Focus #4 now in effect. 2003 ZX5, pretty loaded except no sunroof (has heated seats, etc). Autotragic for the lady (gee, that sounds familiar) but it's a Zetec. Have already had evil discussions with Randy and crew, checking in with Lentech next week.
If all goes well by summer it'll be turbo'ed and possibly have an upgraded 4F27E in there. Full suspension upgrade going in before it's even safetied - needs rear coils to cert (driver's rear is shot) so here we go. Even have steelies with decent winters on now and classic 16" 5-spokes for summer. Summers have craptastic no-seasons on them, so those are going on Kijiji and I'll buy real rubber for it.
I've graduated to straight don't give a f**k anymore these days. Make it faster, keep it sleeper, and when I drive too fast too often I'll get in my Jeep.
Oh, yes. The Jeep. Finally sold the craptastic Escape last April and bought a 2007 Wrangler Unlimited flat-out, cash and trade. Already modded to hell for actual wheeling through the bush. Decided I wanted to go fast(er) again, so I traded my 1995 Ram 1500 for the Focus.
Sup fellas?
Hey! What up Adam?
I knew you couldn't stay away...
Good luck with Focus #4. I am only on Focus #2 and I am quite happy with my new one.
Heya Vince! Congrats on the new ST! I see a few guys from here are rocking them now. New toys are always good
I wanted to take a ST the local dealer had out for a rip... got the good old "only with a deal pending" line. :/
So, I'll just build my own. I'm liking not having car payments anymore.
Does anyone know if there's a Quaife/Torsen LSD that fits the 4F27E?
OK, I was down at Todd's yesterday and he gambled and let me drive his ST. WOW. I'm officially jealous of you Focus ST owners. What a nice, tight, well put-together ride.
Grabbed a full Eibach Pro-Kit from him yesterday, going back down in the spring for his summer treads. Slowly but surely I'm getting there.
Alright, my first gen chops are rusty. What is the name of the main rear lower control arm? Further on that, what is the part number (Moog, whoever) for the inside bushing that connects the rear LCA to the rear subframe?
Mine were in a bad way when my buddy did the suspension install. He had to torch them to get them out and killed the bushing. We need new ones and I'm going through way different naming conventions depending on the site.
Rock Auto calls it one or two different things when I drill down and search by year/make/model and suspension parts. What is it actually called?
EDIT - I'm pretty sure they're the "Control Arm Bushings" portion of Rock Auto. I just wish there was a far easier way to identify the right ones. Anyone? Kinda losing my s**t here when my parts shop can order but needs to know what... and my repair shop apparently can't find the fucking things.
as far as im aware they are lower control arm bushings.. that's what my kit from prothane says anyway
Yeah, I got that sorted today. Got new LCAs for 40 each coming in... thank you pro-buyer discount at Maslack! (kinda like Autozone)
So, this s**t's getting weird. Vik from FSWerks got back to me via email after I inquired about the Zetec turbo kit. He said, and I've copied and pasted right from my email:
"Our Zetec turbo kit is not actually designed to fit on the automatic focus, it's only designed to work on a manual transmission car. Unfortunately we do not have plans for the automatic version."
Uh, ok. I assume that has to do with exhaust pipe bends? I'm stabbing in the dark as they're being really cryptic.
Meanwhile, I had emailed Lentech just tonight and this was the gist of their email back to me (much more positive):
"We can still do these. Things have changed a bit but for 200 to 240whp we can still fix you up. There is a core charge. I will verify pricing over the phone as I don't have it in front of me. Thanks for the inquiry. "
A follow-up email tonight (these guys are quick!) said anytime this week or next week was fine.
So, my thoughts:
- FSWerks is autotragic shy for the Zetec presumably on pipebends, because they have no problem with the Duratec guys running turbos. Trying to remedy that by volunteering to development mule here in town for them via my buddy's shop and the exhaust shop literally across the driveway (super convenient!).
- Lentech is in the game and wants to work with me regardless - gotta love enthusiasm!
- If the turbo kit is a super non-starter, expect to see crazy s**t from me about cams and valvetrain upgrades, the FSWerks long-tube header and possibly even a shorter final-drive to allow for a higher-revving Zetec with higher-comp forged internals.
Why? Because I'm batshit crazy these days. A super-sleeper Zetec slushbox hatch sounds crazy... and I've finally accepted that I'm crazy.
Why not supercharge? There is always kits popping up on the US forums...
(02-21-2014, 09:49 AM)SL8RZZX3 Wrote: [ -> ]Why not supercharge? There is always kits popping up on the US forums...
True (and rumour has it there might be a JRSC available in Brampton soon) - - but unless the original application was an auto, there's still the challenge of tuning.
Glad you enjoyed the drive!
What's the huge difference between the automatic/manual? The shape/size of the transmission case? If that's the case, you may be able to rework the FSWerks exhaust manifold a bit (extend some piping, whatever) to get it to fit, if you're up for the challenge.
The difference with the Zetec and Duratecs is that the exhaust on a duratec exits from the rear and doesn't go under the motor. May be why it's easier get the kit to work on two different drivetrain set ups.
