Ryephile's "Astro" 2016 Fiesta ST thread

[Ryephile]

Fiesta baselines and enhancements by Ryephile, on Flickr

What are those little boxes? Would this be a waste for someone who uses BT audio?

These boxes? They're the crossover circuitry for the tweeters and mid-bass speakers. More specifically, they're what appear to be modified Butterworth 2nd order slopes with a 3-position selectable L-pad on the tweeter. More simply, they're circuits that send only high frequencies to the tweeters and only mid and low frequencies to the mid-bass's. That way each speaker can play within its optimum frequency range.

 

[skidro87]

Sorry for my (our) ignorance but are you still using the stock deck?
Also I was interested in how you set up those crossovers, only for the front doors?

 

[Ryephile]

Sorry for my (our) ignorance but are you still using the stock deck?
Also I was interested in how you set up those crossovers, only for the front doors?

No worries. For now I'll be using the stock Sync3 for sourcing, then doing high-level inputs to the amplifier. If I decide I need greater control over time alignment, EQ, and crossovers, then I'll choose a DSP to go between the Sync3 and the amp.

The passive crossovers pictured above are only for the front stage speakers. The crossover between the front stage and subwoofer will be done by the x-over in the amp. The rear door speakers will be faded to zero.

 

[MS67]

So...are you the person who bought my turbo Miata?

 

[Ryephile]

Woah, Hi Matt! It's a totally different car now, though I did keep the GReddy fender badges just for ole times sake.

WHRRI HPDE w/ 3 Balls by Ryephile, on Flickr

RYE_0235.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

Miata 2016 by Ryephile, on Flickr

 

[MS67]

Oh man. That is just awesome. Looks like you've got some quality parts in that thing, I'm glad to see it went to a good home. For the record, I still think you're crazy for driving it home that far without cruise control!! Nice to see you on here and I'm curious to see how your FiST turns out. I see your mod plans in your first post - any other "go fast" mods planned? If you have ethanol in your area, you should really consider it.

 

[MS67]

Oh and...I sold the red Z06 for a blue S2000 which I still have. Then I got a Civic Si (FA5) which I sold for a 2011 Mustang 5.0...which I sold for a 2009 Z06 and went a little too crazy with (~600rwhp N/A)...sold that and got a Fiesta, so here I am!

 

[Ryephile]

Oh and...I sold the red Z06 for a blue S2000 which I still have. Then I got a Civic Si (FA5) which I sold for a 2011 Mustang 5.0...which I sold for a 2009 Z06 and went a little too crazy with (~600rwhp N/A)...sold that and got a Fiesta, so here I am!

LOL, we have the same car-enthusiast ADHD. So many good cars, so little time. I love the S2000's; they'll always have a place in my heart.

The FiST will be my "grand touring" daily driver. I'm OK with the overall balance the car has and am working on putting together a good hi-fi stereo right now.

I did just order an Airtec intercooler to play with, and I'm currently waffling on when to get a set of KW V3's. I don't mind the stock suspension other than it's a bit much for wheel gap and it understeers in high-speed corners, but that's all fixable. The Ethanol thing is honestly not something I'm going to mess with as I take too many random road trips to places and I just don't want the hassle of finding corn pumps. If I want more top-end power I'll go to a bigger turbo before going to Ethanol, that just works better for me.

 

[MS67]

Curious to see how your audio setup turns out. I went a little nuts with the setup in my S2000, because the stock system in that car is just terrible. Went with a 3-way active setup w/a Pioneer DEH-80PRS, ARC XDi 1200.6 amp, Audible Physics H6MB 6.5" Midbass, Scanspeak D3004-6020-00 Tweeters, ARC12D2v3 sub + custom enclosure. Plus a bunch of sound deadener / ensolite from Raamaudio. I'm really happy with that setup, but I hardly ever use it since I don't drive the car much. May do something similar with this car in the future, but at least the stock setup isn't as bad as the one in the S2000...lol.

I feel the same way about the stock suspension. It feels pretty good and doesn't leave too much to be desired for a stock setup. Wheel gap does suck...I'm running KW V3s on the S2K and I love them. But I want to upgrade my factory turbo before touching the suspension.

 

[Ryephile]

I'll definitely update this thread as progress moves on! That sounds like a really great audio setup in the S2k, very quality components.

 

[jayrod1980]

Nice job so far on the car! Thanks for your insight regarding the evap stuff. I might try to cap off that boost leak and see if it does anything beneficial to throttle response. Have you noticed any improvement there?

I wanted to post here to give you one bit of advice. I have the MAP catback and cobb hangers. The hangers do a great job keeping the exhaust from bouncing up and down, but the post on the MAP exhaust will move back and forth. Michigan has some pretty rough roads, which means you might be losing lots of paint from your bumper if you aren't careful.

