Paul's STH build

[Pablo Pistoffo]

So, in a moment of insanity, I attempted to win back some of the traction I had lost when I moved from my previous car (2014 WRX hatchback) to the wonderful world of Fiesta. I did this by installing a Quaife differential. Sadly, this pushed me out of Street class for autocross. Since there is no way I would be competitive with just the Quaife and my RE71Rs from last year, I threw a bunch of parts and money at the car in an attempt to not embarrass myself when the autocross season up here in Alaska starts back up.

Here is what I have installed so far on my Magnetic 2017 FIST (nav, sunroof, black wheels, red calipers):

Handling Stuff:
Bilstein B6 shocks and struts
Swift lowering springs
Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 15x8" wheels in anthracite
BF Goodrich Rival S 1.5 in 225/45R15
Pierce 2 point brace
Pierce torsion beam

Engine Stuff:
Torque Solution RMM
Whoosh Motorsports V2 intercooler
Stratified tune for pump gas

I spent the weekend with friends putting the parts on and have put a couple miles on it after getting an alignment done.
Sorry for the crap photo and dirty car, spring is nasty up here


It's barely warm enough to run 200 treadwear tires during the heat of the day, but they are so much nicer on the dry than the Nokians


The Whoosh V2 is enormous:


I am kicking myself for not putting on the camber bolts- I thought the drop would have increased it to more than this:


Still to be installed are the rear mounted PC680 AGM battery and the Whoosh short shifter. I'm really happy with how the car feels now, and am looking forward to getting the datalogs to Stratified so I can get my tune revised for our crappy gas. We don't have a big enough club to actually compete for class titles up here, we all compete in driver's classes (novice, open, expert, ladies) using PAX. I don't think I'll be very competitive this year, but I do hope to surprise some sports cars and have a lot of fun.

 

[M-Sport fan]

You are more brave than I, putting the 200 tread wear donuts on this early, up thar!

I will not even think about throwing on the RS-RRs until at least mid-may, yup, even way down here in 'the south'. LOL

 

[JDG]

Pretty sure the intercooler puts you right out of STH and into CSP which makes you SUPER not competitive... LOL

 

[Plainrt]

Yep intercooler a
No no. Nice build though.

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

Yep intercooler a
No no. Nice build though.

Thanks!
They changed the rules for this year to allow intercoolers in STH only.

 

[Plainrt]

Aww smit that’s awesome. Next year I’m gonna go to sth.

 

[Mikey456]

I see you have the Bilstein b6’s with the Swift Springs. I’m running stock struts/shocks with the Swift Springs. Is there big difference from stock to Bilstein? Is it worth the search (and money) for the Bilsteins?

Thanks

 

[JDG]

Thanks!
They changed the rules for this year to allow intercoolers in STH only.
View attachment 20165

Awesome! Thank you for this! I hadn’t read the rules for this year yet. This is a great change. The fiesta might actually be semi competitive. Too bad I just went big turbo.... lol

Looks like I’ll be in SMF for funsies.


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[Pablo Pistoffo]

I see you have the Bilstein b6’s with the Swift Springs. I’m running stock struts/shocks with the Swift Springs. Is there big difference from stock to Bilstein? Is it worth the search (and money) for the Bilsteins?

Thanks

I never ran just the springs- last year I was in H Street for autocross and was running B6s in the front and Koni Yellows in the rear, which was meh, mostly because I'm not a suspension engineer and I could never find a sweet spot with the Koni adjustments. After the season ended, the rear Bilsteins became available through Tire Rack again, so I put the B6s on the back and was incredibly impressed- the car was more comfortable AND handled better. I can't recommend the B6s enough they are really what should have come with the car in the first place.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I never ran just the springs- last year I was in H Street for autocross and was running B6s in the front and Koni Yellows in the rear, which was meh, mostly because I'm not a suspension engineer and I could never find a sweet spot with the Koni adjustments. After the season ended, the rear Bilsteins became available through Tire Rack again, so I put the B6s on the back and was incredibly impressed- the car was more comfortable AND handled better. I can't recommend the B6s enough they are really what should have come with the car in the first place.

Plus, they will most certainly outlast the factory dampers as well.

 

[Mikey456]

I never ran just the springs- last year I was in H Street for autocross and was running B6s in the front and Koni Yellows in the rear, which was meh, mostly because I'm not a suspension engineer and I could never find a sweet spot with the Koni adjustments. After the season ended, the rear Bilsteins became available through Tire Rack again, so I put the B6s on the back and was incredibly impressed- the car was more comfortable AND handled better. I can't recommend the B6s enough they are really what should have come with the car in the first place.

Good to know how they compare with Koni Yellow. I’m not interested in suspension adjustment either. Just want to set it and forget it.

 

[CSM]

Thinking about doing an AutoX event coming up especially since STH allows ICs now. Will they let you run with the AP mounted on dash or does it have to be removed ?

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

Thinking about doing an AutoX event coming up especially since STH allows ICs now. Will they let you run with the AP mounted on dash or does it have to be removed ?

Its hard to say, it probably depends on the person teching the car. I'd just be prepared to stash it quickly if you need to.

 

[JDG]

Thinking about doing an AutoX event coming up especially since STH allows ICs now. Will they let you run with the AP mounted on dash or does it have to be removed ?

I’ve never had an issue with my accessport mounted on the dash. As long as it won’t fly off and hit you in the face, you should be fine. I am in a fairly strict SCCA region for what it’s worth too.


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[Pablo Pistoffo]

So, I took the Pierce torsion beam bar out after having some unexpectedly heavy oversteer at the limit- I think it and the Swifts weren't playing well together. Part of it may have been my driving style, but near spins on two separate slaloms on two different weekends let me know I had to change something. The car feels a lot better now- I may have given up a smidge of neutrality on long sweepers, but the added stability and confidence really help.

 

[entrpnicktn84]

How’s the car performing. Is it pretty competitive in STH? How you doing in PAX?

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

How’s the car performing. Is it pretty competitive in STH? How you doing in PAX?

We run PAX up here, as we don't have enough cars to have car classes- although we do have driver's classes: Expert, Open, and Novice. I did ok, taking 3rd overall in Open for the season. The best part was beating my longtime nemesis (who drives a C6 Z06) in both raw and PAX times on our biggest course of the year.

 

[texaspaul]

@Pablo Pistoffo, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the adjustable front end links. I have a basic idea of what they do, but don't quite understand how adjustable/aftermarket helps or when they're needed on our cars. Would you recommend picking them up for any STH build?

 

[Pablo Pistoffo]

@Pablo Pistoffo, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the adjustable front end links. I have a basic idea of what they do, but don't quite understand how adjustable/aftermarket helps or when they're needed on our cars. Would you recommend picking them up for any STH build?

My understanding is that when the suspension is lowered, it applies more than standard tension on the sway bar, and adjustable endlinks help to eliminate this by adjusting their length to more closely mimic the tension that would be present in a car with stock ride height.
It would be hard to tease out their effectiveness, because I added them at the same time I added my lowering springs, but it would be interesting to see.

 

[foodtruck]

Apologies for reviving the old thread, but I'm curious about Swift springs because the ride height in that photo does not look that much lower than the stock one. On the other hand I see others post photos with the same springs installed where the car look significantly slammed (at least to me) and there are even reports of some rub if tire is a step taller/wider.

Separately, seeing how the front drop is > 1in for the front (according to Whoosh), I would say your car sits (sat?) significantly higher than that. I wonder what gives?