• Sign Up! To view all forums and unlock additional cool features

    Welcome to the #1 Fiesta ST Forum and Fiesta ST community dedicated to Fiesta ST owners and enthusiasts. Register for an account, it's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the Fiesta ST Forum today!


Jeff's 2015 Fiesta ST build thread

Messages
94
Likes
23
Location
Evans
Even talking with a master Certified Ford tech. Recommends against it. But to each his own I guess.... [dunno]
 


Messages
94
Likes
23
Location
Evans
I doubt any dealer is going to warrenty shit on a car this modified ha ha.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
You would be surprised what the dealer will warranty on a modified car... I know I work at a dealership and deal with this every day... [biggrin]
 


M-Sport fan

9000 Post Club
Messages
13,996
Likes
6,697
Location
Princeton, N.J.
You might want to check the specs again Because 75w90 is closer to gear oil than what ford puts in our transmissions which is a 20-30 weight oil. these are modern day cars and not vehicles from the early 90's which required very heavy weight oils. also you will be taking away some of the efficiency from the car and MPG. Ford fluid is fully Synthetic to start with. So when your output shaft bearing starts to make noise with all the added torque from the X-47 may the force be with you on get it covered under warranty without OEM fluid installed.
I have never steered you wrong before Jeff just trying to save you a head ache down the road.
What people do not realize is that YES, the Gear 300 DOES give much greater protection to the gears, sliders, synchros, r&p, and bearings, BUT it IS also TWICE AS THICK in viscosity (15.1 cSt @ 100*C vs. ~7.3 cSt @100*C) as the DCT fluids, or even the various MTF-2s out there (which being actual manual transmission fluids, albeit very thin ones, also protect all of the above, and the ring and pinion, better than any DCT possibly could, DESPITE their GL-4 ratings, synthetic or 'blend').
It would almost be the equivalent of putting one of the 'thinner' 20W-50 engine oils into our sump.
I DO notice the slight 'balkiness' of shifting with the Gear 300 in the transaxle up here in 'yankee-land' in the late fall to early spring, until the gear oil fully warms up. :(

Being in steamy hot Squidbilly country, the Gear 300 may possibly heat and mechanically shear down a little bit in viscosity, despite it's "shear proof" base stocks, but not very much.

The extra viscosity could also rob some tiny bit of power, which in jeff's case (and other BT/hybrid owners), with his/their added power, would not matter much, but to those on purely factory power, who want every little hundredth of a HP to the wheels [dunno].

But YES, regardless of all of the above, IF I were going to be open tracking a FiST on a very regular basis, either with or without a lot of added power, I would leave the Gear 300 in the 'box for the added 'boundary layer' protection it gives.

Again, Ford would have to PROVE that ANY transaxle fluid used actually CAUSED the actual claimed failures/problems in order to deny those warranty claims. ;)
 


Messages
94
Likes
23
Location
Evans
What people do not realize is that YES, it DOES give much greater protection to the gears, sliders, synchros, and bearings, BUT it IS TWICE AS THICK in viscosity as the DCT fluids, or even the various MTF-2s out there (which being GL-4 fluids, albeit very thin ones, also protect all of the above better than any DCT possibly could, synthetic or 'blend').
It would almost be like putting one of the 'thinner' 20W-50s into our sump, and I DO notice the 'balkiness' of shifting with the Gear 300 in the 'box up here in 'yankee-land' in the late fall to early spring :(

Being in the steamy Squidbilly country, the Gear 300 may possibly heat and mechanically shear down a little bit in viscosity, despite it's "shear proof" bases stocks, but not very much.
The extra viscosity could rob some tiny bit of power, which in jeff's case (and other BT/hybrid owners), with his added power, would not matter much, but to those on purely factory power, who want every little hundredth of a HP to the wheels [dunno].

Again, Ford would have to PROVE that ANY transaxle fluid used actually CAUSED any failures/problems in order to deny warranty claims.
Very well said!!
 


OP
jeff

jeff

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,309
Likes
3,220
Location
Evans
Thread Starter #245
What people do not realize is that...
Ford says that the trans fluid interval is 150,000 miles. There is a reason for this - the stress on that fluid is very low. It's simply lubricating stuff. It's not going through the intense heat cycles that motor oil is. It's for that reason that they say leave it alone for 150,000 miles.

150,000 miles guys! That's a long time. If this were ATF like on my Honda, and they said change it every 30,000 miles, that would be one thing. But it's not.

