Let's get started! This is a blog post that has been a long time in the making! When we first put out the word in December 2019 that we were looking for a well maintained Stage 2 Ford Fiesta ST180 for custom map and extended platform development, Zhandre immediately got in contact and we got to work.
In January 2020 the car was brought through to J2 Performance. Before getting started, we data-logged the car on an initial test drive and we were shocked to hear that it was pinging quite badly, we were hesitant to continue the test drive and headed back to the workshop for an ECU ID and virtual read. We flashed the car back to stock, and then got to work defining the MED17.0.1 software version present on the car.
The specs on the car are as follows:
Model: 2015 Ford Fiesta ST180
Engine: 1.6 4-Cylinder Ecoboost (Turbo gasoline, direct injection) #EcoBeast Boet
Transmission: 6 speed manual
ECU: Bosch Motronic MED17.0.01
Location: THANAS CPT / J2 Performance
It was equipped with the following performance modifications:
- ITG intake (Foam-On-Stick)
- FAFD crossover pipe
- CM Silicon S-bend
- GFB DV+
- Hotside resonator delete
- Sound symposer delete
- 76mm Pro-fit downpipe
- 63mm Pro-fit exhaust
- CHE Upgraded intercooler
- COBB Rear mount
Stock fuelling setup and stock motor.
We loaded our initial development map for pump fuel, which immediately took care of the pinging. With small, highly stressed turbocharged, direct-injection motors, pinging/unstable combustion is a serious risk factor for the boogie-man, being LSPI (Low-Speed Pre-Ignition). This form of irregular combustion, leads to pre-ignition and eventually detonation, the extreme cylinder pressures generated during detonation, are enough to crack forged pistons, break ring-lands, and lift the head. This is by far the leading cause of ring-land failure in modern TGDI (Turbocharged Gasoline Direct Injection) motors.
We then revised the mapping over a number of revision cycles, each time adjusting the boost-control PIDs, honing in the ignition advance, fuelling and fine trims, adjusting VVTi (yes this epic little engine is blessed with dual-VVTI, something that we absolutely love, as it gives an extra dimension to control) and DI settings. Being primarily VW/AUDI based, this was an awesome little challenge and we enjoyed the platform, Ford did a great job with the 1.6 Ecoboost (Not you 2.0T Ecoboost, adults are speaking).
After getting it where we wanted with road-logging, we moved onto the Stage 2X initial development, the 'X' being our high-octane nomenclature for 'Now we're going to corn-juice this puppy'. As the ST is also blessed with a good HPFP system running at 150 bar stock, with decently sized injectors there was more than enough fuelling headroom to play with. We ran through a number of revisions with this setup and, as our dyno had not arrived at this point, we released Zhandre's ST onto the streets of CPT to test the drive-ability and performance of the Stage 2X file. That was 6 months ago, and with no complaints and with our (J2 Performance's) dyno now installed, we got back to finishing off the development and tuning, adding some final tweaks to the mapping.
And well... The results speak for themselves.
First off, we flashed the car back to Stock (With Stage 2 hardware in place):
Power: 152 kW
Torque: 333 Nm
"OMG, but this is an ST180, and google said that 180 BHP = 134 kW, so that's a happy dyno for suresies"
Well no, since this car has full stage 2 hardware, the result of which, is easily 18.6 kW with Zhandre's shopping list of Stage 2 hardware.
Alright let's see something meaty:
Now that's tasty!
Power: 181 kW
Torque: 439 Nm
That's a peak-peak increase of 28 kW and 106 Nm, from a 1.6, now that's epic! *Goes to sell Mk7 GTI* Further to that, the highest increase, if you compare the biggest distance between the graphs at each point is around 50 kW and 120 Nm, that's a whole lotta meat and veg right in the centre of the power band. That's the part you use to pull-away from your N1 City McDs meet. Fantastic. Of course it's still a little key-chain turbo and to avoid pumping pure lava, the boost is tapered down towards redline to keep heat production in check.
So is a maximum gain of 50 kW and 120 Nm all I get? Well let's see shall we. J2 Performance strapped the little rocket down to the dyno once more (yes it was a different day as we wanted to make sure that there was no trace of Ethanol during the pump fuel run and final tweaks). The Ethanol run was actually done before the pump fuel run as the Stage 2X ethanol file had been run for 6 months before finishing off the development (we already mentioned this, Willis, pay attention man).
Here we go:
Power: 198 kW
Torque: 444 Nm
That's a solid peak-peak increase of 46 kW and 111 Nm, with the biggest distance between the graphs at around 60 kW and 122 Nm. Now that's surely way more than enough to impress everybody on your 'socially distanced Sunday car meet'.
"But how, it's just, it's it's it's just a little 1600?!"
Now that's more torque than many stock and hybrid K03 2.0T EA113s make on our dyno, how is that possible? Well the 1600 Ecoboost motor's peak efficiency point (the highest volumetric efficiency) aligns exceptionally well with the stock turbo's high efficiency islands, and produces torque well before the older generation of motors has even realized what's happening.
Combine that with a healthy motor, actual custom tuning, a few months of development coupled with an awesome dyno and workshop to develop with, and this is the result. We were able to extract a very sizable amount of the total power curve on pure pump fuel alone, with no additives at all (Good old ENGEN pump No. 3, 3 pm, the real OG).
Here is a comparison between Stage 2 and Stage 2X:
The additional octane of E25 allows us to run more spark advance raising the torque in the mid to upper rpm bands, the additional in-cylinder cooling ensures stable combustion at a higher power level. The peak torque rpm was shifted slightly to reduce in-cylinder pressure at lower rpm on a flex-fuel blend. Counter-intuitively ethanol is more susceptible to pre-ignition, while being more resistant to knock. That sounds profound, hmm, let's quote it so we can all learn from the larger font size:
Ethanol is more susceptible to pre-ignition, while being more resistant to knock.
Wow, who knew there was a fundamental difference between PI and knock? Well we did, so that's exactly why we did it.
Many thanks to J2 Performance, our awesome associated Cape Town workshop, dyno centre and the home of THANAS in Cape Town and SA. Thanks to Zhandre as well for being a part of the project and trusting us with his super neat, well-kept Fiesta ST180, and teaching us that Fords can also be awesome.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to click on the notification button on the top right of the screen (you have to scroll up) for non-intrusive push notifications to your browser (way better than a Hollard spam SMS, guaranteed or no money back).
And stay tuned, because this car has a few more tricks up it's sleeve, cheers.
(nice looking photos shot by @dyynmedia)