dotmaster206

Yeah, I've got some progress... Take yourself a little gander at this sweet action: It runs. The ST motor is in the TC and it starts and runs like a dream. So, this is the top of the hill. Nothing after this point is totally wacko - it's all been done before. I did the thing that you see so often where a super crazy project is posted with lots of updates for a while and then it just goes dead forever. Well, I'm back and this thread is going to end in an absolutely glorious way. It isn't done now, but it certainly will be.

Been a while...but fear not! The project rolls on... I ordered a shifter assembly from a Ford parts supplier in the UK: It looks awesome and I'm pumped about it. I also ordered a Mishimoto radiator to replace the OEM ST unit. My original radiator in my 9-2x was the same design as the OEM ST one - crimped on plastic end tanks - and cracked open on my one day. I'm not going to see that happen again. This week, Vaccar will be swapping the complete wiring harness from the ST into the TC. They are very close, but not quite close enough for comfort, and this will make sure we don't end up with some crazy electrical gremlin that is impossible to understand due to a mix of systems.

Got a sweet update today - the ST motor is in the van. It bolted right up with no complications. The clutch lines are hooked up as well, but that's all for now. Big milestone!

Yeah it's a cable shift, same as the Focus ST. Vaccar has ordered the OEM shifter that I found from Ford Parts UK. I wasn't able to find proof that anyone swapped an ST gear knob onto a TC shifter, so I bought the whole assembly with the leather knob just in case the ST one won't go on there. Cost an extra $50, so not a huge deal. I expect that to take 2-3 weeks total to get to Vaccar. In the mean time, they're going to start on the engine installation and then move to the wiring harness. Last week they installed the brake and gas pedals from the FoST, they fit perfectly, just like the clutch did. The LSD was at a transmission shop last week and got installed, and they took the opportunity to take a look at the clutch to make sure it was in good shape. It is a Spec Stage 3+ clutch, which is pretty aggressive and a lot more race oriented than I would have chosen myself. Vaccar test drove the ST before pulling the motor and transmission though and didn't think the clutch was annoying or difficult like you'd expect from such an aggressive setup. So, I'm going to leave it like that for now and see if I get used to it. If not, I'll swap in a more OEM type organic clutch and sell the Spec one. Based on what they said it felt like driving the FoST though, I think it will be fine. They didn't experience any chatter or anything. Spec also looked at pictures of the clutch and said it was very new looking - just broken in. So lots of life left there.

That's a good point. I haven't been able to find anything in shifter upgrades/aftermarket stuff for the manual TC yet. Nor have I seen any complaints, though. It is a very simple cable system, so if it can be upgraded later I'll have no problem doing it I'm sure.

Another update and another question: I did get in touch with Paul Leepu Hayes as suggested by @mrtn. He offered to get me some part numbers as he has access to the Ford parts catalogue which was great. On my own googling around I sent an inquiry to FordpartsUK.com and they got back to me yesterday - very helpful. They got me pictures from the catalogue and are willing to ship to the US for me, so I will probably be ordering from them. My question to the Euro folks out there: have you ever seen/heard of someone swapping the shift knob from a Focus ST into the Transit Connect 6spd? I ask because I can order one of two versions of the shifter assembly; a cheaper one with a plastic shift knob and a more expensive one with a leather shift knob. If I can swap the Focus ST one on easily, I'll just get the cheap plastic version. If I'm not sure that is possible, I'll get the leather one so it looks/feels better. A thanks as well to @J_Westy for the offer to work with his local dealer in Germany on my behalf.

A question for any Europeans on this board, if there are any active members: how do you get Ford parts generally? Do you have to talk to an individual dealership or is there an official/reputable online dealer that I might be able to use? I've been able to easily find shifter cables (they call them gear selector cables I guess) for the last generation of TC, but not the 2014+. Any idea where I should look for that?

