Project Fiesta ST gets massive Wagner Tuning FMIC: Starting Over

NickSeptember 28, 2016

Rally Innovations 3-Piece Front Splitter / Wagner Tuning Competiton Stepped Core Intercooler / Diode Dynamics LED Fogs / OEM Euro Projector Headlights

Wow, it’s sure been a while since we’ve given you guys an update on our Project Fiesta ST. Since we last wrote, the car has changed completely, having gone Stage III+, back to stock and that brings us where we are today. Back in December, a freak failure in an oil line cost our Project Fiesta ST its engine, and unfortunately, since it windowed the engine block, we didn’t exactly have anything to rebuild, so an entire replacement engine was necessary. It wasn’t anyone’s fault really, and completely sidelined the project while we figured out the repair.

“How hard could it be?”

You’d think with a modern engine, you could just swap one unit out for another easy peezy without any headaches, but oh no, that’s never the way things work out in reality. At the end of the day, our “5,000 mile” Fiesta ST drivetrain needed extensive TLC before it could even be installed, at which point we discovered it needed its head rebuilt as well – so at the end of it, what should have been finished in April took til September to get all the gremlins sorted.

fiesta-st-wagner-fmic-exhaust-injen-st-xta-2

Sparco Terra 16×7.5 / Yokohama S-Drive 225/50-16 ST Suspension XTA Coilovers / Cobb Tuning F+R Sway Bars / STEEDA Torsion Beam Brace / Pierce Motorsports FSTB + Lower Tie Brace / RokBlokz Mudflaps / Rally Innovations Race Rear Wing / Euro Rear Bumper w/USA ST Diffuser / Muffler Delete

With a completely rebuilt and totally remachined head, new headgasket and so on, the car feels tighter than it did factory, which makes sense, as the valves are now ever so slightly oversized, and the compression just the slightest bit higher. Not to mention, this head was rebuilt by professionals here in the USA – the head was originally assembled in the UK, and English cars are not known for their reliability, to put it politely. With the rebuild, the car’s powertrain was reverted to stock, that meant no more Cobb AccessPORT, no more Cobb FMIC, Cobb Catted Downpipe (for off-road use on race days) and no more Cobb Exhaust. On the upside, we did retain our full suspension setup.

That meant that our basically brand new Sparco Terra 16×7.5 wheels for Fiesta ST paired with a set of meaty Yokohama S-Drive 225/50-16 tires were still fresh as a daisy and still sticky as one of those flypaper strips. While it sits close to stock ride height thanks to the oversize tires (I recommend a 40-series sidewall for any Fiesta ST fitment to avoid rub), the car is still on its now 2-year-old ST Suspension XTA Coilovers, which still ride as great as they day we installed them – and while we had the motor out, we took the opportunity to install a set of Cobb Tuning F+R Sway Bars to sharpen the handling further, since the car doesn’t even have a rear sway bar from the factory. The rear sway bar compliments the STEEDA Torsion Beam Brace, and the sharper handling up front pairs brilliantly well with the Pierce Motorsports FSTB + Lower Tie Brace we have up front.

fiesta-st-wagner-fmic-exhaust-injen-st-xta-11

Rally Innovations 3-Piece Front Splitter / Wagner Tuning Competiton Stepped Core Intercooler / Diode Dynamics LED Fogs / OEM Euro Projector Headlights

With the car finally running right at the middle of september, we could finally start over with the performance modifications. At some point while the car was being shuttled from repair shop to repair shop in the last eight months, our AccessPORT went MIA, so the car is running its stock tune for now. It’s been hot in SoCal lately, and the last weekend gave us the opportunity to test fit and install the Wagner Tuning Competition Intercooler for Fiesta ST, featuring a unique stepped core design.

ford fiesta ecoboost Comp intercooler detail 1

Check out the photos above of the FMIC off the car. Since Wagner Tuning does their R&D over in Europe (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), as we discovered, in the case of the Fiesta ST in particular, this is an issue because USA Fiesta ST’s have a significantly longer front end than EU cars, meaning the crashbar and fascia are actually different, though at a glance they appear the same. This means on USA cars the FMIC can’t mount ahead of the crash bar as intended without replacing the USA crash bar or modifying it and still mount it in the intended location. The Focus ST has no such issue since the bumpers are the same globally, and the same can be said of most of the European models Wagner deals with, however as a globalized small car brought into the USA from Europe, the car’s front and rear bumpers needed some modifications, because though they satisfy Europe’s NCAP crash standards, they don’t satisfy USA NHTSA standards – this is also the reason why there are no 3-door Fiesta ST’s in the USA and never will be.

