In reply to RacetruckRon :
Thanks! Great cars when you take care of them. I dont think they like neglect lolz.
In reply to RacetruckRon :
Thanks! Great cars when you take care of them. I dont think they like neglect lolz.
In reply to OHSCrifle :
Im sure. Thankfully, I am in a county that doesnt care. Plus the defouler I modded seems to have prevented a P0420 code. So far shes running great with no errors!
In reply to Mrfurzzy1 :
Absolutely! I miss my 87 MR2.........sigh.
I have a friend who recently bought a Focus off Facebook marketplace and I am going to show him this thread. Maybe he can get some ideas.
In reply to Paris Van Gorder :
Glad to help in any way I am able to. Great cars, very fun and practical as well. Can be made into monsters, though I don't have the budget or want to do so.
Yesterday did some maintenance. I believe the shift tower was leaking fluid. That's the thought, as it's a common issue with these cars as they don't have a gasket from factory.
Not a major leak, so I wanted to correct it before it's worse.
I didn't take pics of the actual tower out of the car, but I did degrease it and give it a proper clean. Also did the area around the trans as well. Will go back and touch it up once I whip out the pressure washer again.
Sealed with anaerobic sealant, and reinstalled.
Also, took the grounds off and improved the connection. Ford slapped them on painted surfaces.
Before.
After.
I did go over them after with paint to cover the exposed metal.
All cleaned up. Shifts great and so far so good.
Decided to fix the front bumper. Had a blemish I caused, and decided to fix the scrapes on the bottom of the front bumper.
Bought a base/clear paint match kit and went to town.
Which led me to realize the bumper needed to come off. Again. Though I also had to pull the wheel liners as I needed to drive the car and couldnt have them flopping about. So they got pulled as well and that afforded me the option to clean out behind the wheel wells.
Sanded, base coat, and clear.
Wet sanded last night, came out great so far. Have to do another area that I sanded through, that wasnt painted by me......... So no I have to do the same deal to another area. Sigh.
Figure I will hit the whole bumper once with 1500 after doinf the new spot with 1000. Should polish out nicely.
ALSO.....my AWR rear engine mount came in!
Will update.
Alright, so I am done with the bumper. Came out pretty darn good. You can see some areas UP CLOSE where the base and clear didnt feather as well as I would have hoped. Though its a non issue to me. You have to get right up on it.
Trust me. Its better. The quarter sized missing paint blem on the passenger side front is gone, and that's all I know. Lol. Done with a paint match kit, and YouTube. LOL.
Also, installed my AWR rear engine mount. Good thing I didn't install a Focus E rear motor mount. As the one already installed was such a unit. Either way. Made a nice difference. Very firm but not in a bad way. Shifting and driving are more direct and overall.....the way it should have been from factory (not my original sentiment - one used thats failry apt).
Some updates. The factory diverter valve on these cars are plastic and can fail over time. I suspected (was wrong) that mine may be on its way out. So I scored a deal from a group and picked up a Mountune metal replacement unit.
Side by side.
And installed.
Can't say it made a difference, but now at least with the increased pressure from a new incoming tune set up, and the metal construction. I feel it will be a worthwhile upgrade.
Stay TUNED. Lol.
Reading all this with interest, as I'm in the process of putting one of these engines in the back of a classic Mini.......lots to learn, although my downpipe did not have a cat in it.
In reply to MiniDave :
Maintenance is key. Regardless of what it is going in. Thats the biggest thing I can stress. That and dont lug the engine under boost under 3K. LSPI is a thing and will KILL the engine if you dont be aware of that.
Cheers, and best of luck to you in your project. Feel free to ask any questions, and if I cannot answer it - I will ask somebody who can.
LSPI?
I think the gearing (running 13" wheels and tires vs 18) will take care of my running at too low RPMs! 
In reply to MiniDave :
Low Speed Pre-Ignition. Basically detonation that happens when lugging the engine and demanding too much torque too fast. The Ecoboosts are pretty well calibrated around this but this was a major killer or MazdaSpeed 3 and 6 engines.
MiniDave said:LSPI?
I think the gearing (running 13" wheels and tires vs 18) will take care of my running at too low RPMs!
Probably. Though still a factor. Hope you never deal with it!
RacetruckRon said:In reply to MiniDave :
Low Speed Pre-Ignition. Basically detonation that happens when lugging the engine and demanding too much torque too fast. The Ecoboosts are pretty well calibrated around this but this was a major killer or MazdaSpeed 3 and 6 engines.
Yep. Even the factory cruise control can be aggressive. Cruise at 60 or higher and depending on grade or conditions - it can accelerate and if you don't change the gear. BOOM (literally?), you gotta downshift! Its somewhat mitigated with proper fuel (93) and regular oil changes with quality oil (every 3K). Common sense....thats needed too.
Cruise control? What's that?
This is going in the back of a classic Mini!!!! 
Again, I'm figuring that with short gears I'll probably never be in the low revs high torque area, but who knows. I'm very aware of pre-ignition and know better than to lug an engine, but ii does seem like the MFRs want these things to run as slowly as possible - my Audis are turning 14-1500 at 75 mph!