I would go out and test the side to side play in your exhaust at the muffler. If it moves easily, there's a really cheap fix. Get a pack of the smallest (I think they are 1/4-3/4in) worm clamps from Home Depot. Center your exhaust, and then put one on each side of the post between the urethane hanger like a set of nuts and tighten them down as much as possible. I did this AFTER I found out that two quarters worth of paint almost had chipped off inside the cut out on my car. I fixed it with Dr. Colorchip but would prefer it not happen to anyone else. Maybe they've thickened their posts since then, but if not, you might have that side to side play.

Also, the "drone" and noise around 3K-4K RPM gets a lot quieter after you've put about 1000 miles of carbon buildup into the exhaust. I've got about 7000mi on mine so far. It's still a little louder than I'd like, but hands down probably the nicest made yet economical cat-backs on the market!

Depending on what you do with the car, you might still want to invest in a good catch can. I feel like I get a good amount each oil change. Before the can my intake and charge pipe hoses were filthy and wet with oil. Since then they are bone dry and no oil smell at all. There are a few good ones out there, but I chose the Damond one due to the design and easy fitment.

I'm jealous of that Miata! I'd love to strip an old one down and build from the ground up some day when I have the income to more than just tinker with my econobox.

 

[Ryephile]

Nice job so far on the car! Thanks for your insight regarding the evap stuff. I might try to cap off that boost leak and see if it does anything beneficial to throttle response. Have you noticed any improvement there?

I wanted to post here to give you one bit of advice. I have the MAP catback and cobb hangers. The hangers do a great job keeping the exhaust from bouncing up and down, but the post on the MAP exhaust will move back and forth. Michigan has some pretty rough roads, which means you might be losing lots of paint from your bumper if you aren't careful.

I would go out and test the side to side play in your exhaust at the muffler. If it moves easily, there's a really cheap fix. Get a pack of the smallest (I think they are 1/4-3/4in) worm clamps from Home Depot. Center your exhaust, and then put one on each side of the post between the urethane hanger like a set of nuts and tighten them down as much as possible. I did this AFTER I found out that two quarters worth of paint almost had chipped off inside the cut out on my car. I fixed it with Dr. Colorchip but would prefer it not happen to anyone else. Maybe they've thickened their posts since then, but if not, you might have that side to side play.

Also, the "drone" and noise around 3K-4K RPM gets a lot quieter after you've put about 1000 miles of carbon buildup into the exhaust. I've got about 7000mi on mine so far. It's still a little louder than I'd like, but hands down probably the nicest made yet economical cat-backs on the market!

Depending on what you do with the car, you might still want to invest in a good catch can. I feel like I get a good amount each oil change. Before the can my intake and charge pipe hoses were filthy and wet with oil. Since then they are bone dry and no oil smell at all. There are a few good ones out there, but I chose the Damond one due to the design and easy fitment.

I'm jealous of that Miata! I'd love to strip an old one down and build from the ground up some day when I have the income to more than just tinker with my econobox.

Thanks for the compliments and the information. Plugging the boost leak appears to help slightly with part-throttle linearity and predictability. I'm already at the load limits (seeing throttle closures at WOT) for my Cobb Stage 1 tune so on the to-do list is to re-tune to optimize the current setup with the Access Tuner Race software, which is very nice but also a steep learning curve.

I appreciate the info on the exhaust hangers and location. I setup mine so the tips are about a half inch below the bumper opening when the system is both cold and hot. I also noticed the Cobb hangers have different hole sizes, and noticing this I oriented them so they grip the hangers and don't allow any noticeable sliding. I'll still add some shaft collars to ensure it can't move laterally beyond the hanger flex, I just need to order the right size collars.


The Miata certainly was not a cheap re-build, between the Megasquirt 3, Flyin Miata GT2554R turbo kit, man-sized triple-pass radiator, Setrab oil-cooler, Penske/ANZE dampers, Wilwood BBK's front and back, Sparco seats, Schroth 6-points, Nardi steering wheel, the huge Blackbird Fabworx rear spoiler and on and on. It was one of those "let's do it actually right" builds and have no intention of ever selling it. The sheetmetal might be 1992 but the running gear is all current. 260 HP and 2218 Lbs and it still prioritizes handling and on-track reliability. When I bought the car from Matt it was sorted out reasonably well but honestly now the car is on the next level.


My FiST intentionally won't be pushed that far. This will be basically a bolt-on affair that's tuned well, sounds good, and keeps the smile on my face and the wrenching to simple maintenance.

 

[Ryephile]

The subwoofer has arrived. As usual, insanely quick shipping from Parts Express. This is the Dayton RSS315HF-4, their "high fidelity" 12" subwoofer. It's a 23 pound beast. Initial bench break-in shows excellent promise and very low distortion. It needs 1.28 CuFt for a Qtc = 0.71 sealed enclosure. I should have time to build the enclosure this coming weekend.

