Handling and Torque upgrade: MFactory LSD and final drive gear

neo_zhai · Nov 24, 2014

Hi all,

MK III is a fun car to drive with no doubt, but I have been not satisfied enough about my Foci's cornering and short dash capability.

Due to the heavy cubic weight and arrogant electronics, our Foci does show some understeering at hard corners, and accelerate not as fast as it should be. There are no internal parts we can use for that engine either, So I decided to unleash the engine power a little by modding the MTX-75 gearbox.

I don't want to take my new gearbox apart, so I bought a used MTX-75 from a 06' MK II and took it apart.

The hard part was dismantling all the gears from the gearshaft, i damaged the top bearing.

The LSD is 1.5way metal plate type, I set it at 100% powerlock. Installation was easy just bolt-on.

The overall took 3-4days, and the result is fantastic, although I think the sychro-rings at 2nd and 3rd are damaged from the old used gearbox, I will get it fixed while installing SPEC clutch kit later on this month. The only bad things are: I can't help to rev up to 6000rpm all the time, the milage decrease by 10-15%, and there is a noticeable buzzy noise which I will get that fixed too.

The ST3 can't keep up at my tail at corners now, but don't forget it's still way faster at straight.

Neo

sailor · Nov 24, 2014

NIce!

Tx for posting your results & pics, mechanical LSD can be a huge help for FWD.

SilverPony2001 · Nov 25, 2014

Love to see stuff like this, good work [like]

sleepyboy · Nov 25, 2014

Sweet! Nice to see someone tackling the trans for mods instead of the car.

neo_zhai · Nov 27, 2014

Thanks, next step is to mess up with my clutch LOL

felixthecat · Nov 25, 2014

Awesome, just goes to show people what a diff can do.

neo_zhai · Nov 27, 2014

A diff is just so helpful even at everyday driving.

BetaDnB · Nov 25, 2014

Awesome post!

felixthecat · Nov 25, 2014

Hopefully it gets ppl fired up to get a diff.

1turbofocus · Nov 25, 2014

How did the last race do ? How is the tune doing , I still need another log

Tom

neo_zhai · Nov 27, 2014

The tune was pretty good, but there's something odd when I am at WOT, I will shoot you another log soon.

Well, as for the race, I pushed too hard then drove down to the sand and damaged my car from the bottom,needed replace the fan, open-able grill, and racked the radiator abit, oil filter and filter stand were ripped off, cracked a lot of plastic.

However, the car got fixed by Ford and insurance covered 50% of the cost, yeah

BetaDnB · Nov 25, 2014

A question I have is what does the LSD do the torque vectoring? Does it pretty much override it causing it to never engage or did you have to do something with a tune to disable that?

neo_zhai · Nov 27, 2014

I don't think we can turn it off, but it does seem engage less then before.
I had to turn off the traction control first, but the torque vectoring is just so annoying cause it will stupidly apply braking when I absolutely don't need to. I can still feel the car went sideways due to this silly setting.

felixthecat · Nov 27, 2014

Theres got to be a way to turn it off or sub due it w/ a tune or something.

neo_zhai · Nov 27, 2014

Or I could just un-plug the ABS cables to disable the whole thing once for all LOL

Kent253 · Nov 29, 2014

Neo_zhai, you are a pioneer mate. I wish you luck with your future turbo kit.

Do you think you could change the final drive ratio in the trans?

And where did you find the LSD for the Focus?

neo_zhai · Nov 29, 2014

thanks mate, still no luck with turbo kit yet, but I have faith.

Yea I did change the final drive ratio to 4.75, as a result the top speed decreases at each gear.

Try this : http://www.teammfactory.com

Neo

Jburks · Nov 29, 2014

This is awesome! great work!

MetalMuffins · Dec 1, 2014

Here is the original post: http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4512939#post4512939

I have since improved it slightly by installing an actual in-line fuse holder under the hood, instead of the zip-tied fuse from the instructions. I also moved the switch so it is sitting in the OBD-II cover handle hole. (hope that makes sense)

MetalMuffins said:
Well I got some supplies the other day and managed to get a switch wired up to disable the TCS, ESC, and ABS. If you read one of my earlier posts in this thread, I have went over the effects of pulling the F19 5A fuse when driving. This is a short how-to if you want to wire up your own.
Sorry I did not take any pictures when installing, so these are all taken after the install was completed.

The switch is a simple on/off rocker switch. This must be wired into the fuse box via two wires that will run to the engine compartment through the fender. This I found was the easiest way to run the wires without modifying the car.

The switch is zip-tied to the wire running into the ambient lighting under the foot-well. This lets the rocker switch fit in between the kick panel on the side and the heat vent. It is very out of the way and won't be kicked.

The switch is wired as follows. I wish I had taken a picture of how the switch was wired before installing, as this is the most confusing part of the install.
1) The first wire from the fuse box must be connected to the switch
2) Make a very short wire with two female spade connectors, this will run from the other pole of the switch to the 5A fuse that is zip tied to the side of the switch.
3) Connect the female spade connector on the second wire running back to the fuse box.

This is a picture showing the cabin where the wires are running through the fender. You can push the wires right into the engine compartment and around the back of the fuse box.

This picture shows the inside of the fuse box where the wires run into the box. You do not have to modify anything, but I recommend pushing the wires through from inside the fuse box. You have to remove the plug for the fuse box to do this, but can be done easily by lifting the blue lever. Note the is a small black tab that must be pushed aside to lift the lever.

You can remove the plastic holder for the three fuses that control the TCS/ESC and install the two main fuses by themselves.
I connected the wires to the F19 fuse connector with male spade connectors. You can cut them in half with strong wire cutters and file them smooth. This makes them the same size as ATM fuse prongs. You can see the hole where the wires run in the picture above.

The picture below shows everything closed up. You can see the wires running into the fender. They run around the top of the fuse box and enter under the main harness plug. Again, I recommend running the wires from inside the fuse box and than around the top and through the fender to the interior.

I have tested this and it works like a charm. Once again, I wouldn't recommend leaving the track control off for normal driving, and I feel the system does an OK job, but this will allow you to turn it off easily if you want / need to in a pinch.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and you can view all of the pictures I took here: http://s1305.beta.photobucket.com/user/Metal-Muffins/library/ [woot]

Ti/12 · Apr 29, 2015

I definitely am interested in adding an LSD ATB! Currently I'm most interested in the Quaife and MFactory brands. Does anyone have any experience with either brand?

I'm leaning towards the Quaife, but the MFactory is cheaper.

Handling and Torque upgrade: MFactory LSD and final drive gear

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