Page 2 - 2014+ Ford Fiesta ST

Time to dive into yet another Fiesta ST project! This little Fiesta is getting the royal treatment at Mishimoto; over the last few months it has been fitted for numerous upgrades. If you are in the mood for a recap, you can check out some of the other Fiesta posts here on the Mishimoto blog. For now we'll dive right into our development of Mishimoto's expansion tank for the Fiesta ST.

Stock Expansion Tank

Here at Mishimoto we feel a certain type of way about plastic. It is not that we have a vendetta against plastic, but we see an area where we can improve upon some of the stock Fiesta ST parts. Plastic expansion tanks in general (or any plastic parts) are more prone to failure than an aluminum part would be. Plastic becomes brittle with age, exposure to elements, and the repeated heat cycles in the engine bay. Replacing the plastic tank with an aluminum one not only looks better, but it also would be less prone to bursting or cracking especially as the

In our last post we took a good look at the stock Fiesta ST exhaust and the initial design of our cat-back exhaust. The exhaust was fabricated and installed on the car and then it was time to test the stock system.

To Resonate or Not to Resonate

Getting the sound just right was quite a process. Our initial prototype featured 2.5" piping with a single rear muffler. This design did not feature a resonated mid-pipe unlike the stock unit. The initial design was sound tested on the dyno and also test driven by several members of the team. While we loved the low growl of the exhaust as it was, we wanted to test a resonated version before settling on a final design. As with all exhaust development projects, we are aiming for a final product that sounds great on throttle while still being

Introduction and the Stock Downpipe

Another addition to the Fiesta ST collection! Our Fiesta build is coming along nicely, and I am happy to announce some progress on our downpipe project. As with any R&D undertaking the first step is to take a look at the stock setup and see how it can be improved.

Stock Fiesta ST downpipe

Although Ford has a pretty nice design, we are planning to make it a bit better by increasing the diameter of the downpipe to 3" throughout. As opposed to the stock unit which features 3" pipe only where the downpipe meets the turbo. In order to achieve excellent fitment with the turbo, we will keep the flange as similar to stock as possible. To collect the most accurate measurements

As many of you are aware, here at Mishimoto we have been going Fiesta crazy developing various Fiesta ST parts such as;

• Performance Aluminum Radiator
• Oil Cooler Kit
• Performance Air Intake
• Direct-Fit Baffled Oil catch can
• Downpipe and  Intercooler/Piping coming soon!

Up next is something that the team here has been very eager to start development on, the Fiesta ST Cat-Back Exhaust! We are excited to let you in on the details of the development of our first prototype. As with any exhaust project, we are shooting for improvement in flow over stock as well as a great overall tone that is drone-free. Check out the details and let us know how we did!

Stock Component

To begin, we gave the Fiesta ST's stock exhaust setup an once-over to see what we were working with. While it is not terrible, we do see some room for improvements. As you may have noticed, the stock exhaust has two mufflers. One rather

After removing both catch cans for data collection in our previous post, we discussed the idea of relocating the bracket that holds the PCV catch can to a different area in the engine bay. We mentioned earlier that we were toying with the idea because the current location of the Fiesta ST catch can raised some concerns. One of them being that the current location for the catch can would interfere with right-hand drive (RHD) applications of the Fiesta ST, and we want this catch can to be all inclusive. In addition, it came to our attention later on that it would also interfere with some aftermarket intakes.  We try to take common Fiesta ST parts upgrades into consideration so that the products we make will fit all Fiesta STs. The consensus was that because there was a bit more room further forward in the engine bay to relocate the catch can, that would be the way to go.

Bracket and Hose Setup

With this new location in mind our engineers began fabricating a

So far this Fiesta ST has had an interesting life with Mishimoto. The very same day that we drove it off the lot, it was rolled into our development facility and fitted for its first modification: a prototype baffled catch can kit. Why did we chose to begin with this? From our experience with other EcoBoost equipped vehicles, we know how prone these engines are to blow-by and carbon buildup. If you want to read more in depth about the benefits of a catch can, check out our complete write up on Blow-By 101. Installing a catch can right away allows us to protect the engine of our new development vehicle and gives us more time for data collection as we work on developing additional Fiesta ST parts. Last, but certainly not least of all, we asked for your feedback and received an overwhelming response to create a Fiesta ST catch can (yes we do listen to you!).