So here I am at 50 years old with at 2015 FiST pushing 286hp. How the heck did this happen? I still don't really know how I ended up pulling into that used car dealership looking at a Porsche Boxter, test driving a FiST with a bullet hole in the door, and flying 3 states away to buy the FiST downstairs in my garage sight unseen. I guess it always starts with the fact that I've always loved cars. I've always loved modified cars. The first time I read Sport Compact Car back in 94 with a red Momo equipped Civic and a purple Prelude on the cover, I was hooked. My 1st car in 94 was an 88 Accord LX with Neuspeed springs, TSW wheels and a ton of decals.
Eventually, in college I moved on to a 97 Eclipse which was an absolute turd but looked like a Supra (to me at least). Saved my money from working part time at a car wash to make the down payment. Unfortunately, it was stolen in 98 and my heart was absolutely broken. A family member heard about my situation and offered to sell me her 87 Porsche 944 Turbo. She never drove it anymore and it was just gathering dust in her garage. I took the insurance money, and hopped on a Greyhound bus down to Knoxville TN. The 944 Turbo was in great shape, but needed some attention. At 19 years old with no kids or real responsibilities, I was able to give her all the attention she needed. That thing was so beautiful. She was Ivory, and I saved up to get some 19 inch 911 wheels on her. Staggered setup meant it sat nice. Extremely nice for a car in 1998. In 1999, I flipped my ivory beauty 3x at high speed and smashed through a light pole 12 feet up with the bottom passengers side of the car. The passenger compartment was basically gone. I didn't have on a seatbelt, so I was lucky to not die. The sunroof landed 60 yards away from the car. The old canvas airbag burned the heck out of me, but i didn't die. Couldn't walk for 2 days, but as soon as I could, I got the heck out of that hospital.
After the Porsche crash, I somehow decided that it would be more fun to go both feet into motorcycles and motorcycle riding n racing. YZF600, to R6, to two R1's, to RC51 and a bunch of trackdays, tires, tire warmers, ramps, leathers, boots, pickup trucks, and everything else that the motorcycle hobby requires. Still loved cars though. Went through a couple years of no performance cars, but then I found a 3000GT VR4, that I had to get. It was one of those cars I dreamed about having at the Javitz Center car show when I was a kid. What a horrible car. Legit fast, but I went through about 3 engines in that thing. It leaked, and it smoked. It also handled beautifully. Sold that and ended up getting a 240sx. This was during the time that the SR20det swap was just taking off, and living close to the Iron Triangle in Queens NY, I could get one of those engines pretty easily. However, I thought "everyone has an SR20, I want an RB25". The RB25 cost less and was actually easier to get. Only problem is they were not as easy to get up and running. Ended up selling the 240 and the RB before the swap.
So 2004, I'm a grown up college grad with a full time job. Got a E39 528i manual and loved it. Felt like an adult with taste and still could enjoy rowing gears. It was a great car, but it was kinda bland. Not that it wasn't fast, because it wasn't fast, but it was fun. It just did not have much personality and style, even when I tried to make it mine. I saw a CB7 Accord for sale and it was really clean and really cheap. Had some small mods, but I knew I wanted to put an H22 in it. I bought it, sold the E39 and quickly proceeded to drop the H22 in it and some coilovers...and a ton of other stuff. That engine made that CB7 so sneaky fast. Had a kid by this time, but I still had 4 doors so I felt like I wasn't being a total irresponsible douche.
Kept the CB7 until I got a job out of state and I was leaving NY. This was circa 2010 and there weren't really any forums or fb groups to support enthusiasts so I sold the CB7 so I could move to Va. and not worry about not having shop support for my heavily modded vehicle. Got a Mazda 6 wagon. Legit grown up at this point and there was no need to modify the Mazda wagon...right? At this point I had a mortgage and a failing relationship, so why would I care about the hobby that made me happy over the years when I could swim in the misery of the life I created. Put the 6 wagon on coilovers and wheels. Couldn't do much because it was the V6 auto, but I still made it mine.
