The power output at the wheels is 125 PS and 275Nm, thanks to a Stage 1+ remap from Wolf Moto.
BHPian jithin23 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
50,000 km in 14 months with my Red Dragon
Hey all, I’ve not been quite active on team bhp for a long time due to my professional commitments and very frequent travels which sometimes extend for several days (I’m out of town for almost every weekend after the Red Dragon arrived last year). Most of you might wonder how come I’ve driven so much, but yes, I take my car almost everywhere I go, be it to a nearby shop which is 5 km away or to Tawang which is 3,500 Kms away. That much is the bond with my Red Dragon and he has been my lucky charm through! I’ve made a lot of good friends who are like family, a lot of great memories with this car. This car somewhat reminds me of my Dad’s Red Yamaha RX100 which we repainted to black before selling as that bike was the one I grew up on and have travelled a lot on that bike! I still remember that bike’s engine number and the Made in Japan engraving above the gear lever.
Here’s a glimpse of the Red Dragon now:
After changing the market lights to orange
Interior shot
I will share my travelogue of travelling across India by car within a few weeks from now.
Most of the drives were solo and planned on the go!
So far I’ve driven close to 50k kms in one year (48k to be precise) and I’ve had a stellar experience with Ford Service centres across the country be it for a simple repair or a clutch job. I’ve tuned my car from Wolf Moto (Engineering Exponent) with a stage 1+ remap and the car is quite peppy after.
The remap. The power output at the crank is 133PS and 295Nm. The power output at the wheels is 125 PS and 275Nm. These are the results of a Dyno test by Harmonixx.
I didn’t face any issues even while driving in the Mountains of Ladakh with the Wolf remap. Thank you, Jayant, Rakshit, Prajwal, Sreekanth Ettan and Rajeev Ettan! In the Ford community, if anyone wants a remap for their Diesel Ford, all they say now at wolf is I want Jithin’s map. That’s level of reliability the map has as this map has seen all terrains and calibrated for a balance of FE and Power.
I’m a person who is curious and determined to do something different and unique in my car. Over this year as my hands and head won’t stay quiet, I have done a few mods on my own.
Whatever I post here, I hope it benefits the community and Ford owners. Some mods I have already posted previously, so I’d be posting ones which are new and afresh. That gives me a different level of joy and keeps me happy! And most of the mods are done independently by me(though I work for an IT company by profession) as well as my love for automobiles from childhood makes it even more enticing. All the mods are carried out on my car only first and only then do I suggest it to others.
I’ll share the total expenditure for all my mods below. Whenever I get free time, I will share all the mods list in both my cars on a separate thread.
Mods Cost
All the mods are sourced from Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and different parts of the world, so I do not remember the exact location for most of the mod part sources, but I can certainly help someone find out some parts if necessary.
- Wolf Stage 1+ remap(Done on Day 1 when I bought the car): 28,000
- Dyno Test by Harmonixx: 5,500. I decided to get this done as no BS4 Stage 1+ remap had the exact figures for the power and torque mentioned and I thought that if I get it done, it will help thousands of people in deciding on a remap.
- Headlights, roof and mirror blackening: 12,000
- Upgraded low beams from Automotive Light Experts: 15,000
- Downsized to 16” Thunder Alloys(Set of 5): 23,000
- Fiesta ST Diesel Speedometer(Imported from UK): 15,000
- Focus ST Steering(Imported from UK): 12,000
- Sync 3 Nav Module(from a used Endevaour): 11,000
- HID Fogs: 5,000
- Euro Spec AC cluster: 15,000(For the controller, wiring and bezel(I’m yet to re-do the bezel and will complete it soon). This AC control is enabled in voice and climate controls on Sync 3(first in India).
- The Euro-spec AC cluster
I’m getting a dual-zone AC controller soon.
Satya has mentioned elaborately on the connectors part and here are the links for the connectors for reference:
Female plug needed for global variants
Male plug which connects to the female harness
- TPMS: 7,000 for a set of 4 sensors
- Shelby Grill (made by 6th-mile customs): 9,000. For this mod, I had to give a used Ford Raptor-style grill and 6th-mile customs did the custom mesh for me.
- BMC Air Filter: 7,000. I do not suggest a BMC filter for a diesel Ecosport as there’s no significant difference in terms of output.
- Thunder Bumper Applique: 3,000
- Digital Speedometer: The cost for this I spent was about 20,000. This has an interesting story though.
One of my friends from Bombay had given me a completely broken meter (The meter is a ford Puma meter though) and told me “Jithin, do whatever you want with this meter and please do not pay me for it”. I said okay and he shipped the meter to me. To my dismay, when I installed the meter, there was a huge crack in the LCD.
Then I approached all the European forums and my sources and everyone told me that full meter replacement is the way to go and nobody has ever refurbished the Ford digital meter. I was still thinking about how to source the LCD alone and I did some digging and found out that the display was available on AliExpress and this LCD is common across Puma, Escape, Kuga and Focus. This gave me some hope and I approached A close friend of mine in Mysore who has some connections in China. Even the Aliexpress seller was curious to know if the meter will work after the LCD change. We got the meter LCD within a week and I spent one whole night dismantling and fixing the LCD.
