tktrain

I have a 10 mile each direction commute with only about 2 miles of it non-interstate. I usually go about 75-80 on the interstate section and I'm a notorious lead foot, but I'm still getting about 25-26 MPG on my commute with a bit of around town to lunch and back thrown in. I have the engine on Mobile 1 0W-20. I really can't say what the influence was on city driving mileage was since I really don't do that much of it. The CAI and the tune seemed to have about an equal effect on performance a WOT, but I can tell you that the tune definitely had a much bigger effect on part throttle performance than the CAI did, just as you would expect. With FWD only the car can easily overpower the front tires in 1st gear, more power would be awesome, but the average person would have a hard time using it effectively. If you're used to high powered cars and effectively part throttling through the lowest gears, more power could be very fun! I'd love the Eco Boost 3.5 in my FWD Sport, but it wouldn't make much sense for the average driver. It would really need to be an AWD car.

I added the Steeda CAI on my 2010 Sport and did an SCT re-flash with the 89 octane tune. I noticed an improvement all across the rpm spectrum and firmer faster shifts. I tried a Magnaflow catback on the car, but the only thing it did was make the car louder, no documentable improvement in performance. There was an annoying drone at about 1500-1800 RPM cruising. I did see an improvement in mid range on up power with another mod I performed with the assistance of a good friend here locally who owns and runs a high performance exhaust shop here in town. We "fixed" the y-pipe on the car by removing it and getting rid of the D-shape in the tube running between the front and rear cylinder banks and also in the tube from the Y back to the flex pipe. It worked better than I expected. Oh yeah, on a 1600 mile round trip back in Summer I was routinely getting 29 MPG average at 80 MPH on the interstate. I agree the car needs more grip, as I can easily roast the tires off the line (traction control off obviously.) I think I'm going to try Eagle GT's on it. I have them on my son's 2005 Focus ZX5 (5-speed stick), and they do a much better job than the OEM tires did.

No drone at steady speed on the interstate, but you do get some drone at 25-35 mph. It does talk when you accelerate! but idle is nearly silent. It is louder than the CAI.

Update on the Sport since the installs. The Steeda Cai made a noticeable improvement, after giving it a couple of days to let the PCM get acquainted with the improved breathing, the car pulls noticeably harder up near the shift point. In fact, pulling away from a stop on level ground, being careful not to simply spin the tires (traction control off), then flooring the throttle, both front tires begin to squeal for about a second or so right up to the 1-2 shift. Driving easily on my daily commute, the fuel mileage average seems to be running about an average of 1 MPG higher, somewhere between a 0.8 and 1.2 MPG improvement. Over about 36,000 miles the cost of the CAI will just about be covered. Oddly, I don't believe the Magnaflow cat back did anything to improve the performance, it makes a neat growl at full throttle, but the car seemingly has exactly the same performance. The only difference I can detect is the sound, a very expensive sound change. I tested the car in the same spot at the same ambient temperature and about the same humidity. It doesn't seem to be doing much for the mileage either, maybe about 0.1 or 0.2 MPG, at the 0.2 MPG rate it will take about 180,000 mile to break even! Oh well, all else being equal, I'd skip the exhaust change. I think the CAI is a solid, very cost effective gain. Next up, an SCT tune, it should be about as effective as the CAI!

I just got my Magnaflow system and installed today, and yesterday I installed my new Steeda CAI. Sounds good and went well. I also worked with my exhaust man and we modded the pipe between the cats and the Flex pipe. First he cut the pipe out between the junction of where the pipes between cats come together and the Flex pipe flanged connection. This piece of pipe has a crush in it from the factory making it a semi D shape with the flat part of the D on top. The pipe is crushed into more of a D shape than we anticipated. There was a ton of room between it and the nearest component above, so we replaced that with a new piece of 2 1/4" straight stainless pipe with just a slight bend at the end. The junction between the front and rear cat pipes wasn't too terribly bad, but we were able to open it up quite nicely as they had made it by forming both pipes into semi circles and then welding them together, before welding the new pipe in, we simply clearanced the center where the two pipes mated, turning into one open area forward to the outside weld toward the front of the car, basically removing the straight part of the D shape. When done, you could look into the opening and see two pipes welded together that were both pretty much round where they met. You guys may want to consider looking at yours. I bought my Magnaflow from Steeda and I've already suggested to them that they take a look at making this a potential product. Frank at Steeda seemed very interested in the idea, as he is also listed as a being in "Special Projects" as his title. I'm ready for my new tunes now!!!

Actually It's a resistor and a capacitor to eliminate the MIL (Malfunction Indicator Light), you used to be able to buy a pre-made circuit with plugs for the secondary O2 harness from the aftermarket people until a few years ago when the EPA realized people were using them to eliminate their cats. You couuld buy an "off road" H pipe and you used the "MIL" eliminator kit to keep the idiot light from coming on. I think there are still some schematics floating around on the net that tell you how to make one yourself. The second O2 sensor on Fords, the one downstream of the cat, just looks to see if the oxygen level downstream of the cat is in the right range. When the cat get hot it consumes some of the oxygen left over in the exhaust gasses, so it's level will be lower downstream of the cat if it is working. If it doesn't see the correct range of O2 it tells the PCM that the cat may need servicing and turns on the light. It doesn't affect fuel mixture, the upstream O2 sensor does that. They still use this strategy with the O2 sensors today. The thing on the MAF, I have to believe, is snake oil. It's closely related to what Akirby said above. Back in the 80's, you could induce a little more power in 5.0 liters by richening it slightly and then bumping up the initial timing about 4-6 degrees. This was easily done by switching to a 180 thermostat. They used coolant temp as part of the mixture map decision process, and they tended to set the cars up a little lean back then as an easy way to hit the emissions target. The new PCM's doesn't let you adjust timing without a re-programmer, so now that that trick doesn't work. The new re-programmers let you adjust timing and mixture mapping to put yourself closer to the edge. The factory has to minimize emissions, we want performance.