As you can tell however, we still figured out how to make it work. Thanks to the longer front end of USA cars, there’s a significant gap between the crash bar and radiator, meaning that with a little creativity, we were still able to shoehorn this bigass Wagner Tuning FMIC into our USA Fiesta ST.

As you can see from this angle, the FMIC is mounted with a slight recline to it, kind of like you’d see with the radiator of a Corvette or certain Audi models. There’s normally a flap that’s attached to the bottom of the USA crash bar that channels air into the intercooler – we’ve retained this flap and transferred it on top of the crash bar, keeping air flow directed through the intercooler itself.

Fiesta ecoboost comp intercooler tempurature vs OEM intercooler

It’s been really hot the past few days in SoCal, and though we were driving the car in 106*F heat, with the Wagner FMIC installed and a bit of Redline Super Coolant added to the cooling system, the car never bogged down like it typically does when it gets heatsoaked on a hot day. We should also mention that some people might be concerned about airflow to the radiator with how we’ve mounted the FMIC – we ran the AC the entire time, since you can see our friendly shop dog riding along in many of our photos and the temperatures stayed stable despite extended idle with the AC on, on a hot day.

We’re currently working with Wagner Tuning to develop a solution for fitment for other USA cars, however should you have a DHM crash bar or euro crash bar, you can utilize this intercooler as a direct bolt on without issue.

Some folks also expressed concern that an intercooler this large might cause a significant pressure drop, causing longer spool-up times, however, we are happy to report that this is not the case and spool up and response is faster than the OEM FMIC.

At the rear of the car, we were really tired of the ugly stock exhaust tips and the boring sound of the stock exhaust system. We missed the tone of our Cobb Tuning Cat-Back Exhaust for Fiesta ST, and so to tide us over until we get something better (say… a Remus Exhaust for Fiesta ST with some kickass Carbon Fiber trimmed Street Race Tips?) – we deleted the rear muffler and fitted a set of handsome exhaust tips, offering effectively the same benefit as your typical axle-back exhaust system. It’s not perfect, but we enjoy having it feel like the car’s “old self” again.

Sparco Terra 16×7.5 / Yokohama S-Drive 225/50-16 ST Suspension XTA Coilovers / Cobb Tuning F+R Sway Bars / STEEDA Torsion Beam Brace / Pierce Motorsports FSTB + Lower Tie Brace / RokBlokz Mudflaps / Rally Innovations 3-Piece Front Splitter / Rally Innovations Race Rear Wing / Euro Rear Bumper w/USA ST Diffuser / Muffler Delete

The car’s beefy tires fill out the wheel arches beautifully and the car is every bit as off-road capable as it is stock as a rallycar, and despite being subjected to all kinds of abuse over the past two years – including what was basically a gravel rally stage (the Nate Harrison Grade off Palomar Mountain, a dirt road built for Model T’s that’s still open for some reason and that SYNC thinks is a normal road), our ST XTA Coilovers still perform great.

Injen Intake For Fiesta ST (Modified) / Mishimoto Oil Catch Can for Fiesta ST / Rally Innovations 3-Piece Front Splitter / Wagner Tuning Competiton Stepped Core Intercooler
Diode Dynamics LED Fogs / OEM Euro Projector Headlights

Further enhancing performance, we’ve reinstalled our Injen Intake For Fiesta ST, however we’ve modified it to mate to the OEM airbox, which has been modified with a ram air intake snorkel fed from a cutout in the driver’s side fog light bezel and the enlarged inlet for the OEM airbox (we discussed that mod in our Best Free Mods for Fiesta ST article) ensures airflow coming in through the front grille is fed directly into the airbox.

