[DigitalGT]

And some random guy with a hack tuning program thinks they can do better ... sure.

Randy is hardly some random guy. Neither am I. Randy's been tuning these cars for a decade now and doing so with a pretty damned high level of customer satisfaction. I've been tuning cars with standalones for nearly 15 years and have also had a lot of success doing so. Granted I'm nowhere near as good as Randy is with SCT, but I know enough to be dangerous. Give me a MS or a Haltech and I definitely hang with the big boys though.

Winter fuel blend?

Pull the spark plugs and open the gap to ~0.065". That will provide a hotter spark and should help a little.

The other stuff may be issues with the MAF and it's inaccurate calculations vs air temp. I've found that anywhere in the 50°F to 100°F range, the MAF is pretty good. Once it drops below that 50°F minimum, AFR stars breaking up. There is no adjustment for this I've found yet.

Ford definitely did not tune the SVTF correctly. It has a LONG storied history of drivability issues and irritating side effects of the various tunes Ford released for the car. I know of three different reflashes that were available to try to address various complaints lodged by owners back when these things were under warranty. Fuel blend, plug gap, IAT had nothing to do with this. My car literally ran like a pig when brand new and completely stock and dead cold. Eight minutes later after a reflash from Randy and the thing completely changed it's attitude. Reflashed back to stock and it again ran like a dog. What Randy did differently over the stock tune I have no idea. I do know the the cold start bogging, random stalling coming out of overrun, and random hesitation issues vanished and never came back. Power was up a few ponies verified by back to back dyno runs and economy remained identical.

But to answer your questions.... No it was not winter blend. This was straight 93 octane with zero ethanol content. Plugs were gapped to .055 but made no change. I can't gap any larger than about .035 now though because the coil has issues trying to jump a gap any larger than that with 12 PSI of boost shoved in the chambers.

 

[Ataru]

Steve...factory Motorcraft plugs. Got them from you.

 

[DigitalGT]

I second Steve's suggestion about wires. Trackhermit, a pal of mine, was having ignition issues with his aftermarket coil and FRPP wires. Both of us were shocked by one of the wires while messing with the valve cover breather. Swapped to my stock coil. No change. Swapped to my stock wires. Big improvement.

 

[richiemfmead]

Since we're on the subject of grounds, I saw under recommended mods, following underdrive/lightened pulleys, new, heavier duty ground cabled are recommended. Whats the theory behind this?

Ps, I had the infamous loose weatherpack connection at the coil driver a few months back. How do I tell if I fuel fouled a plug? I mean other that just looking at it? I remember back when I was still in tech school we vagly discussed a meggers test, but dont remember how this was accomplished, or for that matter if it would diag a foulded plug.

 

[DigitalGT]

The engine was somewhat poorly grounded from the factory. Only one grounding cable existed which is the one you see connected to the hoisting hook on the passenger side. Some people have reported that placing a few more ground leads on the engine have help smooth the idle and give marginal drivability improvements.



A megohmeter (megger) would diagnose it. Clip one lead to the center pole and the other to the threaded body and apply the juice. As long as the megger has sufficient power, say 1 KV or more, a spark should jump the gap if the plug isn't fouled. But to accomplish this you'd want to have the suspect plug and a new identical one both gapped the same. Too much work if you ask me, plus not everyone has a megger available to them.

Best way to diagnose your plugs, install new ones. Buy a set of cheap junk plugs like Autolites and install them. If the car runs the same or worse, it's not the plugs.

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Just don't leave the crappy plugs in the car, both Champion and Autolites have been known to fail and drop their guts into the cylinder on SVTs which in turn destroys the engine.

If you want to try cheap plugs just try Motorcraft coppers, P/N SP-463.

They're dirt cheap $1.57 each from me or $2.86 each retail, OEM quality and SVTs absolutely love them. They do have a much shorter lifespan than platinums but the pricing more than makes up for that.

Which reminds me, I should change mine before winter.

-Steve

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Steve...factory Motorcraft plugs. Got them from you.

Looks like you got stock double platinums, ever considered trying the coppers?

 

[DigitalGT]

Yes what Steve said. Don't leave junk plugs installed. Sorry I thought that was sorta obvious. I also didn't realize coppers were that cheap. Get those instead of garbage plugs.

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Yes what Steve said. Don't leave junk plugs installed. Sorry I thought that was sorta obvious. I also didn't realize coppers were that cheap. Get those instead of garbage plugs.

I just wanted to make sure it was absolutely clear, not everyone knows how bad things can turn out with cheap, low quality plugs.

 

[richiemfmead]

Ok Ill give everything above a shot. So on another note, if I decide to get a livewire tuner for this thing, once I physically have the tuner, how do I obtain the tune? Do I need to bring it somewhere and have it tested and tuned on a dyno or does it come preloaded with maps specifically for my vehicle with installed mods? Im kinda new to the whole tuning experience.

 

[DigitalGT]

If you buy from Randy, it comes with a tune. Or you could go to a local tuner/SCT dealer and have them tune it. Just be aware that most SCT tuners are in the V-8 market and may not have much if any experience with the Focus let alone the SVT. Although if you have a good tuner available with a dyno and you're willing to spend the coin to keep the car on the rollers, it will likely result in a better tune. Not saying Randy has a bad product....far from it, but tuning remotely means he needs to be a bit more cautious than would be necessary tuning in person. For the money though you can't go wrong with one of his tunes.