Hi guys ive heard a few people who've owned the 1.8 petrol mk1 focus sayin its alot better than my tdci and one of my friends suggested doing a swap but i cant see it being a simple or cheap procedure

Any thorts guys?

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Not worth the hassle or money on a mk1 engine gearbox exhaust ecu looms fuel pipe/tank radiator and all associated pipe work far cheaper just to go an buy a 1.8 petrol mk1 or 2 .

Thort as much just wanted a second opinion i can get a mk1 st for 2-2.5k thinking wether to get that instead

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Apologies texting while cooking isnt easy

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The mk 1.5 diesel's are all common rail and better engines. I've had both 1.8 TDCi and 1.6i 16v. I rather the diesel, it's got a lot more torque & better consistence fuel economy

Im just wanting a littl more power trying to explore ways of making the most out of my car

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its good to have a great car you love, but if you dont love it as is, get shot :p

Honestly, the cost of an engine replacement for the lump alone, on top of the cost of time and labour to remove the old, fit the new, along with replacing the fuel system, the lines, the ECU, the pump etc. You are talking double, if not triple the cars value if things dont go smoothly!

Otherwise if you get a perfect donor car, then you are looking at the retail value of the car you are buying, and then probably half that again in garage labour to replace everything over.

Its a nice idea, and I wish it was cheaper, as it would have saved me money a few years ago, but in all honesty, its really not worth the assosciated cost. If you like your car, but would want the Petrol, best thing to do is just go buy a spare petrol car, decide which you love the most and either sell the other, or keep both as toys!

Wish I could keep both but insurance would kill me

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Im just wanting a littl more power trying to explore ways of making the most out of my car

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The best, simplest and most cost-effective way of increasing your power/ torque (on a turbo car) is to remap the engine, this can "transform" the way the car drives, turning an underpowered car that is a chore to drive into a car that is a pleasure to drive

often, on a turbo diesel, the mpg is the same or improved, even with the extra performance

the can order a bluefin (Superchips remap in a handset) yourself and install it in 15 mins, you dont even have to open the bonnet

the remapped TDCI (assuming it is a 1.8L, as you dont say (what a surprize)) should outperform a 1.8 petrol in the midrange, in the higher gears, out of corners etc top gear roll ons, overtaking etc

the Bluefin claims to increase the power from 100 to 131Hp, and the torque from 240 to 306Nm (the 1.8 petrol only has 115PS, and probably a lot less torque)

Superchips (the company, Bluefin is the product) works with insurance companies and is recognized as a legit mod, the insurance may not be much more -

if you cant afford to legitimately insure a blufin/remap, an engine swop would be even more out of reach to insure or you could have to run illegally/ effectively uninsured, an ST would be expensive to run/ insure too

On the fact of chips and insurance. I know ur ment to tell them but if u don't how do they even find out

I couldnt agree more with FOCA, remap is definitely the better answer. If the pursestrings are tighter, then even a tuning box can offer a good boost.

On the matter of insurance, they wont know by default.

In the event of an accident they look at both sides of the accident. for example, if you go into the back of someone, they look at if you were possibly driving too fast for the conditions, or if the incident was fraud related. Either way, the first question is "who was to blame".

In most instances, this is fine, as eventually they will argue who was at fault, but they may assess the car.

However, lets take the worst case scenario for a moment. Your driving along with your remap, insurer is unaware and *something* happens. Either way, the end result is that you have inadvertently killed someone. The first thing that happens is you get breathalised, the second thing is a police investigation, and they will take the whole car apart if they have to. Then they look at insurance. The Police and Insurers can and will talk to each other through an investigation. When it comes to it the Police will say "we have looked at the car and can see no mechanical failures, but we see that there is a remap on the engine and the tyres arent really going to support this". All of a sudden the insurance is null and void, your left without insurance and your dealing with a much bigger problem than just an accidendtal death, your also looking at driving without insurance and causing that death at the same time. You will struggle to be insured again, along with all the other issues that come from it.

Thanks for the input guys and yes my car is the 1.8 tdci i think il go for a bluefin seems the most stress free way of upgrading the car bit to benefit from the remap would i not need to upgrade the exhaust and also up rate the brakes or is that not necessary for an extra 21bhp?

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Nah 21 won't impact these. You could boost it further by upgrading the exhaust and intake before your remap but those brakes are probably good for another 30-40 horses but bear in mind you won't always be driving using all those horses. On average you probably won't use more than about 60 on day to day drive

True and i dont no how long the car has left on its life its 128k on the clock

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Depends how much love you show it. Preventative maintenance is key and early resolution as well.

I bought it at 127 and its been used as a van by a plasterer the air pipe wasnt attached to the air box so i was losing pressure and clogging the engine with !Removed! so its a guessing game how long it will last

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ouch that's not the greatest lol in that case a remap by money down the drain...

To be honest you probably won't have sucked anything serious in as the engine bay is fairly well protected so your just sucking unfiltered and dusty air, which although not great is by no means the end of it

Its having a wynns engine flush and a full service and the intercooler is being ripped off and deep cleaned and im steam cleaning the engine bay

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That's certainly going to make a difference get it a terraclean to make sure it's truly close to perfect as it an be!

Guna get a year out of it at least

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Terraclean?

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Yeah an additional service that works like paint stripper on a newly painted wall. It just goes through the engine but instead of Stripping paint it strips out all the old carbon deposits and is lik a spit Polish on the engine. Go to the search bar top right of this page and search terraclean seems to be spreading and read that thread

Cool will do

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But how do they know if a it has been remapped. Does it flash up on the dash on start and couldn't u play dumb and say it must of been the last owner

I bought it at 127 and its been used as a van by a plasterer the air pipe wasnt attached to the air box so i was losing pressure and clogging the engine with !Removed! so its a guessing game how long it will last

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If the hose between the airbox and turbo (the turbo compressor housing, to be precise) s removed, you will not lose boost pressue, the air going into the turbo and engine is unfiltered, it is hotter too, losing power

Terraclean is expensive and only cleans downstream of the injectors, so it does not clean the intake, boost hoses, intercooler, EGR valve, inlet manifold, inlet ports

On a diesel,(that has an EGR valve) the inlet manifold tends to get clogged up with carbon, it is a really good idea to take it off and clean it properly (industrial jetwash seems to work)

+ of course the solid EGR blanking plate (if you have not done this already)

+ all the usual "service" things

only after that would i consider terraclean - it would be foolish, in my opinion to splash out on a terraclean without cleaning out the inlet manifold and fitting a solid EGR plate (+ service) 1st,not just because of the cost (cleaning out the inlet = next to nothing EGR plate about a fiver, terraclean = £88? ) but because if the EGR is not blanked it will contaminate the inlet/ engine again, and a clogged up inlet manifold will tend to make the engine richer, also tending to coke up the engine (undoing the advantage of the terraclean/ or doing it quicker than if the above was not done)