Tinkerer

Hi All,

I'm new on here but have read quite a lot of old posts and thought I'd register and share some of my mods with the community, as a lot of the threads on here were really useful to me.

Basically I've been given a 1999 TDDi estate by my parents, they had it from new and have just replaced it with a brand new one. I won't bother putting any pictures of the car up as it's a tatty rusty shedwagon.

Being unable to leave any car alone I set about seeing where I could squeeze more torque out of it without spending a huge amount or making it unreliable/uneconomical.

I've done a little write-up for each of the mods, purely for the interest of the forum users here, and anyone looking to do these mods who wants a bit more info on what to expect. All of my datalogging has been done using ForDiag which I can thoroughly recommend.

Key stats for standard engine

• IAT at full load, 2nd gear, 30mph (riding the brake) after 10 seconds: 45 degrees above ambient
• Boost peaked at 1 bar at 2200 rpm dropping off to 1.9 bar at 4500 rpm
• -Throttle response was ok but not amazing

Decat

I did the pikey 'smash it all out' kind of decat, Ideal for the MOT as it looks standard. This took about an hour and was a filthy job. I unbolted the exhaust from the cat and smashed the contents using a lever bar and hammer, basically breaking it up bit by bit until it was all out.

I'd recommend this mod as the turbo definitely spools faster so throttle response is much better, it also holds boost a little further up the revs. Previously it would be fairly dead by 4300 rpm, now it'll hang on producing useful torque until 4500. Also it whistles now

This made no difference to the full-load boost produced at low rpm (verified by datalog) presumably as it's not much of a flow restriction at such a low engine speed.

MBC - Manual Boost Controller

I used the 'Dawes Device' spring and ball type rather than the 'air bleed' type. It was £15 on eBay. On my standard engine this was a pointless mod as the turbo is not capable of producing more than 1.2 bar of boost, even this only appeared as a spike between 2200 and 2400rom. As this agressive setting on the controller there was also a noticable flat spot between 2800 and 3500rpm. Not sure why, but the turbo definitely wasn't happy.
It is currently set to 'open' (i.e. allowing all pressure to reach the wastegate actuator), but it has a tiny bleed hole to allow pressure to leave the actuator when you lift off, so in effect it might encourage a slightly higher opening pressure.

FMIC

I used a 600x160x95 core, universal FMIC from eBay, about £130 delivered. This is piped in using 51mm silicone hose and proper hose clamps (not Jubilee clips). The pipe work cost more than the IC but fits nicely and doesn't leak at all. To join the standard metal pipes to the silicone ones coming up through the bay I bought a second set of metal pipes and chopped / re-welded them to suit both hoses. I was also able to weld a boss into the post-IC one of these to mount the IAT sensor.

A few pics:

Example of a some hose, decent clamps and wrapped in anti-abrasion tape to protect this and the surrounding coolant hose coming off the rad.




IC painted black, bumper back on. Steathy.




IAT sensor boss before welding in




Engine bay view




This mod made the biggest difference, doing the same test as before where the IAT was 45 degrres above ambient it is now no more than 14 degrees above ambient. Doing the maths this equates to 10.8% high mass air flow at the same boost

Also it must be less restrictive as the boost peaks at 1.2 bar at 2200 and drops of steadily to 1.9 at 4500rpm which is a good improvement considering I didn't adjust the boost controller.

Tunit V-VP Tuning Box

I bought this second hand, it is currently loaded with the tune for a toyota but can be reprogrammed for this engine as they use the same pump. It's currently away being reprogrammed

Colin_P

I've got a 1999 TDDI Focus so look forward to your updates.

What do you use to do the logging etc? I always thought these were a closed shop using normal software being pre EOBD2 and you had to use the Ford machine (whatever that is).

Cardie

Same as mine practically. Mines a 2000 Silver Zetec model estate.

TDDi 90, all ive done is remove the breather pipes to run down to the floor and not into the air intake.

Moved the air feed from the top of the engine bay down to the lower grill, (mainly because the original one had broken and was flapping about.

Everything else is standard, I wanted to fit the transit de cat pipe, should make the flow a bit better. Luckily the cat is in a funny place and wouldnt be noticed if it was missing on an MOT.

I would like a bit more sound from the turbo just so I can hear what its doing! As it is now I can hear anything at all!

Tinkerer

I use ForDiag:

http://forum.fordiag.cz/index.php?sid=696bf35fae3d401f7c708aa240c77d3d

I actually bought this as it does OBD for the TDDi engine, which as you say, you normally need the Ford Diagnostic to do. When it turned up I found that it's actually got an extensive live data and datalogger function.

It was about £80 and I'd say well worth it.

Mk4 Rick

Surely your losing mpg now?

BigGlen

How did u fit FMIC?? Was it a bumper off job??