WZ Fiesta ST Questions Thread

[clem0x]

How did you manage to get the filter in and out without jack and stands?

[Swoopdown]

Got sufficient room from my driveway and garage floor.

got abit tight towards the RMM though, might just be my big head

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Swoopdown

Some quick pictures from my iphone

Is that the drive shafts?

Because they were completely rusted on my WS when I got my car new, as Ford doesn't paint them.

[Swoopdown]

Thats disappointing, hopefully it doesnt become a problem.

[martinijosh]

Originally Posted by Swoopdown

Thats disappointing, hopefully it doesnt become a problem.

Won't cause any issues as long as they were greased properly before fitment.

It's like the falcon lower blocks rusting because they're unpainted. Just pinching pennies on parts people rarely see.

[Skramit]

Ready for my day at Sandown raceway tomorrow. Question about tyre pressures...The manual says to inflate tyres to 3psi above rated pressure for high speed use above 160kph. So I should stick the fronts on 39 and rears on 29.

29 sounds very low to me :/ wonder if I should bump the rears up a bit more to say 32 or 34. Or should I stick with the manual

This is based on 26 for an unloaded car. Or do I go with the rating for a loaded car for higher speeds?

Or maybe split the middle...

[martinijosh]

Use 38 or 39 all round

[cainen]

I would bump up the rears as well. 34 is probably ok. If you can, keep an eye on the pressure throughout the day as the tire pressure will increase as they get heat in them.

[martinijosh]

Car is in for its first proper service today. Are they going to check the inlet hose clamps without being prompted? Pretty sure I'm losing some boost since it seems to peak at 16psi on WOT with assists off

[Skramit]

Ford tightened all my clamps without me prompting. I noticed significant boost jump after my. 3k checkup.

Don't forget they've been servicing Focus ST/RS/XR5 etc for years now and Fiesta ST is just another turbo. I'm sure they would do it for you without asking.

Thanks for the tyre advice I'll boost them all up to 39 front and prob 36 rear and see how it goes.

[Swoopdown]

Tried 38 cold all round, felt the bumps more and felt bit skatty.
Have dropped down to 36 all round and feels alot better.


Also I tried my bluefin out yesterday and i liked it.
1st, 2nd can rev out quickly and wheel spin is super easy, bit of tramping but good pull. Noticed the wheel hop alot more though.

3rd felt alot better but really couldnt get any higher as 2nd could pull me to 80km easily.

Can restore to stock in 3mins or less. Noticed that the flash resets your fuel economy meter so hard to tell in the short time what affect there is on fuel average. While it wouldve been higher for that short time, the bluefin states it can be more efficient.

Cobb RMM arrives today and will have it installed asap.

Not sure if people saw my post on facebook. about the radio sync issue when using the radio controls between presets, it likes to jump back to 1.

Someone replied and said that FORD might have a SYNC update to fix it...
I turned my radio off and on a few times this morning and got the scroll to work twice before same thing happened.

Maybe worth a prompt

[Skramit]

Originally Posted by Swoopdown

Tried 38 cold all round, felt the bumps more and felt bit skatty.
Have dropped down to 36 all round and feels alot better.

Was this on a track at high speeds or you talking about around town?

[jd dad]

Originally Posted by Skramit

Ready for my day at Sandown raceway tomorrow. Question about tyre pressures...The manual says to inflate tyres to 3psi above rated pressure for high speed use above 160kph. So I should stick the fronts on 39 and rears on 29.

29 sounds very low to me :/ wonder if I should bump the rears up a bit more to say 32 or 34. Or should I stick with the manual

This is based on 26 for an unloaded car. Or do I go with the rating for a loaded car for higher speeds?

Or maybe split the middle...

You doing a club day or driving session?

[Swoopdown]

Originally Posted by Skramit

Was this on a track at high speeds or you talking about around town?

Streets through royal national park. Though feels nicer on the the highways.

[mrmavx]

Originally Posted by Skramit

Ready for my day at Sandown raceway tomorrow. Question about tyre pressures...The manual says to inflate tyres to 3psi above rated pressure for high speed use above 160kph. So I should stick the fronts on 39 and rears on 29.

