[JayneCobb]

Boomba Symposer Delete (repalce Steeda)

I want to start making the engine bay look a little nicer, so I swapped my Steeda symposer for a red Boomba one. Eventually I want to get their manifold and tb spacers too, so they'll all match.

I've read a bit about oil catch cans, but was never in a rush to install one. Some people say theirs gets full pretty quickly, others say they hardly catch any oil. Well, with less than 5k miles on the Steeda symposer, this is what it looks like. I'm sure this is what Ford calls "normal," but I don't really like the idea of having that much oil flying around the intake and eventually gumming up the valves, so my search the best OCC begins.

And with Boomba installed.

There's a company less than a half hour away from me that does hydrographics, so I'm going to have them do the battery and fuse box cover sometime soon. I didn't like how the plasti-dip was holding up, so I pulled it off.

 

[DDT1972]

Yeah, that is exactly what my symposer delete looks like when I pull it off too. I have to find time to put my OCC on soon. Good looking car BTW.

 

[JayneCobb]

Yeah, that is exactly what my symposer delete looks like when I pull it off too. I have to find time to put my OCC on soon. Good looking car BTW.

Thanks. Which OCC did you buy? And do you have a build thread? I'd like to take a look at your audio upgrades.

 

[DDT1972]

I have the Mishimoto OCC, got off amazon for like $80. Need to add some baffle material inside to make it more effective, otherwise looks like a quality piece. I have not made a build thread, but I have posted a lot of info in the electronics section on my upgrade.

 

[ST2Bullitt]

Cody's looking good Are you going to go back to a white battery/fuse box cover or are you going to come up with something else?

 

[Crandis16]

Nice build. Totally go for the stormtrooper look!!!

 

[JayneCobb]

Thanks guys. I was going to just have them coat the covers in white, but idk, now I'm thinking maybe some graphics would be nice too. I'm not very atristic, but I am a bit of a sci-fi nerd, so I'm sure I could come up with something.

 

[ST2Bullitt]

I think any Star Wars theme would be cool.

 

[JayneCobb]

Boomba Rear Motor Mount

That's right, another Boomba Racing part.

I've been going research about rear motor mounts for a couple weeks. I was worried about going too stiff because I dd this car almost 100 miles a day, but I am also of the thought "do it once and do it right." After much research, (and seeing a 10% tax season discount) I decided to go with Boomba's "stage 2" mount.

I was pretty close to springing for the 70 da CP-E stage 2, thinking that going with a lower durometer bushing would give me enough of a decrease in wheel hop and tq steer without adding too much in the way of NVH, but I went with the Boomba mount for 2 reasons: cost and reviews. The Boomba mount is nearly $60 less expensive, but has just as many good reviews. Also, I'm pretty used to all the vibrations I get from my lifted Cherokee, so I figured I could handle the 80 da mount. Worst comes to worst, I can cut my losses and swap out mounts down the road.

Boomba swag! I'm glad they threw me the beanie, because it's gone back to winter here in PA and we got 5" of snow yesterday. I'm so done with this season...

Also, with the mount being less than what I had planned on spending, I was able to pick up a set of the trans plate bushings.

Installation took less than an hour. The hardest part was getting the exhaust bracket out.

Oh, and one thing to mention that isn't in the directions, make sure you don't put the mount in upside-down. The threads are supposed to be on the driver side of the car. I didn't realize until I had the tq mount bolted up, then had to take it all apart and flip it. Even so, wheels were back on the ground in under an hour.

Test drive and first impressions:

What I've done is, I've made it better. Much better.

There are certainly increased vibrations, no doubt about that. But I was actually expecting it to be more jarring than it is. There are the typical heavy vibrations around 1100 rpm that everyone mentions, but aside from that there is just a (to my calibration) slight constant rumble, and an increase in the feel of the car on the road. I swear it almost feels like I'm running different tires, it feels much more connected to the road. I've noticed that shifting is smoother, and at times I used to have to fight to get it into reverse and first gear. No more, it slides right in with no resistance. It also seems that there is a more pronounced exhaust note.

And the most important part, the torque steer is much more manageable. I used to struggle to keep it in a perfectly straight line at near WOT in first and second with one hand on the wheel (the other on the shifter). Now it's less of a tug of war to keep Cody steady. Also, wheel hop is about 90% gone. I chalk the couple chirps I got today up to a few things: brand new mount needs more time to settle and summer tires at 40 degree temps.