From this angle, you can see where we’ve made the cutout for the stock airbox’s intake snorkel – this surprisingly enough, makes a massive difference in intake air charge temperatures and will do wonders in managing heat soaking your intake when in stop n go traffic, and also drop the intake temps back down almost immediately after you get moving again.

Since we were starting over with basically a fresh engine, we made sure to retain our Mishimoto Oil Catch Can for Fiesta ST to make sure that our freshly machined intake valves stay nice and clean and free of carbon buildup for a while.

Injen Intake For Fiesta ST (Modified) / Mishimoto Oil Catch Can for Fiesta ST / Mountune Symposer Delete

In this shot you can see how we’ve modified our Injen Intake, having cut off the end and added an elbow to connect it directly to the stock airbox, leaving the MAF in its stock location. We’ve added a block-off plate and sealed it thoroughly to cover up the MAF port on the Injen tube.

Rally Innovations 3-Piece Front Splitter / Wagner Tuning Competiton Stepped Core Intercooler / Diode Dynamics LED Fogs / OEM Euro Projector Headlights

In addition to a totally different power combination, our Fiesta ST’s handling characteristics are significantly different as well – with the Cobb Tuning F+R Sway Bars for Fiesta ST installed, the car is totally neutral and willing to basically defy physics in the corners, and the addition of the rear sway bar minimizes 3-wheeling even further while also giving the car more oversteer, allowing you to really have fun with it when you yank the e-brake.

The Wagner FMIC is an incredibly stealthy upgrade, as with the stock lower grille installed, it almost totally disappears.

We’re pretty happy with where we’ve gotten the car and look forward to taking the modifications to the next stage to get performance back to where it once was and can’t wait to share our next upgrade.

In the mean time, enjoy the gratuitous photo gallery below.

Sparco Terra 16×7.5 / Yokohama S-Drive 225/50-16 ST Suspension XTA Coilovers / Cobb Tuning F+R Sway Bars / STEEDA Torsion Beam Brace / Pierce Motorsports FSTB + Lower Tie Brace / RokBlokz Mudflaps / Rally Innovations 3-Piece Front Splitter / Rally Innovations Race Rear Wing / Euro Rear Bumper w/USA ST Diffuser / Muffler Delete

Sparco Terra 16×7.5 / Yokohama S-Drive 225/50-16 ST Suspension XTA Coilovers / Cobb Tuning F+R Sway Bars / STEEDA Torsion Beam Brace / Pierce Motorsports FSTB + Lower Tie / Brace Rally Innovations 3-Piece Front Splitter / Wagner Tuning Competiton Stepped Core Intercooler / Diode Dynamics LED Fogs / OEM Euro Projector Headlights / RokBlokz Mudflaps / Rally Innovations Race Rear Wing
Sparco Terra 16×7.5 / Yokohama S-Drive 225/50-16 ST Suspension XTA Coilovers / Cobb Tuning F+R Sway Bars / STEEDA Torsion Beam Brace / Pierce Motorsports FSTB + Lower Tie / Brace Rally Innovations 3-Piece Front Splitter / Wagner Tuning Competiton Stepped Core Intercooler / Diode Dynamics LED Fogs / OEM Euro Projector Headlights / RokBlokz Mudflaps / Rally Innovations Race Rear Wing

Thanks for reading, and we hope this has given you some insight into upgrading your Fiesta ST in the future. Not sure what to upgrade next, or are unsure of what wheel/tire combo is best or which suspension option is right for you? You can always consult a Modification Expert using Chat at ModBargains.com or just calling (714-582-3330).

Want to get in touch with other Fiesta Enthusiasts? Join the Fiesta ST Forum for Fiesta ST news, meets, tech, build threads and more. Check it out here – or stop by ModAuto at one of our monthly ST meets, held right here at the shop. Check our Social Media profiles and the forums for this month’s date.

Story & Photos by Nicholas Gregson
Story Updated 7/24/2015

Project Fiesta ST gets massive Wagner Tuning FMIC: Starting Over

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