Ended up trying to make my life better by immediately getting out of one relationshit and going to another with someone I really didn't know that well. At least we didn't know each other well enough to get married. Regardless, I decided to get back into the life again and get a Mazdaspeed 6. That's the one car I should have never sold. It helped me through my divorce, financial destruction, almost foreclosure, and 70 plus hours a week working to avoid said foreclosure. Don't feel bad for me. The divorce was 80% my fault. That Speed6 had every mod imaginable. Everything from the bushings, mounts, suspension, drivetrain, big turbo, and the last rear differential that was sold brand new in the United States. The Speed6 was me, and we drove all over the country together. Sold the Speed6 to a good friend who was looking for a Speed3, didn't know I had a tricked out Speed6 in the garage, and he has the Speed6 to this day.
After I was able to finally save the house, I figured the market was right and it was time to sell the house. Sold the house for a pretty good amount more than what my ex and I purchased it for and decided it was time to get my dream car. I had driven one before and fell in love with the sound, the ride, the power, and the V10. I purchased a E63 BMW M6. It had the notorious S85 engine which is a 500hp V10. Did the rod bearings and throttle body actuators during the 1st 2 weeks of ownership. Dropped her on H&R springs, and got the twin K&N intakes. Got a full exhaust with QTP cutouts so I could open it up to a straight piped V10 with the push of a button. That car was great, but it was proof that sometimes you should not meet your heroes. It drank oil like fuel. It drank fuel like....like 18mpg hwy. The convertible top was always one of those cross your finger deals, because if it broke you were out of a couple grand. There were so many motors and hydraulics that ran the top. It was a nightmare. However, it was nothing compared to the SMG3 transmission. I don't want to get into it, because I still have red cog of death PTSD, but once I got all the actuators, the clutch, throw out bearing, flywheel, and all the other stuff to get the transmission running correctly....lets put it this way. My BMW mechanic had a legit intervention with me. He told me straight up "this is the best that this car is ever going to run. You should consider selling it before the convertible top goes bad or something major goes wrong". I will always respect them for that and I still take one of my cars to him to this day. (E91 328i wagon)
I sold the M6 on Cars and Bids and decided to chill on the cars for a while. I was happy with my E91 BMW 328i wagon. Super reliable. Runs smooth as heck and since I put her on Bilstein coilovers and 19's, she is mine. Just drove that car for years and intend to keep driving her for years. Still have that car and she turns heads. Wagons always do. Something happened in 2024 that changed my attitude about modding cars and my happiness again. In October 2024, I was feeling kinda blah about life in general. Kid was getting older and was almost done with High School. I had a great position at work and was doing pretty good, but something was missing. I looked online and saw there was a Porsche Boxter for sale at a local dealership. Not a new one, but something I could take out on Sat and Sun and enjoy rowing gears and driving. Thought, why not? Lets go take a look. Went to the dealership, and the Boxter was sold. I couldn't help but notice a black Fiesta ST on the lot. It was....meh. Didn't really jump out at me, but I had read that the Fiesta ST was fun to drive. Asked the dealer to take her for a test drive and he let me take her out. As I pulled out the lot, I felt a weird connection with this little car. Mind you, I'm 6'3 230lbs. It's small, but I had plenty of room. The more I drove it, the more fun I had...even with the motor rockin around because the rear motor mount was shot. I looked in the back seat and saw there was a strange hole in the plastics of the door. Being employed in the field I'm employed in....wink...I knew that was a bullet hole. There was no hole in the exterior, so that must have been replaced. I asked the dealer about the hole, and he had no idea. Ran the vin, and saw the auction photos with the hole. Auction photos looked like the car was lived in and someone probably got shot in the back seat. Whatever....problem was, now I caught the bug and I gotta get one of these things.