I agree, it may end up being cheaper and better - win win! The old 2.5L duratec and transmission will get sold; either to a salvage yard or an individual. Vaccar actually threw out the idea of putting it into the FoST shell a while back, but I am doubtful it'd be a higher net value to me to sell it that way.

Been a while since I last updated. A few items: The clutch pedal from the ST has been swapped over to the TC. It fit perfectly. The cutout for the clutch lines was already in the TC, as were the bolt holes to mount the pedal. All hail Ford's manufacturing efficiency and platform sharing! They also pulled the center consoles out of both vehicles to see how the shifter mounting can work. One option is putting the ST center console into the TC and having the shifter sit on the floor. They mocked that option up: The console doesn't line up perfectly, as you'd expect, so there'd be some fabrication to pretty that up. But the shifter itself does mount there and the e-brake works there as well. Vaccar is going to make some calls to the UK this week to find out what we'd need to order to get the shifter to mount and work from the original shifter location without swapping center consoles. Depending on the cost/availability of those parts, it is my preference to go that route instead of mounting it to the floor. I like the idea of keeping the van-ness intact in that sense, and it will look more OEM that way as well. Here's a picture of a UK van with a 6 speed shifter.

I have to give you a little credit, actually. Your posts about buying a TC a while back probably added to the bug in my head about them.

More progress: the engine is out of the TC: You can see the ST in the background engineless as well. I also ordered a limited slip differential from MFactory to go into the ST transmission before they stuff it into the van. It'll take about 2 weeks to get that delivered and installed, so in the meantime Vaccar will be working on the interior and sizing things up to try to anticipate as many fitment issues as possible.

And it's out: Van is getting prepped for removal as well:

The ST has had it's issues taken care of (missing a sensor in the intercooler piping, primarily) and has been test driven - ready to go. The front clip is off and the engine is stripped and ready to come out. The TC engine will come out this week as well, most likely.

That is true - I do plan on selling the TC motor and possibly the alloy wheels. Anyone got any idea what a 2.5L Duratec motor with ~53k miles on it sells for?

Budget is looking okay. I will almost certainly be over it by the end, though. I hadn't factored in enough for transportation of the van from CO to FL or the donor car from WV to FL. The donor car was also more expensive than I had planned, although I should be able to recoup a significant portion of that by selling the shell and interior bits that I'm not using.

A long overdue update: I have finally found and purchased a donor ST! It was in West Virginia. Here it is in the trailer to head to Florida to Vaccar's shop: And here it is in the shop with the TC: There are a couple things to fix on the ST before they take the motor out - Vaccar thinks it may have a small vacuum or boost leak to chase, and it's better to get that nailed down now. But, things will really start moving now!

Yeah, I'm aware. The reason for looking for a salvage ST to use is that I'm going for more than just a drivetrain swap - I need engine/transmission/harness/ECU but I also want wheels, exhaust (maybe - we'll see if that can work), front seats, steering wheel, badges, etc. The crate engine is nice for a kit car or something like that but in this case it makes more sense to buy a whole car and pull out what is needed.

It's a 2014, SWB, XLT, dark blue with black interior. I got it in Mendham, New Jersey and drove it back to CO to get it registered this past weekend. It's at about 55,000 miles and in really good shape overall. Today, I met the Vaccar guys on their way back to Florida from SEMA in Las Vegas. They picked up my van and put it on their trailer to bring to their shop and be ready to work once we find the donor FoST. I've got a bead on one in MA - we'll see if that pans out. I got some pictures of the van with their show cars and on the trailer:

Step one: get a van: check.

