I'll be brief, but here's the background on my experience in the last two and a half years with my car:
I purchased my car in May 2014, knowing full and well that I wanted it to be ridiculous. In June 2014, with approximately 500 miles I began my modding with a 2JR Catted downpipe and an AP. Shortly after that, a Mountune drop-in filter and a Mountune silicone hose. Around September 2014, OZ Ultraleggeras were on the car, and I was working with Panda Motorworks on a FMIC. Around this same time, I was working with Randy at Mountune for custom tuning. This is where things get crazy... Panda wanted to start tuning Fiestas, so I obliged after some apprehension. I was na?ve...
For brevity sake, lets just compile all my various set ups, and my approximate thoughts at the time:
? 2JR catted downpipe, Panda FMIC, Mountune Silicone and drop-in, modded air box, Panda and Mountune tune.
- My "stage 3" came in cobbled together. I wasn't proud of this... 2JRs downpipe was actually pretty nice, at the time. Pandas FMIC was not the greatest, as I saw nearly the same CATs. The modded airbox thing was ok. Randy's tune was essentially the same thing as a Cobb Stage 3, with a little more throttle tuning to give it some punch. So, it never really got any faster, but it sure felt like it. Tire shredding was fun, though.
Here is some data on this set up. I'll denote when a part was a part of the datalog or not and dates. This is without the Panda intercooler. My first log saved on my laptop do some serious tuning. Up until this point, I'd been running Cobb Stage 1 and 2. At 3200 miles, what you'll see here is the Cobb Stage 2 tune on 20 July 2014.
Cobb Stage 2 datalog
Next up, is the Mountune base file. Also done on 20 July 2014.
Mountune Base datalog
The following data is from just before the intercooler was installed. This is the last revision BEFORE the intercooler.
Moutune pre-intercooler
Finally, a base file from Panda Motorworks, completed on 20 July 2014. A thing to note is that I actually ran the Cobb Stg 2 file to begin tuning with Panda as they had no base file. Yes, I was their first Fiesta ST and their FiST tuning strategy is/was based on my car.
Panda Base
Panda, pre-intercooler.
Panda Pre-Intercooler
Now, some time went by before I got the intercooler. The intercooler was installed on 5 Aug 2014. I'll skip ahead a little further and present the final datalogs with the intercooler. This should complete this section.
Mountune post-intercooler and FINAL revision. Randy pretty much left me cold once he felt he was done... Not even a good bye.
Mountune Post-Intercooler, and Final
Panda post-intercooler
Panda Post-Cooler
? 2JR decat, Panda FMIC, Mountune/modded OEM box, Panda and Mountune tune.
- I was wrapping up tuning with Randy mostly, while starting up with Panda (yes, both at the same time, I'd never do that again). Randy had suggested that the catted downpipe was holding the car back, so I picked up the non cat 2JR. It sure sounded a lot better, but there was nothing ground-breaking. With 199whp on a real dyno in 80? weather, I still wasn't quite content with the power.
Panda last revision on this set up, just before the Cyborg. 7 Oct 2014.
Panda pre-Cyborg
? 2JR decat, Cobb FMIC, Cobb intake, Cobb CBE, Panda tune.
- Id sold the Panda FMIC as it just couldn't keep up. Essentially, it was a TR6 (treadstone) core with intake elbows welded on to it. At this time, Sourskittle was planning his Cyborg and I was anxiously waiting for more power. Infatuated with the Cyborg, I decided I needed a "real" intake and exhaust, so I bought more Cobb items. They did nothing for power, but sure did sound good. No real tuning happened again until 4 Nov 2014.
? 2JR decat, Cobb FMIC/intake/CBE, Cyborg V1, MBRP exhaust, Panda tune
- The biggest bang for the buck was the Cyborg upgrade. If you want "bang for the buck" the Cobb AP and a hybrid turbo alone will take you pretty far. Yet and still, it wasn't enough, so I moved on to an E30 tune. Things got real sideways around this time. Pandas tuner couldn't quite figure out the E30, or why the ignition was breaking up at the top. Here's the base tune log from 4 Nov 2014.
Panda Cyborg Base Tune
Final tune with Panda before I got the DHM kit. First is where we left off before the break on 18 Jan 2015, (on 93 Oct) and the next will be just before the DHM kit went on. We started back up with tuning 19 March 2015.
Panda Cyborg pre-break
Panda Cyborg post-break, 93 Oct, MBRP exhaust
Next up, is the same hardware with E30. You may be puzzled by the numbers, but the thing is, we never finished the E30 tune in all that time. E30 went in around some time in April. Also, one more thing to note, over the winter break, I'd replaced the Cyborg V1 with the V2. It was an unfortunate circumstance that had nothing to do with SS.
Panda Cyborg V2 post-break, pre-DHM, E30
Here is the absolute best the Cyborg did on 93 Oct. This was 17 Dec 2014.
