Pics of my ST24, and questions about performance mods.

Pics of my ST24, and questions about performance mods.

Author
Discussion

KingRichard

Original Poster:

10,144 posts

233 months

Saturday 27th May 2006
quotequote all
Here you go guys, a couple of pics of my ST

+ Bodywork is A1
+ V6 Burble
+ Lots of toys
+ Cheap as chips

- Scabby, scuffed and buckled alloys
- Pants Stereo
- Slow
- Airbag light flashing

So what are my options for sorting the wheels? and sorting the power?

And that bloody airbag light takes the

Can I just disconnect it? It's not like I intend to have a crash...


Oh and sorry guys Fotango not uploading at the moment so pictures to follow tomorrow.

Ta

up-the-dubs

4,282 posts

230 months

Saturday 27th May 2006
quotequote all
You forgot the pics !

KingRichard

Original Poster:

10,144 posts

233 months

Saturday 27th May 2006
quotequote all
up-the-dubs said:
You forgot the pics !


I said:
pictures to follow tomorrow


And I'm far too beered up to do it now son!

up-the-dubs

4,282 posts

230 months

Sunday 28th May 2006
quotequote all
D'oh

Zad

12,704 posts

237 months

Sunday 28th May 2006
quotequote all
Can't help with the stereo or buckled alloys, but:

Lack of power. Is it perhaps at enginespeeds over 3500rpm? The Duratec V6's main fault is that the secondary throttles gunge up with oil and dirt, leaving you with a 12 valve engine, which is fine for trundling around and all very economical but that's about all. Depending on which version you have, the secondary throttle is either vacuum or electrically activated above 3500rpm. Either way it usually needs the inlet manifolds removing and cleaning. If it's not that then 1 or more of the 3 catalysts may have failed.

Airbag light. Let me guess. It's flashing 4 times, short pause, another 4 times, then a long pause? You adjusted the drivers sets when you bought the car didn't you? (Of course you did, daft thing to ask) well the pyro pre-tensioner seatbelt thingy has an electrical connector which can go a bit iffy when you move it, all it usually needs is unpluggind, a squirt of WD40 and re-plugging. Probably best to disconnect the battery when you do this (don't forget the radio code though).

Standard performance mods are: Removal of the 2 pre-cats (the main catalyst is enough for it to pass the MoT) ST200 throttle body, ST200 upper/lower inlet manifolds (these are tricky to find now) air filter (not keen on these, they ingest too much hot under-bonnet air) and Powerflow exhaust. To be honest they aren't Chav-nutter-max-power type cars, the engine is too good for that.

KingRichard

Original Poster:

10,144 posts

233 months

Wednesday 31st May 2006
quotequote all
Zad said:
Can't help with the stereo or buckled alloys, but:

Lack of power. Is it perhaps at enginespeeds over 3500rpm? The Duratec V6's main fault is that the secondary throttles gunge up with oil and dirt, leaving you with a 12 valve engine, which is fine for trundling around and all very economical but that's about all. Depending on which version you have, the secondary throttle is either vacuum or electrically activated above 3500rpm. Either way it usually needs the inlet manifolds removing and cleaning. If it's not that then 1 or more of the 3 catalysts may have failed.

Airbag light. Let me guess. It's flashing 4 times, short pause, another 4 times, then a long pause? You adjusted the drivers sets when you bought the car didn't you? (Of course you did, daft thing to ask) well the pyro pre-tensioner seatbelt thingy has an electrical connector which can go a bit iffy when you move it, all it usually needs is unpluggind, a squirt of WD40 and re-plugging. Probably best to disconnect the battery when you do this (don't forget the radio code though).

Standard performance mods are: Removal of the 2 pre-cats (the main catalyst is enough for it to pass the MoT) ST200 throttle body, ST200 upper/lower inlet manifolds (these are tricky to find now) air filter (not keen on these, they ingest too much hot under-bonnet air) and Powerflow exhaust. To be honest they aren't Chav-nutter-max-power type cars, the engine is too good for that.



Sorry guys, been posting from work... I will post pics up soon.

This weekend I've really gone to town with the paint. Literally every spot of tar removed, mild wet T-cut and autoglym super resin with a coat of gloss protector. It feels really nice but haven't achieved that 'wet' look yet.

I'm not planning to go all max power. I wanted to beef up the suspension as its a bit wallowy in the twisties compared to the mini. Think road going touring car and i'll be happy

The engine does feel lazy above 3-3500rpm and it also occasionally 'misses' at about 4000rpm.

Is this stuff I can do myself? I'm not exactly Dave Vizard but I can swing a tool with confidence

Any particular order for those engine mods? Any experience with superchips on these?