Went up to Quantico Va and couldn't fit in the Recaros. Went to a private seller, and got creepy vibes. Finally, looked on CRAIGSLIST and saw a listing for a clean FiST for the price I wanted, the small amount of mods I wanted, and the color I wanted. Red. Only problem was it was in Charleston SC. The Carfax was good and I got a good vibe from the seller when we communicated online and over the phone. Said he wanted a pickup for his dirtbikes and that made sense when I flew down to SC and saw the dirtbikes in his garage. The Fiesta was clean. Wasn't perfect and the miles were a bit higher that I wanted, but I have always been a firm believer that as long as a car is maintained, the mileage is not that big of a deal. This was one of those situations. We exchanged money and paperwork and I drove her the 8 hours home without incident.
Since owning her, we have had our ups and down. Down being the output shaft seals. That's about it. Bought her with the Cobb starter kit. Already had a stratified tune and Cobb intercooler. Of course RMM and boomba noise maker LOL. After she was home, I put some whiteline springs on her because I actually liked the suspension and didn't want to change it too much. EBC pads and Sparco Flow Form wheels with Neo Gens. Need some new tires now, but sooon. Got a mishimoto exhaust and 2j downpipe, woosh intake, exhaust hangars, rear spring pads. Got a few things from Woosh even tho Ron was pissed I cancelled an order like 10mins after I ordered it and put in for a paypal refund. I think we are good again. I was so happy with the peashooter.....until....the itch hit me again.
I needed more power. Went to the tail of the dragon and did a day in the mountains on the Cherohola Skyway, Foothills Parkway, Hellbender, and the other awesome roads out there. The Fiesta ST and I earned respect from a lot of drivers in much more powerful cars. She didn't give me one problem down there nor on the trip down and back. My only issue was the car was a little down on power. I can't imagine it had more than 200hp at the wheels even with all the work done to her. She was quick, but was not fast. I knew that already when I got her, but the itch was getting bad. I was getting a little tired of being beat up by Altima's. Looked at a Corvette ZO6 out in Arizona. It was the right price, but there were a lot of questions and I was not going to buy it sight unseen. Decided to pay for a PPI from this company out there that only does PPI's. Best $200 I've ever spent. The Vette got a 78 out of 100 score which isn't terrible, but some of the questions were just too big and I did not want to get another car that had a ton of power but lived in the shop like my M6.
Did some soul searching and decided to go S280 on the Fiesta ST and keep the car. I enjoy the car so much and the only thing she was missing was more power when asked for. Ok....FK IT....got the S280 kit. Ordered it from Wayside performance across the pond. The whole process went smooth except for the shipping. Once the turbo arrived, I was also served a bill for $430 from FEDEX. I didn't realize that they didn't incorporate the tariff price into the price of the turbo. It wasn't a big deal because they were really cool, but it ended up costing the same it would have if I paid the extra and got it stateside. SMH. Don't get me started. I digress.
My local shop specialized in Subarus. Great folks. They're call All Aspects and they were the 1st shop to twin turbo a bugeye WRX. They don't really do FiST's or FoST's very much, but they did the research about the install, spoke to stratified about the remote tune, and gave it a go. The only extra thing I had to purchase was a 14lb turbosmart wastegate. The install and remote dyno tune was well worth what was paid and she was at 287hp at the wheels on 93octane with 102 deg shop air temps. That's as high as I'm goin! LOL. The car is damn near perfect right now. Only thing that could possibly make it better is if it was AWD and that's not a realistic possibility. At 2700lbs with over 280hp, I have no complaints. No more pops and bangs tune nor booma "wooopaaaach". Just intake and turbo noises with enough power to rip all the way through 3rd if I act too stupid. I prefer to just roll on the power and let the thing eat. So much fun.
It's been a long road and this has been a long post. If you're still reading this, sorry for blabbing but I pride myself on being a driving and car enthusiast. This car has helped me lean on both aspects and i still have room inside for all my cycling gear and a hitch mount. Already driven her all over the east coast and would not hesitate to drive her anywhere I need to go tomorrow. Ford somehow got this one right. If you are thinking about selling your FiST for something more powerful, don't. Get a bigger turbo and it'll drive literally just like stock until it doesn't. If you want to enjoy the car with stock power, not a bad idea either. Just know that if you sell your FiST, you might regret your decision.
