EdgeAutosport's Focus ST Build

You guys have probably seen our build thread over on focusst.org, but here is the TL;DR version for those who haven't (still gonna be kinda long though...).

We bought our ST back at the beginning of 2013 and immediately started modding. First we installed an accessport and dyno'd with an OTS map. Then we installed a cat back and downpipe. Went with cp-e catless and a Milltek Non-Res Cat Back. With just the stage 1 tune from Cobb, we made 250whp and 325wtq.





We decided that we didn't want to bother going back to the dyno and checking any gains with the downpipe so instead, we just went ahead and installed a cp-e BIG Front Mount Intercooler. And since we had the car on the lift for that, we decided to just go ahead and slap a GTX2867 with .86 a/r on as well.





You'll notice our GT3076 powered Mazdaspeed 3 there. We have since sold that car, but we miss it the most. Still have the fastest 1/4 mile time up here in the clouds at 12.6. Waiting on one of the locals to beat it with his 6062 powered MS6.

With the GTX2867 and a Freektune, we dyno'd at 334whp and 331wtq uncorrected.




Stock Stage 1 vs GTX2867 Freektune (uncorrected)


Got to race a Lambo at the half mile event and send him packing. 6000asl really hurts the NA cars...


That turbo was a lot of fun, but it just didn't flow enough air for our power goals at this altitude. So we decided to switch it up and run a custom turbo kit featuring an EFR 7163. That turbo flows some air...

At this time, we also switched over to Stratified for our E-tuning. The new turbo certainly showed some major improvements...



Power is super linear and the car is downright scary on the top end with the long gearing.

 

Next mod was seat time... Had to make some passes and get the launch down. Also, high altitude sucks...





So we added the stratified Aux Fuel and went to Oregon to run some half mile passes. Ended up with a 147.3 with visibility down to less than a mile do to smoke from the wild fires all around us.

After this we went out to Focus Fest and ran a 12.5 at 108 due to the clutch disc welding itself to the flywheel and locking us out of gear. So we switched to a South Bend Prototype and went back to the track once we got home.

After coming home, we were able to drop the stock block 1/4 mile record at 12.28 with an ET of 118. Later the record would be broken down to a 12.24 et 116 by a guy at sea level. Again, altitude sucks...



But the fun wouldn't last... Few weeks later we dropped cylinder number four all over the track.



Now, we are just waiting on Deadhook Motorsports to send us built 2.3L stroker with some other goodies. We'll be back on track very soon and looking to hunt down some fast times.

 

Thanks for posting the build!

 

Nice build. Looking forward to updates! What would you say you like about the focus st over the ms3? And vice versa?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The Focus ST is like a newer/slightly updated version of the speed 3. Nicer interior unless you have a base (which we have). Power wise, torque is instant and there are tons of options for parts to put on the ST. It is a very capable car just like the speed is. The gearing is much better on the focus. We can do 100mph in third and I think 4th goes up to 128mph. Saves a shift in the 1/4 mile. The Focus is also much easier to work on than the speed 3.

I like that the speed came with a mechanical diff from the factory. We had to upgrade ours to a quaife cause the E-Diff doesn't want to let you launch the car properly. They are very similar cars, but the Speed due to its limited production in the early years had to fight a lot harder to get go fast parts. Since the focus is a ford, there are a lot more people jumping on board so there is a lot more support for the ST.

 

Cool thread. Surprised to see how long into the powerband it takes to make appreciable torque on the GTX2867r. Did Justin set it up that way on purpose? What happened on cylinder 4, exactly?

One thing I will say: the MS3 UEL exhaust note sounds SOOOO much better

 

We chose the .86 a/r hot side for the GTX2867 so it has a lot more top end but takes forever to spool. The smaller .64 a/r option hits about 300rpm sooner.

The rod stretched, then broke on number four. Pretty much cracked the block in half... We have a dis-assembly video coming soon where you can see it fall apart when I take the crank strap off. Here are a couple pics...

 

Such an epic fail. If you are going to go, go big. Thats pretty big.

 

So it threw a rod at ~420/380, is that about right? Any alternative fueling (eth or methanol)? Being FREEKTUNE'd, I know the calibration was on-point. This doesn't appear to bode well for those who had hopes that the 10-year-newer Ecoboost platform addressed known issues with the MZR DISI, like rod strength.