Panda Cyborg V1 Best
? DHM 2867r kit, DHM race intercooler, MBRP CBE, Panda tune
- For me, I felt the most confident about this route. I was proud of having these parts on my car because of the quality, and power it produced. Personally, the lag didn't bother me. I enjoyed the delayed power because I wasn't just burning off my tires without going anywhere. Panda was on the ECU still, and times were getting turbulent... Weeks would go by without a tune and it was unacceptable. This is as far as I got with Panda; a base tune and one revision,14 Aug 2015. I cannot disclose all reasons.
Panda GTX Base
Panda GTX revision
? DHM BT, FMIC, MBRP, DHM tune
- I'd switched to DHM for tuning. There was no in between. I'd decided I wouldn't trust Panda to tune the car, and that the best (and only) for the kit was the man himself. I'd been doing Panda a favor I exchange for free tuning, but they couldn't produce for reasons I won't divulge. Here's the base tune on 21 Aug 2015 from DHM and the final tune on 93 (4 Nov 2015) before moving to Aux Fuel. I know that sounds like a long time, but there were a LOT of tunes and logs going out and coming in during that time.
DHM GTX Base Tune
DHM GTX Final 93
After the 93 tune was "done" we moved on to Stratifieds Aux Fuel. It was tuned on both 93 and E30... I'll share the 93, but not the E30. There were tons of changes made, so there was never a simple end to it and it would be unfair to everyone. Sorry to those who are disappointed... Because, ultimately, the real end was popping the engine while 1/2 mile racing. It could never be "finaled" And I don't regret a moment of it![[raceflag]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_race.gif "Race Flag [raceflag]")
Anyway, here's the base aux on 93 and final aux (8 Nov 2014) on 93 oct (10 Nov 2015).
DHM GTX Aux Base 93
DHM GTX Aux Base Final 93
Well, welcome to the present. As most of you know my engine is now built. It just needs to hit the dyno for some tuning action. I made this thread in opposition of some other threads that pop up about once a month. I believe that I've been through some of the MOST changes in this community. I've seen everything from "Stage 0" to now a built engine. I've spent more than I care to count...
So here's the takeaway, the biggest thing I've learned in my journey:
Buy quality parts, make the car into what you want and don't major in the minors (intakes, BOVs, downpipes, cheap tunes).
If you've read this far, thank you. I was trying to be brief, and this was about as brief as it could get. Once I have a little more time, I'll edit in vDynos and datalogs that correlate with the setups.
I purchased my car in May 2014, knowing full and well that I wanted it to be ridiculous. In June 2014, with approximately 500 miles I began my modding with a 2JR Catted downpipe and an AP. Shortly after that, a Mountune drop-in filter and a Mountune silicone hose. Around September 2014, OZ Ultraleggeras were on the car, and I was working with Panda Motorworks on a FMIC. Around this same time, I was working with Randy at Mountune for custom tuning. This is where things get crazy... Panda wanted to start tuning Fiestas, so I obliged after some apprehension. I was na?ve...
For brevity sake, lets just compile all my various set ups, and my approximate thoughts at the time:
? 2JR catted downpipe, Panda FMIC, Mountune Silicone and drop-in, modded air box, Panda and Mountune tune.
- My "stage 3" came in cobbled together. I wasn't proud of this... 2JRs downpipe was actually pretty nice, at the time. Pandas FMIC was not the greatest, as I saw nearly the same CATs. The modded airbox thing was ok. Randy's tune was essentially the same thing as a Cobb Stage 3, with a little more throttle tuning to give it some punch. So, it never really got any faster, but it sure felt like it. Tire shredding was fun, though.
Here is some data on this set up. I'll denote when a part was a part of the datalog or not and dates. This is without the Panda intercooler. My first log saved on my laptop do some serious tuning. Up until this point, I'd been running Cobb Stage 1 and 2. At 3200 miles, what you'll see here is the Cobb Stage 2 tune on 20 July 2014.
Cobb Stage 2 datalog
Next up, is the Mountune base file. Also done on 20 July 2014.
Mountune Base datalog
The following data is from just before the intercooler was installed. This is the last revision BEFORE the intercooler.
Moutune pre-intercooler
Finally, a base file from Panda Motorworks, completed on 20 July 2014. A thing to note is that I actually ran the Cobb Stg 2 file to begin tuning with Panda as they had no base file. Yes, I was their first Fiesta ST and their FiST tuning strategy is/was based on my car.
Panda Base
Panda, pre-intercooler.
Panda Pre-Intercooler
Now, some time went by before I got the intercooler. The intercooler was installed on 5 Aug 2014. I'll skip ahead a little further and present the final datalogs with the intercooler. This should complete this section.
Mountune post-intercooler and FINAL revision. Randy pretty much left me cold once he felt he was done... Not even a good bye.
