Engine Modifcations

This is where I have concentrated most of the mods as I like power more than show, as a result there is not a lot extra to look at from the outside, its mainly all inside that aluminium lump.

Here is the engine bay, first thing you'll notice is that I have a cross bar fitted. I did this very early on when I upgraded the suspension as I wanted to make sure there was no body flex. It came in yellow only and this gave me the idea for the cars contrast colour.

Next mod was simple I lacquered all the caps etc that you need to check (I'd just finished lacquering the brakes and had a lot of yellow paint left) so this adds to the yellow contrast scheme. Simple and effective

Next mod you may just be able to see is the HT Leads. After eating two Ford sets and one of those 8mm yellow leaded Halford sets, I discovered this seems to be a common occurrence on Mondeo's. Croydon Race & Rally suggested some Splitfire leads, these are not cheap at £75, but are certainly worth it. They have done 40k miles now with no breakdown at all, a record in this car. At they same time I swapped the spark plugs from Bosch to Splitfires and again had no problems. Currently running NGK Platinum's.

Oil has always been Mobil Rally 1 since the day I bought the car. Wouldn't use anything else. It gets changed at 10k intervals or every 6 months, whatever comes first. Engine was Slick 50'ed after run in as I've have good success with this on earlier cars and my motorbike.

Starter Motor was replaced at 80k miles for a heavy duty version, the original having died while doing the Mondeo starter death whine.

Battery was replaced at 105k miles for a heavy duty, higher rated one. The original lasted 6 years which is good going

One of the first mods on the car was to replace the standard filter and air box with a K&N 57i induction kit. Fairly easy to fit, it has several advantages.

Didn't feel like it had any more power, but certainly picked up faster after this, except I now had a noticeable flat spot at around 4k rpm. (Now replaced with a AEM Short Ram Pipe)

After talking to the folks at Croydon Race & Rally, we were convinced the flat spot was a fuelling problem, in that the engine could now get extra air but couldn't squirt in enough fuel to go with it. To help this I then fitted an FSE up rated Fuel Pressure valve and this did do the trick, the flat spot disappeared. Fitting wasn't to bad except that Ford uses a fuel hose with a hard plastic insert, which is a pain to sleeve over fittings (Boiling water helps)

After running my Girlfriends old Sierra on unleaded successfully for a year using a Broquet fuel catalyst, I added one of those to my fuel tank. Did seem a little smoother afterwards at idle and more eager. Anyway I'm convinced that it works. The Sierra could be advanced by nearly 5 degrees with it in on unleaded. Take it out and you'd have to retard it again. Conclusive proof it was doing something

I've also fitted an Ecotek. This amazing little device works wonders, Noticeably more mid range with it fitted and I reckon I'm getting around 10%better fuel economy on longer trips. No different round town, but then I'm using the right foot more.

Next mod was a new exhaust. At 80k miles the cat was beginning to fall to pieces, even though the exhaust itself was OK (just). Went to RSR Tyres at Croydon, who fitted a new cat and then made me a great Powerflow 3" stainless steel exhaust system with a square exhaust exit. The Powerflow system is great, you take your car in, discuss what you want from your exhaust (in my case power, but quiet and ground clearance) and then you come back later and they have made your system up on the car. Its guaranteed for life (inspection every year).

The exhaust made a noticeable difference even on the first pull away from the garage, +5 BHP! It was everything I asked for, quiet at idle (bit deeper in tone than standard), with a nice rasp at high revs. No boy racer exhaust amplifier for me.

Shame I couldn't say the same about the catalytic converter they fitted though, it failed the emissions MOT 4 months later (gas was same without cat fitted), the one RSR fitted as a warranty replacement lasted another 4 months before its header pipe warped and wouldn't seal on the manifold. Bought another genuine Ford one this time as I heard it is one of the better ones and has a low back pressure. Certainly running without the Cat makes no difference, so its permanently fitted (Can't pass an MOT without it anyway)

Things were fine with this little lot and the car was up to approx 140 BHP. I was happy, then DISASTER!. Driving to Heathrow one morning for work I stopped at some lights with about 1/2 a mile to go and THUNK! she seized solid and died. No steam, temperature gauge read normal, no warnings at all. Only thing was a heater hose had split 3 days earlier and been repaired. As she cooled down, then the steam appeared, oil and water poured out and and she died in front of me. Thanks to the AA for getting me to my flight on time and looking after the Molemobile while I was away

So into the garage for a complete strip down to see what we could find. Culprit was the thermostat and the Water Pump. It had jammed shut and the pump only had one blade left and she had overheated. Annoyingly I had bought a new thermostat about a month before but hadn't got round to fitting it. Tests on the temperature sender showed it would not register above normal even when blow torched!!!! and the water pump was in a bad way. Head gasket was gone, head warped, water pump stripped etc. So it was time for the mega re-build. I have since found out that this seems to be a known issue with both Zetec and Duratec engines so go to the Known problems section to read more

In other words it was a pukka re-build, many thanks to Dave at Jones Bros Motors in Clapham for doing all the work.

Now I have a fire breathing monster and as Its only just been run in I have yet to get it re-chipped to get the fuelling sorted correctly. Its running on the old ignition maps so there is more to be wrung out yet. (next months pay!)

On the 18/6/01 I had a Unichip fitted. Added a page dedicated to this little device

STOP PRESS:: August 2001. AEM Short Ram Pipe fitted. Is this the biggest air filter anyone has?

Mad Moles Mondeo Madness, © Mad Mole 2001. You may see the Molemobile fly past in the Sutton area (Surrey). Return to Home page
Contact me on madmole@btinternet.com

Engine Modifications