For some background information...
I put a Turbocharger on a MK1 Ford Focus and it had been dead nuts reliable for a few months & ~3k miles; about due for an oil change. Over time a small coolant developed and dumped all the water out of the car. I didn't notice because my dash didn't show any signs of over heating. Couple weeks ago after work I jumped onto the highway at 10 psi, with no coolant, and cooked the motor. The first thing I noticed was a hot metallic smell only to look down at my SCT X4 device only to see rapidly dropping temps that started at 260 degrees Fahrenheit. I managed to get home safely and without issue but the car smelled funny the whole way home even after the metallic smell went away.
Once home I shut the car off, popped the hood and shined a light onto the coolant reservoir. It was bone dry. I went in the house, grabbed a bucket of water and filled the cooling system to try and save the motor. I figured it was probably fruitless but I had to try. Next, I turned on the car to get the water to cycle through the car and noticed a lot of blow by. I sniffed the blow by and it smelled like a can of gas held up to your nose. Shut the car off and called it a night.
Over the weekend I pulled the car apart to start an ST170 Swap from a motor I bought on the cheap while I was in Germany. I also was curious to see the real damage to the motor so I pulled it apart. Here's a picture of the damage to the motor, cylinders 2, 3 and 4 all had blown up ringlands.
Pressing forward, I spent a couple weekends getting the ST170 motor ready for the swap. Most, if not all, of the posts/threads on the Focus Forums claim that you need an SVT/ST170 ECU, (mostly complete?) harness from a donor car , IMRC stuff, engine mounts, etc etc.
I did not have all of those parts, I had an ST170 motor, ST170 engine harness and that was about it. I started by taking the Zetec engine harness and laying it over the ST170 motor to see what was different. The only differences were the fuel pressure regulator, cylinder head temperature sensor vs normal coolant temperature sensor, lack of variable valve timing stuff and cam timing sensor.
I solved the fuel pressure regulator problem by just replacing the entire fuel rail, it fit just fine.
I spliced the temperature sensor wiring together by just replacing the clip of the zetec one to the clip of the ST170 one.
Supposedly the cam timing sensor is not required for proper operation of the car so I just let it dangle.
The lack of VVT stuff was solved by a VVT delete kit sold by a company called massive. You have to time the intake gear when installing the kit, which I did. Reluctant to admit it took me 4 tries before I got it right. Gotta turn it clockwise to advance it the 12* it needs... I was trying to retard it 12*, I'm surprised it even ran horribly; its no wonder it wouldn't idle.
I knew people had swapped in SVT 6 speed motors by using the SVT flywheel/clutch assembly into normal zetec cars so I figured the opposite was true. The opposite is true, bolts in and works no problem.
At this point in time, I put on the turbo stuff to the ST170 motor and swapped the front timing cover to retain my expensive polyurethane mounts. (Figured the timing cover plate thing on my own) The IMRC deal is just gonna have to sit in whatever position its in now, it's spring loaded so it wont do funny things while im driving.
Fast forward to when the motor is in the car, it started up just fine once I had the cam timing correct but would only idle for about 10 seconds at a time before it back fired really badly. I never installed the brake booster hose.... oops... Also, normal zetec brake booster hose is too short; I ended up taping it shut with electrical tape.
It was time to try again... Turn the key over and voila! It idles perfectly fine! Also, it has a hell of a lope for a Ford Focus.
Here's the video of it running, no worries it wasn't on for more than 30 seconds at most like this.
