Beetlejuice

I thought some people might find this interesting, so I'll stick it up here as well.


I bought the car in late 2010 with 1500 miles on the clock and just enjoyed it for a while with the Mountune 185 kit and KW coilovers it came with. It didn't take long for me to start thinking about maybe having a little more power out of it.

One of the rare occasions it was actually clean:



A set of these was the first step:



Combine that with a beefy rear ARB, it left the car "quite stiff"





It was handling something like, so it was time to start thinking about squeezing a little more power out of it. Cue a bit of scheming with Will@RDT and a Gems EM36act ecu was on its way:




Common sense was definitely out the day I ordered one of these:





A Garrett GTX3071r turbo and TiAL .63A/R turbine housing


Now I needed a manifold to bolt it to :P

There were two options at this point; buy one ready made or make my own.

So naturally I took both options

I ended up buying this exhaust system:




But then got bored and had a crack at making one myself:







Since then I've sold the Primary Designs system. I liked the idea of using my own - It probably won't be as good, but for me there's a lot more personal satisfaction in making it myself!

Beetlejuice

I now needed an engine... A few late nights plotting with Will and we had a spec on paper. Been ordering bits and pieces over the last couple of months:

ARP head and main studs:


Carrillo Pro-HS rods with CARR bolts:


They're a little bit heftier than the standard ones:


A set of Wiseco pistons turned up last week - 8.8:1 CR, along with the upgraded ring package and a set of tool steel wrist pins.






Found a use for these already :P


And finally the block sat at Stanwood's having the new sleeves installed.


I'm not overly impressed with the company making the liners for me - if Carrillo can make me a set of rods to order and have them on my door step three weeks later (from the other side of the world) - how is it that three months down the line I'm still waiting for a company in Worcester to make me what is effectively four steel tubes...

Beetlejuice

Machining in progress:



And the finished result:







Then the new forged crank turned up

Beetlejuice

I then took delivery of some nice big calipers - Evo 7 Brembo's.



I think they'll be man enough to stop a little Fiesta!

God knows how I'll make them fit, but one way or another, they're going on!

Then picked up some gauges - PLX DM-200's.



I wanted to keep an eye on 8 different sensors, but didn't want a cluttered dash. These fit the bill nicely. Will allow me to display everything I want on two 60mm gauges.

Beetlejuice

And finally as it stands today - still a big pile of parts and a relatively bare shell..

New Years resolution - get this bloody thing finished!

I've spent some time this afternoon getting my hand in with the tig welder. It's now all ready and set up to start welding the manifold up tomorrow.

maxwax

sweet love it when fez kock the leg up lol loving the big evo brakes to.m ash

XRT_si

iTrader: (2)

Nice project!

The Underdog

nice project. look forward to seeing the results and great welding too

Beetlejuice

Cheers lads. I think it's going to be a whole lot of fun when it's finished.
Underdog - I'm a welder by trade, but only stick and mig, tig is something new for me and I'm finding it a lot of fun compared!

frsjon

great project and one id love to do can i ask what/who the cranks from? doesnt look like most other forged ones ?(looks like a yb one?)

Beetlejuice

You'd have to look close to tell it apart from an OEM cast duratec crank to be honest. It's out of a 2009+ MX-5, after 09 they were fitted with a forged crank as standard. The counterweights are shaped slightly differently and obviously there's no casting line, but other than that they look very similar. I had this one sent over from America, as even with shipping and duty, it was around Ł1000 cheaper than from Mazda UK.

The MZR 2.0 gets all the good stuff compared to our duratec, VVT and forged internals being the major differences.

frsjon

nice find what sort of power are you hope for ?

Beetlejuice

It'd be nice to have it living up to that ST500 badge on the back, but the way I see it - it'll make what it makes.

frsjon

sounds good..keep the updates coming

zippyobrien

iTrader: (2)

Looks awsome.

Sold the mrs fiesta st and bought a cheap none runner a few months ago. Got it working now, really fancy charging it lol.

Most people got zetec turbo with these rather than turboing then duratech

Beetlejuice

There are a few other "big power" Duratec STs in the making at RDT at the moment

zippyobrien

iTrader: (2)

I like em. Think there a great lump. Easy to get 200 bhp na as well.

Shame they were restricted so much in std form.

My ones got a full miltek evo manifold and system, what else do I need to bring it up to 185 spec ?

Beetlejuice

We ran it up on the dyno back when it had the mountune 185 kit on and it made 145whp. I can't tell you flywheel figures as its a Dynapack, but as a comparison "200bhp" EP3 civics make around 165whp on there and "180bhp" EK9s make around 135whp, so 185bhp sounds about right for my fiesta. The kit includes cams, valve springs, a full 2.25" exhaust and a k&n filter. The mountune map was horrendous though, it overfuelled something chronic - to the extent that it actually ended up washing the bores out. That's the downside to a "one size fits all" flash map I suppose - its never going to work 100% on every car.

Beetlejuice

Did a bit between jobs over the weekend. The collector is now welded on the outside. Need to get a smaller torch to get the inside done:

White focus

cracking build m8 keep it up

will be keeping an eye on this

The_Notorious_C_A_T

Like the coilovers buddy :-D

Like the project, sounds like it will be awesome! Was you not tempted with a rs engine? Not sure which would be easiest though but doesn't look like an easy project anyway!

Jamie_EscortSport

Great project so far matey! Looking forward to the end result

Beetlejuice

Haha they sure are nice! I looked at zetec first, but decided to stick to the duratec, I think it has some potential! Nothing's ever easy unfortunately. Biggest problem is stubby front end of the ST. There's bugger all room of anything - I'm having to make a single piece GRP front end to give me enough space to fit everything in haha.

Gotta take a mold off this sometime soon:

Brian

iTrader: (2)

Great project mate


Brian

Beetlejuice

Little update today. Cleaned the block out ready for assembly and installed the new ARP main studs. Next up is measuring the crank and journals and picking out some bearings.

Jamie@FastFord

Cool car mate!

Keep us posted on the progress

Beetlejuice

Ok, not updated this in a little while - there's been a major change of plan. I've sold my duratec engine and gone down a slightly different path.



Picked up yesterday and lined up in the bay this morning. Need to mod the crossmember tomorrow to get the engine right back into the bay.

The_Notorious_C_A_T

That will be awesome!

Is that the mivec one? Is it going 4wd as well?

Craigwoodzetecs

That will be a fair machine once finished

Danster76

iTrader: (2)

Nice

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Cool project how come you changed your mind with the choice of engines.

Beetlejuice

It was a choice of 500bhp and fwd or 500bhp and 4wd. All for around about the same cost. The sale of the duratec more than covered the evo engine, box, transfer, rear diff, prop, shafts, uprights etc.

I just see it as having more potential for future upgrades

RST

iTrader: (3)

Going to be mental once finished

Zetecfiesta

That is gonna be a mental fiesta!

Dan j

Outside the box thinking I like that

fordclub

Nice fiesta

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Awesome! What you doing about the floor pan?

PumaJay

awesome build, look forward to updates

MrJayware

Gonna be wicked with that engine!

Beetlejuice

I've had a very productive day. If the rest of the weekend goes like this then I'll have some pictures up on Sunday night of the engine mounted up where it wants to be. Wish me luck!