Best 1st mod?

[dhminer]

Intake and tune had the biggest impact for me. Second biggest was a small sub under the cargo floor. Really helps audio quality taking the bass out of factory speakers. Was driving the car 120 miles a day at the time and the audio quality was killing me.

 

[Fiestig]

I remember my first Mod!

Ahhhh, I remember mine as well....... Steal the clippers while ma isn't looking and say "bye bye, mullet".... Wait... We are talking about cars still aren't we?... Yep, still RMM.

I think my actual first few goes as follows:

1. RMM
2. Intercooler/piping
3. Quick Shift
4. 16x7 Slipstreams

Everything else after that is a blur. Or top secret. Top secret sounds cooler, so I will stick with that.

 

[gtx3076]

My first mod ever was a cold air intake.

Turns out a 3'' short ram would make more power later on.

In retrospect, even though it drew air from in down in front of the bumper, the metal piping would get very hot, so any cooling advantage was probably lost at the first bend. Waste of money.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

My first mod ever was a cold air intake.

Turns out a 3'' short ram would make more power later on.

In retrospect, even though it drew air from in down in front of the bumper, the metal piping would get very hot, so any cooling advantage was probably lost at the first bend. Waste of money.

ST200 Box...Best Option out there.

 

[danbfree]

Ravenol transmission fluid change. Best $50 I've spent on my car.

This and lug nuts, any aftermarket single piece, even cheapies work well, are the first 2 maintenance items to do before any mod, so good point in bringing this up! Long story short, even brand new both items are very poor from the factory and should be done immediately.

 

[spedy7]

Just adding my bit, went with a Whoosh short shift adapter as my first actual mod (besides tint lol). It definitely makes shifts feel a lot nicer and not as "economy"-Fiesta feeling. If you really want power, big turbo is the way to go as an AP, intercooler, and stock turbo only yields so much. Or be that guy and swap a FoST engine and trans in lol.

 

[TemecFist]

1st mod to buy? Easy......a driver mod.
Buy some lessons and track time.

 

[powermatt]

Ask ten Fiesta ST owners what their first mod should be and you'll get 15 answers.

Given that all Fiesta STs are used cars now, I'd do wheels and/or tires, stat. I guarantee whatever the car came with is old, junk, or all-seasons (the last on my '16). Nothing else will make a bigger difference as your first mod. After that, do whatever you feel the car needs next. Could an AP tune, RMM, intercooler, exhaust, intake... there are no wrong answers among these options.

 

[McSwine]

This and lug nuts, any aftermarket single piece, even cheapies work well, are the first 2 maintenance items to do before any mod, so good point in bringing this up! Long story short, even brand new both items are very poor from the factory and should be done immediately.

Glad to see someone agree with me on the Ravenol...I was totally serious. I notice the difference every single time I drive the car, no matter how I drive it, all the time. I had no idea about the lug nuts, though...not sure how I missed that. Does the herd have a lug nut of choice???

 

[TemecFist]

Direct port nitrous

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Glad to see someone agree with me on the Ravenol...I was totally serious. I notice the difference every single time I drive the car, no matter how I drive it, all the time. I had no idea about the lug nuts, though...not sure how I missed that. Does the herd have a lug nut of choice???

Been saying Ravenol for years....one of the best felt mods EVER!

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[ZachRacing]

The car was way too quiet for me so the first thing I got was a cat-back exhaust...

highly recommend it, gives the car much more attitude/aggression,
even more combined with a wastegate

 

[M-Sport fan]

The car was way too quiet for me so the first thing I got was a cat-back exhaust...

Not the very first thing I did, but yeah, I agree on the way too quiet thing.

Due to my severely reduced hearing capabilities, it was hard for me to properly shift the car without looking at the tach, so I added a C-PE Nexus system to remedy that problem, about 6 months into ownership from new.

 

[Ecmdrw5]

I remember my first Mod!

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[danbfree]

Glad to see someone agree with me on the Ravenol...I was totally serious. I notice the difference every single time I drive the car, no matter how I drive it, all the time. I had no idea about the lug nuts, though...not sure how I missed that. Does the herd have a lug nut of choice???