Installed the Steeda CAI this evening. It makes less noise than I anticipated. I'm very curious to find out if there is a mileage improvement along with a power increase. I have to say that the filter is VERY close to contacting a cable bracket when installed. It isn't a perfect fit, but does fit well. It was a bit of a challenge sliding everything into place. And darn that silly edge guard rubber, I need to glue it in for sure, it pops off easily even though I notched and trimmed the corners as suggested in the instructions. Overall, I give the kit a B+. Not perfect, but a very good kit overall.

The image attached.

I have a question about the exhaust system on my 2010 sport. I went to the Ford Parts web site and looked up the exhaust system for the car and got the attached illustration. The item descriptions refer to the car as having two three way cats attached to the exhaust manifolds. There is then an exhaust pipe assembly that connects the two cats (item #5G274 in the illustration) and then back to the flex pipe/front muffler (item #5A289), then a resonator and the rest of the exhaust system back to the dual mufflers and outlets. The question is this: Does anyone have any insight into the shape in the exhaust pipe assembly, item #5G274? This pipe comes down from the front and makes about a 75 degree turn going basically straight toward the rear. The rear cat has a nearly 90 degree turn sending the exhaust toward the front of the car for about 4 inches and then abruptly makes a 180 degree turn toward the rear where it joins together with the pipe from the front cat. Why on earth did Ford choose to send the exhaust from the rear through 270 degrees of turns when it looks like it would have been very easy to simply turn the rear cat exhaust 90 degrees to the rear and Y it into a common pipe and save nearly 180 degrees of tightly radiused pipe? My only explanation is that it was done for assembly line tooling clearances and the design of the drivers used to install the nuts for the exhaust.to rear cat connection. If anyone has seen how these cars are assembled perhaps they could give some insight into this odd design. This type of pipe arrangement has been used for may years on 2.5L and 3.0L V6 Fords for years. My '96 2.5L Duratech Contour and my '05 3.0L Duratech Escape both have a very similar pipe system coming off the rear cat. I've always felt there is a great opportunity to enhance performance here. I spoke with my exhaust man today and he agrees. He's a 35 year high performance exhaust specialist who has built hundreds of drag car systems over the years. He has a 5.4L pickup and found something similar on it. He modified the pipes as I described on his truck and said it made a noticeable improvement in throttle response. I'm going to let him mod my car when he installs my Magnaflow cat back system. He wants to do the Magnaflow first and let me drive it a few days, then come back and do the pipe mod to see if it has any effect.

I'm not at all impressed with the RS-A tires either. They are a low cost tire Ford's bean counters had a hand in selecting to help marketing hit a price point and maintain profit margins. Now the Eagle GT's, on the other hand, seem to be a decent and not outrageously priced tire. I put a set on my son's '05 Focus ZX5 back in November and they made the Hankook Ventus tires that were on the car look like they were made out of model T tire carcases! Huge improvement in road holding in all conditions: wet, dry, and snow. I'm leaning strongly toward those for the next set on my Sport.

I hope that Ford will continue the 3.5 in the new Fusion in the 290 HP Sport, but I have a strong feeling that the ecoboost 4 will be the performance engine. The manufacturers are under tremendous pressure from the government to make CAFE numbers go up, and it's getting worse. GM is in the process of tooling up to build 1.2L "small global engines" by the 100's of thousands right now.

I ordered a Steeda CAI for my Sport last week from a place near Orlando called CFM (Central Florida Motorsport) they offered free shipping so it came out less than buying directly from Steeda. Oddly enough, I ordered my cat back exhaust for my FWD from Steeda as their $85 discount made them the best pricing on the exhaust (#16675)! Even more surprisingly, CFM is having the CAI sent directly from Steeda, and Steeda is having the cat back shipped directly from Magnaflow!

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge regarding this product on Ebay? Ford Intake Sensor Performance Mod *ADD 20+HP* It appears to be pure snake oil. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

Oddly enough, Steeda does offer a discount of $85 on the #16675 Magnaflow cat back exhaust for the FWD Sport and the 3.0 Fusions. I paid $600 and change delivered at this writing.

I'm new to the Sport, but I'm a long time Ford performance fanatic and I have to tell you this is a sweet and quick car. I wouldn't say fast, but it will jump of the line and the cornering is just awesome. I've had Mustang GT's including a heavily modded one with a 347 and a narrowed 9 inch. This 2010 is a refined high performance unit and LOVES to rev. Nothing like the brutal performance of the old GT I had, but very fun to drive! This is a very well balanced package and I would recommend it to anyone. Regarding the point to start to modify, I put a Magnaflow system and a CAI on my 2005 3.0 Escape when it had a mere 285 miles on it. Those components won't compromise any other parts or systems. It's never to soon to reap the benefits of a free breathing intake and exhaust. Just a quick note for those who may not be aware: always disconnect your negative battery cable for about 5 minutes after installing a mod. This will reset the ECM memory and allow it the learn the new characteristics of the parts you added much more quickly.