As to your comment about things moving along so quickly, they need to be! We hit the road on Sunday morning for a 1,000 mile trip, and we're taking the Transit Connect if at all possible. The pressure is on!

 

For the Ball joints:

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You may be able to find one cheaper at Harbor Freight or the like.

 

Have you used that one on the Focus? I have one that's similar that I've used on my Mazda 6, but it doesn't fit into the ball joint hole to push it down far enough.

 

Lots of penetrant. Turn the wheels to access the pinch slot. GENTLY drive a chisel in there to release the squeeze on the balljoint stud. Then pry the balljoint down.

 

I just rattle them out, pushing down, and adjusting the angle of the hub face. They pop right out if you do it right. Adjusting the hub face angle is key.

 

I'm assuming with the pinch bolt on the strut already removed? I was able to pry down on the control arm and get one out without too much trouble--though I still wish I had a puller that would do the job more elegantly.

The passenger side is all good now--no play after retorquing the axle nut, though I also found a split in the boot that I missed. With where it's at, it probably got cut while on the pallet with the transmission. I'll keep my eyes out for another axle, and maybe order a new one from Ford at some point. O'Reilly has one locally--any experience with theirs on the Focus platform? Aftermarket axles are a PITA on my Mazda--seems no one has the correct ones for the V6/5-speed combination, and the ones that do are poorly built.

The driver's side feels good with a new bearing, but I'm hearing some groaning. I need to check the axle nut there again. I'm wondering if some of the corrosion on the axle splines is causing these axles to bind a bit as I'm tightening, with a quick drive wiggling them into place and releasing the squeeze on the inner wheel bearing.

Next step is figuring out the wiring for the two clutch switches so that I can have working cruise control on the trip. It'll be a little bit of a pain crawling around under the dash, but should be pretty straightforward. The only hard part there really is going to be finding the harness side connectors to plug into them. Hopefully a trip to the local Ford dealer this afternoon will be fruitful.

 

I just take off the top nut of the ball joint, and wiggle it out of the knuckle. If it feels jammed up, adjusting the hub angle normally frees it.

I've had it apart waaaaaaayyyy too many times. 10 or eleven times at this point.

 

I'm going to catch up with you at the rate I'm going right now! I would have never thought that suspension noises would be what I was troubleshooting at this point--I suppose I should be happy about that, as we know they can be fixed one way or another.

 

My last several posts were pretty sorely lacking pictures. Let's try to fix that, starting from the beginning.

Here's a before & after:

(Ignore my temporary wiring in the battery junction box.) The goal, and I think we've succeeded, is that a look under the hood wouldn't draw any special attention.

This was a good sign. The port for the connection to the clutch master cylinder is already there, capped off with an SAE quick disconnect fitting.

Draining the automatic transmission for the last time. I have a few doubts about this transmission though, after noticing "GTDI" on the sticker. I have the service history from the Ford dealer and CarFax report, neither showing any transmission work, but I wonder...

Here's a better view of the front of the old engine and transmission with the radiator out of the way:

Without the transmission cooler, the coolant hose mess would definitely get simpler--but it took me quite a while to make sense of what was flowing where. I suppose I could have just ordered all of the ST hoses at the outset, but where's the fun in that?

Here's a good look at C1035C, a connector made by Lear:

It would have been nice if it was a manufacturer with parts readily available, but that would have been too easy. I wanted to re-pin the connector without cutting anything, and there are two different sizes of contacts in it--with some of the circuits moving from the smaller to larger cavities, and some the opposite. Tracking down the terminals to make short jumpers/extensions took a lot of effort. I promise I'll post part numbers when I get my stack of paperwork sorted. Everything to mate the ST powertrain to the TC happens here.*

*Almost.

Old and new brake pedal assemblies:

Everything there was identical except for the pedal itself. Easy swap.

 

Would the clutch pedal be as easy? Here's a good sign:

Yes, that's all of the mounting studs, a cutout in the felt insulation, and right behind it is a plastic plug in the firewall opening. It was a lot more difficult to get in place than the brake pedal though, requiring disconnecting the steering shaft for enough room to get the master cylinder through the opening and lined up over the studs. Note below that I had to remove the plastic dead pedal screwed to the carpet from the back side.

