[BlueBomber]

I put together a little article outlining several upgrades you can already do to these cars, complete with a little more info and areas you might need to look into upgrading in the future.

It seems that every Comparison article in the automotive press these days is pitting the plucky-but-capable little Fiesta ST against all sorts of competition – from the more direct comparisons like the Fiat 500 Abarth and Mini Cooper S to apples-and-oranges comparisons like sending the Fiesta ST up against the Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S/Toyota GT86 – which it’s evenly matched against – or beefier competition – like the E46 M3. With so many other cars seemingly wanting a piece, these few tuner tweaks to the Fiesta ST will make your car faster, handle better and more fun to drive, and maybe even allow you to embarrass a few people at the local Run-What-Ya-Brung night at the Dragstrip.

Read the full article here:
http://blog.modbargains.com/6-mods-maximum-fun-fiesta-st/

 

[spangenb]

Other than the FMIC (not legal in STX autox) all those mods are either already done or on the top of my list

 

[BlueBomber]

What intake are you opting for, and why?

I am really excited to see what Injen does.

 

[spangenb]

Still waiting. There are only a couple of choices at the moment and not a lot of data supporting them. Cobb AccessPort was #1. Sparco 16" wheels with 225 Direzzas and BC coilovers are on the shelf pending the end of winter. A moderately quiet 3" exhaust with hi flow cat is also pending some data.

 

[BlueBomber]

I am on the same page as you concerning the exhaust, as I REALLY dislike "unwanted" attention. I was thinking of doing a catted DP and stock exhaust or catted DP + the QUIETEST POSSIBLE exhaust - but absolutely, you're right, there's almost no data out there.

Let me know how you like your BC Coilovers once you install them. A Coilover Shootout would be pretty rad between H&R, Vogtland, Bilstein, KW, ST and BC Coilovers

 

[spangenb]

Don't get me wrong, the car needs to be louder. However I want a low, throaty sound and zero drone. No buzzy or harsh ricer sounds. I did a fair amount of reading across all sorts of forums on the BCs and they are well respected for an inexpensive Taiwanese product. My first foray into coilovers.

 

[RodMoe]

Well done read

 

[D1JL]

I put together a little article outlining several upgrades you can already do to these cars, complete with a little more info and areas you might need to look into upgrading in the future.

It seems that every Comparison article in the automotive press these days is pitting the plucky-but-capable little Fiesta ST against all sorts of competition – from the more direct comparisons like the Fiat 500 Abarth and Mini Cooper S to apples-and-oranges comparisons like sending the Fiesta ST up against the Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S/Toyota GT86 – which it’s evenly matched against – or beefier competition – like the E46 M3. With so many other cars seemingly wanting a piece, these few tuner tweaks to the Fiesta ST will make your car faster, handle better and more fun to drive, and maybe even allow you to embarrass a few people at the local Run-What-Ya-Brung night at the Dragstrip.

Read the full article here:
http://blog.modbargains.com/6-mods-maximum-fun-fiesta-st/

So I am curious,
How many of these mods have you done to you FiST and how are they working out for you?


Dave

 

[Fiat slayer]

I plan on doing the hose clamps at work this week

 

[D1JL]

I plan on doing the hose clamps at work this week

Having already done this myself.
I can definitely assure you it will make your car faster, handle better and more fun to drive, and maybe even allow you to embarrass a few people at the local Run-What-Ya-Brung night at the Dragstrip.


Dave

 

[jimclark]

Nice article. Well done.

 

[BRGT350]

nicely done, and pretty much lines up with my ideas for the car. I would add intake and short throw shifter towards the top of the list. Wheels, tires, coil-overs, exhaust, and tune along with the intake and shifter are on my list. My only reason for thinking coil-overs is that I want a little bit lower ride in the summer and a much higher ride in the winter.

 

[ohskigod]

I find the lowering springs and shocks i there's ting, as I already think this thing handles great. I gotta imagine it will make the ride even more stiff?

 

[D1JL]

The springs and shocks of the FiST are great however good lowering springs can provide a variety of improvements.

First I find that the 40 series tires cause most of the ride harshness.

The spring I have chosen are a dual taper wind.
While still lowering the center of gravity, the car rides on the softer taper that provides a nice ride, no worse than stock.
The stiffer portion of the spring comes into play during more aggressive driving.

If I was building a track only car I would have gone with a set of coil overs.
However this is my daily driver so the super aggressiveness of track driving must suffer.


Dave

 

[Smokin]

Good article!

 

[wash]

My first mod was a free mod: rotate the heat exchanger hose spring clip so you don't bust a knuckle doing a filter change.

I then upgraded to a bigger oil filter but that isn't a performance mod.

I'm surprised that anti-sway bars made the list. To me those are best used to address a problem and with the stock suspension, I don't see a need. If you have sticky tires and coilovers or lowering springs, you might create a need but these things aren't universally helpful.

I find it hard to believe that you say an FMIC upgrade can add more power than exhaust. So far the stock piece has shown very good performance getting intake temps down close to ambient. If you can't go much cooler, there is no power to find in an intercooler.

 

[ohskigod]

My first mod was a free mod: rotate the heat exchanger hose spring clip so you don't bust a knuckle doing a filter change.

I then upgraded to a bigger oil filter but that isn't a performance mod.

I'm surprised that anti-sway bars made the list. To me those are best used to address a problem and with the stock suspension, I don't see a need. If you have sticky tires and coilovers or lowering springs, you might create a need but these things aren't universally helpful.

I find it hard to believe that you say an FMIC upgrade can add more power than exhaust. So far the stock piece has shown very good performance getting intake temps down close to ambient. If you can't go much cooler, there is no power to find in an intercooler.

I agree re: sway bars. This thing corners as close to flat as I'd like in a streetable car. I did a ton of suspension mod on my Mustang, but that thing sure as hell needed it. This car? Nothing glaring at me as weak especially In the handling department. I'm on all season tires right now for the winter so just going back to the stock summer tires is going to feel like a performance upgrade in and of itself

 

[BRGT350]

I would also forget sway bars and the FMIC, and put that money to another set of wheels with really sticky rubber. The stock intercooler seems to work very well, better than what the Focus ST has installed.

 

[ohskigod]

I wonder if we have the same intercooler as the FoST, and it it just works better on the FiST because it's smaller.

My impression is that if your intercooler isn't getting the job done depending on how hard you are on the car, it's gonna let you know. I saw a video of the car on a dyno with what I assume was no fan and man did the Fist get hot...FAST.

 

[wash]

Our intercooler is different from the Focus ST.

Luckily when we are driving there is plenty of air keeping the engine cool.