2013 is the last yr of the Evo saga..

 

I wasnt aware of the SRT-4 Dart, just Googled it. Very interesting to see what production specs are going to be.

 

From what I'm aware of the cylinder head ports are very restrictive and that's one of the major issues right now with power production. I'd venture to guess if you pulled the head and ported it you'll see tremendous gains with a 3 inch exhaust in place......

I was also very impressed with how lean it runs under boost. They stay in the 14's and 13's well above 10psi which would destroy one of our engines. Ford tunes to LBT with restrictive throttle enrichment under 90%TPS so I'd expect a good deal of power from a tune once the head breathes but not until then. Provides fantastic mpg though.

From what I heard the up-coming 2.3 is where it's at. No outsourced development this time around and 330hp stock

 

Actually, the power gains have come super easy so far, if the head is restrictive it's not showing any signs of it yet. I also don't agree with the 4g63 comment......

 

I don't think anyone has dug far enough into the engine to determine whether or not the head is restrictive. All the focus so far has been on the basics and early results that I've heard is that the turbo will be the bottleneck due to small size.

 

The turbo is obviously very-very small based on how quickly it spools. The power of the car though is just getting rolling. There's a lot left in the stock turbo.

 

I know one of the Calibrators and a few brake engineers that worked on the car. They said that by simply looking at the exhaust ports you can tell it was not made for big power.

But these guys are also rather conservative compared to us as well so I'm basically curious to see what the professional shops find while tearing into it. I haven't heard anyone comment on the head yet and I haven't found any pictures of it online either.

 

We'll have to be patient for that, I imagine. All the ST market is right now are some engine mounts and exhausts Personally, I'd really like to see if there's any improvements that can be made to the turbo itself without completely replacing it (porting, improved turbine, etc). We won't likely see turbo swaps until someone comes up with some sort of adapter that lets the ST connect to a standard turbo flange.

 

This basically the same ecoboost motor found in the explorer. I'm very excited to see how this develops. I read on an ST message board that the motor mounts are very loosy goosy, but other then that seems to be a great car stock. I normally try to rent a Ford Focus when I travel. I really like the interior even though it's kind of slow. Tech is great in these cars.

 

For those of you that have gone from an evo to an st, are you happy with your decision? I love hatchbacks and am considering an st, but I'm afraid the lack of awd and less power will cause me to regret my decision.

 

I don't know if anyone here has traded an EVO for an ST. The AWD would be missed by any AWD fan for sure. Even at the power level our car is now, which BTW, with our few mods ran 101.7 mph in the 1/4, traction is very limited with the traction control off.

 

One of my favorite aspects of the Evo is the feel of the steering. How does the Focus compare? Is it as direct and does it give similar feedback?

 

Yes, I like the steering in the ST and it also is very tail happy, I've never driven a FWD car with this much oversteer.

 

As much as I will always like Mitsubishi and DSMs/Evos, I can see theyve really given you no choice but to find a new platform to support, first killing the DSMs, then the Eclipse all together, and now the Evo as we all know it. Ive never been a fan of Ford, but it seems like this car will fit right into our lifestyle. Would be nice to see some other car makers follow suit.

 

I agree with this. I've gone on two test drives and have been impressed by the steering, cornering and understeer. Completely different than any other fwd car I've driven.