All in all I'm happy I saved the $60 and bought another great Boomba product. I look forward to seeing how this thing breaks in over time, and I'll update this post every so often.

Celebratory Jack

 

[JayneCobb]

Boomba trans plate bushings

Installation of the trans plate bushings was a bit of a pain, due to the lack of space between the engine and the battery box. 20 minutes and 1 scrapped forearm later, these were in. No during install pics because of the aforementioned space issue. I did snap these though...

Shiny

During install I did notice that 2 of the the stock grommets were torn. This damage was not from me removing them from the plate, but I assume either from installation at the factory, or from use.

Install top tip: super glue is your friend. I can't imagine it would be possible to hold all 6 bushings in place while maneuvering the plate back into the engine bay. I dabbed a bit of glue on the top and bottom of each to hold them in place, and in they went without any movement.

I can't say that I noticed much of a difference in shifting after the installation, but my feel is pretty much perfect with all the other shifting mods I've done anyway (and the RMM). For the low cost, it's more of a "why not" mod in my book.

 

[JayneCobb]

Triple R front splitter, FRPP snorkel, grill sanding

Well it was an interesting weekend. Friday was my 1 year anniversary of ownership of Cody with just a tad under 19k miles. I wasn't looking to do much in the way of mods for the next few months because my gf's lease is going to be up on her Focus, and we need to get her something new. I'm considering selling my XJ and helping her get a Wrangler, as long as she lets me wheel and mod it, but that's another story.

However, I came across a member selling some gear in the PA forum, and the prices were so good I just couldn't pass them up. I got a brand new, unpainted, never installed and unscratched Triple R front splitter, used but like new FRPP snorkel and another Boosted Designs black and red dead pedal for my dad. After a 200 mile round trip out to grab them, my buddy and I set out to install the splitter. The seller didn't have directions, but I thought "how hard can it be?" I assumed the holes in the splitter would line up with the holes in the bumper, but they obviously do not. A quick look on the forums pointed out that you had to drill new holes to install. Not a big deal, and not terribly difficult.

I was unsure of whether I was going to use the snorkel or just resell it. I like running my green filter without the lid on the airbox and the extra induction noise it makes, but any gains the snorkel might add would be negated by the open lid. I decided to just install it anyway and leave the lid off for now. It's easy enough to put the lid back on, and I'll do some more research and keep an eye on my AP3 and do some testing to see how much the intake temps are affected either way.

And while I had the front bumper off to install the snorkel, I decided to sand the center section of the grill off and paint the crash bar flat black, It looks sooo much better.

Pulling the front bumper off is pretty easy. Check out the CJPP video for the Cobb FMIC install for good directions. Now that I know where all the tabs and screws are, I can take it off again in less than 10 minutes.

Sorry for the potato, the S4 camera isn't the best in the 'verse.

Bumper off with all the extra junk still attached.

Getting ready for paint. I sprayed it with 3 coats of Rustoleum flat black.

Before snorkel

After with painted bar

Now for the sanding. A couple Top Tips:

1. I used a belt sander, but I imagine an orbital would work just as well.

2. Don't be afraid to use a high grit sandpaper. I started with 80 for fear of going too quickly and damaging the honeycomb part, but it took nearly an hour and 3 belts to get through the thick plastic bar. I got frustrated and finished with 40 grit with no damage or oversanding. If I were to do it again (which I might, if my dad wants it done to his ST) I'd start with 40 and finish with 80.

3. Heat is your enemy. The sander and plastic kept getting so hot that the tiny bits of plastic that were coming off would melt, so I stopped, vacuumed up all the bits, and used a flat razor blade to chip away at the melted goop once it hardened. Repeat process about 20 times.

 

[JayneCobb]

Triple R front splitter, FRPP snorkel, grill sanding cont.

I didn't do the sides because it was getting late, but I'll probably sand those down at some point.

After we put the front bumper back on we installed the splitter (no pics). I used 2 c-clamps to hold the splitter to the bumper, marked holes, then removed the splitter and drilled. Pretty simple install, 3 holes on each side. There are channels in the splitter so you can pop out the 2 clips on each side of the bumper that hold the forward belly tray on, so you don't have to remove the splitter to take it off in the future.

Some dark pics in the garage

And some from this morning. It's impossible to see the painted crash bar in the pics because the lighting isn't great, but the open grill looks much better in person.

