I thought Dherr's thread was something, well this my good sir is more along the lines of the absurdity in which I will be participating in later (as the budget allows). Excellent work so far and quite the read lol.
I'll be keeping tabs on this as there's a lot of insight to be gained here.
We are all watching this one get built, really great platform for building something spectacular. Spitfire's are inexpensive, slow British sports cars built to a price, TVR's were proper tube frame race cars for the street. My car will hopefully be a good example of how far you can take a Spitfire as a street car and weekend autocross toy. This TVR will likely be so much more than that!
In reply to dherr :
Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. I enjoy the feedback and interaction.
Good news on the TVR front today: I have a real Colorado title for it with my name and everything! Seems minor in the whole process, but it took a bit of work getting the VIN verification and all the other paperwork done. Second time I've been to the DMV in an attempt to get the title. The dealer who sold me my Focus ST actually signed off on the VIN verification - handy that and nice of him to do it.
The only comment the DMV guy had was that I need to bring it by when I get plates for it so that they can see it! My kind of DMV guy!
I banged out a quick garage project this afternoon - I swapped in some 30" travel ball-bearing drawer slides on my big work-table. It's an old drafting table and the drawer was just wood on metal. Soooo much smoother now! Some days it's the little things....
Now why can't we have more of those DMV guys?.....
Here's the crib notes:
I made some cribbing.
A valuable investment of $26 in lumber. It's now 9" higher all around, and much easier to fit under.
Here's an underside shot towards the rear end:
And straight up towards the parking brake and the shifter hole:
Lots of wiring mess to clean up. Or more accurately remove and redo. And fuel lines. And clutch line. And on and on...
I haven't found any bad rust yet - lots of surface flaking that cleans off easily with a wire-wheel. Looks like the original chassis color is silver, which is cool since that's what I had in mind anyway.
Undercoating paint is black and comes off with very gentle pressure of the wire wheel. I think my under-hood / under-body color will be white.
https://www.durabakcompany.com/colored-bed-liner-paint-for-your-truck/
This is what we are about to redo an entire Ramcharger in, can use it for undercoating if you like and get textured or smooth. If you order a gallon of textured, they even include 2x rollers. This particular flavor of stuff, you can brush, roll, or spray depending on how you feel like doing it.
fwiw, they'll send you two free color samples as well - https://www.durabakcompany.com/request-sample-brochure/
Also, I think you should Forest Green the whole thing and just claim it's British Racing Green lol 
I'm looking at junkyard intercoolers, and I'm weighing options:
1. 2016 Fusion 2.0 intercooler - $65. These cross-reference to the MKX as well.
2. 2014 Escape 2.0 intercooler - also $65. These cross-reference to the Focus ST.
3. Not buy anything right now and wait around for something interesting to show up on CL. $0. (For now)
Limited internet searching indicates the Focus ST unit may be an inch deeper. Or maybe a bit taller. Or maybe I've found utter nonsense.
Any real info out there?
Either way, they seem to use the same MAP sensor, so at least I've got that.
I have an incredible appreciation white engine bays and undercarriages. Makes leak finding and repair so much easier
25.91 X 6.21 X 2.52 for the Focus ST.
25.87 X 6.06 X 1.57 for the Fusion. According to various salvage sites.
They look to be about 75 dollars new for an aftermarket intercooler from someone like CSF for the Focus ST.
The0retical said:25.91 X 6.21 X 2.52 for the Focus ST.
25.87 X 6.06 X 1.57 for the Fusion. According to various salvage sites.
They look to be about 75 dollars new for an aftermarket intercooler from someone like CSF for the Focus ST.
That's about as good as I could find. So the ST does indeed seem to be a bit bigger. And yes, the brand new OEM version is $75.
The bargain would be to find a used one with the $50 MAP sensor still attached. But we're not talking big differences here.
Ok, back at it tonight. On the docket: remove the factory motor mount on the driver's side. That thing totally obstructs the new alternator, and I don't see a good reason to go to heroic measures to save it.
Before evil deeds were done:
After all is finished:
Wasn't a bad job, but lots and lots of grinding and sanding to smooth the tubes out afterwards. I got them reasonably round and smooth, though there is a little waviness there.
Even busted out my 7" grinder - a sure sign that heavy-fab is being done! The big beasty actually worked very well and was quite controllable with a flapper wheel. Didn't want to gouge or anything. That thing kicks like a mule when you pull the trigger...
