Project Focus SVT - Tech

Two-and-a-half years later and Project Focus SVT is finally running again. After the last installment's full engine build by FocusSport in Placentia, California, we're now only steps away from our goal.

The problem is, no one really remembers what the goal was. Back in 2003, when the car was still in production, Coleman and former editor Jacquot started the project when they went to the plant in Mexico and had a car custom-made without sound deadening material and insulation. Coleman's big aim at the time was to build an SVT that could beat a stock Mustang Cobra of the same vintage in acceleration, power, braking and, most importantly, at the track--all while costing less than the MSRP of a Cobra. It was the ultimate middle finger towards muscle car guys from the world of sport compacts. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

As we waited for our stock bottom end to be rebuilt (after Holstein blew it up), we took advantage of the time and got some custom head porting done by Cosworth, put in a Quaife limited-slip differential and built an editor-proof bottom end. This made a hefty addition to our tab and probably wouldn't have been done if the engine wasn't already torn out.

On top of that, the brake rotors were completely rusted through. We're still on the stock suspension and wheels, and still running a stock exhaust--essentially, all the basics anyone would start with at the beginning of a bolt-on build-up.

Meeting our price ceiling and still beating a Cobra now seems so unrealistic that we're starting to question what Coleman got us into in the first place. Even by the second installment, he realized he was in well over his head and a little drunk on past project car successes. But winning by the skin of our teeth isn't new to us, so we'll shoot for a victory with equal power, less weight and a lot of tire.

Clutch and Flywheel
Not knowing what kind of power the new engine and additional boost would be capable of prior to tuning, we decided to install a new clutch, while dumping the old steel dual-mass flywheel for a single-mass aluminum piece. With any other performance-oriented sport compact, finding a lightweight flywheel and higher torque-load clutch is a simple web search away.

Not so for the SVT. Even stock replacement clutch parts dried up from the OE supplier just three years after production stopped.

Clutchmasters picked up the slack, redesigning a completely different clutch and flywheel package, saving the small but dedicated cadre of SVT owners from a fate worse than owning a vintage Alfa Romeo. Because OEM parts are scarce, Clutchmasters' changeover package comes with a different flywheel, friction disc and pressure plate, which only work together as a set. The changeover flywheel won't work with clutches made by other manufacturers, nor will the Clutchmasters changeover clutch work with the stock flywheel.

We chose to try out Clutchmasters' FX300 (or stage three) clutch kit. This includes a sprung center hub, which eliminates the need for a damped dual-mass flywheel and a full disc lined with trapezoidal Kevlar friction material. The trapezoidal part refers to how the composite Kevlar fibers are laid down and oriented to each other. According to Clutchmasters, Kevlar offers superior tolerance to high temperatures that cause slip during hard launches, as well as a better friction coefficient. The drawback is the 500 break-in miles required, which few owners are willing to deal with. Combined with a pressure plate handling 1800 pounds of clamping force, the new clutch assembly is now rated for 110 percent more torque than the stock hardware.

The lightweight billet aluminum flywheel weighs 13 pounds, compared to the 24.25 pounds of the stock unit. Going by Coleman's rotational inertia equation written in his Technobabble column several years ago, taking over 11 pounds off the flywheel should be equivalent to the acceleration gained from gutting the interior. We never got to test this dubious hypothesis as the car never ran before. Regardless, the lower rotational inertia and directness of the single-mass flywheel design can be felt in acceleration throughout the rev range and requires quicker, more accurate shifts. And, with less inertia, the engine will be more responsive to throttle inputs and less prone to turbo lag.

New Plumbing
Our hunch on what blew up the old motor isn't actually Holstein. He was just the lucky guy behind the wheel at the time and we like to blame him, even two years after the fact. Most likely it was the mass airflow (MAF) meter mounting location.