FTO AUSTRALIA

Ben, I know you're a busy man, both online and off, yet I was wondering if you could provide a rough itemised list of the majority of parts needed to pull off this conversion.

I've decided that it's what I would like to do to my FTO. I've already purchased a little run around car (1991 Ford Festiva ) to drive for the next year (until I'm on my opens) while the conversion happens, both by my hands and the hands of a local performance workshop.

I'm budgeting around $10, 000, although any change back from the project would be a blessing. The budget will cover a reconditioned gearbox, LSD, engine, parts and tuning. Hopefully. I'll be aiming for 300HP ATW, probably not much more. My goal is to have a 13, possibly 12, second FTO that will still be streetable.

Anyways, I don't mean to thread hijack. I'm happy to take this to PMs if you'd be keen to give me any assistance.

Yeah now worries. Will just give the kids a quick update first

The car is finally home & working well. Whilst she's not 100% finished, its close enough for the moment. Still need to finish up the intake piping (just got some filters on small pipes atm) and I gotta finish up making the oil catch catch can.

At the end of last year you may recall it had a new exhaust put on, unfortunately the welding on the car fried a number of items, upto & including the Haltech & the igniter packs. I also had an issue where it kept blowing the 150amp inline fuse to the battery. That turned out to be the starter solenoids arcing out, which turned out to be because of a bad earth from the loom to fuse box - thats what stopped me making the xmas party with it.

So at the moment, its got a mild tune of 220kws at the wheels at about 14 psi. I got them to leave it at this level over xmas deliberately so I could get the hang of driving it! It really is a differnt beast, torque steers across 3 lanes of traffic at the drop of a hat. I've almost broken my thumbs too many times to mention It gets to 100km/h in about 5 secs if it gets traction.

Here's a list of parts I've used. You may not need to go to this extent, but it will give you an idea. Keep in mind many prices here were mates rates too.. I'll put $MR at the beginning of those items

Legnum halfcut $3000 (got $1500 back from selling the Legnum box)
Cusco MZ 1 way LSD $700
Reco box & diff install $750
Poly engine mount $180
New rear manifold $MR500
Intercooler $MR350
Intercooler piping & hose clamps joiners etc $MR500
HPC coating of manifolds etc $350
Haltech Platinum Sport 1000 install & tune $2500
Haltech 3 pair igniter packs x 2 = $MR300
Bosch HEC716 Coil packs $MR300
Custom Top Gun Leads $150
Battery & associated bits required to relocate to the boot $350
Walbro intank fuel pump $180
Sard FPR $225
Eboost Pro Street Boost controller $MR300
Excedy Evo III clutch with flywheel machine $MR390
100,000kms service parts, inc all belts, water pump tensioners, oil etc $MR480
Exhaust including dumps, cat, resonator muffler etc $MR2000
Vernier gears $MR300
Spark plugs $MR350 (Yes you will go through a dozen sets of them while trying to tune it)

There's over 13 grands worth just in parts...

Any much much more! As they say

You wont get change from 10 grand. I've now spent close to 20.

Ben that is great news to hear the car is home. Bad news to hear about all the stuff being fried. Wow 20 grand sh*t lol I don't think I spent that much lol but then we haven't put the new ecu in it and wind the boost up.
Next time I am in Sydney mate I gotta catch up with you and buy you a beer mate.
Ben all I can say is that I guess I am lucky I don't have lots of traffic in Darwin because the torque steer would not be good

Time to learn how to drive again mate Fkn looks the goods though

Looks even better in real life

yeah its mad.... just dont torque steer into a tree!

Bennoz wrote:Here's a list of parts I've used. You may not need to go to this extent, but it will give you an idea. Keep in mind many prices here were mates rates too.. I'll put $MR at the beginning of those items

Legnum halfcut $3000 (got $1500 back from selling the Legnum box)
Cusco MZ 1 way LSD $700
Reco box & diff install $750
Poly engine mount $180
New rear manifold $MR500
Intercooler $MR350
Intercooler piping & hose clamps joiners etc $MR500
HPC coating of manifolds etc $350
Haltech Platinum Sport 1000 install & tune $2500
Haltech 3 pair igniter packs x 2 = $MR300
Bosch HEC716 Coil packs $MR300
Custom Top Gun Leads $150
Battery & associated bits required to relocate to the boot $350
Walbro intank fuel pump $180
Sard FPR $225
Eboost Pro Street Boost controller $MR300
Excedy Evo III clutch with flywheel machine $MR390
100,000kms service parts, inc all belts, water pump tensioners, oil etc $MR480
Exhaust including dumps, cat, resonator muffler etc $MR2000
Vernier gears $MR300
Spark plugs $MR350 (Yes you will go through a dozen sets of them while trying to tune it)

There's over 13 grands worth just in parts...

Any much much more! As they say

You wont get change from 10 grand. I've now spent close to 20.

That's brilliant, Ben. You sure are a helpful chap.

