Ownership Verified: I bought a more or less practical car - 2017 Ford Fiesta ST

[CrzRsn]

1. Theres no snow.
2. I never had all-seasons on the FiST.

 

[CrzRsn]

I did a thing while the forum was broken....

Installed Morimoto XB LED fog lights

They were fairly pricey compared to just putting LED bulbs in the existing housings like so many people do, but If I'm doing lighting mods, I'm doing them right. Went with Morimoto because they're one of the few that actually have proper aiming adjustments and are allegedly DOT certified. I was impressed with the design and engineering of the units. If you didn't know they were aftermarket, you could reasonably think they're OE.
All in all the install took me about 45 minutes, including aiming.

Before:

After:

Got another lighting mod planned, but this one will require quite a bit more work. Still looking for a few electrical components not on Mouser.

 

[Misrabelle]

Some of the photo tags aren't working

 

[CraigB]

I did a thing while the forum was broken....

Installed Morimoto XB LED fog lights

They were fairly pricey compared to just putting LED bulbs in the existing housings like so many people do, but If I'm doing lighting mods, I'm doing them right. Went with Morimoto because they're one of the few that actually have proper aiming adjustments and are allegedly DOT certified. I was impressed with the design and engineering of the units. If you didn't know they were aftermarket, you could reasonably think they're OE.
All in all the install took me about 45 minutes, including aiming.

Before:

After:

Got another lighting mod planned, but this one will require quite a bit more work. Still looking for a few electrical components not on Mouser.

Fog lights look good! May see if they make any for my truck.

On the electrical connectors, try Future Electronics too. I find they are cheaper on some stuff over Mouser. Also it never hurts to check eBay. I've been getting my Tyco/AMP connectors from a seller out of Chicago, at a price cheaper than either Future or Mouser.

 

[CrzRsn]

Some of the photo tags aren't working

Yeah, I think Spectre mentioned that issue in the "Welcome to XenForo" thread. Looks like I got hit too. Going through it now to fix it.

Fog lights look good! May see if they make any for my truck.

On the electrical connectors, try Future Electronics too. I find they are cheaper on some stuff over Mouser. Also it never hurts to check eBay. I've been getting my Tyco/AMP connectors from a seller out of Chicago, at a price cheaper than either Future or Mouser.

Thanks for the heads up. At this point I'm down to just a relay cover, EATON B151-7184-L. I can get it from Waytek Wire for $3, but they have a minimum order qty of 3, charge a $5 "small order fee" for orders under $35 and charge $14 shipping. For reference, my 20+ item Mouser order is only costing $8 to ship. Mouser does stock the relay base that's designed for that cover, and list the cover in their part database, but with a "contact us for price quote". I did that, but ended up getting a no-quote with a note that said that Mouser cannot sell this product series. I did find the whole assembly (base+cover) on Connector Concepts for $6.50, but again they want something like $14-15 for shipping the one part. Damn thing can fit in a $6 USPS Flat Rate box so I refuse to pay their shipping quote on principle.


EDIT: Fixed all the photos. In the process of doing so, realized I already posted about the foglights. Even had a discussion about it with a few people. Don't remember doing so, must've been right before the forum went down.

 

[CrzRsn]

Installed an auto-dimming rearview mirror out of a 2013 Mustang.

Before:

After:

Haven't wired it in yet, but that will be fairly straight forward.

 

[CrzRsn]

Conducted a very important test today...... found out my keyfob survives going through the washer.

 

[RdKetchup]

Any opinion on throttle pedal spacer? I really don't like how deep the accelerator pedal is compared to the others on the RS, and it seems to be the same thing on the Focus ST. Does it affect the FiST as well?

 

[Cellos88GT]

Any opinion on throttle pedal spacer? I really don't like how deep the accelerator pedal is compared to the others on the RS, and it seems to be the same thing on the Focus ST. Does it affect the FiST as well?

My Fiesta ST friend has 3D printed a throttle pedal spacer for himself and our two friends with a FoST and FoRS. They all like them much better.

 

[RdKetchup]

My Fiesta ST friend has 3D printed a throttle pedal spacer for himself and our two friends with a FoST and FoRS. They all like them much better.

Do you know how thick?

There are 3/8", 3/4" and 1.5" on the market.

 

[CrzRsn]

Personally I haven't had any issues, but at the same time I'd be interested in spacer to see what the feel is like.

 

[Cellos88GT]

Do you know how thick?

There are 3/8", 3/4" and 1.5" on the market.

They all did 1" which according to them still keeps the throttle recessed a bit. 1.5" makes the pedal level with the others.

If you have access to a 3D printer, I guess you could print a couple sizes and see which you prefer.

 

[93Flareside]

COUGH@Matt2000COUGH

 

[CrzRsn]

Doppelgänger! Right down to the orange seats and steelies! Pulled up next to him, but he didn't even look over.

 

[CrzRsn]

A blurry milestone

 

[CrzRsn]

2nd oil change yesterday.

Two things of note

1. Lifts are a godsend. Used one of the lifts at work yesterday and it makes life so much easier.

2. Switched from Royal Purple High Performance with an RP filter to Mobil1 Extended Performance oil and Mobil1 EP filter. I'm shocked at how much smoother the engine feels. And its not just the placebo effect, I really wanted to like RP better.

 

[CraigB]

Royal Purple sold a few years back (https://www.ibj.com/articles/34815-calumet-buying-royal-purple-for-about-335-million) and I don't think it's been the same since then.

 

[CrzRsn]

Interesting. I didn't know that. I exclusively used RP in my Miata because it was the only oil that would somewhat mitigate the valve tick. That was the only reason I used it for the first oil change in the Fiesta. That and because I caught a pretty great deal. This time around, it was simply too expensive and a few friends rerecorded Mobil1, especially because its always on sale. Sure enough, there is currently a $17 rebate for it right now, effectively bringing my cost for a 5qt jug + filter down to $23.

 

[CraigB]

I only know that it sold because one of the founders has relocated to the area I'm in and has started a large car museum, bed and breakfast, resturant, etc. on Route 66 in Baxter Springs, Kansas. I've seen the collection, it's extensive.

 

[CrzRsn]

Talked to a co-worker with more of a powertrain background than I have. He was surprised by my comments on it feeling smoother. I elaborated that one of the notable changes was that it sounds less tappity (Ecoboost motors are very tappity). Part of my assumption of smoothness could be coming from the fact that it just sounds quieter.

Also another factor that he brought up that might make it feel a little smoother is fill volume. The owners manual calls for 4.05 liters - I poured in 4 thanks to the marking lines on the jug, then added a few splashed for what I considered 0.05. Add in the fact that you never actually drain 100% of the oil, there might be either a little less or a little more oil than I had last time, which in turn could smooth it out.

Regardless, I think I'll stick with Mobil1 going forward and will transition the Mustang to the same oil when it comes time to do my first oil change in that later this year (that car has had a service contract thats only recently expired, so its been using Motorcraft Synth bend until now).