Thanks BTW

>> Edited by KingRichard on Wednesday 31st May 09:01

Zad

12,704 posts

237 months

Wednesday 31st May 2006
quotequote all
KingRichard said:


Sorry guys, been posting from work... I will post pics up soon.

I'm not planning to go all max power. I wanted to beef up the suspension as its a bit wallowy in the twisties compared to the mini. Think road going touring car and i'll be happy

The engine does feel lazy above 3-3500rpm and it also occasionally 'misses' at about 4000rpm.

Is this stuff I can do myself? I'm not exactly Dave Vizard but I can swing a tool with confidence

Any particular order for those engine mods? Any experience with superchips on these?

Thanks BTW

>> Edited by KingRichard on Wednesday 31st May 09:01


The Mondy will never be as pointy as a Mini, but Poly bushes and a new set of dampers should sharpen things up nicely without making the ride too harsh.

At 3500rpm the V6 is usually just coming on song and delivering the meaty power and a nice growl. It is basically just a matter of getting the spanners out and removing the inlet manifolds and internal butterfly valves, giving them a thorough clean and reassembling. It can be a bit faffy and messy but it's not rocket science. That would definitely be my first step, to make sure the existing equipment is running ok.

I'm told that SVT/ST200 upper/lower inlet manifolds and throttle bodies can be very difficult to find now, but that ST220 items are fittable with care. This would cost around £600 (give or take) and on their own would liberate maybe 10-15 bhp at most.

I think I would go with the de-cat and Powerflow exhaust. They have the option of twin outlets and can be tuned by the fitter to give silence or growlyness as you desire. I believe they are around £300 for a stainless cat-back dual exit inc something like 6 hours of fitting, which seems pretty reasonable (caveat - I haven't got one).

The Superchip / Bluefin has a very poor reputation on these engines, on several occasions power has been found to be down on the standard Ford chip and driveability has suffered too. The Ford item is pretty decent, and to do much better it really needs a properly mapped unit with something like a Unichip. They are usually the last thing to modify however, because it ideally needs a dyno mapping run if you change major items such as the inlet or exhaust systems.

The Forum at www.fordmondeo.org is the place to look.

KingRichard

Original Poster:

10,144 posts

233 months

Wednesday 31st May 2006
quotequote all
Thanks mate!

There was a set of inlet manifolds on fleabay earlier for the ST200, so they must be around if you can be bothered to dig a little.

I've had a look at that site, there's a guy on there selling Noble spec duratec's for £2500!!!

Not sure that would be very tractable in a fwd mondeo!

Here's a couple of picture's of the wee beasty









>> Edited by KingRichard on Wednesday 31st May 23:23

Zad

12,704 posts

237 months

Thursday 1st June 2006
quotequote all
Bugger, the pics don't work

I wonder if anyone has tried the Noble engine in a Jag X-type? That would be an interesting project!

KingRichard

Original Poster:

10,144 posts

233 months

Thursday 1st June 2006
quotequote all
Zad said:
Bugger, the pics don't work

I wonder if anyone has tried the Noble engine in a Jag X-type? That would be an interesting project!



Grr! Sick of this... Can anyone host them for me?

AndyZetec

4 posts

215 months

Thursday 1st June 2006
quotequote all
I was 2 days away from finalising a deal on a new Focus ST when my work anounced a round of redundancies - Not me fortunately, but put me off buying a new car for a while. However I did get a new reg plate for it S55T ST - can I tempt anyone> Its in the classified ads section?

Zad

12,704 posts

237 months

Thursday 1st June 2006
quotequote all
Andy, you are getting annoying.

KingRichard

Original Poster:

10,144 posts

233 months

Friday 2nd June 2006
quotequote all
AndyZetec said:
I was 2 days away from finalising a deal on a new Focus ST when my work anounced a round of redundancies - Not me fortunately, but put me off buying a new car for a while. However I did get a new reg plate for it S55T ST - can I tempt anyone> Its in the classified ads section?


Thats why I've already seen it... In the classified section

KingRichard

Original Poster:

10,144 posts

233 months

Friday 2nd June 2006
quotequote all
Zad said:
Bugger, the pics don't work

I wonder if anyone has tried the Noble engine in a Jag X-type? That would be an interesting project!



Ripped the exhaust off this lunchtime on a viscious speedhump... even more keen to replace the exhaust now

What a lovely sounding engine... Sounded like a Lancaster Bomber on overrun... (Its only got the downpipe and one cat on it )

Replacement mid section £79.99 fitted cheers ATS, so thats why I run a ford now instead of a BMW product