I definitely won't be going as hardcore as you did, although even 10 grand now seems like such a small budget. I won't be looking into any aftermarket cam gears, nor will I be going as mental on my exhaust system. Despite how cool it looks, I doubt I'd be HPC coating anything under the hood, either.

I have a whole bunch of questions, however I don't want to clutter up your thread. Despite this, I'll ask away, since I figure the public display of the answers could help anyone interested in a similar build.

1. Is the standalone ECU a necessity? Is it simply too hard and not worth the hassle of splicing the factory FTO wiring loom into both a Galant/Legnum ECU + piggyback?

2. If the answer the question one is yes, would a single turbo make for a simpler install, due to having more room to play with? Would this cancel out the need for a custom rear exhaust manifold?

3. If I were to look at a single turbo setup, I'd definitely want something small to medium sized with a relatively quick spool time. Any recommendations on a turbo?

4. Is the Cusco 1-Way LSD still quite streetable? Is a 1.5-Way LSD worth considering for the handling benefits?

5. Your car is porn. Wait... That's not a question.


If you take the time to answer any of these questions, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

@ pete

1. NO can use vr4 and splice into FTO one

2. Yes but then would need ECU that you dont for Q1

3. Not sure

4. Any LSD is better than none but either way will still be a handful

vipfto wrote:@ pete

1. NO can use vr4 and splice into FTO one

2. Yes but then would need ECU that you dont for Q1

3. Not sure

4. Any LSD is better than none but either way will still be a handful

Hmm, the reason I asked question one is due to Ben's workshop stuggling to integrate the Legnum ECU into the FTO wiring loom.

So a standalone, aftermarket ECU is a necessity for a single turbo conversion on a twin turbo engine? Does have to do with the way boost is handled and air flow is worked out? My question still stands that if an aftermarket ECU is brought into the equation, whether by a need for it or not, would the single turbo make for a much easier install?

I'd like to hear Ben's opinion on driving with the Cusco 1-way LSD on the street and what kind of dramas, if any, it has caused.

Thanks for your input, vipfto.

1. Not necessarily, but recommended. Splicing the looms is a pain in the ass & not many people will want to attempt it. At that point in production, Mitsubishi was using digital signals for some things & analogue for others. Weigh up the cost of time spent joining the looms vs plumbing in a Haltech... you may find its almost the same.

2. Going for a single turbo is going to add more headache & cost that is neccessary. Think of the cost - you'll first need to buy the turbo, then you'll need to have 2 manifolds made up to replace the factory items - then have all the piping done to join them up. Whats wrong with the factory tubs? If you want daily driveability, they are perfect. Because they are so small, they spool up instantly, no lag at all. Plus the cost of them will be included in your half cut buy price. Plus they're good for 300kws!

4. Im yet to really test the diff out. Whilst cruising around its fine, you dont notice its there. Under throttle, it always feels like its pulling you hard in the direction you have your wheels pointing. Its kinda hard to explain, with the standard diff, when you release the steering wheel after a corner, it automatically wants to spin back to centre, with this diff, you need to tell the wheels where you want them to be. It drives where the wheels point & thats it. So im finding it to be a bit of work to control, but maybe Im just getting used to it.

Oh & it does pop & spin the inner wheel a little bit when doing say, a 3 point turn or anything at full lock.

Im dying to get it on the track to really put it though its paces thou.

f**ken NICE

Bennoz wrote:1. Not necessarily, but recommended. Splicing the looms is a pain in the ass & not many people will want to attempt it. At that point in production, Mitsubishi was using digital signals for some things & analogue for others. Weigh up the cost of time spent joining the looms vs plumbing in a Haltech... you may find its almost the same.


Im dying to get it on the track to really put it though its paces thou.

Labour costs would be fkd for a loom splice... Go haltech and reap the benefits!

Benny, if only you lived in Brisbane mate.... I'd be egging your ass on to go out to QR!!

I got my loom spliced in Sydney for 1200 postage included their and back.plugged it in and the car started straight away and everything worked fine.

My Haltech was only $1000

Install & tune was a bit more thou...

lol nuff said....

SchumieFan wrote:yeah its mad.... just dont torque steer into a tree!

^^^^
What he said lol

Im doing my first full tank of fuel measurement in it this week.

So far, not so good. Half a tank of Ultimate gone in 150kms

Bennoz wrote:Im doing my first full tank of fuel measurement in it this week.

So far, not so good. Half a tank of Ultimate gone in 150kms

bahahaha, looks great mate.

nvr2low wrote:I got my loom spliced in Sydney for 1200 postage included their and back.plugged it in and the car started straight away and everything worked fine.

So this was using a GPX wiring loom, a factory Legnum/Galant ECU and an aftermarket piggyback unit?

What piggyback ECU are you using? Does the $1200 you paid only include labour for the wiring, or is it the total cost of all the parts required? Did you have to remove your entire wiring loom to send away?