TJD's Build

[5nowman]

New Wheels​

Just picked up new wheels: Sparco Assetto Gara 17x7 in Matte Graphite Silver. Cheap, lighter than stock, visually appealing. Sort of wish I went 16, but I got a good deal on these.

So tempting to put these on my white ST.

 

[tjd_tdi]

I like what you've done so far mate! Thanks for the info and pics.

Nice build thread. Those wheels are tempting too...

Thanks guys!

So tempting to put these on my white ST.

Do it! Do it now! The more I look at these new wheels, the less I like the stock ST wheels.

 

[tjd_tdi]

Catch Can Update​

I removed my catch can today to see if I could fab a bracket to match the one in the forthcoming Mishi kit and move the can to the area behind the headlight. I would prefer that area, since it's easier to get to the can and doesn't make for such a tight fit by the 2J intake. However, for a number of reasons, I couldn't make my own bracket work there.

As long as I had the can off the car, I did add a drain tube and valve, so that I wouldn't need to remove the can for future emptying. I also emptied the can. After 1500 miles (all running 5W-20 Motorcraft semi-synth), the accumulation was only about 12ml, or less than a ml per 100 miles. Since the can has a 60ml capacity, that means that I should be fine emptying the can at every oil change (assuming accumulation rate stays constant).

 

[tjd_tdi]

Interior Update​

Quick update on a few interior changes. I picked up one of no-pistons' fine dead pedals and pedal spacers. I also put in the Ford ST floor mat set.

I shifted AP and phone placement, too a bit. I'm keeping my AP where my phone used to live.

And I have my phone in a mount on a Pro-Clip.

The Pro-Clip is pretty solid. Once you buy the base mount (which is vehicle specific) from them, you can buy a ton of different types of mounts. Pro-Clip also has a second mounting spot on the A-Pillar that I may pick up. Arkon has very reasonably price stuff, including the universal phone mount I got and a Dual T, if you wanted to mount your AP.

 

[boombots]

I run my AP on a Walmart phone mount where you have yours. Perfect placement to run the cables in the weather stripping.

Love those wheels. Plan on getting them as well( or something similar but I want that color with my white car). Where you buy them and what price.

 

[tjd_tdi]

I run my AP on a Walmart phone mount where you have yours. Perfect placement to run the cables in the weather stripping.

Love those wheels. Plan on getting them as well( or something similar but I want that color with my white car). Where you buy them and what price.

Yeah, hard to justify paying Cobb what they want for their AP mount when you can put one together for so much cheaper.

I actually bought my wheels on Craigslist for $400, which included TPMS sensors, hubcentric adapters, and some nearly-new all seasons that I swapped over to my stock wheel and will run in winter. The blessing/curse of 4x108 is that you almost never see them used locally, but when you do there is like 0 market for them, so it's easier to negotiate.

A bunch of members have the same wheels and I believe many purchased from TireRack. TireRack no longer stocks the Matte Graphite Silver in 17s, but they have a bunch of other colors available. They also run discounts on them semi-frequently.

 

[CanadianGuy]

I really like the proclip. need to have it delivered to a US address as the shipping doubles the price of it to Canada?

 

[tjd_tdi]

The ST was on junkyard duty today.

I found this nice wrecked base Fiesta...

...from which I got both upper and lower cowl grille pieces so that I can return to stock, should I decide to swap out the 2J intake. The beautiful thing about junkyard parts is that I paid 5% of what they cost new!

 

[Sourskittle]

I was gonna say, "get the cowling parts and send them to that guy in South Fla to mount us a 2J ram air off of", lol

 

[tjd_tdi]

Mishimoto J-Line Intercooler​

Today I put on a Mishi J-Line intercooler. This is a universal IC with a significant increase in core size and flow compared to OEM. As with all Mishi products, the engineering around the IC was thorough and all around pretty impressive. Because this intercooler is universal, you need a bracket to attach it to the car. While others had fab?d up their own bracket, I used CMBuildz?s very nice J-line bracket.

Here?s everything I used:

Tools:

• Flathead screwdriver
• Phillips head screwdriver
• 7mm, 8mm, and 10mm sockets with extensions and U-joint
• T25 Torx driver

Parts:

• Vibrant 2.5" aluminum couplers
• 2.5" silicone elbows
• 2.75" and 3" Mishi T-bolt clamps (NOTE: The modbargains J-line kit uses 3" clamps. I found these were nearly too big. 2.75" clamps are a much better fit).
• CMBuildz bracket

First, up on ramps.