Getting the shifter assembly mounted was easy, fishing the cables under the airbox was not. The next picture shows what you have to work with to get the cables through the hole in the floor. The opening is to the left of the metal bracket in the foreground, with nuts on two studs coming up from the floor holding the grommet in place. Ford's procedure says to tie a string to the old cable and use it to pull new through, but that simply doesn't work. It's a two person job, with one prying up on the airbox (that actually is in the manual) and feeding the cables through the floor, the other on the engine side of the firewall pushing down as the cables come through so you can get the mounting bushings and everything angled right. It's not a big hole.

Back under the hood...

Getting the engine and transmission out ended up being quite easy. Not having any sort of subframe across the front of the engine definitely helps; it would have been nice if the windshield stopped a couple inches rearward though.

More to follow...I need to get the clutch switches wired so cruise control will work and put the interior back together before it goes in for an alignment this afternoon. I'm definitely going to stay with it, as it still has the 5-speed shift knob. It's hard enough finding techs that you can trust with a stick, and probably close to impossible to find one that would get this thing going the right direction without a little help.

 

SUBBED

You do know that Focus RS brakes are a direct swap. So is Focus ST bilstein dampers, ask how I know.......

 

Absolutely! Though I'd have to upgrade wheels, and the 16" wheels I have just got new tires earlier this year. It may happen, but it's probably a ways off. Struts and shocks are on the to-do list though--as far as I can tell, they have every bit of 161,000 miles on them. If they do, they've held up really well.

 

This afternoon I finally tracked down the suspension noise and had an alignment done. Even though they were torqued to spec, it was the endlinks. It kind of surprised me though--the noise was much more like you'd expect with ball joints going bad, and I've seen bad end links on the Focus before. Weird, but glad it's taken care of.

Also, while at the Ford dealer today, I got the automatic transmission shifter cable recall done. Well, marked as done. There's no longer a place to install the bushing that's part of the recall!

 

Quick update on the ambient air temperature issue--a few days ago while trying to figure out what was going on, I measured resistance on the TC's temperature sensor. It matched up with the Focus resistance for about -40 degrees, even though the same chart suggested that the TC should have the same scale. Trying to find a Focus sensor locally wasn't getting me anywhere, and an online order would have had me spending $30-60 and still needing a connector.

The local salvage yard had a Focus mirror, which contains the temperature sensor. I cannibalized the mirror (in other words, I disassembled it as far as I could, then pulled out a cutting wheel on the Dremel...) to get the sensor. Despite the schematics (which show a 2-pin connector on the sensor itself), it's a little guy that's wired directly to the main mirror connector. I cut it out, put the bare wire ends into the TC's connector, and we now have a proper outside temperature reading. I'll make it more permanent and then hopefully get the AC recharged today or tomorrow.

I also got the clutch switch wiring hooked up this morning, so we have a working starter inhibit and cruise control deactivation, which means that cruise control now works. I intend to put a few more miles on it today and tomorrow before changing the oil. Road trip starts in ~60 hours. It almost seems like we might be ready for it--fingers crossed!

 

Hey, I'm that other guy! Glad you got it figured out - do you know if the temperature sensor is as simple as being a resistor that varies with temp (so can be wired in the circuit either way)? I've double checked my wiring and am now thinking that the problem is the sensor itself as well. I found that Peugeot part no. 6445F9 is the same as the Ford embedded sensor, so I have one on order, but since the sensor is just two black pigtails I don't know which way to connect it...

 

Still catching up with pictures...

Here's a shot of the modified connector at the battery junction box. Not wanting to cut any existing wires, I made short jumpers to go between the larger and smaller terminal sizes. 15 wires had to be moved, and 3 rerouted from C139 to C1035C. If for some reason I wanted to, the old engine and transmission harness would plug back in with everything else on the van still hooked up (well, provided I also hooked the transmission shift lever and its connections back up). The loose brown and yellow wires are from C139, that weren't yet hooked up (it runs just fine without them--the fuel pump monitor (FPM) and a ground for the fuel tank pressure (FTP) sensor.)

