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Physical Differences Between FiST 1.6L Ecoboost and Escape/Fusion/etc?

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#1
I have searched and I have not been able to determine if there are any physical differences between the Fiesta ST's 1.6L engine and turbo, to other models with lower performing versions of the 1.6L ecoboost engine (Fusion/Escape/Kuga/etc). Does anyone know definitively of any differences beyond tuning? I know the FiST runs higher boost. To my understanding the compression ratio is the same. When I look up replacement engines or turbos on a few different sites, the engines/turbos seem to be interchangeable between models. I'm seriously considering buying a FiST and I'm trying to determine if the worst happens and I need to replace an engine or turbo, will it be easy/cheap to find parts. Your help would be greatly appreciated!
 


XR650R

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#3
I have searched and I have not been able to determine if there are any physical differences between the Fiesta ST's 1.6L engine and turbo, to other models with lower performing versions of the 1.6L ecoboost engine (Fusion/Escape/Kuga/etc). Does anyone know definitively of any differences beyond tuning? I know the FiST runs higher boost. To my understanding the compression ratio is the same. When I look up replacement engines or turbos on a few different sites, the engines/turbos seem to be interchangeable between models. I'm seriously considering buying a FiST and I'm trying to determine if the worst happens and I need to replace an engine or turbo, will it be easy/cheap to find parts. Your help would be greatly appreciated!
The turbo engine is made to handle the boost of a turbo. It has stronger internal parts than the base engine. It costs more to make.

The 1.6 in the FiST is tuned for performance, rather than fuel economy. It's the highest power version of the engine Ford has sold. It's not labeled an ecoboost for that reason.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI0aPrdP0d0
 


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OP
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Thread Starter #4
Thanks for the replies.

The video suggests the "intake and exhaust" are unique to the FiST. It was unclear how close to the engine the differences get (eg. intake manifold, or more likely just the tube which connects to it), but that kind of difference is not terribly important for the intent of my question.
 


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#5
Mountune short block and MRX turbo and you don’t have to wait for your engine to blow up to pop these in
 


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#6
Depending on what you plan to do with it, they're pretty fantastic and reliable cars. In the 7 months I've worked at the dealer, I've only seen 3 in for major repairs. One for a head gasket, one for a PCM (also pretty modified, so owner probably screwed something up), and another for a non-headgasket cooling issue. Compared to the numerous 1.0, 3.5, 2.0 EB trucks and SUVs needing engines that have been in and out, that's pretty decent to me. They are cheap compact cars though, so expect lesser quality...like the seat belt mount on the b-pillar rattling :rolleyes:

I've tried to find what our stock blocks can handle, only found a site experimenting with turbos and reaching 350hp+ on the dyno without major issue. I wouldn't worry too much unless you want big numbers, in which case as said an aftermarket short block would be the right route.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #7
Spedy7 - That's good to hear thanks. What's your impression of the range of EB engines in general?
I'm no-mods sort of person for a street car. I tend to try to find cars that are well optimized from the factory. I love the nimbleness of the FiST. I never thought I'd be buying a FWD car, but it's shockingly good.

BTW - I suspect from your name that you have/had a RX-7? I had a '87 Turbo II for around 8 years (it had some mods). Loved it. After that had a RX-8 for 10 years, I sold last year and wish I hadn't. Had a nightmare experience with a 6th gen Camaro SS for about 8 months.
 


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#8
Spedy7 - That's good to hear thanks. What's your impression of the range of EB engines in general?
I'm no-mods sort of person for a street car. I tend to try to find cars that are well optimized from the factory. I love the nimbleness of the FiST. I never thought I'd be buying a FWD car, but it's shockingly good.

BTW - I suspect from your name that you have/had a RX-7? I had a '87 Turbo II for around 8 years (it had some mods). Loved it. After that had a RX-8 for 10 years, I sold last year and wish I hadn't. Had a nightmare experience with a 6th gen Camaro SS for about 8 months.
Sorry for the late reply lol - I think they're good engines. Impressive seeing the power of a stock EB 3.5 in a F-150, and then comparing to my dad's '98 4.6 that can haul almost as much but with less power and less efficiency. Even my car makes almost as much as his 4.6 does - probably even closer as his motor has over 200k on it. Even our motors with a new turbo can reach up to a stock 2.3's hp/tq figures - nuts! Never thought I would buy a FWD car either, but after my buddy got a FoST I was sold. Sucks I couldn't afford a new FoST with a Sony system and didn't have any used with one so picked up this nugget. Even my dad loves it, and he's more of an older muscle car kinda guy.

I do have a '85 GSL-SE I got from my uncle. Don't drive it much because there's a vacuum leak somewhere near the injectors that I can't seem to fix. Wonderful little car though, just a pain to fix if you haven't grown up around rotaries. Also need to fix some weather stripping (leaked in while it sat and rusted out the spare) and the a/c...too damn hot here. More of a sentimental car at this point with 250k miles on it.
 


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#9
The same. The exact same. The Fiesta ST is tuned to take advantage of 93 octane.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
How do you say this with so much certainty, I'm planning to do double the boost from my turbo se from 8psi to 16psi but need more info about this engine. Do you have some info?
 


Dpro

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#10
How do you say this with so much certainty, I'm planning to do double the boost from my turbo se from 8psi to 16psi but need more info about this engine. Do you have some info?
it’s a well known fact. Both vehicles came with the 1.6 ecoboost i.e. both engines were assembled for boosting by Turbo they just tuned for lower boost on the non Fiesta ST vehicles as they were not trying to squeeze more power out. This information has been out and on the web for pretty much ten years.
 


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#11
The same. The exact same. The Fiesta ST is tuned to take advantage of 93 octane.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
So would that mean I can take the harmonic balancer off a 1.6l from an escape and use it for my fiesta? The oem is on backorder so I was looking into the ones on the escape/fusions and they look a little different than the one on my fiesta but they all have the crankshaft position sensor notch on the back of them. Any help at all is appreciated!
 


Intuit

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#12
Don't know about this specific instance but sometimes one can tell just by pulling and comparing the part number between vehicles. Seems like Ford may change their part number just based on supplier though. (so same part but different supplier may get a different number)
 


Dialcaliper

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#13
My understanding is that the engine between the turbo inlet and turbine exit is identical to the other 1.6T 4-cyl Ecoboost engines. The only physical differences are engine bay connections (intake and exhaust/Cat piping, coolant hoses and electrical wiring etc). Other than that it’s a direct swap.

Our tune is slightly different - instead of 178hp tuned to about ~16psi boost for an auto transmission on a heavy vehicle, we get 180hp tuned with a slightly more aggressive base torque curve (~18psi peak) to mate with the 6-speed plus the 20 sec over boost to net 197hp (on 93 octane, 21psi max boost tapering off to about 19psi at redline - slightly less on 92/91). That’s about it.
 


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