me, direct from Borg Warner, so I can judge a safe boost level to run once the cooler's on

[edders]

have you had it running for any longer at WOT at a higher setting than five and are these tuning boxes only for turbo'd motors.

also with regard to the commonrail pressure. would there be anyway to trick it into thinking the pressure was normal. like using a potentiometer or something similar (probably not the best idea but its just a question)

EDIT

i thought borg warner made gearboxes?

[paniK]

Heeman, you said it cut fuel at level 10, I wonder if you remap the ecu, it will let you run it at 10 without doing damage?

Also what does this tuning box actually do? Why can it be adjusted? I've never heard of "adjustable tuning" before. Does it just up the boost or something or does it up fuelling? advance ignition? (well there is none on diesels).

I don't understand how it all works Sounds cool though being able to have loads of power when you want and a standard car when you want also

[heeman10]

edders - As far as I know people have only bothered with tuning boxes for turbodiesel engines. And yes, I've held it flat out for a long time on setting 5 and it has no issues. I didn't feel an enormous gain by having it on 10, so I've left it at 5 so as not to compromise economy any more than I have to. Once the intercooler's on I can increase the boost (my calcs tell me the charge temps will be in excess of 110C at the moment, so I won't increase the boost till the intercooler's on, and charge temps should be 60-70C. The air density will be massively increased by that point, which is why I will then be turning up the tuning box as high as I can, to match all the extra air with as much fuel as I can give it.

You can fool the ECU into thinking the commonrail pressure's just fine, but it's one of those "unhealthy" practises I don't much care for, a bit like mechanical bleed valves!

[heeman10]

paniK - If you read my reply above yours, it'll explain some of your questions, and some further up the page too IIRC. The adjustability of the tuning box relates to the fuel pressure. The higher the gain setting, the higher the fuel pressure, and so the more power it makes. The ECU has a set fuel pressure limit, and once it reaches that limit, it cuts the fuel off, much like the overboost protection function on a turbo petrol engine.

As above, I don't see the remapping/chipping the ECU option to allow higher fuel pressure as a great one at this moment in time. I don't know what the high pressure pump can safely supply, but I'm assuming Ford installed a limiter there for a reason, so the better idea would be to remap to give longer injector pulsewidths (i.e. more fuel by making the injectors work harder), or to fit larger injectors.

[paniK]

right, I understand. thanks

[Ghost]

I'd be lying if I said I haven't been scouting around for a spoiler and lowering springs! That Van Aaken Smartbox is tempting too! It's official, runarounds cannot be left standard

too right... take ghosts . started off as a runaround and now its his project

how did I get into this conversation

and I've got another runaround now, and that aint even been washed

[heeman10]

EDIT

i thought borg warner made gearboxes?

Yes, they do