[mayankk]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

Congrats. Could you please post a video of the drive and sound of the exhaust?
I own a Fiesta 1.6 and the sound of the stock car itself is good. Really curious to hear the modified car.

But the stock hardly makes any nose. What little it does is swallowed up by the intake.

Do please post the video of the new exhaust!

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by PratikPatel

There are times when tests and reports fail, and the art of medical diagnosis plays a vital role at such times.

I second this. While I am going off topic here, its worth noting an increasing trend in over dependency of medical reports. The absolute need for a doctor to see a report to prescribe the correct diagnosis. They aren't confident of what they are doing and hence need a report to justify anything and everything. The less said the better, on variance, seen in the reports, when you go from one lab to another.

I have not seen a well done custom exhaust job in a long time. Cheers to your mechanic/garage engineer for a job well done.

[ta.joseph]

The attention to detail has to be applauded. I have not read a more thorough and engaging build yet. Kudos to you. After a couple of recent posts about failures during custom-builds, your story is quite refreshing and encouraging

[speedmunster]

I have been glued to this thread since the past 6 days. This is what I have been checking, first thing after getting to office, even before the company mails.

I am myself a big fan of the blue oval and have been hunting for a used 1.6s in here in Hyderabad.

@pratikpatel, love your style of penning down the details.

Cheers

[VishJ]

That's truly a tribute to a true blue blooded fiesta sir. For years now, ford has kept Fiesta out of its true capacity in India. Now with your part by part description of work done on her, it just feels like a superhero slowly rising up. Eagerly waiting for the final stage works to complete , ie., For the rebirth of the FIESTA.

[anachronix]

Great thread Pratik, its been decades since I've seen such detailed technical threads on TeamBHP. The Ford Duratec engines have been tuners nightmare at least in India and I am really glad to see the first set of mods coming through really well!

Good luck with your build! Please share a video of the exhaust!

[tharian]

Thanks for the detailed explanation on the exhaust system of a Duratec engine.

The system is same on the Figo as well, except that the flexi bend pipe is a solid one with the same length and size and there is no mid-muffler.
The later ones, (old gen) had a mid-muffler and a different cat con as well from the looks of it which also had a post cat-con O2 sensor.(as in the pic)

As for the system, now it makes sense after your explanation as to why the engine rev's easier after shifting to FFE. I always thought, the intake system was more restrictive.

It's not easy to work on these engines like you said due to the location of the headers and less space. No wonder my car was away for a week when the FFE was being fitted.


Can't wait for the rest!

[ritedhawan]

"PratikPatel:
We also had to decide where to place the O2 sensor as in the stock system it was at the merger of the 4 short headers. We decided to install the O2 sensor on the header of the number 3 cylinder. "


Please let me know if my understanding of the above is incorrect or not?. The O2 sensor initially was installed at the merger of the 4 cylinders. However, now its installed on the exhaust line issuing out of cylinder number 3!

Isn't it a good practice to install the O2 sensor on the convergence of the 4 exhaust lines issuing out from their respective cylinders, as it enables the O2 sensor to tap into the exhaust issuing out from each cylinder, instead of installing the O2 sensor on Number 3 cylinder as it would enable the O2 sensor to tap the exhaust of 3rd cylinder only?

[PratikPatel]

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

"PratikPatel:
Please let me know if my understanding of the above is incorrect or not?. The O2 sensor initially was installed at the merger of the 4 cylinders. However, now its installed on the exhaust line issuing out of cylinder number 3!

Isn't it a good practice to install the O2 sensor on the convergence of the 4 exhaust lines issuing out from their respective cylinders, as it enables the O2 sensor to tap into the exhaust issuing out from each cylinder, instead of installing the O2 sensor on Number 3 cylinder as it would enable the O2 sensor to tap the exhaust of 3rd cylinder only?

Yes, you are absolutely right. However, there is a problem and we had to take a call on the trade off. With the stock shorty system Ford has been able to place the O2 sensor as near to the exhaust track on the cylinder head as physically possible right now. Any closer and they may as well as placed the sensor on the individual exhaust tracks in the cylinder head. What this has done is that it has enabled them to get a more accurate reading on the exhaust gases compared to more conventionally designed longer headers before they merged some distance away from the cylinder head exhaust tracks. In the conventional scenario the exhaust gases will have cooled to a greater degree as they travel down the exhaust system before they reach the O2 sensor.

