NickUPDATE
Join us at ModBargains Weds, Jan 21st from 5-8pm. Open to all ST and EcoBoost Fords and Ford Fans. Hope to see you there!!
This past Wednesday October 15th, ModBargains had the pleasure of hosting our first-ever Monthly Focus & Fiesta (ST) Meet – the turnout was lively and it was fantastic fun meeting a lot of other enthusiasts we mainly knew from the internet – it was great to put faces to names and see the cars everyone had built in person and get to know each other.
Because I know I like looking at parts and seeing what these things for my car actually look like in person, before the meet we set up some of the parts we have in stock for Focus ST and Fiesta ST right here at ModBargains. As the sun began to set more Fiestas and Focii began to roll up to our little Fiesta ST meet.
This bright yellow Focus ZX3 is a bit more than meets the eye – popping the hood reveals the Cosworth intake and large aftermarket turbo setup.
We had several tuxedo black Fiesta ST’s roll up throughout the night, it was cool to see more than one of these in one place.
The array of fast Fords that showed up was eclectic, ranging from the older Focii to modded out Focus ST‘s and Fiesta ST’s – and heck, we even had an Escape ST show up too.
CharlieTuna, one of the guys we knew from our Forums who had pioneered the Projector Headlamp conversion for the Fiesta ST and who inspired my own install on the Project Fiesta ST. This car sports a prototype new intake from AEM, featuring a partial heat shield design and runs approximately half the length of the intake path between the filter and turbo inlet.
Our friend Max rolled up in this Tangerine Scream Ford Focus ST, and man, Tangerine Scream is certainly an appropriate name for the color.
Worried about roadside smog checkpoints? See that big sticker on the COBB Intake for Focus ST? That’s the CARB E/O number – meaning 50-state smog legal. Read it and weep, smog-man!
This Focus ST sports a set of projector headlamps from the Focus Electric that give it a different look than the usual ST3’s.
ModBargains Co-Founder Mike is the guy to thank for giving SoCal Fiestas a place to host a Monthly Focus & Fiesta meet. Mike stuck around and kept the shop open, and took everyone on a tour of our facilities, including our freshly rennovated customer lounge with racing simulator for install customers, our two new BendPak lifts, our flush-with-the-floor Alignment Rack (a dream come true for lowered cars that can’t get onto most shop’s racks) and even previewed our AWD DynoJet 424x Dynamometer, coming early 2015.
One of the things Mike really enjoys is interacting with enthusiasts firsthand and seeing what you we (the community) have done with our cars. I’ve been working in the automotive industry for the better part of a decade, and Mike is one of the few guys in the business I have run across that genuinely has a passion for cars and a real appreciation and understanding of what it is to be an auto enthusiast – and that enthusiasm shows in what ModBargains has evolved into in little over a decade.
Aaron’s heavily modified Ford Fiesta Titanium boasts most of the ST’s components, and the LED lighting conversion he’s done to the interior gives it a much cleaner, sharper look at night.
From this angle you can just barely make out the tips of the Cobb Cat-Back Exhaust for Fiesta ST we’ve fitted to our Project Fiesta ST here, in addition to a COBB Catted Downpipe for Fiesta ST. Since this car is my personal daily-driver, it was important to me that I find an exhaust that I could love and live with daily, that my significant other wouldn’t hate either. The COBB Turbo-Back Exhaust system for Fiesta ST will really wake up your Fiesta ST’s performance and also delivers a great exhaust note that cracks and pops (in a good way) when you engine brake. Of course, you should have an AccessPORT for Fiesta ST or other tuner to adjust for the downpipe – Catted or Catless, you’re likely to cause a Check Engine Light with a tune that doesn’t expect a performance downpipe and cat. Fortunately, the COBB AccessPORT for Fiesta ST comes with ready-to-run off-the-shelf maps set up for several stages of bolt on upgrades.
Yup. That’s an Escape. With ST badges. No, it’s not stock.
Aaron’s non-turbo Fiesta sports many upgrades repurposed from the Fiesta ST, like a lower airbox, Fiesta ST Suspension, Fiesta ST Brakes and more.
You may note a couple of the cars here have slightly different ST badges. Those with Black w/Red Outline ST badges have attended Ford’s ST Octane Academy, a complementary 2-day Racing School held out at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. This racing school is FREE to all Ford ST vehicle owners (you can go within 1 year from buying your ST – register at www.stoctaneacademy.com) You can read all about my experience at the ST Octane Academy here. You just have to sign up, and figure out how you’re getting to Utah and where to stay once there. Ford makes it easy to do that though – I HIGHLY recommend doing ST Octane Academy – you’ll come away a faster, better driver for it.
Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed the photo gallery! Join us next month on Weds Nov 19th from 5-8pm right here at ModBargains for the next Monthly Fiesta & Focus Meet @ ModBargains.
So if you didn’t make it out, consider this your official invitation! We’d love to have you – bring your Focus or Fiesta but all cars are welcome. We hope to see you next month!
Are you a ST parts manufacturer? Do you have ST parts to show off? Come on out and show off what you’ve got to the community! Plenty of space available at our Fiesta & Focus meets for vendors, just let us know you’re coming.
We hope you enjoyed the gallery as much as we enjoyed meeting everyone. Of course, if you need an upgrade for your Focus ST or Fiesta ST or just need a shop you can trust to install your performance parts right the first time, our install shop ModAuto regularly installs intercoolers, exhausts, coilovers, brakes, air suspensions, aftermarket turbos and virtually everything else that’s considered a “bolt on mod” – give us a call at 714-582-3330 to schedule your install appointment today.
Story & Photos by Nicholas Gregson & Jake Amatisto
Select Photos Courtesy Aaron Slater