2.5 build and turbo time!
41 - 60 of 75 Posts
Joined
·
78 Posts
You’re using the same 2.5 head right?
Joined
·
1,265 Posts
Yup. 2.5 cylinder head and 2.5 intake manifold.
Joined
·
1,265 Posts
Taking my time with everything since I'm still waiting on the turbo. Not sure what all I need to do to prep for it so I'm leaving the oil pan off because I think I'll have to drill holes and I don't want any shavings to get inside and I don't want to get ahead of myself and put it on too early. I will be putting the head studs and cylinder head on soon.
I also wanted to mention that if you have a duratec engine and don't have a balance shaft delete kit installed... Do it! All the benefits and no drawback. I have the cosworth one and put 200k on the 2.3 engine and now rocking it with the 2.5 engine. $30 well spent.
![308642]()
I also wanted to mention that if you have a duratec engine and don't have a balance shaft delete kit installed... Do it! All the benefits and no drawback. I have the cosworth one and put 200k on the 2.3 engine and now rocking it with the 2.5 engine. $30 well spent.
Joined
·
31,094 Posts
If you have the engine apart you can tap the hole and put a plug in it and done
Tom
Tom
Joined
·
1,265 Posts
Got some big updates. I assembled the engine completely and reinstalled it along with the turbo kit and all of its components. Here are the pictures I've taken and noteworthy information!
Here is the pistons, rings, and molnar rods installed with new rod bearings. Notice how piston 3 has even space all around the cylinder wall! I'm pretty excited that everything looks as it should... Well, except for some staining on the cylinder. You can barely feel it and it wouldn't hone out. I didn't feel like paying extra for a machine shop to clean it all up. I'm rolling the dice, but I'm sure it won't be much of an issue.
![308833]()
![308834]()
Here is my little trick to locking the crankshaft while tightening the crank pulley bolt (harmonic balancer bolt) without slipping timing. I used an old flywheel bolt to lock down a crescent wrench and secured it against one of the transmission bellhousing bolts. Worked way better than I thought it would have! Since I used an ARP crank bolt, I had to torque it down to 140 ft/lbs. It didn't seem like as much as the standard TTY bolt. Makes me a little nervous.
![308835]()
Timing set and everything lined up after all was torqued down.
![308836]()
![308837]()
Here is the flywheel locking tool I made so I can torque the flywheel bolts. New exedy lightweight flywheel.
![308838]()
Turbo put in place to come up with a design of how I was going to fabricate a heat shield for the alternator. You can also see the exedy stage 1 clutch installed and a good shot of where I tapped to run my coolant temperature sensor for the gauge.
![308839]()
![308840]()
Installed the new throw out bearings and mated the transmission to the engine. And you can't really see it in this picture, but I have the idler pulley installed that deletes the a/c.
![308841]()
Here is the pistons, rings, and molnar rods installed with new rod bearings. Notice how piston 3 has even space all around the cylinder wall! I'm pretty excited that everything looks as it should... Well, except for some staining on the cylinder. You can barely feel it and it wouldn't hone out. I didn't feel like paying extra for a machine shop to clean it all up. I'm rolling the dice, but I'm sure it won't be much of an issue.
Here is my little trick to locking the crankshaft while tightening the crank pulley bolt (harmonic balancer bolt) without slipping timing. I used an old flywheel bolt to lock down a crescent wrench and secured it against one of the transmission bellhousing bolts. Worked way better than I thought it would have! Since I used an ARP crank bolt, I had to torque it down to 140 ft/lbs. It didn't seem like as much as the standard TTY bolt. Makes me a little nervous.
Timing set and everything lined up after all was torqued down.
Here is the flywheel locking tool I made so I can torque the flywheel bolts. New exedy lightweight flywheel.
Turbo put in place to come up with a design of how I was going to fabricate a heat shield for the alternator. You can also see the exedy stage 1 clutch installed and a good shot of where I tapped to run my coolant temperature sensor for the gauge.
Installed the new throw out bearings and mated the transmission to the engine. And you can't really see it in this picture, but I have the idler pulley installed that deletes the a/c.
Joined
·
1,265 Posts
Here is my new heat shield for the alternator. It's made out of aluminum kick plate for a door lol. It worked better than I thought it would and I made a tab that allows it to be bolted directly to the block behind the engine between the downpipe and the alternator. Don't mind the 4 holes. That was for a previous mounting idea that I scratched. I just didn't fill the holes.
![308843]()
![308844]()
I didn't take any pictures of the install but it took me all day to do. Everything went fairly smooth. In one of the pictures you can see the heat shield installed. I should have extended it over the top of the alternator between the manifold. I might do that soon.
