Jeff's 2015 Fiesta ST build thread

[shouldbeasy]

*****
Trying to pursue tuning with e30 but there are no stations near. I thought there were but alas they no longer sell the ethanol gas once I investigated. This sucks because after [MENTION=3936]MisSTrouble[/MENTION] posted her dyno results of 304hp/344tq on e30 I was even more interested in an ethanol tune....alas....

However I am looking into having Mr. Brunson do a race gas tune for me soon. Updates to follow on that!!!

Save your pennies for meth injection!!

 

[jeff]

Save your pennies for meth injection!!

Yeah.....I've researched that pretty extensively. $500 for a good kit plus $100 for a good supply of meth + $250 for hard pipes/methport + $100 miscellaneous = about $1000 to do it right. Plus another thing I have to think about maintaining, the labor involved to install, etc.

Because of all of the above, while I know it's the cheapest power without e85 available, I'm pretty reluctant as of now.

Thanks for chiming in though!

 

[shouldbeasy]

Yeah.....I've researched that pretty extensively. $500 for a good kit plus $100 for a good supply of meth + $250 for hard pipes/methport + $100 miscellaneous = about $1000 to do it right. Plus another thing I have to think about maintaining, the labor involved to install, etc.

Because of all of the above, while I know it's the cheapest power without e85 available, I'm pretty reluctant as of now.

Thanks for chiming in though!

It's the same dilemma I have... no easily accessible 'race gas' and so I'm stuck with methanol if I want that last performance boost before either a turbo change or a car change.

Oh well, that's next years problem! I need to go find some corners this year!

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

I'm debating doing E30 and water meth down the line


I don't see many people running full E85 on these cars. Is there a reason?

 

[MisSTrouble]

I don't live exactly close to an E85 station either, but I pass by one every few weeks. So what I did was buy an ethanol content analyzer and 2 5 gallon gas cans and fill it up with E85 when I pass through. This enables me to see the actual ethanol content of what I'm putting in the car (example: my station that I get it from actually measured E70) and allows me to adjust the calculations in the app to hand mix a tank that's really an E30 blend. I just put in the amount that the app says to, drive the 2 blocks to my local Chevron, and fill her up the rest of the way with 93. I can't recall the last time my car ran on plain 93. It's a bit more of a hassle, yeah, but to me it's just routine and worth it to ensure I get an accurate blend every tank.

 

[jeff]

It's the same dilemma I have... no easily accessible 'race gas' and so I'm stuck with methanol if I want that last performance boost before either a turbo change or a car change.

Oh well, that's next years problem! I need to go find some corners this year!

No meth for me now, and no e85 available.....but there is this stuff sitting on my worktable as we speak....

Hosted on Fotki

My tuner is working up a revision for me....99 octane! More to come...

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^That stuff is GREAT, but for me at least, the cost as compared to even driving the 50 miles EACH way to the nearest E85 station would be either a wash, or LESS than that additive's cost!

 

[jeff]

^^^That stuff is GREAT, but for me at least, the cost as compared to even driving the 50 miles EACH way to the nearest E85 station would be either a wash, or LESS than that additive's cost!

So I have some thoughts on this, below....

Working on my race-gas concentrate tune, here are a few observations:

1. MPG first 100 miles is identical to 93 octane.
2. On 3rd tune revision currently, vDyno below says I'm up 14hp and 10ft/lbs. The car definitely feels like it's up 14hp. Remember it's only vDyno which I've proven to be very unreliable. But, it's a baseline...
3. My tuner Tune+ says that the RG concentrate yields similar results to an e30 tune.
4. Cost really isn't outrageous...I did the math, it would be about $540/year for me to keep this in my tank full time. That's $45 a month. I can think of less worthy things I spent that amount on each month.
5. My mix here equates to about 98.5 octane and I will say in addition to the power bump, which is really obvious throughout the entire rev range especially over 5,000rpms, the car runs noticeably smoother.
6. Boost is NOT increased at all as we're keeping me at the Pumaspeed-recommended 25.4 for the X47.
7. I'm learning to read logs more and more...my RG tune has 4 degrees more timing than my 93 tune at 4,500-6,000rpms. That is pretty beastly. No negative corrections.

Now - some reasoning on power beyond X47 (aside from different turbo)....three basic options for me as I see it are (1) methanol injection (2) e30 tune (3) race-gas concentrate tune.

METHANOL INJECTION would bring the most power (from what I've read) and keep the engine cleaner. For me there's about a $1000 start-up cost to do it right for the kit I want (kit, meth, hard charge pipes, misc.). Plus there's the install, plus the hassle of having a meth tank in the car, and not being able to use my trunk storage as freely. So meth is out for me.

ETHANOL 30 blend would be my choice but it is not an option with no stations anywhere near me. However I'm OK with that because the downsides of ethanol are (a) lower MPG (b) hassle of mixing (c) unavailability of ethanol on a trip.