Can you offer an extended explanation on how this happened? Was it WOT? How was compression/oil consumption beforehand? Other detals/data? (I LOOOOOOVE data )

 

We were being tuned by stratified when it popped. It popped at WOT on the drag strip on the shake down pass. We were making a lot more power at that time than the last dyno we did. We were running Aux Fuel on a blend of 101 and C85.

The problem, in our case, wasn't that we were making too much power for the engine to handle, it was that we spent too much time bouncing the poor thing off the rev limiter. Our car never got driven easy and any time we were out in it, it was doing logs all the way to redline (7200rpm), or making 1/4 mile passes, or making 1/2 mile passes.

The rod didn't bend and break, it stretched then broke. At high rpms on the exhaust stroke, especially at the rev limit, you don't have that cushion of air and fuel filling the cylinder to stop the piston from wanting to continue going up. Its like throwing a soft ball as hard as you can and then not letting go. This is why it failed. Launch control, Flat Foot Shifting, and bouncing off the rev limit a lot more than we should have are what contributed to our engine failure. From what we have seen otherwise, the Ecoboost is just as capable on stock block as the MZR. You could probably push close to 500whp with no problems as long as you never raced the car and only did 40 rolls on the highway. But beat on that setup every day at the track and both cars will most likely suffer the same fate.

I will say, you can get away with running bigger turbos on the Mazda. The GTX3076 is as big of a turbo as you can realistically spool on the ST. That is why we are going with a higher compression 2.3L... We need to be able to spool our GTX3582...

 

Dang, that sucks. FWIH, we can rev out to 7,500 with no issues, but I could be wrong. Seems like their rods are weak regarding piston speed and ours are weak regarding torque down low in the powerband and LSPI. I'd have hoped their rods were over-engineered for both issues in light of the 10 years of practical experience on the MZR DISI, but I guess the bean counters weren't okay with that.

 

what drove the switch from freektune to stratified?

 

I think the mile high Mazdaspeed quarter mile time you set was just broken last night... 12.5 iirc from Abdul. I cannot wait to see what the new motor can do.

Is the limited ability to spool a turbo caused by the manifold design? The integrated or whatever they call it.

 

We were very happy with our Freektune. We just wanted to try out Stratified. Justin got every last bit out of our GTX2867 and Alex got everything we could from the 7163. We still recommend both when people ask us about E-tuning.

Yeah Abdul got it by a tenth. We've been waiting for him to do it. Lol!

 

Can't go wrong either way in light of their reps with our platform. One of the main reasons I stick with FREEKTUNE is re-tune fees of $75 are a lot less than starting all over. Plus, I'm partial to hybrid tunes rather than pure load-based, but I'm sure both feel awesome since they're both master tuners.

 

Can't wait to see what's next!!

 

Update on the build...

Looks like our motor should be shipping soon from Deadhook. Here are some pics!













JP and I currently figuring out and ordering parts for our fuel setup.

 

UPDATE!!

I'll grab some port shots here pretty soon and post them up. In the meantime, here is the progress we've made this week.

JP has been working on the motor and has gotten pretty much everything assembled. Couple bolts were missing here and there that we've had to wait on. Ford also sent us the wrong serpentine belt and we have to wait for the correct one now.



Here you can see the Fuel Bar from cp-e bolted up. In order to install, you have to grind off a little metal where the tensioner pulley mounts to the block, and you also have to shave off a little plastic on the intake mani. We have ordered another intake mani though because ours is full of metal shavings. Below you can see what was sitting on top of the throttle body when we pulled it off.



While JP was messing around with the engine, I decided to take the front end of the car apart.



Though we had planned on replacing the radiator and fan setup, we found that we will be needing to replace a lot more than we thought. The cp-e intercooler is full of oil and metal and we don't want to risk missing anything on clean up and have it go through our engine. You can see the oil that poured out of the intercooler below.



Like I said before, we were planning on replacing the radiator anyways, and here is why.



The wrist pin came out with so much force that it blew the starter off the block and into the fan hard enough to dent and imprint the radiator.



We have a new fan/shroud as well as a Mishimoto radiator sitting here ready to replace it though so no worries on that.


Anyways, that is where we are at for now. We'll have some more pics this evening.

 

Are you guys going to get another cpe intercooler or go with something else?? I see some people in CO Focus st page running some crazy big intercoolers.

 

We will be running another cp-e intercooler most likely. Even on the hottest days, we've never seen more than 10 degrees above ambient even across full half mile pulls. I believe the cp-e core is better than the mishimoto cores those guys use and we also want to leave some room for air to get to the radiator.