![308845]()
![308846]()
![308847]()
![308848]()
![308849]()
I used the massive speed throttle body adapter as a vacuum block for my boost gauge and somewhere to pull for the diverter valve. The car runs and drives but tuning will be a long and painstaking process I'm sure. I'm going to continue to tinker with the car because I have lots and lots more to do. For now though I'm leaving the engine mods alone. Here's the full and (I believe) complete list of engine mods:
• 2.5 Fusion engine swap with 2.5 cylinder head
• 2.5 Fusion single runner intake manifold (no intake manifold runner control)
• VCT delete
• 2.3 valve cover
• 2.3 oil pan
• 2.3 sensors (retained all)
• A/C delete with idler pulley and shorter serpentine belt
• Massive Speed EGR delete plate
• Crower stage 1 cams
• Fswerks stage 2 turbo kit with gt2871r turbo and 12-14 psi wastegate
• Siemens 60lb injectors
• PCV delete (vent to atmosphere and plugged intake manifold)
• Massive Speed throttle body adapter (tapped for vacuum lines)
• Molnar connecting rods with factory 2.5 pistons (stock compression ~9.7:1)
• Mahle piston rings gapped to 0.018 (top) and 0.022 (second)
• Mahle rod bearings
• Honed cylinders
• Lapped valve seats
• ARP head studs
• ARP crankshaft pulley bolt
• Cosworth balance shaft delete
• 180° thermostat
• Energy suspension rear motor mount inserts
• AEM wideband
• Exedy stage 1 clutch and flywheel
Any questions or want specific pictures of the build, ask away.
I didn't take any pictures of the install but it took me all day to do. Everything went fairly smooth. In one of the pictures you can see the heat shield installed. I should have extended it over the top of the alternator between the manifold. I might do that soon.
I used the massive speed throttle body adapter as a vacuum block for my boost gauge and somewhere to pull for the diverter valve. The car runs and drives but tuning will be a long and painstaking process I'm sure. I'm going to continue to tinker with the car because I have lots and lots more to do. For now though I'm leaving the engine mods alone. Here's the full and (I believe) complete list of engine mods:
• 2.5 Fusion engine swap with 2.5 cylinder head
• 2.5 Fusion single runner intake manifold (no intake manifold runner control)
• VCT delete
• 2.3 valve cover
• 2.3 oil pan
• 2.3 sensors (retained all)
• A/C delete with idler pulley and shorter serpentine belt
• Massive Speed EGR delete plate
• Crower stage 1 cams
• Fswerks stage 2 turbo kit with gt2871r turbo and 12-14 psi wastegate
• Siemens 60lb injectors
• PCV delete (vent to atmosphere and plugged intake manifold)
• Massive Speed throttle body adapter (tapped for vacuum lines)
• Molnar connecting rods with factory 2.5 pistons (stock compression ~9.7:1)
• Mahle piston rings gapped to 0.018 (top) and 0.022 (second)
• Mahle rod bearings
• Honed cylinders
• Lapped valve seats
• ARP head studs
• ARP crankshaft pulley bolt
• Cosworth balance shaft delete
• 180° thermostat
• Energy suspension rear motor mount inserts
• AEM wideband
• Exedy stage 1 clutch and flywheel
Any questions or want specific pictures of the build, ask away.
Joined
·
1,265 Posts
Eventually, probably! I really want to get it dyno tuned but finding people who who are willing to tune a focus and who tune with SCT are hard to find in the Kansas city area. I'm going to try to be patient and stick with remote tuning for now and see if my mind changes this summer.
Joe over at dynotronics (a guy in Texas who specializes in the 2.5 swap in Mazda miatas) estimates that my setup at 14 psi should be around 330 hp. My wastegate is set at 12 psi right now so if I had to guess, tuned I'll probably be between 280 and 300. I'll update as I move forward with it.
One thing I noticed when I drove the car after the engine and turbo install to check for leaks, I think the clutch was slipping at 3000 rpm in 3rd gear. I doubt the tires were breaking grip but it really wanted to take off. It is a brand new clutch and hasn't been broken in yet, but there was enough power to make it slip. So yeah, I'm sure it will be a handful when it's tuned at 14 psi and broken in!
Joe over at dynotronics (a guy in Texas who specializes in the 2.5 swap in Mazda miatas) estimates that my setup at 14 psi should be around 330 hp. My wastegate is set at 12 psi right now so if I had to guess, tuned I'll probably be between 280 and 300. I'll update as I move forward with it.
One thing I noticed when I drove the car after the engine and turbo install to check for leaks, I think the clutch was slipping at 3000 rpm in 3rd gear. I doubt the tires were breaking grip but it really wanted to take off. It is a brand new clutch and hasn't been broken in yet, but there was enough power to make it slip. So yeah, I'm sure it will be a handful when it's tuned at 14 psi and broken in!