RACE GAS according to my tuner yields near identical results as e30. The disadvantage is the cost, as e30 is relatively free. But the advantages are (a) super easy to mix (b) no installation needed. 2 years of racegas will cost about the same as a full meth kit. And, on trips where I'll be mostly driving on the highway, I can run my regular 93 tune and skip the race-gas for a few tanks, and save some money.

After talking with my tuner and the good folks at race-gas (I called and we chatted for a few minutes), I've learned that the only drawback of this product (they ran it full time in a bunch of cars for 3 years) is that spark plugs might need to be changed more often. That and orange smoke on the tailpipes.

In the end, for a 10-20hp bump this is a really great product for me. If it's more than that in the end I'll take it!

*****
Anyhow that's what's in my brain this morning after a drive. The car is really running great!!!

Hosted on Fotki

 

[M-Sport fan]

Yes, $45.00/month is NOT ridiculous.

I'm in the same situation as you right now with E85 availability.

I FULLY agree with you on the WMI option, and that's all I am going to say about (even though for me, there are even MORE drawbacks than what you've mentioned above) that since it ALWAYS seems to start an incessant s**t storm fight with it's dedicated faithful adherents. LOL

Like I said that RG stuff IS GREAT, and you've proven it works.
I don't know IF it would give similar results on a factory snail tune, but it might be worth a shot.

 

[jeff]

Yes, $45.00/month is NOT ridiculous.

I'm in the same situation as you right now with E85 availability.

I FULLY agree with you on the WMI option, and that's all I am going to say about (even though for me, there are even MORE drawbacks than what you've mentioned above) that since it ALWAYS seems to start an incessant s**t storm fight with it's dedicated faithful adherents. LOL

Like I said that RG stuff IS GREAT, and you've proven it works.
I don't know IF it would give similar results on a factory snail tune, but it might be worth a shot.

Curious as to what other drawbacks you see in going methanol, share your thoughts! Nobody reads my thread anyway so there won't be any battles here!

The RG tune is awesome...I've driven a few days on it now, the car is so super smooth, I'm so glad I did this. Tune is finished, just getting traction control dialed in now for 2nd gear. I'll get more logs next week and see if I have any better numbers.

*****
I painted my spare Accessport cover red, it looks mighty sweet and I'm sure this got me at least 1 HP.

Hosted on Fotki

 

[VuDoo]

I am just asking out of my curiosity and I am no way dogging you. I applaud your efforts and you got to do what you got to do. However, 32oz. of race gas from what I have seen runs around $30. On the race-gas website it would calculate 3oz needed for every gallon of base 93 octane and @12.4 gallon tank you would have to add 36oz to reach 99 octane. So, at about $1.07 per oz of race gas that is about $38.50 per fill up on top of the $25-$30 dollars for gas. Do you fill up once a month? That just seems pretty expensive ($60 per fill up). Am I missing something? I fill up twice a week and there is no way I could afford to do this. It would be $120 every week. I guess if it were me I would just save up for a meth system.

 

[jeff]

I am just asking out of my curiosity and I am no way dogging you. I applaud your efforts and you got to do what you got to do. However, 32oz. of race gas from what I have seen runs around $30. On the race-gas website it would calculate 3oz needed for every gallon of base 93 octane and @12.4 gallon tank you would have to add 36oz to reach 99 octane. So, at about $1.07 per oz of race gas that is about $38.50 per fill up on top of the $25-$30 dollars for gas. Do you fill up once a month? That just seems pretty expensive ($60 per fill up). Am I missing something? I fill up twice a week and there is no way I could afford to do this. It would be $120 every week. I guess if it were me I would just save up for a meth system.

No worries it's cool VuDoo.

I fill up once about every 2 1/2 weeks. Every fill-up for me is about 11.5 gallons so one full 32oz. can of RG per tank gets it to about 99 octane. That's what my tuner recommended.

I average 370 miles per tank and about 8,000 miles per year on the car. About 2,000 of those miles are all highway trips in which case I'll run 93 and not the RG. So that's about 6,000 miles a year I'll use RG which is about 16 cans of RG per year which is around $500 per year give or take. My earlier estimate was done on the fly but in any case it would be somewhere around $500-$600 per year for me.

In your case, if you drive the amount of miles you say you do then yes meth would be a much more economical path for you to get probably better power increases than I am seeing. For me this option is really perfect.

Hope that helps!

 

[VuDoo]

Makes sense now that I know you are not filling up as often. Even just once a week I was thinking of the cost. I average 370 miles per tank as well and 90% is mostly driven on the highway, but I also commute 1.5 hours each way. I am somewhat lucky that there are e85 stations around and while the closest one is 3 miles from my house it is still a little inconvenient as it is in the opposite direction of anywhere I go. There is also one on my way home from work. The inconvenience comes when I need gas and I am not close to either one to fill up. I wonder if having a bottle of this stuff in the trunk for those inconvenient times would help rather than changing tunes from an e30 tune to 93.