In reply to MiniDave :
Im sure its apples to oranges here. I was just saying that it can happen in the Focus with the OEM cruise control. Im sure comparing a 3000 lb OEM ST to a 2000 lb Mini is another thing. More a point that even the OEM does stupid things that can contribute to the problem. Also if you tune it, dont run an off the shelf Cobb AP tune. They are spotty and between that tune and the Ford Performance tune, they are usually the tunes when things go boom.
Best of luck and cant wait to see it!
We got the wife's ST2 in 2020, 2018 that spent time in Europe for a military member. IIRC it was 20k miles or so when we got it.
at 30k miles ford bought it a new transmission as it would not hold 2nd. I had Mark Ficken Ford in Charlotte replace the clutch at the same time.
I've also had the HID's die. (the wire from ballast to bulb shorts out internally, it took me a year to figure it out...)
then a evaporator or emission sensor died and had to be replaced.
She loves it. Though she misses how small her Mini Clubman S it replaced was in comparison.
the ONLY mod to it was a intake pipe/filter. I know it's a gimic. But you can clearly hear the turbo when driving now and it gives a really good FNF whoosh noise when getting off the power.
I've NEVER replaced the spark plugs and she's at 70k miles now. Your thread has me concerned because I change them every 15k miles in my F150 Ecoboost and have since new. It's noticeable when the plugs foul at 15 to 20k miles.
I"m interested in that MRT Resonator delete you posted. She's wanted it a bit louder. Wish they made one for the F150, always wanted to just wake it up a bit.
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
Yes, maintenance is really key. As mentioned these cars consume spark plugs.
I can't speak to the ecoboost anywhere else, only on this particular 2.0
The resonator delete was very tasteful, very hard to tell really until I put the resonated down pipe on. Now it's quite noticeable when you romp on it. Otherwise, it's dead quiet with a nice little note.
I would recommend doing the transmission fluid. As I have done. The stock fluid is water thin.
probably within the next month or so I'm going to do a carbon clean on the valves
Very rewarding platform.
bonylad said:In reply to Mad_Ratel :
Yes, maintenance is really key. As mentioned these cars consume spark plugs.
I can't speak to the ecoboost anywhere else, only on this particular 2.0
The resonator delete was very tasteful, very hard to tell really until I put the resonated down pipe on. Now it's quite noticeable when you romp on it. Otherwise, it's dead quiet with a nice little note.
I would recommend doing the transmission fluid. As I have done. The stock fluid is water thin.
probably within the next month or so I'm going to do a carbon clean on the valvesVery rewarding platform.
I'm leaving the trans alone as ford put a new unit in with a good warranty on it only a or two year ago. (edit: a least until the warranty is out).
I'm curious on the carbon clean. My f150 is in dire need of it.
In reply to bonylad :
I'm running the Ford factory settings, no custom tune......
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
Are you familiar with the benefits and drawbacks of a direct injection engine?
Basically, as fuel is injected straight into the cylinder. There is no fuel on the backside of the valve as there is an port injected engine
buildup occurs on the backside of the intake valves, and can interfere with the operation and form a restriction.
Basically, you have to pull the intake manifold and clean the backside of the valves out
this can be done with chemical means which are usually ineffective compared to walnut blasting, which is what I'm going to do
do a quick YouTube search and you'll see what I refer to
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
Are you familiar with the benefits and drawbacks of a direct injection engine?
Basically, as fuel is injected straight into the cylinder. There is no fuel on the backside of the valve as there is an port injected engine
buildup occurs on the backside of the intake valves, and can interfere with the operation and form a restriction.
Basically, you have to pull the intake manifold and clean the backside of the valves out
this can be done with chemical means which are usually ineffective compared to walnut blasting, which is what I'm going to do
do a quick YouTube search and you'll see what I refer to
I'm familiar. Being a 2018 i was really hoping they'd made the similar changes they had made for the 3.5 ecoboost v6. (gen 2 has a 7th injecter in the intake to get fuel on the valves). I've tried the can of smoke method through the throttle body for teh ecoboost and really felt no difference.
Drove her car today. It's still zippy and fun. Which tells me my NC with the FM turbo kit will be a blast to drive.
I will note, at 40-50mph there's quite a "hum" from the rear. Has to be some kind of bearing/wheel noise. she of course does not notice it at all. (I also can feel something from the steering wheel so maybe it's up front).
Mad_Ratel said:I'm familiar. Being a 2018 i was really hoping they'd made the similar changes they had made for the 3.5 ecoboost v6. (gen 2 has a 7th injecter in the intake to get fuel on the valves). I've tried the can of smoke method through the throttle body for teh ecoboost and really felt no difference.
Drove her car today. It's still zippy and fun. Which tells me my NC with the FM turbo kit will be a blast to drive.
I will note, at 40-50mph there's quite a "hum" from the rear. Has to be some kind of bearing/wheel noise. she of course does not notice it at all. (I also can feel something from the steering wheel so maybe it's up front).
7th injector? Such a stunningly simple solution to a complex problem. I mean. Darn.
Well, sounds like you have it well, in hand, I'll be more than happy to help with anything you need. Feel free to reach out.
cheers
You'll need to log in to post.
