New Focus owner need JRSC tuning advice.

Kolor_Factory · May 24, 2004

Hello all - I am a new focus owner, but not new to racing. I bought this car to be a show car for my custom graphics and sign shop. As you can see by the listed mods in my sig, the previous owner did a lot of work.

However, I am not pleased with the performance of this vehicle. It is a ton of fun to drive but the aceleration is not very good. I am getting 0-60 in 8.4 and high 15's low 16's in the 1/4. These numbers are from my G-tech, but I also have several other vehicles (96 SHO, 89 5.0, 96 Formula 350 and 92 Supra turbo)and this vehicle is by far the slowest. I really love the car and have been totally converted. It is by far the most fun to drive.

I would like to take the car to someone knowledable for some tuning. I would like to get the car around mid 6 seconds 0-60, and low 14's high 13's 1/4 mile. I know the 4.06 gear set would help some, but I am shocked by the poor performance given all of the mods.

Although money is always a consideration, I did not buy the car to just be satisfied where it is. I am willing to spend what it takes.

With all the bad info out there, from run higher boost to get a turbo to NOS, I would like some input from the guys who have similar setups. I like the JRSC and am going to stick with it.

Any input would be appreciated.

Marc

elderfeces · May 24, 2004

where are you located? you should consider getting the car tuned by SCT (superchips custom tuning.) find a SCT dealer in your area on their website. if you live in SoCal, stop by Focus Sport in anaheim. once the software is available, they are going to be tuning my SVT.

btw, welcome aboard!

Smoe · May 24, 2004

where are you located? you should consider getting the car tuned by SCT (superchips custom tuning.) find a SCT dealer in your area on their website. if you live in SoCal, stop by Focus Sport in anaheim. once the software is available, they are going to be tuning my SVT.

btw, welcome aboard!

No offense but i have volant intake, fc tb, ported 00 intake manifold, crower stage 2 cams (untuned) fc race header, borla flex pipe, magnaflow exhaust, fc udp, msd coil and wires and im running 15.1 - 15.2 in the 1/4.

Either you need to ditch that BS g-tech (which was telling me i was running 17's) and get your car on a real track, or learn how to drive lol.

JeffN · May 24, 2004

Given your mods you should definitely be doing better.

Almost certainly tuning issues. I hope that when you/prio owner put in the custom chip and 42lb injectors, that you took out the the black box that came with the JR? If not, that is at least 110% of your problem.

Where did the custom chip come from? Was it created using the Pro-M's flow map?

What stage cams? If higher than 2, you are hurting your performance with the cams because too much overlap and you lose boost. Even Stage 2 can be a problem with a blower. Stock is better, or a custom turbo grind. Stage 1s are okay, but not much benefit with a blower.

What size (inches) is your pulley? Once you have tuning issues ironed out, you can safely spin the JR up to 15,000rpm. To figure out how fast the JR will be spinning at redline, just multiply your pulley ratio by your redline. The pulley ratio is the size of your crank pulley (5.2" stock) divided by the size of the JR pulley (so, a 2.6" pulley is a PR of 2.0, at a 6,000rpm redline will spin the JR at 12,000rpm).

If you are spinning the JR faster than about 12000rpm you need cooling -- either water injection, or a very small shot of nitrous. Or both in the case of infraredsvt.

Check the gap on your plugs. If it is higher than .045 tighten it up. The screamin demon is a waste of money for a blown car because you cannot open the gap up (the higher pressure will cause flame out at higher rpms). Sell it on ebay or do like I did and just keep the gap low and be happy with a better coil.

There are a couple of other possibilities but you should post a dyno (with a/f) so we can see what is going on.

Kolor_Factory · May 24, 2004

Thanks for all the posts.

As for the g-tech it lines up with my track slips on my other vehicles, so I dont think it is 2 seconds off. Plus, I know what a 12, 13, 14 second runs feel like frommy other vehicles, and this does not pull like them at all.

The previous owner put the stage 3 cams in the vehicle, which i thought was a little much. The chip is Pro-M. It was a mail in tune job off of pro-flow.com. The JR black box has been removed.

My pulley is the 2.6 inch. Stock Crank.

The plugs are factory numbers with factory gap according to the previous owner.

Considering the mods, any ideas on which way to go? Dump the SC and try motor? Keep the SC and dump the cams etc.......

Thanks again, you guys are a great resource for a new focus enthusiast.

silversvtfocus · May 24, 2004

I dont like those GTechs either, it told me i run 17s also, which is rediculous(sp?)

JeffN · May 24, 2004

First things first. Before you dump the supercharger, fix the stuff that is definitely wrong. The s/c is not slowing you down and will get you where you want to be.

