Hello Folks, hope you're all well.

I took a trip to Blackpool yesterday to have the MT 165 kit fitted to my car, fun day out – did well in the amusement arcades (6 quid up on the 10p slot machines!! – Promptly blown racing the Mrs on one of those multi-player racing machines, where each person sits in a Ferrari replica that throws you about with each corner taken and crash made!)

Ford were good enough to drop us off in Town and also pick us up again when the car was ready, a bonus as it meant the proposed taxi fare was spent in the arcades

After covering what must have been a good 6 miles on foot up and down the promenade, it was back to the garage to pick up the finished product – and here are my thoughts.

First Looks:
Immediately noticeable pulling up on the forecourt was the exhaust, looking as though to mean business – more prominent than the factory pipe that no doubt many of you have already seen in detail. I was pleased with the look, not too overstated or drain-pipe resembling. Beneath the bonnet revealed a nice air-box donning the Mountune badge that contains the 57i Cone Filter, with cold air feed leading from the bottom of the box down to the front lower grille. Admittedly the engine looked a tad weird without the standard air box, but it allows greater visibility of the new manifold that’s quite pleasing to the eye.

Sounds:
Starting the car up gave way to a nice throaty ‘hello’ from the exhaust, giving the feel I was sat in something even more powerful than the nippy fiesta. Of course i had to oblige and blip the throttle some to unleash the full character of the new exhaust system – extremely pleasant sounds, sporty and not annoyingly loud, with a few nice pops as the revs dropped.
A most favourable attribute of this exhaust system is the fact that the burble only builds up to a roar whilst accelerating, and there is zero droning when cruising – infact the system is surprisingly quiet when cruising at any speed – and 45 miles back to Wigan from Blackpool left no buzzing between my ears!
Maximum volume is only achieved when taking the engine to 5k rpm and beyond, at which head-turning is guaranteed. (And at least they’ll have exerted themselves to see a nice hatch as opposed to the expected B-Shape Corsa!)

The Drive:
Before taking off I noticed that the idle rpm was 1k with the engine at normal operating temperature, as opposed to the previous 800-900rpm. In my case this has alleviated a small problem I had of a lumpy idle – nothing serious but it felt now and then at the lights that something was trying to escape from under the hood.

After taking off, what was immediately noticeable was how much smoother the drive was – it honestly feels now like a different car to drive. Hard to explain properly, but previously i always felt as though the Fiesta ST was a bit of a fussy customer when it came to managing the clutch when taking off from standstill, as though a near-perfect duration and precision with rpm was required when achieving bite to allow for a smooth, jerk-free takeoff. It now feels as easy as a diesel when pulling away, much more forgiving – it’s made the car more relaxing to drive.
Having only had the kit fitted for a day i’m still working out what the gains are amongst the different gears, however the acceleration certainly feels more effortless – and more noticeable still is the extra speed that you can achieve out of each gear.

I haven’t given the car a good hammering yet around some of the local twisty national speed limit roads, but will be doing over the weekend to properly weigh up the power gains. I do understand now where the ‘Driveability’ factor comes into play so much with this kit, and it’s a welcome additional given that the Fiesta ST isn’t the most relaxing car to drive.
I’m certainly pleased i took the MT route for this reason, as I feel much of this comes down to the hundreds of tweaks within the re-calibration of the ECU, as well as the fact that all of the parts were engineered for the car, not just ‘specced to fit’.
I’ll be updating this post in about a week’s time with more info on the power side of things – i just wanted to get my first impressions on here for folk to have a glance at .

Thanks for Reading!

big up to Evans Halshaw Bpool

offered me a lift too

room now for a nice bonnett soundproofer cover like mine

Idle is so much better now

indeed the driveability is vastly better, I have said diesel like many times, getting off the line is much smoother, no jerky instant power, just smooth, short shift into 2nd and use the pulling power, fantastic, you can keep it in 3rd as you slow right down and at 1500rpm in 3rd will just pull back upto speed so so quickly and totaly effortlessly, no need to make lots of changes or drop to 2nd.

Great review and couldn't agree more

where's my commission

can't wait to hear more after you have had some fun and you will

I want my car Mountuned now, good review.

'as though a near-perfect duration and precision with rpm was required when achieving bite to allow for a smooth, jerk-free takeoff. It now feels as easy as a diesel when pulling away, much more forgiving – it’s made the car more relaxing to drive.'

This is the main reason I want the kit

you need to give it a few miles for the ECU to adapt and start to update the hash table, the idle will sort itself out over the next few days depending on the millage you do.

gun it in 2nd mate all the way to the limiter bloody awesome

the map is simply perfect.

Dal

Damn, wish Ford Australia offered the kits

Nice review, making me even more envious!

So how come its worth getting this done rather than than air filter + exhaust + dreamscience??

Is it cause their custom map is different?

I know they say its all meant to work together but I still cant seem to justify that price to get it done over doing it myself.

that's my second referral (and totaly satisfied customer) to EH at Bpool, wonder if I can wangle some discount on my next modification they wll be doing

throw the cams in for free then

He mentioned someone had booked in for the 185 & Coilovers - is this you? :P

good review mate.

just wondering how this compares to the pumaspeed 182 kit ?
seen a video on youtube where puma speed show off the 182 kit against a montune 185.
montune leads for a bit but the pumaspeed pulls off in 5th then i think :S
any1 know which 1 is actualy better ?