Our problem was that by designing a 4-2-1 system, the merger point for all 4 cylinders is way away from the engine. Therefore not only would we need to re-wire the O2 sensor, we also had the question of 'how accurate' the reading will be at the 2-1 merger point which almost half a car length away. Therefore a call was taken to read from 1 cylinder as near as possible to the head. This is the current scenario, however in phase 2 an aftermarket ECU with ITBs is planned. This ECU will have a wide band sensor and we will be in touch with the ECU maker to decide what will be optimum position for the sensor.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by ritedhawan

"
Isn't it a good practice to install the O2 sensor on the convergence of the 4 exhaust lines issuing out from their respective cylinders, as it enables the O2 sensor to tap into the exhaust issuing out from each cylinder, instead of installing the O2 sensor on Number 3 cylinder as it would enable the O2 sensor to tap the exhaust of 3rd cylinder only?

I think this is a standard problem and a standard solution when changing the headers. Arguably, every ffe'd car on the forum runs the same. Arguably.

[PratikPatel]

Originally Posted by mayankk

I think this is a standard problem and a standard solution when changing the headers. Arguably, every ffe'd car on the forum runs the same. Arguably.

Actually, the number of sensors will depend on how tricked out the ECU is. An engine can have multiple sensors. For example it will be quite possible to have 2 sensors on a 4-2-1, where both the sensors will be at 4-2 merger points. There also pre cat and post cat O2 sensors like the one shown by @tharian. The most extreme implementation that I have seen is a sensor for every individual header and pre cat and post cat sensors.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by PratikPatel

Actually, the number of sensors will depend on how tricked out the ECU is. An engine can have multiple sensors. For example it will be quite possible to have 2 sensors on a 4-2-1, where both the sensors will be at 4-2 merger points. There also pre cat and post cat O2 sensors like the one shown by @tharian. The most extreme implementation that I have seen is a sensor for every individual header and pre cat and post cat sensors.

Yep.
What I meant was-on the forum- most cars which have gone the FFE route from anybody, they've been given the sensor on one of the pipes. Entirely different from OE installation, and just doesn't sit right with most customers. But thats what is happening. There has to be a better way to do it, ie, get the feed somehow from all pipes. Which is what people keep pointing to.

[ron_9191]

@pratikpatel, First up, I've got to really enjoyed your write up. Made me think all over again what I should do with my 2006 Baleno which still runs like clockwork. I actually bought the car to modify it with a few specs I still have in my mind, but I was out of work, had to get married in a short notice (long story), find another job (longer story again) so I kept pushing my dream and all of a sudden when I saw your write up, I realized I have been pushing this for 10 years!! Well I believe my time shall come

I completely agree to the fact that a street spec car should be tweaked for low and mid range as it makes no sense revving hard only to stop at the next red light. You're are doing the right thing mate. And I am so glued to this thread

[PratikPatel]

Weapon X Ignition Coil & MSD Ignition Wires

Here is a fact of life; typically only 15% of total chemical energy that is available in fuel (petrol) is used to move your car and rest of the energy is lost through wasted heat, friction and non-burnt fuel. Therefore, despite over 150 years of development, the Internal Combustion Engine is still a highly inefficient machine.

So a spark is a spark, right? All that is required in an engine is for the spark event to happen at the right time to ignite the air fuel charge that will drive piston down and turn the engine over. Whats the big deal about it, right?

Well, not exactly accurate. Firstly, the spark event is extraordinarily brief and complex. A typical spark event is 1/1000th of a second long! The role of a spark plug is to generate a strong enough spark event between the electrodes that has enough energy at a specific time to ignite the air fuel charge.

The electrical spark event starts the ignition process by starting an oxidation event in the fuel particles between the electrodes. Heat generated from this event creates a core of flame. The heat from the core flame then ignites surrounding air fuel mixture and the core of flame expands and spreads the combustion in to the surroundings till such time that it reaches the very edge of the cylinder walls and the squish band.

The job of an ignition coil is to take the low voltage from your car’s battery and transform it to thousands of volts for a brief period of time and supply it to the spark plug in order to create an electrical spark event between the electrodes that will start the ignition process.

“Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can be transformed from one form to another” – Law of Conservation of Energy.

This is a fundamental law on which all our understanding of sciences is based. What it tells us is that energy is not for free (in spite of what advocates of perpetual motion machine may want you to believe). You cannot create energy from nothing. To create one type of energy you need to provide energy in one form or another. If we apply this law to the ignition event it tells us that to derive more energy from an event we will need to put in more energy. Therefore, to get more bangs out of the combustion, a spark event that contains more energy is required.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Ford has selected to use a ‘wasted’ spark system for the Duratec. A wasted spark system does away with the complexity of a distributor system. Over here I will take the opportunity to mention that while the ignition system and electrical systems may not be state of the art or even contemporary, they are intelligent and robust designs. For example the Ignition coil is hermetically sealed against all elements and is placed at the top next to the cylinder head. This protects the coil and related wiring from flooding during rains. Similarly, the Siemen’s made ECU unit does not have wiring female socket on the ECU unit like many contemporary ECUs. It has a wiring cable that connects into the ECU and is hermetically sealed into the ECU. The other end of the cable has sockets, which will connect to the corresponding male sockets. The ECU is also completely sealed making it impervious to the elements. Hats off to the Ford/Mazda engineers for their attention to details and the highly robust design of components.