Mountune Post-Intercooler, and Final
Panda post-intercooler
Panda Post-Cooler
? 2JR decat, Panda FMIC, Mountune/modded OEM box, Panda and Mountune tune.
- I was wrapping up tuning with Randy mostly, while starting up with Panda (yes, both at the same time, I'd never do that again). Randy had suggested that the catted downpipe was holding the car back, so I picked up the non cat 2JR. It sure sounded a lot better, but there was nothing ground-breaking. With 199whp on a real dyno in 80? weather, I still wasn't quite content with the power.
Panda last revision on this set up, just before the Cyborg. 7 Oct 2014.
Panda pre-Cyborg
? 2JR decat, Cobb FMIC, Cobb intake, Cobb CBE, Panda tune.
- Id sold the Panda FMIC as it just couldn't keep up. Essentially, it was a TR6 (treadstone) core with intake elbows welded on to it. At this time, Sourskittle was planning his Cyborg and I was anxiously waiting for more power. Infatuated with the Cyborg, I decided I needed a "real" intake and exhaust, so I bought more Cobb items. They did nothing for power, but sure did sound good. No real tuning happened again until 4 Nov 2014.
? 2JR decat, Cobb FMIC/intake/CBE, Cyborg V1, MBRP exhaust, Panda tune
- The biggest bang for the buck was the Cyborg upgrade. If you want "bang for the buck" the Cobb AP and a hybrid turbo alone will take you pretty far. Yet and still, it wasn't enough, so I moved on to an E30 tune. Things got real sideways around this time. Pandas tuner couldn't quite figure out the E30, or why the ignition was breaking up at the top. Here's the base tune log from 4 Nov 2014.
Panda Cyborg Base Tune
Final tune with Panda before I got the DHM kit. First is where we left off before the break on 18 Jan 2015, (on 93 Oct) and the next will be just before the DHM kit went on. We started back up with tuning 19 March 2015.
Panda Cyborg pre-break
Panda Cyborg post-break, 93 Oct, MBRP exhaust
Next up, is the same hardware with E30. You may be puzzled by the numbers, but the thing is, we never finished the E30 tune in all that time. E30 went in around some time in April. Also, one more thing to note, over the winter break, I'd replaced the Cyborg V1 with the V2. It was an unfortunate circumstance that had nothing to do with SS.
Panda Cyborg V2 post-break, pre-DHM, E30
Here is the absolute best the Cyborg did on 93 Oct. This was 17 Dec 2014.
Panda Cyborg V1 Best
? DHM 2867r kit, DHM race intercooler, MBRP CBE, Panda tune
- For me, I felt the most confident about this route. I was proud of having these parts on my car because of the quality, and power it produced. Personally, the lag didn't bother me. I enjoyed the delayed power because I wasn't just burning off my tires without going anywhere. Panda was on the ECU still, and times were getting turbulent... Weeks would go by without a tune and it was unacceptable. This is as far as I got with Panda; a base tune and one revision,14 Aug 2015. I cannot disclose all reasons.
Panda GTX Base
Panda GTX revision
? DHM BT, FMIC, MBRP, DHM tune
- I'd switched to DHM for tuning. There was no in between. I'd decided I wouldn't trust Panda to tune the car, and that the best (and only) for the kit was the man himself. I'd been doing Panda a favor I exchange for free tuning, but they couldn't produce for reasons I won't divulge. Here's the base tune on 21 Aug 2015 from DHM and the final tune on 93 (4 Nov 2015) before moving to Aux Fuel. I know that sounds like a long time, but there were a LOT of tunes and logs going out and coming in during that time.
DHM GTX Base Tune
DHM GTX Final 93
After the 93 tune was "done" we moved on to Stratifieds Aux Fuel. It was tuned on both 93 and E30... I'll share the 93, but not the E30. There were tons of changes made, so there was never a simple end to it and it would be unfair to everyone. Sorry to those who are disappointed... Because, ultimately, the real end was popping the engine while 1/2 mile racing. It could never be "finaled" And I don't regret a moment of it
Anyway, here's the base aux on 93 and final aux (8 Nov 2014) on 93 oct (10 Nov 2015).DHM GTX Aux Base 93
DHM GTX Aux Base Final 93
Well, welcome to the present. As most of you know my engine is now built. It just needs to hit the dyno for some tuning action. I made this thread in opposition of some other threads that pop up about once a month. I believe that I've been through some of the MOST changes in this community. I've seen everything from "Stage 0" to now a built engine. I've spent more than I care to count...
So here's the takeaway, the biggest thing I've learned in my journey:
Buy quality parts, make the car into what you want and don't major in the minors (intakes, BOVs, downpipes, cheap tunes).
If you've read this far, thank you. I was trying to be brief, and this was about as brief as it could get. Once I have a little more time, I'll edit in vDynos and datalogs that correlate with the setups.
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