For me that makes me completely comfortable with putting Motul 300 in there. It's a high quality product and I really don't think it's going to hurt anything. Again I've gone outside of dealer spec on this in my last 3 cars and they've been just fine for many years. Sure it could cause long-term problems; so could all the other stuff I've put on my car that went against dealer recommendation. I'm sure they'd say my clutch, my transmission, my pistons, my cams, my motor mounts, etc. are not compatible with my power upgrades. We all take risks when we modify our cars; I think this is a pretty low risk.

M-Sport fan, give me more thoughts/review of this stuff in your car if you don't mind!!!
 


Messages
94
Likes
23
Location
Evans
Ford says that the trans fluid interval is 150,000 miles. There is a reason for this - the stress on that fluid is very low. It's simply lubricating stuff. It's not going through the intense heat cycles that motor oil is. It's for that reason that they say leave it alone for 150,000 miles.

150,000 miles guys! That's a long time. If this were ATF like on my Honda, and they said change it every 30,000 miles, that would be one thing. But it's not.

For me that makes me completely comfortable with putting Motul 300 in there. It's a high quality product and I really don't think it's going to hurt anything. Again I've gone outside of dealer spec on this in my last 3 cars and they've been just fine for many years. Sure it could cause long-term problems; so could all the other stuff I've put on my car that went against dealer recommendation. I'm sure they'd say my clutch, my transmission, my pistons, my cams, my motor mounts, etc. are not compatible with my power upgrades. We all take risks when we modify our cars; I think this is a pretty low risk.

M-Sport fan, give me more thoughts/review of this stuff in your car if you don't mind!!!
Hmmm... If Ford says leave it for 150,000 IMO means its a great fluid to start with. I changed mine when I did the LSD swap and put a bottle of Friction Modifier in it. @30,000 And it is going threw High Stress levels! One gear is turning another gear and another and so on , which is turning the diff. which is putting the power to 2 pretty heavy rotating wheels and tires. So I would say that is a high stress level... Unless IM beating the crap out my car on a track on a daily basis like M-Sport fan said, I'm sticking with the Ford Dual clutch Fluid that came in it. That's just my Thoughts that's all. I wont reply again seems like to many people get butt hurt when you try and help and actually tell the truth to each and his own!
 


M-Sport fan

9000 Post Club
Messages
13,996
Likes
6,697
Location
Princeton, N.J.
^^^YES, regardless of whether or not Ford installs the FULL synthetic version of the Motorcraft DCTF into these B6es at the Getrag factory or not, that is WAY TOO LONG to leave a factory fill in the transaxle, IMHO!!
Between break-in 'fines', and MASSIVE mechanical (THINK of what gear teeth, and a ring and pinion do to oil!!) and heat shearing of an already low viscosity fluid, there is NO WAY I would ever leave it in there even 1/4 that mileage!! [nono]
 


Messages
231
Likes
135
Location
Corsicana
Jeff, FWIW, I lost my original trans running the OEM Ford DCTF at 6,000 miles due to output bearing shaft failure. 4,000 miles later on the new trans, I switched to Motul 300. I’m currently sitting at 70k miles with zero issues, and you know how much power I’m putting down, so I’d say you’re pretty safe with the Motul 300. I changed it for some fresh Motul at 50k, and noticed it had sheared down some.

Side note: When I drained to DCTF to put in the Motul 300, I actually drained 2.2L out of the trans. I called Ford and spoke to the master tech, who told me that when a FiST came in with a bad output bearing, they’re instructed by engineering to overfill the new trans. Apparently, the standard fill spec is a suspect in causing the bearing to fail. In any case, he told me to put at least 2L in, so that’s what I did. 2 full liters of Motul 300 went in, and again later when I put fresh fluid in. Like I said, zero issues all this time later, not even a leaky axle seal. Shifts smooth and quiet.
 


ron@whoosh

3000 Post Club
Vendor
Premium Account
Messages
3,928
Likes
3,973
Location
Las Vegas
Jeff, FWIW, I lost my original trans running the OEM Ford DCTF at 6,000 miles due to output bearing shaft failure. 4,000 miles later on the new trans, I switched to Motul 300. I’m currently sitting at 70k miles with zero issues, and you know how much power I’m putting down, so I’d say you’re pretty safe with the Motul 300. I changed it for some fresh Motul at 50k, and noticed it had sheared down some.