I followed Cobb's video on removing the bumper cover and intercooler.

Here?s the obligatory look-how-fat-my-new-intercooler is shot:

CMBuildz?s bracket uses an existing mounting point and feels very solid.

Intercooler in place.

And everything back on and buttoned up:

Now a few words about this install and the bracket. The bracket is solidly made and no doubted saved me a ton of time. With that said, this bracket alone does not make this intercooler a simple plug-n-play. The first thing to note is that the lower air dam can no longer be secured with all the original factory connections. Specifically the three 8mm screws that hold the air dam onto the radiator support piece no longer fit. I confirmed with CMBuildz that this is by design.

I?m not necessarily worried that the front air dam is going to come off. It?s still pretty well secured, but I wanted to make this note for others.

Second, while it?s true that no cutting is required, in practice I found that this came at a fairly significant trade off. As it sits, the intercooler will start to interfere with the bumper cover around the lower part of the opening for the IC. Other members who have installed this IC before release of the bracket, such as ISO100 have had to make small cuts in the bumper cover to get it to fit.

(See the cuts ISO100 made in the bumper cover, circled in red).

I did not cut my bumper cover. The tradeoff is that fitment of the bumper and lower air dam is thrown off. You have to pull/bend the pieces to get them to fit and line up with all of the screw holes. Is this the end of the world? No. But, if I knew this going in, I would probably follow ISO100?s example, making similar small cuts in the bumper cover, rather than deal with fitment issues.

 

[Sourskittle]

To make you feel better, my panda intercooler required just tiny bit of trimming to the bumper in those two spots as well. No big deal.

 

[CMbuildz Racing]

Great write up

 

[tjd_tdi]

So, I went out to put some miles on the car and make sure everything was working properly with the new IC.

For shits and giggles, I took a couple logs on a relatively flat stretch of road I found (one log in each direction) and threw it into VDyno. Output below.

Peak averaged across the two runs is 208 hp / 275 tq. That seems plausible. Unfortunately, I don't have a stock or before log to compare it to. Anyway, should be interesting to eventually get the car on a real chassis dyno and see how it compares.

Logs uploaded here, if anyone is interested: http://datazap.me/u/tjdtdi/log-1441295066?log=1&data=1-2-4-8

 

[tjd_tdi]

Winterizing​

With the leaves beginning to change, the temperatures dropping, and the first free weekend for a while, I decided it was time for winterizing. I followed the same process I have with cars past, save for one step. Rather than use detailing clay, I decided to try Nanoskin.

Here’s what I used:

• Chemical Guys clay lube
• Nanoskin sponge
• Wolfgang paint sealant
• LOTS of microfiber towels

Here’s what I was starting with (2 weeks without a wash and lots of miles!):

After a good wash and dry, I got to work with the Nanoskin sponge. Compared to clay, it was pretty convenient (not being deathly afraid to drop it) and seemed to work well. The one thing I didn’t like was the inability to form it to fit the various shapes of the car, like you can with clay. With that said, I still think I’d go Nanoskin over clay in the future.

With a clean, cool surface, I turned to the Wolfgang paint sealant. I applied it in thin, even layers with a small random orbital, then by hand in some of the tight areas. After letting it dry to a haze, I wiped it off and here’s what I was left with:

(Those dots aren’t dust, it’s the fleck in the paint!)

That’s all just sealant, no wax.

Overall, I’m pretty satisfied. The paint looks better than when I got it from the dealer and will hopefully be ready to go the winter without a lot of TLC.

 

[Continuous]

Hey TJD great build thread could you offer up links for the cleaning products you have?

 

[tjd_tdi]

Hey TJD great build thread could you offer up links for the cleaning products you have?

Thanks! Here are a few of the products I mentioned:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CUAWJ6G?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UHQXQ2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00
http://www.autogeek.net/wg5500.html...CSEs&utm_medium=PriceGrabber&utm_campaign=CSE

One of the things I didn't mentioned was my favorite tool for removing dried-over wax and sealant from plastic trim: white drafting erasers. I think you can use pretty much any kind of pencil eraser, but I've had the best luck with the big white ones. They get rid of those ugly white streaks and leave the trim nice and clean.