Take care and blessings
Eventually, in college I moved on to a 97 Eclipse which was an absolute turd but looked like a Supra (to me at least). Saved my money from working part time at a car wash to make the down payment. Unfortunately, it was stolen in 98 and my heart was absolutely broken. A family member heard about my situation and offered to sell me her 87 Porsche 944 Turbo. She never drove it anymore and it was just gathering dust in her garage. I took the insurance money, and hopped on a Greyhound bus down to Knoxville TN. The 944 Turbo was in great shape, but needed some attention. At 19 years old with no kids or real responsibilities, I was able to give her all the attention she needed. That thing was so beautiful. She was Ivory, and I saved up to get some 19 inch 911 wheels on her. Staggered setup meant it sat nice. Extremely nice for a car in 1998. In 1999, I flipped my ivory beauty 3x at high speed and smashed through a light pole 12 feet up with the bottom passengers side of the car. The passenger compartment was basically gone. I didn't have on a seatbelt, so I was lucky to not die. The sunroof landed 60 yards away from the car. The old canvas airbag burned the heck out of me, but i didn't die. Couldn't walk for 2 days, but as soon as I could, I got the heck out of that hospital.
After the Porsche crash, I somehow decided that it would be more fun to go both feet into motorcycles and motorcycle riding n racing. YZF600, to R6, to two R1's, to RC51 and a bunch of trackdays, tires, tire warmers, ramps, leathers, boots, pickup trucks, and everything else that the motorcycle hobby requires. Still loved cars though. Went through a couple years of no performance cars, but then I found a 3000GT VR4, that I had to get. It was one of those cars I dreamed about having at the Javitz Center car show when I was a kid. What a horrible car. Legit fast, but I went through about 3 engines in that thing. It leaked, and it smoked. It also handled beautifully. Sold that and ended up getting a 240sx. This was during the time that the SR20det swap was just taking off, and living close to the Iron Triangle in Queens NY, I could get one of those engines pretty easily. However, I thought "everyone has an SR20, I want an RB25". The RB25 cost less and was actually easier to get. Only problem is they were not as easy to get up and running. Ended up selling the 240 and the RB before the swap.
So 2004, I'm a grown up college grad with a full time job. Got a E39 528i manual and loved it. Felt like an adult with taste and still could enjoy rowing gears. It was a great car, but it was kinda bland. Not that it wasn't fast, because it wasn't fast, but it was fun. It just did not have much personality and style, even when I tried to make it mine. I saw a CB7 Accord for sale and it was really clean and really cheap. Had some small mods, but I knew I wanted to put an H22 in it. I bought it, sold the E39 and quickly proceeded to drop the H22 in it and some coilovers...and a ton of other stuff. That engine made that CB7 so sneaky fast. Had a kid by this time, but I still had 4 doors so I felt like I wasn't being a total irresponsible douche.
Kept the CB7 until I got a job out of state and I was leaving NY. This was circa 2010 and there weren't really any forums or fb groups to support enthusiasts so I sold the CB7 so I could move to Va. and not worry about not having shop support for my heavily modded vehicle. Got a Mazda 6 wagon. Legit grown up at this point and there was no need to modify the Mazda wagon...right? At this point I had a mortgage and a failing relationship, so why would I care about the hobby that made me happy over the years when I could swim in the misery of the life I created. Put the 6 wagon on coilovers and wheels. Couldn't do much because it was the V6 auto, but I still made it mine.