 

[jeff]

Makes sense now that I know you are not filling up as often. Even just once a week I was thinking of the cost. I average 370 miles per tank as well and 90% is mostly driven on the highway, but I also commute 1.5 hours each way. I am somewhat lucky that there are e85 stations around and while the closest one is 3 miles from my house it is still a little inconvenient as it is in the opposite direction of anywhere I go. There is also one on my way home from work. The inconvenience comes when I need gas and I am not close to either one to fill up. I wonder if having a bottle of this stuff in the trunk for those inconvenient times would help rather than changing tunes from an e30 tune to 93.

Man if I had an ethanol station 3 miles from me I would definitely go that route instead of the race gas concentrate. Have you not done so just because of the inconvenience?

 

[VuDoo]

Man if I had an ethanol station 3 miles from me I would definitely go that route instead of the race gas concentrate. Have you not done so just because of the inconvenience?

There were a few things holding me back and the inconvenience was just a small part of the equation. The main thing was affording another tune and also taking into account that I really have only 2 viable stations to fill up without going completely out of my way. I just didn't want to end up with a tune that I can only use every now and then. I finally pulled the trigger and got a tune from Dizzy and I just finished my first tank of e30.

 

[VuDoo]

I mean if we are talking easy or draw backs here, running e30 is no easy task either, at least in my eyes. What I mean is it takes more than just downloading a e30 calculator app and hoping for the best. Some seem to go Bill Nye style and get test tubes out to test the content of e85 (I am not sure how they even get a sample in the test tube) as well as buying and installing a gauge to let you know exactly how much ethanol is in the tank, but that is a $250-300 gauge. Most of us just hope that we are close, but unless you have a way to know exactly what you are running it seems like a crap shoot as you will be running more or less e30. In reality, your way is the easiest to know what is in your tank, but it is the most expensive for those that fill up more than twice a month.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Man if I had an ethanol station 3 miles from me I would definitely go that route instead of the race gas concentrate. Have you not done so just because of the inconvenience?

Same here!

The station I was using was about 20 miles one way from me, but I was going into that area anyway once a week, so no real inconvenience, or added expense/mileage on car.
Now that station is gone, and the next closest one is almost 50 miles one way, and I do not go to that area very often.

I think that I am going to just stick with the 93 tune unless another E85 station opens up nearby, or I ever go hybrid/BT kit in which case THEN I would probably go WMI, but ONLY IF I had a FOUR injector port system installed at that point. (Lessened chance of puddling/pooling of the WM mixture, and more uniform results.)

 

[M-Sport fan]

Curious as to what other drawbacks you see in going methanol, share your thoughts! Nobody reads my thread anyway so there won't be any battles here!

I wish we could prevent the hardcore WMI devotees from reading this, since they will no doubt POUNCE if they do LOL, but since you asked;

I do NOT want to have to source, and store, gallons of the stuff at a time, I do not want to carry it around with me in the car at all times (I don't care HOW 'safe' it actually is or is not, I DO NOT want to carry it in the car!!), and I cannot stand things like spray, where it is something that can run out quickly, and must be constantly refilled and NOT by just pulling up to a pump, regardless of how much crazy powah can be pulled out of it.

Like I said above, I may HAVE TO reluctantly go the WMI route IF I ever go to a bigger snail in order to realize it's full potential, again ONLY if I already had a four injector port aux system installed (AND a good limited slip diff as well for that matter!).
But I will NEVER do this on a factory snail, even with the added benefit of the valve cleaning considered (I'd rather just take it to Mitch at cp-e and let him walnut shell blast the daylights out of the intake valves for that purpose ).

 

[jeff]

UPDATE 1
Just finished my first full tank with the Race Gas concentrate, the car got 31.25 MPGs (366.7 miles/11.738 gallons). That's WITH the additive and X47 and about 20 datalogs which use up fuel no doubt. So, conclusion, X47 and RG officially have very little effect on MPGS.

UPDATE 2
Today I filled up with regular 93 (no RG) and swapped to my X47 93 tune because I'll be driving about 800 miles this week for work. No need for RG on the highway. So it was nice to drive the car back on the pump gas tune. Not as quick as before but still quick no doubt!!

UPDATE 3
I just ordered some new tires, though my stockers still have a few thousand miles I saw the tires I wanted at a good price so they are on the way. Federal 595 RS-R, 215/40/17, 4 for $378.97 shipped here! Can't wait. I could make it through the winter on my Bridgestones....but I might be tempted to put the Federals on. We shall see!

UPDATE 4
Also today I did some new logs with and without the Race Gas concentrate, and found an old log of stock unmodified car/tune. So I made this PDF of my progress for all to enjoy:

Hosted on Fotki

 

[Woods247]

The seasons are changing and temps are dropping! When do you plan to dyno at TopSpeed?