1. Dump the cams. You can sell them here or on ebay and get some good $$. I have an extra set of stock cams I can sell you cheap if you need them. A stage 3 profile is just literally sucking your boost out the exhaust because of the overlap. This is definitely part of your problem. Turbo Tom recommends stock. I am going to try the Crower Stage 2 turbo grind (special grind) soon. Some like stage 1's with a blower. Cost: nil, plus you pick up some $$ for the cams on ebay. The supercharger is going to give you way more power than the cams, so the choice there is easy.

2. Check the gap. Easy to do, takes 5 minutes. Gap DOWN from standard factory gap to .045. Cost: $2 for a good gap tool.

3. While your at it, check the plugs for fouling. Take some closeups and post here. I think you may be running way too rich (just a wild guess). Cost: free.

4. Another while you at it: get some az22c spark plugs from your local ford dealer or from fordpartsnetwork.com. They run about $2.50 each, and are better for blown applications (copper core). This will not make a noticable difference, but while you are pulling the plugs to check for fouling you might as well... Cost: $10-12.

5. The mail order pro-m chip is very likely a problem, and your injectors are a little large for what you have. You ideally want 30's or 36's. My guess (just a guess) is that you are running rich because of the larger injectors (meaning that tuning needs to be spot on because smaller mistakes are maginified by the larger injectors). Before spending any more $$ on tuning, or a chip, I would (after fixing nos. 1-4) get yourself to a dyno and do a few pulls ... you need to do this anyway ... see 6. Then, check our your a/f ratio across the power band. You should be around 12 or 12.5:1. Cost: $100 for a few dyno pulls.

6. Tune your cam gears. This will take several dyno pulls, which is good because you need to get a good dyno pull so we can help you more. Cost: $100 for a few dyno pulls.

blueovalbaboon · May 24, 2004

it's a combo of the cams (the overlap means you're losing all your boost) and the pro-m chip. Never ever go with a tuning bandaid like that. real tuning is expensive and worth it.

Although, to be honest, going back to stock cams would make a WORLD of difference for ya

Kolor_Factory · May 25, 2004

You guys rule! I am going down the list starting tomorrow.

i didnt get the pro-m, the previous owner did. he said it was tuned for all the mods on the car. ooops.

to verify I had the stage 3 cams i pulled the card and the grind is the A203.

If the pro-m is bad, I also have an extra superchip that was on the car before the blower. can it be retuned? If not what do you suggest as far as someone near TN for tuning.

I have done many rebuilds on old hotrods and single cam engines. how much differnt is the swap on the zetec? I have the stock cams so I am ready to go.

Once again you guys are great. You can rest assured that your advice is not falling on deaf or lazy ears. I will do what it takes. I will get some dyno time this weekend.

Thanks - Marc

JeffN · May 25, 2004

The superchip won't work either with the blower, and I do not believe it can be reflashed. Even if it could, I would not do that because superchip has a newer and vastly superiod tuning solution/chip out now (Superchips Custom Tuning).

Go to the ModularDepot.com site, and read about SCT tuning on the site, and esp. in the Pre-Order forum. You can also do some searches here but more info on the MD site. Then you should look for SCT's website (I can't remember the url) -- they have a dealer locator on that site.

If you know what you are doing (and have a wideband) you can use SCT to tune it yourself.

Another option is Randy at Focussport.com -- he does mail order tuning using the SCT chip, but his tunes are reportedly right on.

There is also Diablo's latest product Predator, but I do not know anything about it.

The cam swap is not hard. A little time consuming. There is a howto here somehow -- do a search.

blueovalbaboon · May 25, 2004

Randy will have done his first JRSC either already or in the near future, he's prolly your best tuning solution.

You MIGHT try leaving the big intake cam in, although i'd only do that if you're planning on upping the boost to 10 psi or more.

otherwise, throw the stockers back in.

good luck

BerinG · May 25, 2004

No offense but i have volant intake, fc tb, ported 00 intake manifold, crower stage 2 cams (untuned) fc race header, borla flex pipe, magnaflow exhaust, fc udp, msd coil and wires and im running 15.1 - 15.2 in the 1/4.

Either you need to ditch that BS g-tech (which was telling me i was running 17's) and get your car on a real track, or learn how to drive lol.

did 16.198@82mph when i had the car stock.. now 15.938@84mph with borla and sct.. im in quebec though which tends to have faster times (elevation factor)

as mentioned... get the car tuned or learn to drive hehehe

might not be running right

Kolor_Factory · May 25, 2004

anybody know the link for the cam swap? i searched, but no luck.

thnx - marc

JeffN · May 25, 2004

anybody know the link for the cam swap? i searched, but no luck.

thnx - marc

here we go .. took a while to find in the search, sorry. Admins - maybe consider making the link below sticky --pretty good guide.

Howto Install Cams

New Focus owner need JRSC tuning advice.

Kolor_Factory

elderfeces

Smoe

JeffN

Kolor_Factory

silversvtfocus

JeffN

blueovalbaboon

Kolor_Factory

JeffN

blueovalbaboon

BerinG

Kolor_Factory

JeffN

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