 

[JayneCobb]

"Ford Power" ignition button

I almost forgot about this, a few weeks ago I got together with a couple other members and bought some "Ford Power" ignition buttons from a Chinese site. Not the best idea I've had yet, but I figured it was worth a shot. The gamble paid off.... kinda

All of the switches I've seen online have been blue, but when these came in, they turned out to be red. At first I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but after I put it in I realized that the red LED matched the needles on the gauges.

I actually liked it better red. I tested the button to make sure it worked, it illuminated and put the car into accessory mode, so I assumed it was fine and called it a night.

Next morning, the car wouldn't start. I pushed the button about 15 times, and it would either: do nothing, go into accessory mode but not start, run the starter for a couple times then die. It eventually started, and I ran inside and grabbed the stock button and a flat head screwdriver and went to work. Once I got to work, I couldn't turn the car off. I swapped the button back to stock and was able to turn it off. I took both switches apart and found:

Stock on top

You can see that the board layout is different, and there is a resistor missing. The bottom of the boards was even more different:

Again, stock on top

Either this button wasn't meant for the Focus, or it's just a crappy Chinese knockoff. Either way, I couldn't have the Ford Power button with a red LED. I swapped the stock board in the "new" button and it works just fine.

 

[JayneCobb]

Dyno numbers

If I had planned this out better, I would have reserved a post on the first page for this. Anyway, all dynos will be posted here and linked from the first post.

DYNOS

Dyno Dynamics dyno
93 octane, bone stock, 50 deg air temp
4/5/2014, 1,200 miles
NOTES: I know the TQ number seems pretty high for a stock car, and I'm not thrilled with the printouts/screenshots either. Regardless, this is a baseline for comparison.

---HP-----TQ---

238.8	302.0
242.5	308.0
244.0	308.0

Mustang dyno
93 octane, Cobb catback, Green filter, Denso ITV22 plugs, 75 deg air temp
7/26/2014, 8,000 miles
NOTES: This was at the CJPP meet, and since we had access I figured I'd see what I put down on a different dyno. These numbers are more believable than the Dyno Dynamics numbers I had gotten earlier. Also, this is the same dyno that CJPP used for their shop car, and stock for stock mine put down a little more power than theirs, which made me happy.

--HP---TQ--

230	244
231	251

 

[JayneCobb]

My poor rims

Freakin potholes!!!

I just found this yesterday. I'm pretty good dodging the potholes, but every how and then one sneaks up on me, or I can't dodge over the yellow line because of oncoming traffic. I don't know exactly when this happened, but its within the last week. I don't think the rim itself is cracked, but the paint certainly is.

And of course it couldn't have happened on the rim that already has a chip, so now I have 2 rims that need to be repaired.

 

[ST2Bullitt]

Yuck. I hate pothole season.

 

[Negro Y Oro]

Freakin potholes!!!

I just found this yesterday. I'm pretty good dodging the potholes, but every how and then one sneaks up on me, or I can't dodge over the yellow line because of oncoming traffic. I don't know exactly when this happened, but its within the last week. I don't think the rim itself is cracked, but the paint certainly is.

View attachment 91740 View attachment 91741

And of course it couldn't have happened on the rim that already has a chip, so now I have 2 rims that need to be repaired.

View attachment 91742

That's terrible! I cringe at the thought of damaged wheels.

I like the grill modification, have you noticed a drop in intake temp?

Nice build BTW!

 

[JayneCobb]

Thanks, and I actually haven't been keeping an eye on my intake temps with the AP, but if there's any drop I assume it would be from the snorkel and not the grill.

 

[JayneCobb]

Saw this on Amazon and couldn't pass it up. Right now I just have the stock knob which doesn't get too hot in the summer, but eventually I'd like to get a heavy one which will probably cook up in the sun.

 

[JayneCobb]

I finally got my AP mounted where I want it. It was fine on the right side of the wheel, but there was no way to hide the wire in the air vent. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to remove it. On the left side, however, vent removal is a cinch. After reading a couple threads on AP mounts I picked up this Scosche GPS dash mount.

I was skeptical the suction cup would be sturdy enough to stick to the contours and rough texture of the dash, but it's surprisingly strong. I've been driving with it for a week and the only time it has lost suction was when I was tugging on the arm in the back to adjust it, which is to be expected. And for $10 (I love Amazon) it was worth the gamble.