Puma st 170

[Steve33]

Had an idea for puma trackday car with an st 170 lump in it .
As the idea was for a ringtool 170 bhp should be enough .
Any ideas if It would fit?

[Buddy]

yeah, they fit, seen an RS Focus 4 pot in a Ka, so cant see the puma being hard!

[OilyFingers]

The Puma is basically a Fiesta in Lycra shorts so have a look at what is needed for the swap. The bugbear may be the gearbox as I'm sure the Puma uses the IB5 and the FST the MTX75 so you may have inner wing/chassis leg issues or a fragile gearbox. Iirc the sump is different on the 2.0 too so wont fit and the FST has a variable valve thingumy that takes up space. Nothing is insurmountable. An area you may want to look at is Pumaspeed. They have all sorts of how to's on their website to stop people phoning up and asking the same questions all day. You may find you can get 170 from the 1.7 without going near an engine mount.

[Buddy]

The ST170 uses a 6 sp box, not sure what its called, but im sure a 5sp MTX 75 will bolt up ok.

TBH, like oily says, a sorted 1.7 Zetec S will drag a Puma around just as well as anything! Then the 'conv' budget can be blown on go-faster bits!

[Relentless Rob]

If we're raiding the parts bin for a fast Puma how about the Mazda 323? Wasn't the Puma engine a rebored 1.6 Mazda engine with a Yamaha developed head?

The newer MPS 2.3 Turbo could be a tight (but achievable) squeeze. With the potential of over three hunderd broken horses reliably pulling the car down the road it certainly would give the spritefull Puma the power the chassis has always deserved.

Worth a look to see if DJM Motorsport still do much with the Puma as well.

[Relentless Rob]

You may find you can get 170 from the 1.7 without going near an engine mount.

I was thinking that as well. It seems a lot of faffing about for an extra twenty or so bhp if the donor ST170 is actually making 170 bhp. If the engine's tired or thrashed 150 would be optinistic.

Cam's, headwork, injectors and a map would do the same job. If you take it too far and something goes pop a replacement Puma engine would be a lot easier to find than a replacement ST one.

[Robmarriott]

I've got a lot of input here having owned a Focus RS engine'd mk5 Fiesta.
 
Regardless of what it says on the cam cover, the ST170 and RS engines are both just Zetec engines with different bits bolted to them, so the problem here is that the Zetec is the 'wrong' way round (inlet at the back) when compared to the Zetec SE (or Sigma, as it should be known)
 
My old car started life as a 1.25 16v Sigma engined car with an IB5 gearbox. The Puma is essentially the same setup, engine block is the same dimensions, gearbox is the same so for the purposes of this thread, it's the same conversion.
 
Ok, so it will physically fit, that's not a problem at all, the engine bay is actually quite big. The main issue is engine mounts. In my car, the OSF engine mount was the problem one. The whole inner wing had to be made from box section and sheet steel to make a position for the mount to er... mount to.
Other than that, it was relative plain sailing. Obvious hurdles like coolant pipes being the other way round are easily overcome.
 
Exhaust isn't too major I suppose, but as the original engine doesn't have a downpipe running under the sump, ground clearance is hampered.
 
Not that it'd be a problem with the ST170 engine, but the old BC/IB5 gearbox is weak. I broke 3 with 260bhp and 300lb/ft before getting bored and scrapping the car.
 
If I was doing it again, I'd use a Duratec (Fiesta ST150 is the best option) as it's the 'right' way round, the gearbox is better as it's an IB5plus, that means you can use the original shafts.
 
Engines are plentiful, cheap enough if you use a Mondeo 2 one and get a second hand Fiesta ST gearbox and need a lot less work to fit, the added bonus is that they're all alloy too, so they weigh the same as the 1.7 Sigma engine, meaning the Puma's wonderful balance is retained.
 
With some decent cams and a free flowing exhaust system, you'll see just shy of 200bhp (yes, really) and the engines will make 310bhp NA, 440bhp supercharged or, if your pockets are deep enough, 850bhp with a big snail bolted on.
 
I wouldn't even entertain any other engine swap in a Fiesta or Puma now.

[XKRacer]

Perhaps you should consider this.... Would make a nice start




Just imagine the possibilities........ tempting....very tempting but I have enough projects, my mate Timmy next door to me though would consider selling a kidney to have a go