The Stage 1 car produces more power and more torque at any point in the rev range. – Jamie King // Fast Ford Magazine
Many people, including me, rave about how the good the little 1.0-litre EcoBoost engines are. In the Fiesta Red & Black (now ST-Line) it makes an impressive 140PS as standard, and pulls remarkably well for such a tiny capacity three-cylinder unit.
But tuners have been fettling with things and say that the results they have coaxed from the award-winning 1.0-litre really transform the car. Revo are even predicting the three-cylinder to be the next big thing in Ford tuning circles for 2017.
To see what all the fuss was about we spoke to Revo and have come up with a plan to show you just what is possible from tuning the 1.0-litre. We’ll start with a standard car, and the tune it through to Stage 2 levels, complete with supporting hardware upgrades along the way.
The full feature will follow when we have captured all the data, but the whole process began this month with a trip to Revo for installation of their Stage 1 software. Before the remap was flashed though, we took the opportunity to bolt the car to Revo’s own hub dyno, so we could get a base figure for the car’s output. Unsurprisingly the standard car was making 118hp at the wheels – which roughly equates to the 140PS we’d expect to see at the flywheel.
Then it was time to install the Stage 1 software, and run the car on the dyno again. The result this time was a very impressive 138hp at the wheels – roughly equating to 160-165bhp at the flywheel! And that was on cheap fuel! The guys at Revo say that on decent V-Power fuel the car would be able to run around 6degs more ignition timing, which would result in around 5-6bhp extra!
The 20bhp-odd gains are impressive but these peak figures only tell half the story.
The 20bhp-odd gains are impressive enough (although the same software can be applied to the 100PS version for some seriously crazy 60-65bhp gains!) but these peak figures only tell half the story. Looking at the graph you can see the Stage 1 car produces more power and more torque at any point in the rev range compared to the stock car.
Behind the wheel you can really notice this. The car feels so much more alive, especially from 3,000-5,000rpm. My wife, who drives this car everyday, even commented on how smooth she thought it all felt.
It’s not scarily quick – it’s still a 1.0-litre after all – but it is definitely faster than it has any right to be. In fact, with the 1.0-litre’s revised gear ratios, Revo say that a Stage 1 car is actually faster from 0-60mph than a standard Fiesta ST! And I have no reason to doubt this.
I’m astonished at just how much difference this simple remap has made, but we’re not stopping there. I’ve already taken delivery of a Cobra Sport 200 cell sports car, and Airtec Stage 2 intercooler, and an Auto Specilaists induction kit. The next step is to fit all this hardware before returning to Revo for the Stage 2 software! I can’t wait!
