My name is Mikey. I am part owner, with my father, Mike Arnett of Silver State Motorsports. The business started with the purchase of a 248c Dynojet Dynamometer back in 1995. I've tuned and fabricated many turbo and supercharger sytems for our customer's rides. I was raised around cars and started metal fabricating in 1999 for the business.
The love started in 1999 with the WRC Focus. That was it, I wanted a focus with sticky 18's, a roll bar, sparco bucket seats, and excessive turbocharged horsepower. It was too bad that here in the states, we didn't have the ZX3 Focus yet. So I opted for a white 99' 2.0l Zetec powered Escort ZX2. Although it wasn't near the quality of the Focus hatchback, it did have the same 2.0l Zetec engine known to the Focus Rally world. Within a year, I built a turbo system for it and had it in several states of tune. It ended up at 296hp and 285 ft.lbs. torque at the wheels. My best ET was a 12.2 @112mph. I've turbocharged, tuned, and built a bunch of customer's zetec engines as well. From there, I became very familiar with the weak spots and little secrets of the motor and drivetrain. I also owned a 00' silver Kona ZX3 and an 02' Sonic blue SVT ZX3.
I was happy with my zetecs and my knowledge of them until one day in 2005 . I heard the news that I could purchase my dream car and that it was assembled and built by HKS USA. I was too excited. All this time with these motors had paid off because the deal was real. My close friend, a well known NSX tuner, introduced me to Jon Kuroyama of HKS USA. I had already known about him beacaue of his infamous "Great Pumpkin" focus . This guy was the Focus God and he was selling his R&D toy to me. It was really a dream come true.
First thing I did was install 1000cc injectors by RC Enginee ring . A retune on my Dynojet yielded 447whp. Shortly after, the car had piston to head clearance problems.
The arias pistons were slapping the bottom of the cylinder head under high boost only. The block had been o-ringed and resurfaced and there wasn't enough room for expansion of the rods and pistons.
This caused the circle clips to vibrate off the wrist pins. The wrist pins bored holes in the cylinder walls until a piston gave. This made for a bad boost leak. haha. So there went the original motor.
No problem though, since I had so many laying around the shop. I had already built up an svt short block for my turboed ZX2 (current engine). I like these blocks because they have piston oil squirters and are a little stronger than the standard zetec.
I then added a Tial BOV , and sent the head to Baker Cylinder heads for repair, porting, and bigger valves. The new setup was complete.
Some fine tuning with the fuel/ignition maps and the timing gears widend the power band by 600rpm and raised horsepower and torque.
This combo with lower compression (8.3:1 vs. old 9.5:1) and a better flowing head yielded 474whp, 406ftlbs. at 25psi.
I remember the very first time out at the drag strip, I was joking with people about breaking into the 15's. First run yielded a 12.79 with a lots of tire smoke. On the second run, I posted an 11.3 @127. So far, my best ET has been 11.21 @128.6mph, spinning 1st through 3rd. I'm definetly gonna get some wider rims for my slicks next time. After working out the traction issues, 10's should be in the near future.
Driving the car on the street is a whole different story. Traction doesn't exist until 80mph,making stoplight street racing a display of exhibition of power. Having a car with such a stock look really fits in with our philosophy of underdogs. I've always believed in function over fashion. This car has been nothing but fun and I look forward to what the future holds for it. Special thanks to my family for all their support, especially my dad and business partner, Mike Arnett. Also to Mikey Angel and the crew at Factor X , Baker Cylinder heads, and Jon Kuroyama from Fastrax turbos and HKS.
Most recent look with bumper cut out for better airflow and Ford Racing front lip and side skirts. I'll get better pictures soon.