Side note: When I drained to DCTF to put in the Motul 300, I actually drained 2.2L out of the trans. I called Ford and spoke to the master tech, who told me that when a FiST came in with a bad output bearing, they’re instructed by engineering to overfill the new trans. Apparently, the standard fill spec is a suspect in causing the bearing to fail. In any case, he told me to put at least 2L in, so that’s what I did. 2 full liters of Motul 300 went in, and again later when I put fresh fluid in. Like I said, zero issues all this time later, not even a leaky axle seal. Shifts smooth and quiet.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>sneeking out to shop to put the other .4 liters in....



[rofl]
but serious
 


KnockOff

1000 Post Club
Messages
1,348
Likes
450
Location
Menifee
You would be surprised what the dealer will warranty on a modified car... I know I work at a dealership and deal with this every day... [biggrin]
Depends on the dealer. I worked at raceway ford for 1.5 years. That's where I got my focus. Anyways it really really depends on the dealership.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 


OP
jeff

jeff

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,309
Likes
3,220
Location
Evans
Thread Starter #251
Jeff, FWIW, I lost my original trans running the OEM Ford DCTF at 6,000 miles due to output bearing shaft failure. 4,000 miles later on the new trans, I switched to Motul 300. I’m currently sitting at 70k miles with zero issues, and you know how much power I’m putting down, so I’d say you’re pretty safe with the Motul 300. I changed it for some fresh Motul at 50k, and noticed it had sheared down some.

Side note: When I drained to DCTF to put in the Motul 300, I actually drained 2.2L out of the trans. I called Ford and spoke to the master tech, who told me that when a FiST came in with a bad output bearing, they’re instructed by engineering to overfill the new trans. Apparently, the standard fill spec is a suspect in causing the bearing to fail. In any case, he told me to put at least 2L in, so that’s what I did. 2 full liters of Motul 300 went in, and again later when I put fresh fluid in. Like I said, zero issues all this time later, not even a leaky axle seal. Shifts smooth and quiet.
Hey thanks for your reply. Dang that stinks about your transmission. Good info though, sounds like the Motul is pretty reliable if it's taken you 60,000 miles especially with the power upgrades.

I swapped mine today, I'll leave more thoughts over on the Motul thread but suffice to say I'm instantly impressed with this product, it performs just like Redline did in my Forester XT and Royal Purple did in my Ranger a few years back. The chatter is gone, shifts are smooth as butter, even the clutch feels better, which is placebo, but I find that now I don't have to accommodate the clutch to make the 1-2 shift like I did before, so in that sense it feels better. Didn't even realize I was doing that until I didn't have to do it.

Thanks again!!!
 


WeTheNorth

1000 Post Club
Messages
1,158
Likes
220
Location
WestCoast
Meh, it adds a bit of weight maybe 15 lbs. I see what you're saying about feeling heavier, the car feels more together with the brace on, especially when hitting road imperfections or expansion joints. It just busts through them rather than shaking up as without the brace. The car feels much more solid. I could see how that could be interpreted as heavy, there's less play and sketchiness, less toss-about and more "I'm going this way".

I love it!! Try the 2-point, it was really great as well, I just needed more bracing to keep my hybrid turbo power going in a straight line. And it really helped!
Nailed it! After driving my car w/o it for a couple weeks, I miss it. It’s squiggly in situations now that it wasn’t before. But, the running in parking lots[emoji24]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


OP
jeff

jeff

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,309
Likes
3,220
Location
Evans
Thread Starter #253
UPDATE...

After selling off a few useless (for my driving style) traction bars and my CP-E intake, and emptying my mod fund piggy bank, I gathered enough clams to pay cash on a set of new wheels, ordered last night..........Rota Grids in hyperblack.

My car is the Tux Black, the hyperblack is more of a grey, I've been obsessed with the black/grey combo on cars for many years now.

Feels good to have finally purchased something. I must have looked at 300 sets of wheels. So many are not longer available, others are just too expensive. For my budget and preferences it came down to Hypergrams or Titans or Grids, and after looking at a zillion pictures side by side I kept coming back to the Grids. I wanted 17x7.5 and researched up and down, called Rota USA, the bottom line is the 17x7.5 have to be special ordered and I don’t want to pay extra and wait 2 months plus if something happens and I need a replacement I’m screwed.