Ended up trying to make my life better by immediately getting out of one relationshit and going to another with someone I really didn't know that well. At least we didn't know each other well enough to get married. Regardless, I decided to get back into the life again and get a Mazdaspeed 6. That's the one car I should have never sold. It helped me through my divorce, financial destruction, almost foreclosure, and 70 plus hours a week working to avoid said foreclosure. Don't feel bad for me. The divorce was 80% my fault. That Speed6 had every mod imaginable. Everything from the bushings, mounts, suspension, drivetrain, big turbo, and the last rear differential that was sold brand new in the United States. The Speed6 was me, and we drove all over the country together. Sold the Speed6 to a good friend who was looking for a Speed3, didn't know I had a tricked out Speed6 in the garage, and he has the Speed6 to this day.
After I was able to finally save the house, I figured the market was right and it was time to sell the house. Sold the house for a pretty good amount more than what my ex and I purchased it for and decided it was time to get my dream car. I had driven one before and fell in love with the sound, the ride, the power, and the V10. I purchased a E63 BMW M6. It had the notorious S85 engine which is a 500hp V10. Did the rod bearings and throttle body actuators during the 1st 2 weeks of ownership. Dropped her on H&R springs, and got the twin K&N intakes. Got a full exhaust with QTP cutouts so I could open it up to a straight piped V10 with the push of a button. That car was great, but it was proof that sometimes you should not meet your heroes. It drank oil like fuel. It drank fuel like....like 18mpg hwy. The convertible top was always one of those cross your finger deals, because if it broke you were out of a couple grand. There were so many motors and hydraulics that ran the top. It was a nightmare. However, it was nothing compared to the SMG3 transmission. I don't want to get into it, because I still have red cog of death PTSD, but once I got all the actuators, the clutch, throw out bearing, flywheel, and all the other stuff to get the transmission running correctly....lets put it this way. My BMW mechanic had a legit intervention with me. He told me straight up "this is the best that this car is ever going to run. You should consider selling it before the convertible top goes bad or something major goes wrong". I will always respect them for that and I still take one of my cars to him to this day. (E91 328i wagon)
I sold the M6 on Cars and Bids and decided to chill on the cars for a while. I was happy with my E91 BMW 328i wagon. Super reliable. Runs smooth as heck and since I put her on Bilstein coilovers and 19's, she is mine. Just drove that car for years and intend to keep driving her for years. Still have that car and she turns heads. Wagons always do. Something happened in 2024 that changed my attitude about modding cars and my happiness again. In October 2024, I was feeling kinda blah about life in general. Kid was getting older and was almost done with High School. I had a great position at work and was doing pretty good, but something was missing. I looked online and saw there was a Porsche Boxter for sale at a local dealership. Not a new one, but something I could take out on Sat and Sun and enjoy rowing gears and driving. Thought, why not? Lets go take a look. Went to the dealership, and the Boxter was sold. I couldn't help but notice a black Fiesta ST on the lot. It was....meh. Didn't really jump out at me, but I had read that the Fiesta ST was fun to drive. Asked the dealer to take her for a test drive and he let me take her out. As I pulled out the lot, I felt a weird connection with this little car. Mind you, I'm 6'3 230lbs. It's small, but I had plenty of room. The more I drove it, the more fun I had...even with the motor rockin around because the rear motor mount was shot. I looked in the back seat and saw there was a strange hole in the plastics of the door. Being employed in the field I'm employed in....wink...I knew that was a bullet hole. There was no hole in the exterior, so that must have been replaced. I asked the dealer about the hole, and he had no idea. Ran the vin, and saw the auction photos with the hole. Auction photos looked like the car was lived in and someone probably got shot in the back seat. Whatever....problem was, now I caught the bug and I gotta get one of these things.
Went up to Quantico Va and couldn't fit in the Recaros. Went to a private seller, and got creepy vibes. Finally, looked on CRAIGSLIST and saw a listing for a clean FiST for the price I wanted, the small amount of mods I wanted, and the color I wanted. Red. Only problem was it was in Charleston SC. The Carfax was good and I got a good vibe from the seller when we communicated online and over the phone. Said he wanted a pickup for his dirtbikes and that made sense when I flew down to SC and saw the dirtbikes in his garage. The Fiesta was clean. Wasn't perfect and the miles were a bit higher that I wanted, but I have always been a firm believer that as long as a car is maintained, the mileage is not that big of a deal. This was one of those situations. We exchanged money and paperwork and I drove her the 8 hours home without incident.