FiSTbits by Ryephile, on Flickr

FiSTbits by Ryephile, on Flickr


Also, the Airtec intercooler has already arrived! Auto Specialists shipped it UPS Express International Saver for FREE. It took 2 business days to arrive from Essex, which is 400% mindblowing. I don't understand how they made any money on this, but I definitely suggest everyone go out and buy one immediately, as the exchange rate is awesome right now.

The build quality is very good. It's clearly built by hand, not by machine. Most of the welds are excellent, the only niggle is the tack welds holding the guide pins to the bracket are ugly, but honestly those are nowhere near important for functionality. The core looks very good for cooling and flow-rate, and the insides of the cast end-tanks have a nice golf-ball texture, so boundary layer should be minimal. No wonder RazorLab datalogged such good results with this. His data was the primary reason I bought this.

FiSTbits by Ryephile, on Flickr

FiSTbits by Ryephile, on Flickr


Now I have lots of wrenching and building to do. Hopefully after this weekend I'll have some solid install pics of many of the goodies.

 

[MS67]

God damn that sub is a monster. Has anyone compared this intercooler to the Cobb, MTC, Depo, etc? Looks pretty similar at first glance.

 

[Ryephile]

God damn that sub is a monster. Has anyone compared this intercooler to the Cobb, MTC, Depo, etc? Looks pretty similar at first glance.

The irony of the sub is it's designed primarily for sound quality, not SPL. Based on my bench break-in so far, I agree. There's no noticeable IM or doppler distortion, no chuffing from the motor and suspension. I'm very impressed so far and can't wait to get it in the final enclosure in the car.

The Airtec was extensively datalogged on both the street and track by EvoM.net dude Razorlab, you'll have to google it because he was unfortunately banned here.

 

[Ryephile]

I finally got a good shot of the Kona Blue. Opening the garage this morning and the sun on the horizon really showed how multi-faceted the color is. Saturated blue straight-on, tons of blue metallic just off axis, and then it flops to a dry purple at obtuse angles. It's a complicated color.

Springtime by Ryephile, on Flickr

 

[Ryephile]

I got the audio system installed.

*Sync3 factory head unit
*Rockford Fosgate Punch P600x4, getting Sync3 high level from the front channels to RCA inputs. Running 2 channels for front component set and other channels bridged for the subwoofer. The amp is hidden under the drivers seat, but can still be adjusted with a stubby flathead screwdriver.
*Audison Voce AV K6 component set. Adapted factory door speaker frames to bolt in the 6" midranges. Tweeters are surface mounted on A-pillars and aimed at opposite occupants head. Left crossover is under the driver seat next to the amp and the right side crossover is tucked inside the center console.
*Dayton RSS315HF-4 12" subwoofer in Qtc = 0.71 sealed enclosure built from MDF and thoroughly braced. Enclosure is bolted to car using spare tire mount, carpeted exterior and about 3/4 pound of Polyfill.
*NVX amp install kit worked great; 4 awg wire for power and ground, twisted pair RCA's let me splice into factory amp for signal, and nice speaker wire to hook up the drivers.
*Kno Knoise butyl sound damping materal used in the front doors to quiet them down. I also have more just in case the trunk needs some from the subwoofer, but so far it seems pretty solid from the factory.


Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

The amp and left crossover installed and wired underneath the drivers seat:
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr


Love me some Jasper circle guide!
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Mocking up the sub enclosure to show internal bracing. Chip board is just to protect the garage floor from my handiwork.
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

The finished sub enclosure bolted into the trunk. With the load floor installed it's totally hidden.
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Modified factory speakers turned into mounting rings:
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr


Some bad shots of the tweeter mounting:
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr


I'm still breaking it all in, but it's a massive massive improvement over stock. The system clearly has excellent resolution, and right off the bat zero listening fatigue that plagued the stock setup.

 

[jayrod1980]

Wow that's very elaborate and clean! I certainly wouldn't have trusted a shop to do something so nice...probably would have hacked up the interior which scratches just by looking at it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ryephile]

Thank you! Yea even a really great shop won't take the time to route the wires perfectly and do it 100% right. I also solder and heat-shrink and stress-relief all my wiring connections for maximum signal integrity and durability. The exception being the big power wires are set-screw lugged into the fuse holder.

Here are some more pictures:
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Super clean fuse holder. I notched the Vbat cover and battery tray edge to eliminate any chaffing.
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

Here's a shot of the loomed Vbat cable going through the firewall grommet.
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr


Here's what you see when you open the driver's door. The amplifier fins are barely visible and IMO give a subtle purpose to the location.
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr


The trunk:
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr

With the load floor up:
Audio Install by Ryephile, on Flickr


The main thing left is I have to install my mobility kit [12V air compressor, tire plug kit]. That will easily go behind the sub enclosure in the spare tire well.

 

[MS67]

Looks awesome! Great job. You're making it really difficult for me to put this off until next year...