@Beta Don: Yeah, reliability will be a significant matter for me. Note that I'm not looking at the 1.6L turbo anymore though; I'm swapping the full drivetrain from a Focus ST so it will be a 2.0L turbo and a 6 speed manual transmission. Maintenance and repairs I plan to do just about everything myself. With a vehicle customized to the extent that this will be, trying to find and work with a shop that will really understand what is going on will probably be a bigger headache than just doing it in my own garage. I'm not a mechanic, but over the last 3-4 years or so I've been building a tool collection and getting comfortable with doing significant work to my car. Thanks for all the support, guys. Some folks 'get' what I'm doing right off the bat, others think it's pretty dumb. That's fine, but it's always nice to talk to people that are excited about what I'm diving into. I've got a deposit down on a TC now that I'll be seeing/picking up in just under two weeks. The ball is rolling!

The plan with gauges right now is to swap in the cluster from the ST. We're going to look at adding the auxiliary gauges with oil temp, boost pressure, and oil pressure as well but it's not a certainty yet. The van I'm planning on buying doesn't have SYNC, so nothing to do there.

Y'know, my dad actually said the same thing a while back. I have no idea how to go about pitching an idea to a TV show, though...I'm sure they get tons of hairbrained ideas all the time and so want to make sure they insulate themselves with many layers from the nutters.

Best case scenario I'll be at about $25k, worst case I'll be more like 30k. Unfortunately, there's just a lot of built-in variability here. The price of the TC that I find, the price of the donor ST, where they are in the country (shipping cost, if any), and since this job has never been done (so far as I've found) there's going to be some unknowns on the labor cost until we really get into it. As far as I've gotten with this, it's very clear to me why people don't generally do this. It's a huge pain in the butt with legal issues and logistics, it's expensive, and it comes with a lot of risks. But I'm very committed to this idea. I think it will be worth it in the end.

Well, things have progressed quite a bit. Vaccar is on board, I've paid them to do some research into what it would take to do the swap, and they've come back to me with some price ranges for different options. Here's the planned route: I'm going to buy a 2014 TC, short wheel base, XLT, with the 180deg split rear doors. It will be in good shape and have 50k miles or less. I will also buy a salvage 2013+ Focus ST. If either/both are close to Vaccar in the Orlando area, they'll go pick them up. If they're far away, I'll get them shipped. Vaccar will do a full drivetrain swap (engine and transmission) from the FoST to the TC. Based on their research, this was a much lower risk/higher reward option. It is less risky because it is guaranteed that the engine and transmission will work together, and we'll have the right ECU to run them as well. We'll even be swapping wiring harnesses. Additionally, this gets me a 2.0L turbo with quite a bit more grunt than the 1.6L turbo that I was originally planning on. Win-win. Further, since I'll own a full FoST, we're going to try to swap a bunch of goodies from that as well. The possible list is: steering wheel, shift knob, front seats (leather Recaros), gauge cluster, auxiliary gauges, wheels, and badges. The idea is basically to build a TCST in such a way that it looks and feels like it could have been a factory build. We'll be using virtually all factory parts here. I'm way pumped on this plan. Vaccar is really on the same page with me here. I'm looking to build this thing reliably. I plan to drive it to work every day. It's got to be practical and reliable - nothing cobbled together. But it will also be a heck of a lot of fun. The timeline for this is now largely dependent on sourcing the van and the donor car. I've got a couple of leads on donor cars at auctions that will come up in the next month or so, so that's good. I missed out on an awesome deal on a TC that was in Florida a couple of weeks ago. I think finding the right TC to start with is going to be the toughest part, really. If anyone has recommendations, do let me know. Here again is the must-have list: 2014 Short wheelbase Under 50k miles 'Good' condition (no body rust/dents, no significant rust on underbody, interior is clean, paint is in decent shape with no major scratches/chips, no mechanical issues outstanding) XLT trim Split 180deg rear doors Those are all things that are not negotiable for me. I know it's tough to find one with all of those boxes ticked, but they do exist and I feel like if I'm going through all of this work to get this van, it had better be exactly what I want. So, I'm being very picky and also patient. Anyway, this is moving forward and it is going to be awesome.

Are there any substantive differences between 2014 and 2015 TCs that anyone knows about? I ask simply to be a little more informed in my hunt for the right starter vehicle.