29 sounds very low to me :/ wonder if I should bump the rears up a bit more to say 32 or 34. Or should I stick with the manual

This is based on 26 for an unloaded car. Or do I go with the rating for a loaded car for higher speeds?

Or maybe split the middle...

Many years ago i had an alfasud twin carb (for those who dont know them it was a 1984 hot hatch 1.5 litre front drive 3 door with strut front and torsion beam rear suspension(sound familiar?)) that i used to race at club level and it ran road pressures of 34/26 front rear but for racing we used 53/42 (yes fifty three front,tyres had max pres 55 allowed) but when R spec tyres were used you could drop down to about 43/32, i would suggest starting somwhere near these figures(R spec) Have a look at your tyres after your first track run if they have a smooth dull finish to the tread you are close to the mark, if they have a rough ripped look go up at least 4 or 5 psi but not over 50 (max allowed on bridgestone) and check again after next run.
Also make sure your oil is at maximum on dip stick as sandowns long braking area's have caused many a road car engine fail due to oil starvation with underfilled sumps running out of oil(hard braking can slow oil drainback in many cars)

hope this helps mrmavx

[Skramit]

Originally Posted by jd dad

You doing a club day or driving session?

It's a high performance driving course BYO car which is basically a track day with instructors and supervision. Good for a rookie racer like me.

[Swoopdown]

Originally Posted by Skramit

It's a high performance driving course BYO car which is basically a track day with instructors and supervision. Good for a rookie racer like me.

can you give us a link and feedback iam pretty keen

[Skramit]

It's on red balloon. $350. I had red balloon vouchers from Xmas last yet so finally used them. It's a full day 830 to 4pm. They say approx 25 mins driving each hour.

[DreadlyST]

Did something similar myself at Sydney motorsport park a while back, through Ian Luffs performance driving academy. It was more like autocross than full on track.
Used 34psi in the front and 36psi in the rear. These were the pressures indicated by the instructors.
Was awesome fun and the car was great! Next will be some track time @ Marulan Driver Training Centre twoards the end of this month. Can't wait!

[Swoopdown]

Originally Posted by DreadlyST

Did something similar myself at Sydney motorsport park a while back, through Ian Luffs performance driving academy. It was more like autocross than full on track.
Used 34psi in the front and 36psi in the rear. These were the pressures indicated by the instructors.
Was awesome fun and the car was great! Next will be some track time @ Marulan Driver Training Centre twoards the end of this month. Can't wait!

Funny you mention Ian. Spoke to few guys at work today and looks like everyones keen to have a go. gti,s skoda rx8 haha

[DreadlyST]

That one is pretty good, only real competition I had was from a Sirocco R. There was an FPV FG310 & an HSV GTS along with some Subaru WRXs and V6 utes. The FiST smoked em all, apart from that Sirocco!
There is a total of 6 different exercises to carry out throughout the day on both wet & dry courses, you have an instructor in the passenger seat and have 3 runs at each exercise.
Well worth it!

[Skramit]

Had one session on the track so far.... 17.1 L/100 :P

Able to get to about 170 on the front straight before running out of road :p

[Skramit]

So after a few track laps my brakes are now much softer the day after and clutch feels a bit different. No surprise...

I'm just about at 10k km on the clock and still 3 months away from my first 12 month/15k service interval. So should I go get an early service now to get the brakes readjusted assuming I wore out some serious brake pads or just let it be and wait till nov? The brakes work ok just much spongier under foot to get the stopping power.

[coolozzieguy]

Originally Posted by Skramit

So after a few track laps my brakes are now much softer the day after and clutch feels a bit different. No surprise...

I'm just about at 10k km on the clock and still 3 months away from my first 12 month/15k service interval. So should I go get an early service now to get the brakes readjusted assuming I wore out some serious brake pads or just let it be and wait till nov? The brakes work ok just much spongier under foot to get the stopping power.