Picked up an inner tie rod end tool to get the original ones off--it's just wonderful that Ford didn't put a couple of flat surfaces on them so a normal inner tie rod end tool would work. I ended up cutting the tie rods to get the boots off instead of fighting the jam nuts.

The next picture is terrible quality--I must have been way too quick to move the phone. But it's the only one I took comparing the heater hose that connects to the coolant line connected to the oil cooler. While very similar to the stock TC hose, the ST hose is a few inches longer at the end that runs over the top of the transmission.

Next picture is where I ran into a roadblock with the intercooler I ordered from RockAuto. It's just like the stock intercooler I ended up with except for where the MAP/IAT sensor mounts. I never did find a sensor that fit, so I went to the local salvage yard for an intercooler that was a little more expensive but worked. The one from RockAuto is listed only for the Escape, and definitely doesn't fit the sensor for the Escape.

Next up is the exhaust. I ran into trouble routing the shifter cables with the MTX75 transmission, and when I finally got to figuring out the exhaust with the MMT6 I realized (based on the mounting bracket on the transmission) that the ST routing was more different than was obvious previously. A gal on Facebook that got me the intake parts also had a stock downpipe, so we got that in. Side-by-side notice that the ST (top in the picture) hangs a sharp corner closer to the turbo outlet than the Escape. It's also shorter--based on listed dimensions I thought it was going to be too short, which is why I initially ordered the one for the Escape.

As it turned out, it was just the right length. All I had to do to mate up to the cat back on the TC was cut and rotate the flange--the ST's studs are at 4 and 10 o'clock, while the TC's are at 9 and 3. Sawzall, band clamp, and done.

When it came to first startup, I was a little nervous about the oil pressure light being on. The Escape doesn't have an oil cooler, the TC does (same as the ST), so it got moved over. The switch is on the mount, and I didn't switch them. Notice the difference (ST on left, TC on right):

The PCMs were a different size, and required a different enclosure. ST on left, TC on right:

And of course, once it was all running, we had to make it official:

 

Last one for now--here's the instrument cluster while out running around today, on the way to pick up the mirror with the temperature sensor (notice the --- for the temperature, as there's no sensor hooked up). After getting the two clutch switches wired up this morning, cruise control works too.

 

Amazing job!!

 

How’d you like that inner tie rod puller tool? Did it work out great & easily for you?

 

It definitely did the job. It's not exactly the easiest getting the two halves in place and getting the nuts started, but no trouble at all getting them loose. The usual tool that slips over the tie rod doesn't work as there's no flat spot to wrench on, and in my case, I couldn't get the outer tie rod ends off.

If you're using it without disassembling as much as I did, make sure you have extensions to get the ratchet out past the brake rotor/hub.

 

Awesome work and hustle so far!
I see you over there with 17 mpg....🥴
How's it pull? Haha

 

Let's just say it's quite lively. So far, that's all running around town, and actually better than it was getting with the old power train. And I've been surprised how quiet and smooth it is--I put in a new transmission mount (old one had some minor tearing), and a new Focus Electric torque strut, so I was expecting to feel more vibration.

We'll get a good feel for interstate cruising economy this weekend. I just reset the trip 2 stats that had been counting since we bought the thing, and I'm optimistic we'll beat it's 23.4 mpg average--or at least have a lot of fun getting about the same.

 

@Duff i used this one on mine. Less cumbersome to get installed since its used as-assembled.

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@Duff i used this one on mine. Less cumbersome to get installed since its used as-assembled.

View attachment 396791

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That does look like it would have been easier. Is it big enough to slide over the outer end?

I was expecting to have easy access to put a wrench on the inner joint right up until I pulled the boots back while the engine was out. The new tie rods ends had the flats, so it was a surprise when I got in there. It took several attempts locally to find the one I bought (and I'll readily admit I paid too much)--but it needed done before the new engine and stuff went in, and I'd only rented the engine hoist for a week.

Now I've got to decide whether I should buy that one from Summit next time I drive by one of their locations, or bet on never having to mess with them again...

 

It was a long day today--with family stuff yesterday, I got up this morning to change the oil before loading up for the trip. It should be no surprise that Hercules tightened the drain plug on the new engine, or that the intercooler meant that I couldn't get the same grip on the filter that I had when putting it on. Neither a big deal, just more exertion than I was prepared for before the sun was up.

