Chris' TS ST3 Just Bolt Ons and Stuffs

So I haven't been progressively making a thread since I got my car. With that being said - This is guaranteed to be a really big first post.

First off I did put this crap in my intro thread but I like to throw my car history out there. At the least it shows this isn't my first rodeo...


Up until last year I also had an 01 Miata Mx5 LS, 6 speed with LSD. It ran on Megasquirt and the DIY Autotune vvt tuner box, it rode on tein street advance coilovers, fm sways, and 15x9 tire rack wheels wrapped in hancock rs4s. I would be surprised if it put 110hp to the rear wheels. The license plate actually said FEG LOL
I had a boat load of other parts I bought for the project, but in the end I gave up on it and sold them all. I just didtn't have time to work on it and came to the conclusion I'm happy just having a bolted up turbo hatch as a DD.
Here's a few pics -







Before that I drove a Mazdaspeed 3 -

I had one of the Gen 1 cars early on in 2008. I was along for the ride with that community as bolt ons appeared, vendors came and went, and everyone figured that car out. I am close friends with someone that developed parts for the car (that are currently sold by CPE) and have had it apart from top to bottom more then enough times. I never went further then full bolt ons with my car, but installed and helped tune other cars with big turbos and 400hp +. I know too much useless info about the MZR it's PCV system, the K04, and direct injection. I was heavily involved with that community largely through mazdaspeedforums.org. I went to a number of meets and had a lot of fun the 4 years I drove that car. In the end I let it go because I owed less than what it was worth and I was tired of trying to make a project car out of my daily driver.
Here's a few pics of it -







And finally going way back to 05 06 ish I had an SVT Focus (or ST170) -
I loved this car even more then my speed 3 and regretted the day I had to let it go.
I dropped a fortune on this car and in the even never made any real power with it. I was one of the fortunate to have an 03 Euro Appearance Pack -
I had a built bottom end, the jackson racing sc kit and nitrous and never made better than 230 at the whees with this car. I had no idea what I was doing with tuning and unfortunately neither did anyone that I was in contact with at the time.

Here's a few pics of it -






This brings me to my current DD/whatever - My latest Forkus ST

I picked up and ST3 in February of 2014. TS really wasn't my first choice in color, but 24k for a fully loaded ST3 was a deal at the time. The car sat on the lot for a year, that's why I got such a good deal.

Snapped these shortly after I got her -




Pretty early on I had the desire to hear turbo noises again. So I picked up a Cobb intake and a Turbosmart 50/50 BOV



I really enjoyed the noises I could hear out of the intake, but the BOV was a bit loud for my tastes right off the bat. Over the next year or so I got used to it and kept it until recently.


At this point I came to realization that this car will not make any more power unless you tune for it along with your parts.
I picked up the APv3 and a cheap windshield mount. I quickly installed stage1 93 and loved it. Stage 1 is a big jump over stock for sure. Having seen/used Cobb's AP1/2 the 3 is a huge step up with it's screen/size and ability to display 6 parameters. Not to mention all the basic troubleshooting/code clearing etc this guy does. It's well worth the cost.



I drove the car just like this for about a year and really enjoyed it.
I picked up a few small mods during this time.
Grabbed the Cobb quick shift plate -


I also picked up the Steeda shift knob.


I knew exactly how much crap DI engines dump on their valves and how important it is to install an OCC. I had my Siako Mitchi OCC left over from my Speed3 so I decided to adapt it to work on the ST. The connection points, pcv plate, and lines on the speed are in the same places but the speed uses slightly bigger connections points.
First I mounted up the can under the ecu area. I really think this is the best spot since you are gonna need to drain the crap out of it every time you change the oil.


Then I heated up both ends of this line and pulled out the plastic fittings -


Once I had the connectors I was able to just use a couple smaller pieces of hose to wrap them and then just use my hose I already had for my OCC. I put some tight clamps on both and I've never had an issue out of them.



While I had my intake manifold off I took a good look at my valves. This is at around 15k folks -


I also figured since the manifold was off I'd get rid of the stupid symposer. Hate that thing!



Next I decided my car would look better with black wheels. Dip time -



Hover mode while they dried (before I had a real garage) -


Next I installed the GarageLine pedal spacer. I love this thing
Before

Off

After

What a difference.

Around this time Cobb released the maps that had FFS enabled - The combo of the shift plate, the pedal spacer, and my knob along with the FFS is fantastic! All those things work in harmony.

Next it was exhaust time.
I picked up the Cobb downpipe and the MBRP CBE at the same time.






Shortly after install I had some leaks (only from the CBE). The clamps that come with the MBRP CBE are pretty weak sauce.



I picked up these awesome clamps thanks to a forum member -

So much better


While I did the exhaust I also grabbed/installed the Cobb RMM and the Cobb exhaust hanger kit.


Pretty happy with mecaro at this point -








At this point I purchased the flash tune from [email protected] since I knew I was going to get a code from the downpipe and I couldn't install the Cobb OTS Stage 2 with no fmic - It was quite a bit better than the Cobb OTS maps and it had more of the awesome features enabled that Cobb can do now. The power delivery was much more linear with his map. Over all I have been very happy with my Stratified experience.






But enough is never enough...

So I picked up a nice Mountune FMIC Core -




And I grabbed the HKS exhale kit since I already had my HKS BOV left over from my speed 3.


Got the BOV on with my old snap ring - I hate snap rings



Then it was time for some disassmble -



While I had the grill off my 25k fairly new car I decided to go ahead and hack it up.





I only did the center section. I don't think the tools I used would be good for the sides.
I used a combo of 50 grit on a sander adapter kit for my angle grinder and 60 grit on my orbital sander.

Had to compare cores while they were out -


Painted the crash bar


Used gramp's tool box to support my core support while I installed the core and fiddled with the exhale pipe kit.


So the exhale kit combined with this core is a PITD to say the least.
This is the stock cold side tube - nice and pancaked for you -


And the exhale pipe in place -


Seriously the only way I could get this guy in there was to keep the core support loose while I shoved everything in and tightened it down.

Happy -


While I waited for Alex to make another flash tune for me I flashed up the Cobb Stage 3 OTS maps and went for a drive

Then earlier this week my new e85 map arrived It's pretty easy to compare this video to the FFS video from earlier to see the difference -

This is my latest VDyno - Maybe I'll get on a real one some time! MEH I'm happy!


Last but not least I decided flat black was getting boring (and peeling off) so I decided to switch up to black cherry plasti for my wheels.
Yeah yeah Haters Gon Hate





Like I mentioned before TS wasn't my first choice. The whole car may wind up flat black before the summer is over....

Thanks for reading.
Chris