Supercharger is in the back of my mind - self-contained, power everywhere, less overall block stress than turboing. I can even buy the Vortech kit new off CFM it seems... minus tuning and a few others. I'd still ping Randy at FSWerks to see if he'd be game to tune. He's a really cool guy and I hope to tune with him yet again regardless of my outcome. I'm still disappointed in FSWerks' stance on automatic Zetec turbos. Let's hope they get back to me and agree to support a kit if I modify the exhaust routing.
Yeah, Todd, I have a feeling they're worried about heated exhaust pipes (heated up vs stock that is) next to the automatic pan. Hell, I'll wrap the downpipe with header wrap if I have to. Turbo is still preferable at this point due to the fact it's a single package - install, add wideband and tune. After that, we start getting into murky waters of custom tuning random kits, etc. At that point, I'd get Randy to sign on tuning a full N/A build if Lentech and my local mechanic buddy can help me find a shorter final drive for the 4F27E. Just run 12:1 or higher comp, cams, header, race cat, full custom cold-air intake... and then tune that.
I highly doubt they are interested in doing a mule for automatic kits. They have so much going on with the new cars. Have to remember the cars are 14 years old. Vik even said he didn't have the time to reproduce the lip for the 04+. I would supercharge to be honest, not a lot of stress on the engine if you keep the boost low. No different really than a turbo
Or buy the kit and make it work and pay the extra for tuning since it's an auto. Or swap to 5 speed and stop thinking about a built auto. Autos are boring anyways. Only differences are going to be the tuning, throttle body, crank position sensor, tranny (which may effect piping) so it shouldn't be much to make it work on the car.
Yeah I might just do that Jamie. I wanted auto for the better half, and besides a built auto sounds hilarious and I can't think of anyone I know that is actually running a built 4F27E.
As for the comment about not wanting a "mule", it's all on me at that point. You tune the engine as you would for the manual, you adjust the shift points as you would anyhow - which they already offer as part of their performance tune out of the box. The pipe fitting is on me, and like I said. I literally have two shops across the parking lot from each other that can do the exhaust reworking. FSWerks' extra work at this point is precisely zero.
I was just a little stunned by his answer... and I've yet to have a reply, almost a week later.
The bottom line is, sadly, it doesn't really matter. I can buy a header, intake, TB, exhaust, race cat and tune for that and be done with it. I could then turn around next year, buy another RX-8 and go insane with that. I just figured I had the chance to do something odd and to hell with reason, I'd do it because it could be done... and I still might. Hell, I'd do the lower-spec Lentech setup (for 175WHP) with the bolts on just because.
Adam, if you decide to come down and see Len @ Lentech, let me know, we'll do lunch. I work about 15 minutes away.
There are a few on FJ and in the Mazda world running Lentech built transmissions, and no issues that I've heard of.
Once a Focus driver, always a Focus driver...
It's not as simple and less work for fswerks, they price the kit to work for a manual. Not only that but they are so swamped with focus ST demand that the less demand items such as the Zetec stuff is on the back burner. That is why I say pony up for some tuning cost as there is additional work which was not calculated for in addition to the potential mechanic differences.
Randy owns the focus st market for the most part in programming so it's not something they would want to take on I'm sure without extra programming costs
Focus #1 (and only) is going to be handed off to the teenagers in a year; 2001 bought in 2000 so 14 years on now. I think my last "mod" was about 2004 and since then I have had a couple oil changes LOL
Well, that was actually an unexpected and positive call with Lentech. Ryan, I just got off the phone with Chris at Lentech. I hear Lentech is actually three businesses now - the transmission shop that Chris owns (off-car work only), the hands-on service shop that Steve (!?!) owns and Len runs the performance shop with the chassis dyno... all in the same physical campus. I'll let you know when I come down and we can definitely do lunch.
I told Chris I'll come down for a shop visit later this spring once s**t warms up some. I need to figure out definitively whether or not the Focus is getting turbo'ed (or supercharged). Once I do that, I can decide which Lentech trans offering I want and order it. Chris recommends that I go out and find a MTX-75 Torsen LSD if I turbo and get the Street Terminator offering. He also recommends upgrading to the uprated torque converter with the aluminum stator. A thicker 23-spline input shaft and torque converter used to be an option, but the company making the input shafts evaporated years ago and noone else makes them now.
If I don't turbo, I'll likely do the Street Cruiser setup and TC upgrade. I'll throw 2000MY intake mani, cams, race header, race cat and intake / TB at the motor. Given how it drives right now as it's dead stock... it'll still move decently.
Also, for those who care, Lentech does custom SCT tuning for Fords. Chris is the guy that does the tuning for Len, actually. Randy really knows his s**t for tuning, but given how busy they are I might just use them for parts and then tune with Chris from Lentech. He was waiting on a S/Ced 03 Mustang GT that was coming for custom tuning as he was talking to me today.
So, that went much, much better than expected. Even if I don't do full forced induction (which I might do with another car later - maybe I'll find a nice SVT!), I know I'll have fun with what I have.
Andrew! How the hell are you man! So you still have that sweet WRX of yours. Anything else cool done to it lately?
Ive heard lentech cant tune a focus. Re: nate's turbo focus that never worked quite right.
I wanted to take a ST the local dealer had out for a rip... got the good old "only with a deal pending" line. :/
There are a few on FJ and in the Mazda world running Lentech built transmissions, and no issues that I've heard of.