One of the things that I learnt very early in my working career was that product development is largely dictated not by technical abilities of a company, but by the accounts department of the said company. Left to their own devices and given a free hand, engineers will design products to the best of their ability and capability. However, those best efforts are not what the accounts department is interested in. It is interested in developing a product within a budget and within a timeframe. Therefore all production cars and their components are built to a price. That price point dictates that the product meets a certain quality level for the price. In the world of fighter pilots there is a very famous saying: “Remember your weapons and equipment are built by the lowest bidder”. Similarly, the supplier who quoted the lowest cost price for the minimum acceptable quality builds the components of your car.

Therefore, it stands to logic that we can improve the ignition system with better quality of components. I came across Weapon X while I was searching for options to upgrade my bikes. Weapon X has power sports division Takai Racing that makes ignition products for bikes, ATV, Snowmobiles, etc. While expensive, the products are simply the best that you can buy. They are a very serious upgrade. Having experienced their products with my bikes, when it was time to work on the car, the upgrade of ignition system was no brainer.

While many people are skeptical of aftermarket ignition products (and rightly so to a certain extent), let me assure you that Weapon X is the genuine article. The Weapon X EFX Tower coils feature:

1. Smart ignition coil system with TTL level control.
2. Multiple spark discharge.
3. 80,000-volt output.
4. Superior internal RFI/EMI protection circuit.
5. Premium quality conductor selections.
6. Ultra efficient power transfer and design.
7. High RPM capable.
8. OEM mounting and connections.
9. Increased Horsepower (typically 5 – 40 RWHP depending on model).
10. Increased fuel mileage (typically 1 – 2 MPG depending on model).
11. Compatible with Weapon X Ignition Booster system.


WeaponX EFX Tower Coil


Connector (is different from stock)


CNC Machined contacts provide positive locking (takes quite some effort to lock in).


Hermetically sealed against all elements.

Weapon X claims an overall spark efficiency increase of 25% over OEM designed ignition systems and 10% to 20% better engine response and power delivery. Weapon X also claims that its products are based on Formula 1/ IndyCar/ NASCAR applications and learning.

Installation of the tower coil is simple job of swapping out the OEM coil. However we ran into a small hurdle. The OEM Duratec coil uses a smaller and different style socket that the EFX tower coil. Vikram immediately arranged for a larger male socket from a Ford Mondeo and replaced the OEM socket. Once that was done we simply removed the OEM coil and bolted the EFX coil on.


Stock Tower Coil with connector. Note the shape and size of the connector.


WeaponX Tower Coil with Ford Mondeo Style Connector.

We also replaced the OEM ignition wires with MSD ultra low resistance ignition wire. The logic being that the lower the losses in transferring the energy, the greater the energy available for ignition phase. The red MSD wire with SS crimp terminals provides a very solid lock onto the CNC machined terminals on the EFX ignition coil.


MSD Ignition Wires and Connectors being crimped and installed.


Note the placement of the coil next to the Cylinder Head.


MSD Insulation Covers.


Upon starting the engine the first thing that we noticed is that the engine is running really smooth. Also the exhaust tone has become slightly mellowed and smoother than before. Upon taking the car for a spin it was immediately apparent that the car is much more responsive to throttle inputs and is at the sharp end of the spear. These ignition upgrades are good enough to see us through up to phase 3 when we may need to think of radical changes to the system such as installing COP (Coil on Plug) systems. However, for now the upgraded system has provided us with enough performance margins that allow us to look at other areas of improvement and not worry about the ignition system being able to cope up with the additional requirements that the changes would entail.

Bottom line: Quite simply the best ignition components that money can buy on this side of Formula 1/ MotoGp.

Note: We have not installed the Weapon X Plasma Booster at this stage. It is an important upgrade and is worthy of its own post. Therefore we will deal with it in detail at a later stage of the build.

Next: Upgraded Brakes

[Blow Horn Ok]

This thread would become Bible for anyone looking to upgrade his car especially a Ford. Leave upgrading, the way you have dealt in detail about several aspects of working of an engine and other components, is truly magnificent! After going through, one can understand his machine in altogether different way. Hats off.