Hi Skramit,

Your brakes should be still ok, if you have any concerns you should obviously get them checked out, but chances are the brake fluid is just knackered.

I had similar happen to my *sighs* Getz without having gone to a track day, was just some heavy mountain driving. When the fluid was replaced pedal feel was back straight away. Checked the pads and rotors myself, they looked fine. There was plenty of meat on the pads (Getz's have really thick pads from factory, probably double the thickness of my old EF) and the rotors were not scorched\scored.

Hope this helps.

[Swoopdown]

Originally Posted by coolozzieguy

Hi Skramit,

Your brakes should be still ok, if you have any concerns you should obviously get them checked out, but chances are the brake fluid is just knackered.

I had similar happen to my *sighs* Getz without having gone to a track day, was just some heavy mountain driving. When the fluid was replaced pedal feel was back straight away. Checked the pads and rotors myself, they looked fine. There was plenty of meat on the pads (Getz's have really thick pads from factory, probably double the thickness of my old EF) and the rotors were not scorched\scored.

Hope this helps.

Yup check your brakes, any noise when braking?
I think your brake fluid prob needs to be replaced.

How hot did the engine get as well?

[5 FTR 5]

Originally Posted by Swoopdown

Tried 38 cold all round, felt the bumps more and felt bit skatty.
Have dropped down to 36 all round and feels alot better.


Also I tried my bluefin out yesterday and i liked it.
1st, 2nd can rev out quickly and wheel spin is super easy, bit of tramping but good pull. Noticed the wheel hop alot more though.

3rd felt alot better but really couldnt get any higher as 2nd could pull me to 80km easily.

Can restore to stock in 3mins or less. Noticed that the flash resets your fuel economy meter so hard to tell in the short time what affect there is on fuel average. While it wouldve been higher for that short time, the bluefin states it can be more efficient.

Cobb RMM arrives today and will have it installed asap.

Not sure if people saw my post on facebook. about the radio sync issue when using the radio controls between presets, it likes to jump back to 1.

Someone replied and said that FORD might have a SYNC update to fix it...
I turned my radio off and on a few times this morning and got the scroll to work twice before same thing happened.

Maybe worth a prompt

Same here with the Superchip / Bluefin , a total difference in the first gears. I am so happy with the difference in power

[Skramit]

Originally Posted by Swoopdown

Yup check your brakes, any noise when braking?
I think your brake fluid prob needs to be replaced.

How hot did the engine get as well?

Nah no noise just soft squishy pedal.

Engine never got past the normal temperature bar on the dash. So all good. It was a cool day around 10C so no surprise there. I thought with all the heavy revving it might creep up but nope. Considering for about 5 laps straight at a time the tacho was in the 4-6k rpm range

Was nice to get comments from the other randoms I met on the day that "geez that little fiesta is faster than it looks" or "you were flying through those chicanes!" Hehe

[Swoopdown]

Originally Posted by Skramit

Nah no noise just soft squishy pedal.

Engine never got past the normal temperature bar on the dash. So all good. It was a cool day around 10C so no surprise there. I thought with all the heavy revving it might creep up but nope. Considering for about 5 laps straight at a time the tacho was in the 4-6k rpm range

Was nice to get comments from the other randoms I met on the day that "geez that little fiesta is faster than it looks" or "you were flying through those chicanes!" Hehe

Iam sure all FiST owners are glad to hear your feedback.

Now Ill look into braided hoses and better brake fluid.

[jd dad]

Originally Posted by Skramit

Nah no noise just soft squishy pedal.

Engine never got past the normal temperature bar on the dash. So all good. It was a cool day around 10C so no surprise there. I thought with all the heavy revving it might creep up but nope. Considering for about 5 laps straight at a time the tacho was in the 4-6k rpm range

Was nice to get comments from the other randoms I met on the day that "geez that little fiesta is faster than it looks" or "you were flying through those chicanes!" Hehe

Did you get any video or pics?

[Skramit]

Pics of the pit lane and track walk etc yes but not of any Fist action since I was driving. Turns out heaps of people had onboard cameras. Next time I will invest in a GoPro