The trip was mostly into strong head and crosswinds, so it's not a good barometer for fuel mileage (and we left later than planned, so there may or may not have been some elevated speeds when it wasn't pouring rain). But 525 miles later we arrived. No breakdowns, no check engine light, just the wheel bearing/axle noise that was there when we started.

 

Nice work! I'd be nervous to do all that work then hit the road.

 

You're not alone. We definitely spent a lot of time asking "Is that a new noise or just the pavement?"

 

Hopefully later today I'll get a chance to start filling in the details on parts, wiring, and software.

 

Please do as I’m contemplating this exact thing. Oem 1.6 trans is garbage and it’s toast , a rebuild is 6k from a legit shop with updates.
Plus rebuilt is garbage as they don’t fix inherit issues.

 

So my next step is trying to eek out better fuel mileage with taller gears. With about 4,000 miles on the swap so far, I'm averaging about 1 mpg worse than before overall (21.1 mpg), and actually seem to be getting about the same mileage in town and in steady interstate cruising. The last two tanks across the midwest were below 20, with the cruise set at 80 for almost all of it. I know the TC isn't the most aerodynamic thing on the road, but it's also not terribly less aerodynamic than other minivans with larger displacement and larger frontal area--so I think it can do better. This thing should be able to beat a GM U-van--I could regularly get 27 mpg out of its 3.4L V6. I wouldn't complain so much if I also had a U-van's 25-gallon fuel tank, but the worse mileage and smaller tank add up to half the range, to where it seems like you're always looking for the next gas stop.

Right now I'm looking at using an MMT6 from one of the diesel variants used in Europe, either the ST-D or the Mondeo. There seems to be a slight discrepancy in the gear ratios published, but first gear would be just slightly shorter than the US ST's first gear (13.65 instead of 13.11), but taking bigger steps toward an overall 6th gear ratio that's 80% of the ST. That would result in 4th gear having the same ratio as the ST's 5th gear, and 80 mph in 6th gear would come at 2300 rpm instead of just under 3000.

This should get me closer to where the Escape is geared with the same engine (it would be another 100 rpm slower at 80 in top gear), and hopefully get closer to the Escape's fuel economy on the open road. There are a decent number of ~25 mpg reports for the Escape, even in AWD form, on fueleconomy.gov. I'd be happy with that on the highway, which would at least make 300-mile fueling intervals reasonable.

Assuming I pull the trigger and buy another transmission, and wait however long it takes to get here, I'll still have some work to do. I'll have to take the bellhousing half of my existing MMT6 and mate it to the new transmission, or swap out the gearsets in my existing case with the new ones. That's uncharted territory for me, so any pointers there are welcome. If it's all going to be apart, it might also be the time to consider a Quaife (or other torque-biasing) differential. Axles, shifter cables, exhaust bracket, and the like should all carry over. The only alternative I can think of to avoid tearing into the transmission is to try to mount the diesel's starter to the diesel transmission, hoping that there's clearance to the block and that the flywheel ring gears are the same.

 

I cant help with the trans information you're needing but as far as MPG goes, these engines' mileage suffers drastically when the ambient temps are cold, as well as when engine speed is around 3000rpm and above (which it is at 80). So, next summer wheb its 85 outside and you go on a trip, go the speed limit, youll get drastically better mpg.

 

Man, you're like 3x as crazy as I am and 100x faster. Talking about swapping transmission internals is blowing my mind and given your success so far I don't doubt you can do it.

Re: LSDs, I have one in my TCST and it's pretty great. I haven't driven an ST without one before so I can't give a good A-B comparison, but it definitely holds traction a lot better than any open diff fwd car I've driven - not a small difference. I got an MFactory unit just because it was available at a good discount at the time and it seems like pretty good quality.

 

I'm in the opposite boat--all of my vehicles have been open diff (they've also all been 5-speeds, so looking for reverse up and left has taken a little adjustment). I've never cracked open a transmission like what I'm talking about, and I'd like to think I could figure it out. My biggest fear is trying to open the case and having parts fall out before I see where they're supposed to go. I haven't yet found a good manual on tearing down the transmission like I have for my other vehicles.