So 17x8 it is. It will be slightly stretched but I have +1 size 215/40/17 tires so I think I'll be happy with the look. Just gotta be careful for the curbs. With the tires +1/2" and the rims +1", or +1/2" inside and +1/2" outside, after the difference because of the tire it's only +1/4" per side. +1/4" isn't much but it is enough to hurt the rim. The Federals I have on my car recommend anywhere from a 7-8.5" rim so I'm well within range.

Once they get here I'll be waiting a few weeks to install (after a road trip, don't want to take my new wheels away for a week) but after that I'll install and start a new thread with a zillion pictures to help others with the questions I had.
 


Woods247

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,515
Likes
4,342
Location
Atl
UPDATE...

After selling off a few useless (for my driving style) traction bars and my CP-E intake, and emptying my mod fund piggy bank, I gathered enough clams to pay cash on a set of new wheels, ordered last night..........Rota Grids in hyperblack.

My car is the Tux Black, the hyperblack is more of a grey, I've been obsessed with the black/grey combo on cars for many years now.

Feels good to have finally purchased something. I must have looked at 300 sets of wheels. So many are not longer available, others are just too expensive. For my budget and preferences it came down to Hypergrams or Titans or Grids, and after looking at a zillion pictures side by side I kept coming back to the Grids. I wanted 17x7.5 and researched up and down, called Rota USA, the bottom line is the 17x7.5 have to be special ordered and I don’t want to pay extra and wait 2 months plus if something happens and I need a replacement I’m screwed.

So 17x8 it is. It will be slightly stretched but I have +1 size 215/40/17 tires so I think I'll be happy with the look. Just gotta be careful for the curbs. With the tires +1/2" and the rims +1", or +1/2" inside and +1/2" outside, after the difference because of the tire it's only +1/4" per side. +1/4" isn't much but it is enough to hurt the rim. The Federals I have on my car recommend anywhere from a 7-8.5" rim so I'm well within range.

Once they get here I'll be waiting a few weeks to install (after a road trip, don't want to take my new wheels away for a week) but after that I'll install and start a new thread with a zillion pictures to help others with the questions I had.
Congrats! Man, wheels are so difficult to choose. I actually chose my wheel before I picked my car, but I've had the itch to switch it up and cannot make a decision to save my life. I guess that means I'm satisfied with what I have lol?! A local friend had Swift springs and the same wheel/tire setup your installing and didn't experience any rubbing. [thumb]
 


OP
jeff

jeff

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,309
Likes
3,220
Location
Evans
Thread Starter #255
Congrats! Man, wheels are so difficult to choose. I actually chose my wheel before I picked my car, but I've had the itch to switch it up and cannot make a decision to save my life. I guess that means I'm satisfied with what I have lol?! A local friend had Swift springs and the same wheel/tire setup your installing and didn't experience any rubbing. [thumb]
Thanks. Wow same wheel same tire that's cool. I have Mountune I should be just fine.

What wheel did you go with? I'm curious after all my searching for my own.

Post a pic!

EDIT
Nevermind just saw your build thread nice OZ................
 


Truth in Ruin

1000 Post Club
Messages
1,177
Likes
955
Location
Lincoln
I’m willing to bet that you’ll have better steering response with your 215 tires on these 8” wheels. Let us know what you think!
 


OP
jeff

jeff

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,309
Likes
3,220
Location
Evans
Thread Starter #257
UPS stopped by today...





Man these wheels are gorgeous.

Hoping to have them installed in the next week or so but that depends on a few things, I'm pretty busy. Might wait till late June after a long interstate road trip, I'm not sure. We'll see. Need to buy some lug nuts too.

I'm taking one to a real scale tomorrow hopefully to be weighed, supposedly these are 18.9lbs, we will see....
 


OP
jeff

jeff

2000 Post Club
Messages
2,309
Likes
3,220
Location
Evans
Thread Starter #259
Got my lug nuts, hub centric rings, OEM valve stems, and some fresh tobacco....install is planned for tomorrow!



These wheels weigh 19.4 lbs each. Not the lightest option but still a 3.1lb/wheel savings which equates to ~124 lbs off the car using the "1lb off the wheels = feels like 10lbs off the car" formula. It's a nice compromise, I'm getting the wheel/look I wanted and also saving some weight. I seriously considered some lighter Konig wheels but every time I came back to the Rota Grids I liked the look so much more. My goals aren't to have the ultimate speed machine, I'm more about balancing look/economy/performance/reliability, hence the catted DP, wheel choice, etc.

Hoping for a smooth install tomorrow, I'll post pics whenever the weather clears up.
 


Similar threads



Top