The digital speedometer disassembled
Final results
After fixing the meter, I plugged it into my car and the display was in MPH and the dials weren’t working when the engine was on. Then I used my car’s as built file and everything started working perfectly including the readings in KPH. I thought my mission was complete with this, but the elephant in the room was locking the meter in place. So I had to trim certain portions of the speedo housing near the Dashboard and the speedometer itself and this was the most painful part in this process. However, the cuts aren’t visible as the speedo cowl covers it all. After 2 hours, the meter was sitting flush with all the panels intact.
Total mods cost: Rs 172,500
Here’s a video of me describing my car’s build in case you are running short on time.
Additionally, I worked on building the un-launched EcoSport too during Nov-Dec 2022 for an acquaintance in Bangalore. Most of you might have seen this car posted on Carblog India. That was the car I had worked on. He had a BS4 Titanium+ with fly audio and we went all out in changing the interior to the black dashboard, Changing the alloys to the un-launched version, converting from Fly Audio to Sync 3 and the whole front Fascia change. Personally, I prefer the current-gen front bumper as it’s a timeless and elegant design. Due to time constraints, I haven’t been able to post any of
these.
P.S: I have shared all this info to help fellow owners make an informed decision and not for any commercial intent
The un-launched facelift EcoSport bumper suits white! Helped a fellow enthusiast get the un-launched facelift EcoSport bumper at his residence in Kolkata and we got it shipped it from Chennai.
The total cost of rebuilding this car was:
- Sync 3 (consists of Sync 3 screen[16,000]
- APIM module[11,000]
- Audio control module[10,000]
- GPS antenna[1,500]
- Illuminated USB ports[4,500]
- Center Speaker, Bezel for the centre speaker and sync 3 bezel[5,000]
- Wiring Bunch from EcoSport S[13-15,000 depending on the seller]) Rs. 63,000 is the cost only for the parts and these prices vary for every part as I had sourced it from some Insiders at Ford.
- Bumper with the Bezel and DRL: About 25,000. We took the help of a known mechanic for removing and reassembling the bumper, Dash and Sync 3 wiring
- Euro Spec AC panel: The same cost as my car
- Alloys (again depending on the vendors): We picked it for about 40,000 for a set of 5.
- Cruise Control and TPMS: For the parts alone we spent about 13,000.
Total Expenditure: Rs 154,000
Here’s a video of what we have done on that car as well:
Fuel and Maintenance:
I’ve consumed 2,800 litres of diesel in 1 year and 2 months (For 50,000 km running). The total fuel cost alone is Rs. 257,600 (assuming Rs 92/Litre). Tolls I’ve spent about 20-25,000 through my usage.
This is the best part now! In terms of maintenance, I’ve spent Only 5,000 for every service apart from Clutch replacement (14,000) Tyre change: Yokohama Earth 1(30,000), first 2 tyres at Gangtok and the next 2 In Bangalore by Keerthi(Tyre Stacks,
TC Palya road) and Battery Change(4,000) from Ford itself at Saluja Ford, Chandigarh. Alignment and Balancing I do it every 10,000 km.
Detailing at Turtle Wax: 12,000
Post detailing!
So the total cost for my joy is Rs 3,55,600. I’d say it’s very reasonable as I’ve travelled across 24 states in India and this car has been like a mini house on wheels for me. Heck, even flights to travel so much would have been way more expensive(also the unlimited luggage carrying capacity while driving your car is priceless!). I haven’t included the washing cost as that is frequent and imperative to keep the car clean.
The overall ownership cost with mods is Rs 5,40,900. I could have cleared my car loan with this amount but the joy, the time spent travelling and understanding my car and the experiences that I’ve acquired by travelling across India cannot be replaced with money and it won’t do any justice for the loan I’m paying if I’m not using my car to the fullest! Even Red Dragon’s twin brother the Blue Baby is running fine and covers miles equally.
I do have a few more enhancements to be done on the Red Dragon, those are EGR and Intercooler clean and Bette brakes as the brakes are not completely sufficient for a remapped car.
I’m contemplating Brembo or EBC with disc change and TPMS display in sync 3 (most of the Europeans, Thai and Vietnamese people have done it but I’m asking them to ship the module for an EcoSport so that I can study and custom tweak it to show TPMS and some values such as exact oil temperature and boost pressures).
The one I’m aiming to get on sync 3 next is the TPMS and telemetry data pic. Works on Android auto too as per Polish sources.
Someday I wish to add even rear discs and a 4×4 1.5 EcoBlue Diesel manual engine with a 6-speed gearbox from UK or Germany. Till then, Keep revving and travel often!
Keyword: How I've already spent Rs 5L on a used EcoSport I bought a year back