Joined
·
31,094 Posts
Like the shield for the Alt , If you take high temp silicone and on the inside silicone Tit heat wrap on it it will help a lot , Just Alum will get crazy hot still , it will help but the wrap will have a lot more
Great Job
Tom
Great Job
Tom
Joined
·
1,265 Posts
Ran into some tuning issues. I'm having fswerks tune the car since free tuning support came with the turbo kit. They have never tuned a 2.5 engine before, let alone a 2.5 turbo, and have been confused why the car is extremely rich then switches to extremely lean after it warms up. Through extensive discussions with them we decided it would be best to try running it with the 2.3 intake manifold instead of the non tumble flap 2.5 fusion intake manifold. I bought an adapter plate on ebay (Mazda 3 6 Fusion Milan 2.3 to 2.5 engine swap intake manifold adapter + GASKET | eBay) and had to reinstall my previously deleted tumble flaps so they can rule out the intake manifold being the issue. Hopefully it works. My oil is smelling a little like gas just after a couple times of driving.
If the issue is still there we'll look into possibly replacing my O2 sensor. I'm not too butthurt about putting the 2.3 intake manifold on because ultimately I want the car to be reliable. I know the power will be there regardless because the turbo doesn't care how it forces air into the engine. It's just going to do it. Sure, the 2.5 intake manifold might increase power, but I'm sure the results would only be noticed on a dyno. My butt will probably get pushed back into the seat all the same!
Unfortunately I don't have any dyno tuning support in the Kansas city area that I'm aware of. There might be one shop but they haven't gotten back with me after a week and their website says they charge $425 minimum if there are no issues. I've contacted about half a dozen others and they all say they don't support the focus.
If the issue is still there we'll look into possibly replacing my O2 sensor. I'm not too butthurt about putting the 2.3 intake manifold on because ultimately I want the car to be reliable. I know the power will be there regardless because the turbo doesn't care how it forces air into the engine. It's just going to do it. Sure, the 2.5 intake manifold might increase power, but I'm sure the results would only be noticed on a dyno. My butt will probably get pushed back into the seat all the same!
Unfortunately I don't have any dyno tuning support in the Kansas city area that I'm aware of. There might be one shop but they haven't gotten back with me after a week and their website says they charge $425 minimum if there are no issues. I've contacted about half a dozen others and they all say they don't support the focus.
Joined
·
31,094 Posts
I can Tune it remote , I have Tuned a few of these and one at the shop now
Tom
Tom
Joined
·
1,265 Posts
Not much is more annoying than waiting weeks upon weeks for tune updates or even a revised baseline tune while the car sits in the garage, fully assembled and not drivable lol.
I got the 2.3 intake manifold on by using the adapter plate. It still idles super rich then once warmed up it goes completely lean. Even while driving it stays lean at 18+ a/f and doesn't budge at all with throttle. Not safe to drive at all. I suspect something is wrong with my open or closed loop but I have no way knowing. I bought a new oxygen sensor because the old one might have been fouled up from being so rich. I pulled the spark plugs and they were black with carbon. I'm going to replace them with one step colder plugs, but I will wait to try starting it again until I get a revised tune. Who knows when that will be...
Also, I'm going to sell some of my old parts after this weekend. Some things to keep an eye out for, if anyone is interested, is a Cosworth header and flex pipe with the o2 extension cable, and an old Focus Central cold air intake. I will probably have more for sale but I need to dig through my boxes and see what I have.
I got the 2.3 intake manifold on by using the adapter plate. It still idles super rich then once warmed up it goes completely lean. Even while driving it stays lean at 18+ a/f and doesn't budge at all with throttle. Not safe to drive at all. I suspect something is wrong with my open or closed loop but I have no way knowing. I bought a new oxygen sensor because the old one might have been fouled up from being so rich. I pulled the spark plugs and they were black with carbon. I'm going to replace them with one step colder plugs, but I will wait to try starting it again until I get a revised tune. Who knows when that will be...
Also, I'm going to sell some of my old parts after this weekend. Some things to keep an eye out for, if anyone is interested, is a Cosworth header and flex pipe with the o2 extension cable, and an old Focus Central cold air intake. I will probably have more for sale but I need to dig through my boxes and see what I have.
Joined
·
78 Posts
How much would you want for the headers with shipping?
Joined
·
1,265 Posts
I'm not sure yet. I'm working all weekend and I will probably take pictures and post stuff on Monday. I just wanted to give a heads up to those who might be interested and I will settle on a price when I post them in the BST section.
Joined
·
78 Posts
Sounds good, I’ll be on the look out
41 - 60 of 75 Posts
Join the discussion
Join now to ask and comment!