 

Almost forgot to post this rather minor upgrade...

Switched over from the integrated keyhead remote design to this aftermarket flip key. After a few weeks, I'm not crazy about the unlock button, but it's much easier to pocket carry. If the unlock button just had a ridge or a couple of dimples to make it easier to find, I'd have no complaints.

 

Switched over from the integrated keyhead remote design to this aftermarket flip key. After a few weeks, I'm not crazy about the unlock button, but it's much easier to pocket carry. If the unlock button just had a ridge or a couple of dimples to make it easier to find, I'd have no complaints.

Looks nice - does the trunk button do anything?

 

@Duff I need to know or see a small write up of switching from the transit Connect seats to Focus seats in the van. Mainly interested in the wire harness and see if there's an issue with removing the seats without the air bag deploymnet.

 

I haven't swapped seats yet, but it's on my list. Probably not doing Focus seats though--I've got the factory TC leather option, which is a sort of tan and brown combo that doesn't exist on the Focus. I don't have them with me this week, but I have wiring diagram manuals for both Focus and TC, and can check to see if the connectors are the same. More than likely, I'll end up with C-Max or Escape seats--we just added a C-Max to the fleet, so I should be able to compare Focus, TC, and C-Max seats side by side.

 

I know I'm a bit overdue for an update. We're at about 25,000 miles on the swap, so far with only one real issue--I lost brake fluid out of the clutch hydraulics. It definitely caught me by surprise--four hours into a 6-hour trip, we were about to make a quick pit stop. I pushed in the clutch pedal coming off the freeway and it went to the floor. Of course, both the gas station and "travel plaza" at the exit were out of brake fluid, so I bribed a tow service to bring me a bottle of fluid. Managed to use the clutch to get on the freeway, and only touched it twice the rest of the drive.

It appeared that there was fluid on top of the transmission, leaking from one of the quick connect fittings on the clutch line. Of course, getting one delivered while I was there was impossible, so the 6-hour drive the other way was made longer by me stopping every 40 miles or so to check and/or top off the reservoir. Got the line replaced, and it sat for a couple of weeks without losing any fluid. Took it to run a few errands, and ended up with a dry reservoir. As it turns out, the slave cylinder is leaking like crazy, but only if the engine is running. I'm getting going pulling the transmission to address that today (with far less than the usual complement of tools than I'd like).

Otherwise, we're getting a ton of use out of it, being more practical than a pickup for most hauling tasks (an 85-inch TV in the box fits inside with the doors closed!), more fun than a minivan probably ever should be, and really showed its capabilities on a 1,500 mile trip towing a trailer a while back. While I'd posted before that I was still kind of underwhelmed by the overall fuel economy, I was pleasantly surprised how it did towing. At 7,200lbs gross combination weight, setting the cruise control just under 70 mph for most of the trip, with a 5x8 enclosed trailer (i.e. a brick slightly taller than the van), we ended up right at 19 mpg overall. I think our worst tank was mid-16s (headwinds in Iowa), and the best was just over 20. Of all the vehicles I've towed with, it might be my favorite--the low center of gravity of the TC, low hitch position, and long wheelbase (with rear axle really far back there) made for a very stable combination. A 4-inch rise on the ball mount got it up into the typically-recommended 18" range, and was still low enough that both doors opened without the ball or coupler interfering. Also, for anyone debating cargo doors vs. liftgate, that definitely wouldn't be possible with the trailer attached.

The biggest knock on the whole towing experience is that I bought the plug-in wiring adapter from Curt (I think). It was relatively easy to install, but was obviously designed by someone who only had access to a cargo van. Had they had a passenger wagon, they would have chosen to source power and ground on the passenger side of the harness, where both are readily available at the rear power distribution block. It's going to be returned, and I now have the factory trailer module that I'll be making a wiring harness for (Ford doesn't seem to be able to find the pieces necessary). My plan there is to order the European market 13-pin connector, and make an adapter to give me more conventional US-style 4- and 7-pin plugs. (The Euro design is much easier to live with, and I'll eventually be towing a custom camper that will be wired to take advantage of the extra circuits.)