Since owning her, we have had our ups and down. Down being the output shaft seals. That's about it. Bought her with the Cobb starter kit. Already had a stratified tune and Cobb intercooler. Of course RMM and boomba noise maker LOL. After she was home, I put some whiteline springs on her because I actually liked the suspension and didn't want to change it too much. EBC pads and Sparco Flow Form wheels with Neo Gens. Need some new tires now, but sooon. Got a mishimoto exhaust and 2j downpipe, woosh intake, exhaust hangars, rear spring pads. Got a few things from Woosh even tho Ron was pissed I cancelled an order like 10mins after I ordered it and put in for a paypal refund. I think we are good again. I was so happy with the peashooter.....until....the itch hit me again.
I needed more power. Went to the tail of the dragon and did a day in the mountains on the Cherohola Skyway, Foothills Parkway, Hellbender, and the other awesome roads out there. The Fiesta ST and I earned respect from a lot of drivers in much more powerful cars. She didn't give me one problem down there nor on the trip down and back. My only issue was the car was a little down on power. I can't imagine it had more than 200hp at the wheels even with all the work done to her. She was quick, but was not fast. I knew that already when I got her, but the itch was getting bad. I was getting a little tired of being beat up by Altima's. Looked at a Corvette ZO6 out in Arizona. It was the right price, but there were a lot of questions and I was not going to buy it sight unseen. Decided to pay for a PPI from this company out there that only does PPI's. Best $200 I've ever spent. The Vette got a 78 out of 100 score which isn't terrible, but some of the questions were just too big and I did not want to get another car that had a ton of power but lived in the shop like my M6.
Did some soul searching and decided to go S280 on the Fiesta ST and keep the car. I enjoy the car so much and the only thing she was missing was more power when asked for. Ok....FK IT....got the S280 kit. Ordered it from Wayside performance across the pond. The whole process went smooth except for the shipping. Once the turbo arrived, I was also served a bill for $430 from FEDEX. I didn't realize that they didn't incorporate the tariff price into the price of the turbo. It wasn't a big deal because they were really cool, but it ended up costing the same it would have if I paid the extra and got it stateside. SMH. Don't get me started. I digress.
My local shop specialized in Subarus. Great folks. They're call All Aspects and they were the 1st shop to twin turbo a bugeye WRX. They don't really do FiST's or FoST's very much, but they did the research about the install, spoke to stratified about the remote tune, and gave it a go. The only extra thing I had to purchase was a 14lb turbosmart wastegate. The install and remote dyno tune was well worth what was paid and she was at 287hp at the wheels on 93octane with 102 deg shop air temps. That's as high as I'm goin! LOL. The car is damn near perfect right now. Only thing that could possibly make it better is if it was AWD and that's not a realistic possibility. At 2700lbs with over 280hp, I have no complaints. No more pops and bangs tune nor booma "wooopaaaach". Just intake and turbo noises with enough power to rip all the way through 3rd if I act too stupid. I prefer to just roll on the power and let the thing eat. So much fun.
It's been a long road and this has been a long post. If you're still reading this, sorry for blabbing but I pride myself on being a driving and car enthusiast. This car has helped me lean on both aspects and i still have room inside for all my cycling gear and a hitch mount. Already driven her all over the east coast and would not hesitate to drive her anywhere I need to go tomorrow. Ford somehow got this one right. If you are thinking about selling your FiST for something more powerful, don't. Get a bigger turbo and it'll drive literally just like stock until it doesn't. If you want to enjoy the car with stock power, not a bad idea either. Just know that if you sell your FiST, you might regret your decision.
Take care and blessings