Did the "nooks and crannies" with a 2" disc on a die grinder, and cleaned everything up with a big sharp file and some 220 grit sandpaper. All in all a productive evening!
Well, color me screwed. I just got word that Ford Racing has canceled production of the 2.0 control pack. After 4 months on "back-order" they tell me that. Super frustrating.
Alright, folks. I need some emotional, technical, and spiritual support here. What are my options for salvaging this mess?
Could there be one in parys supply somewhere? I know my local dealer has access to inventory for the whole country. May be worth a shot.
After that, maybe aem or megasquirt?
Weird suggestion....
I know people have already worked around and swapped the gm turbo di 4 cylinders into other cars.
Can you use gm sensors and use the gm electronics?
In reply to USERNAMETAKEN :
Smashing words into Google turns up Syvecs who offers a PNP tunable standalone ECU for the Focus ST. If it actually functions as a stand alone you could probably grab the wiring harness from a donor and strip it out. It's a lot more work than that control pack though.
AEM Infinity or Megasquirt are fairly universal so they would likely work with some effort or a tuner who knows what they're doing.
Is there any independent third party resellers that might still have some in stock? It looks like Jegs and Summit drop ship from Ford. I'd call around to American Muscle and CJ Pony Parts to see if they have any in stock.
Any contingency plan in place yet if there is non of those left in the open market? Does Cobb or Mountune have a workaround for this utilizing the FoST ECU with AccessPort flashing the FoST ECU into a standalone or is it too reliant on CANbus and the body control modules? Do the Holley standalone units support DI motors yet, if they support the Gen5 SBC they might not be far off on the Ecoboost platform. My understanding of DI injectors is that they require a specific pattern of coil polarization and grounding to fire much like a stepper motor needs to spin. Which is why most standalones do not support them yet, not so simple like the pulsed 12V grounding that port injectors use.
Sorry for the ramblethon, just thinking out loud.
I was hoping to be a hero:
But it says "items are drop shipped from the manufacturer." :-(
The Brits claim to have a complete standalone option here. They seem to have support options for quite a few late model GDI engines.
Could you get a control pack for a 2.3 and get it working with that instead, or was that canned as well? Are there tuners who do both the 2.0 and 2.3 and might be able to just load up a similar to stock 2.0 tune on the 2.3?
Talked to Ford Racing. The tech sounded a bit like this cancellation was news to him. I guess he's going to pow-wow internally and get back to me.
What are the limits of CanBUS tuning? I know people turn off PATS and things like that. Can you go in and turn off EVERYTHING but the engine management?
This control pack was really the reason I went with this swap. I didn't want to mess with engine management. Ugh.
USERNAMETAKEN said:What are the limits of CanBUS tuning? I know people turn off PATS and things like that. Can you go in and turn off EVERYTHING but the engine management?
The good folks at Cobb and Mountune could answer that I'm sure.
I had a think on why Ford Racing may have suddenly stopped selling the control pack. There may be a temporary freeze on selling anything that isn't necessary to vehicle production and originates or has a large number of components that originate in China due to the trade war that officially started last Friday. A lot of people are hoping this blows over, at least that's the overwhelming sentiment around the office here.
USERNAMETAKEN said:Talked to Ford Racing. The tech sounded a bit like this cancellation was news to him. I guess he's going to pow-wow internally and get back to me.
What are the limits of CanBUS tuning? I know people turn off PATS and things like that. Can you go in and turn off EVERYTHING but the engine management?
This control pack was really the reason I went with this swap. I didn't want to mess with engine management. Ugh.
The answer, as always, is it depends. Mostly its all about how well documented the ECU is the advantage to the control pack unit you were looking at is that Ford provides a lot of documentation. I know with my car the only thing the tuner doesn't seem to be able to get at is SWAS.
FWIW the Syvecs ECU makes a note of antitheft features so I'd assume that's a known function but you could clear that up with an email.
In reply to The0retical :
I swear a tried a quick Google before asking, but could you point me to a definition of SWAS?
Ransom said:In reply to The0retical :
I swear a tried a quick Google before asking, but could you point me to a definition of SWAS?
Steering Wheel Angle Sensor, in this context. Or Store Within A Store (see WalMart) or Steam and Water Analysis System (?). But most likely the first one.
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