Literally, whatever looks cool to you and has lots of positive reviews on Amazon, like literally there are sets for around $30 with over 2000 reviews near 5 star, I got black to match my black rims, looks so much better too!

 

[scooter123]

It's a bit in hindsight but after the RMM I would suggest the next mod should be a Mountune 3 Pass Radiator. Yeah a dull boring radiator that is nearly invisible once installed. Something that most don't consider a horsepower adder.

I have news for those who don't consider a radiator a horsepower adder, wait until you are boost limited by engine heat. That is when a higher capacity radiator is truly a horsepower adder. An additional benefit is that they also improve fuel economy. Since I installed a Mountune 3 Pass in my FiST I've seen an increase of about 3 mpg in city driving.

Once that is done then you can move on to another cooling device, the one known as an Intercooler. The fact is that these engines are heat sensitive and controlling heat is a key factor in building reliable horsepower. So if you want to build power start by controlling the heat. Then you can try out higher yield Tunes, Higher capacity Turbos, and all the other performance tweaks available.

BTW, concerning Exhaust systems and Catalytic Converters. This is a 100 cubic inch engine and even with a turbo it won't really benefit from an exhaust system larger than 2 1/2 inches until your get to about 350 HP. Go too large and you can lose velocity in the exhaust system that can leas to a decrease in the efficiency of the turbo charger. Put simply go too large and you can lose power. I'll also state that the factory Catalytic Converter is tuned to work with the factory turbocharger. Don't change out the OEM Cat until you have installed a higher capacity turbo. Note, I suspect that the factory downpipe may be the best choice for many of the Hybrid Turbos available, it's actually a very clever design. It would be interesting to see a comparison in dynamometer results between the Factory DP with an aftermarket DP with some of the smaller hybrids.

BTW I bring this up because many folks new to hot rodding think that a larger exhaust automatically results in more horsepower. Functional and efficent engines are a matter of BALANCE. Increase intake capacity by 50% and increase exhaust capacity by 100% and you have a system that lacks balance and that impedes efficiency which costs power.

 

[gtx3076]

It's a bit in hindsight but after the RMM I would suggest the next mod should be a Mountune 3 Pass Radiator. Yeah a dull boring radiator that is nearly invisible once installed. Something that most don't consider a horsepower adder.

I have news for those who don't consider a radiator a horsepower adder, wait until you are boost limited by engine heat. That is when a higher capacity radiator is truly a horsepower adder. An additional benefit is that they also improve fuel economy. Since I installed a Mountune 3 Pass in my FiST I've seen an increase of about 3 mpg in city driving.

Once that is done then you can move on to another cooling device, the one known as an Intercooler. The fact is that these engines are heat sensitive and controlling heat is a key factor in building reliable horsepower. So if you want to build power start by controlling the heat. Then you can try out higher yield Tunes, Higher capacity Turbos, and all the other performance tweaks available.

BTW, concerning Exhaust systems and Catalytic Converters. This is a 100 cubic inch engine and even with a turbo it won't really benefit from an exhaust system larger than 2 1/2 inches until your get to about 350 HP. Go too large and you can lose velocity in the exhaust system that can leas to a decrease in the efficiency of the turbo charger. Put simply go too large and you can lose power. I'll also state that the factory Catalytic Converter is tuned to work with the factory turbocharger. Don't change out the OEM Cat until you have installed a higher capacity turbo. Note, I suspect that the factory downpipe may be the best choice for many of the Hybrid Turbos available, it's actually a very clever design. It would be interesting to see a comparison in dynamometer results between the Factory DP with an aftermarket DP with some of the smaller hybrids.

BTW I bring this up because many folks new to hot rodding think that a larger exhaust automatically results in more horsepower. Functional and efficent engines are a matter of BALANCE. Increase intake capacity by 50% and increase exhaust capacity by 100% and you have a system that lacks balance and that impedes efficiency which costs power.

I have never heard of too little restriction on an exhaust for turbocharged cars when it comes to pure performance, especially when racers dump straight through the hood. I think it's plausible that once the exhaust becomes extended through a series of bends and restrictions that design may matter.

Not to suggest however that there's significant value to adding an even larger exhaust when the stock turbine can't even push the limitations of the stock exhaust.

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