My latest upgrades to the turbo Focus
Here is my original build thread: sporadic's Turbo Duratec build thread from July 2007
I can't believe it's been that long!!
- Upgraded IHI turbo: fitted with 440 CFM compressor wheel vs. 350 CFM. Mild turbine outlet porting.
- 3" blow-through MAF instead of stock MAF + MAFia draw-through
- New ambient pipe and filter location
- Relocated coolant expansion tank to driver's side using Mini Cooper expansion tank.
- Solid passenger mount with poly bushings
- Ford Racing suspension with poly rear control arm bushings and LineX'd control arms
- Completely new tune with help from Tom, fine-tuning and tweaking by me. (big kudos for Tom)
I'm extremely happy with these latest and possibly final upgrades.
I wanted to relocate my ambient pipe because it was running under the engine and hung too low for my taste.
The ideal option was to position the air filter on the passenger side, where the coolant expansion tank was located.
My solution was to move the expansion tank, but finding one small enough was difficult.
I found a Mini Cooper tank was perfect, but I needed to drill a second coolant return since it only had one.
The Ford Racing suspension kit was what this project started out as.
I ran into a control arm bolt rusted to the bushing sleeve and opted to upgrade to Prothane bushings instead of buying a new OEM control arm.
While I had the downtime waiting on bushings to arrive (long story, eventually bought the whole entire kit from CFM) I sent my turbo off to be fitted with a 440 CFM compressor wheel.
The IHI RHB52 is a tiny turbo and choked after 5300 RPM.
With the upgrade it now makes power to 6500 RPM with little to no difference in spool time. [woot]
It doesn't just mean more peak power, but it means it's making power longer without falling off so quickly.
While waiting on the turbo to come back I ordered the coolant expansion tank, and also took a spare set of control arms, beat out the old bushings, and took them to my buddy to be coated in Line-X.
I also ordered a new BOV and a 3"-to-2.75" 90* silicone bend for my new 3" MAF pipe. The 2.75" is for the throttle body.
There is a 2.5" 90* bend to a 2.5"-3" adapter for the 3" MAF pipe.
I can't recommend this configuration to anyone, as it turned into an annoyance with tuning, but I did get it figured out for now.
See the Tuning sub-forum for that thread.
The FRPP suspension is great.
The drop was ~1.5" in the front and 2" in the rear.
It took a solid week of driving for it to settle down to that height.
It felt squishy at first and I was a bit disappointed, but there is a world of difference after a week.
The difference going from a bypass valve to the BOV took some getting used to.
My car was a sleeper, but now turns heads.
After a few years as a sleeper I don't really mind a bit of attention.
Before even on the dyno nobody realized my car was turbocharged!
I'll post a video of the new sound sometime soon.
The solid motor mount was something I made probably a year ago.
The vibrations were outrageous.
I bought some urethane sway bar end-link bushings and that helped for sure.
The vibration is still significant, so it's not an upgrade for the faint of heart.
There are currently little pieces of paper/napkins wedged in the air vents to control rattling. [hihi]
So at this moment everything is back together with no leaks, tuned, and running better than ever.
I hope to get to the track this summer/fall and also back to the dyno.
Engine:
Engine before:
Solid mount installed:
Solid mount before paint:
Ambient pipe:
Coolant tank (MAFia is now gone):
Old compressor wheel vs. new:
New compressor wheel:
Line-X'd control arm with poly bushings:
BOV location and 3" MAF pipe:
FRPP suspension:
Before (you can barely see the old ambient pipe under the car):
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Originally Posted by Martin0660
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