STealthwerx Performance

03/09/2026

It must be wetbelt season!

Plenty of 1.0 Ecoboosts coming in, in varying states of deterioration!

Nik's smart Mk8 van is a 2019 example covering 82,000 miles with full service every year, but this did not stop the belt from breaking up, with around 70% of the oil pick up blocked with belt debris.

An oil and filter change is of course included in this process, but he also wanted a service carrying out, which included the air filter, spark plugs, pollen filter and visual inspection.

Unsure if yours needs replacing? Get booked in for peace of mind!

03/09/2026

At Stealthwerx Performance we are now able to offer mobile services for many makes and models!

Initially this will cover Norfolk.

What we can do -

● Servicing - For car and light commercial, including fleet operators and companies, this also includes minor mechanical repairs where required

● Diagnostics - By offering a mobile option, we may be able to determine a fault with your vehicle, carry out a fix , or if the problem is more severe, make arrangements for further repair at our workshop

● ECU remapping - This will be strictly for basic Stage 1 tuning on vehicles and is subject to passing a basic mechanical healthcheck and diagnostics.

● Minor cosmetic body repair - We can also do small paintwork repairs such as bumper scuffs and scratches.

Please note that there may be a fuel surcharge applied depending on the distance travelled.

For more information or to book, please call us on 07539 232320 or pop us an email to [email protected]

26/08/2026

A rare post of letting the pictures do the majority of the talking!

James's X48R 2017 Fiesta ST has spent a little time with us for the following -

Rocker cover gasket replacement
Scorpion sports cat
Intercooler refresh
2-stage correction exterior detail
New boost control solenoid
Handbrake cable adjustment

Externally it was straight, but showing its 107,000 miles with various scratches, swirls and chips, and the intercooler paint was flaking too.

We don't mess around in giving exactly what the customer wants, even cleaning the engine bay and spending around an hour touching in all the little defects, its totally transformed the car into a head turner.

We noticed a loss in response compared to the last visit, so after replacing the sports cat (the original was throwing off the post lambda readings) a datalog didn't really reveal much wrong, but one thing I did notice was the boost lower in the rev range was no longer ramping in as strong.

As everything else on the car was perfect I knew an old, tired boost control solenoid was the most likely reason, boost low down saw an instant change from 1.3 bar to 1.5 bar, it was back to its usual strong response these hybrids are famous for.

Its an important reminder that a piece of hardware with no codes or any other symptoms can have a negative impact on performance, but this is what we look out for !

26/08/2026

There's more to us than just Ford... Here is a list of our services!

23/08/2026

Its been a little while since I updated my progress on my MG Maestro, a combination of busy workload and the heatwaves over the last couple of months making it difficult to get my head down with it.

But progress has been made. The bulkhead has now been fully repaired and sealed, I am hoping this is the worst bit of the car now sorted, its an awkward area to repair but it has to be structurally solid in this area.

Past couple of weeks I have moved onto the scuttle panel and hand making the repair sections required, I have one more area to repair before this can be finished and epoxy primed before we move onto the pillars and roof.

22/08/2026

Worth the trip? For Ajmal, definitely !

He came up to Norfolk from North London for a mixture of maintenance and modifications to get his Fiesta ST up to standard.

This 2016 example is around 90k and was due its cambelt change so he entrusted us to this job, knowing we wont rush it and do it properly.

On the list was rocker cover + gasket and injector seals, upper engine mount, oil and filter change, change out the rear beam bracket bolts, full vehicle healthcheck, Scorpion sports cat and finish off with TRS Performance STG2 software.

From the moment a car comes in, we like to look into its past as much as we can, and this is where we found out it was running Mountune MP215, something he wasn't aware of in 5 years of ownership!

Another issue he didn't know, the o-rings on his catch can hoses were split and missing, causing high positive fuel trims at idle +10%, we took this data as our reference point before any changes.

He already had upgraded hardware on the car, with an ITG + Crossover , 76mm bar and plate intercooler and 2.75 inch Vulcan exhaust so all it needed was the sports cat to allow us to increase the power.

Once we had completed the list of jobs, we updated the firmware and loaded on the calibration, initial feel was 'this is a bit strong!' , with the car boosting too strongly and the throttle closing to control the boost.

I knew what the issue was, but a quick change to the software verified my initial thoughts - a lazy boost control solenoid.

No codes or errors, it was just tired. We keep these on the shelf, due to the age of the cars , changing these before tuning is a wise move if its still on its original anyway, a quick swop over and reload the first file and it was problem solved, boost now perfectly controlled, no overshoot, and a very happy car ! Set at a maximum of 19 degrees of ignition, it didn't need any more because the car was spot on everywhere else.

And the fuel trims? Back into negative LTFT at idle, no more leaks.

For us though, the stand out on the day was the customer.

Ajmal loves his cars, coming from a background of fast fords over the years. We had many deep conversations about all sorts of stuff, not car related, but we have the same vision and ethos about what we want from our toys, not chasing numbers , we chase fun and the overall experience, he was our sort of customer and we enjoyed every second of the day. Dream job for us, and a happy customer we are happy to support, and probably the best Google review we have ever received!

Top bloke 👍 Top car👌

18/08/2026

After spending nearly £2000 at Ford to fix a cam timing fault, no owner likes to be told that their best option is to replace the engine, and that's the news we had to give our customer Jon for his Fiesta ST MK8 😞

Almost immediately after an oil and filter change a few months back, he started getting cam timing related codes, I will state we did not carry out the servicing on this car!

After replacing cam timing solenoids and sensors, Ford said it was related to his timing chain, so carried out the repair, only for the exact same issue to reappear.

This is where we got involved.

After some diagnostics, we noted the actual calculated oil pressure was lower than we had seen on other cars, some 30-50kpa lower at idle, and unable to increase in line with the desired oil pressure, this affected the cam timing solenoids and the phasing of the VCT pulleys adversely, causing an over-retarded or under-retarded condition when demanded.

How did this happen? It does seem a strange coincidence that the issue started when the oil and filter were changed, and I suspect the non-genuine Bosch filter supplied may have been a cheap counterpart item, this combined with swarf in the sump pretty much signed this off as oil pump/and or bearing failure, with a very slight knock audible when cold.

We were lucky enough to source a complete, low miles 18,000 mile lump from a 2019 car, with turbo and clutch, and carried out the replacement.

There were some differences between the 2 engines, as the 2019 versus original 2018 was the revised unit with oil pump drive belt instead of gear driven and no recirculation valve, so the correct firmware for the ECU had to be applied, the other external difference was a driveshaft retaining bracket with slightly different dimensions and bolt pattern, but otherwise this was a straight swop.

Jon now has a fresher, better engine that will be reliable for years to come and we will be undertaking the regular maintenance on it from now on.

His turbo was getting tired anyway and with this being a driving school car, would of eventually needed a clutch too, longer term this was by far the best option for him, an engine rebuild or new would of been a much higher cost, and its a shame Ford took his money and pretty much washed their hands of the situation, but we live and learn!

17/08/2026

16/08/2026

Let's get this out the way first 😅

The wheels are Bola FP2 Forged, yes they are 18 inch.

Tanju has been watching us a while, but not as long as he has owned the car, from new!

This 64 2014 car is about as immaculate as you will find for the age, and its great to see, especially when the modifications have been well executed.

Around 2016-17 the majority of enhancements were carried out, this includes the Turbo Technics S242 unit and Revo software, Pro Alloy Curved cooler with the decent core, Mountune turbo back system and airbox.

The reason for booking in was a recurring fault when accelerating in higher gears, and he also wanted peace of mind that after so long, the engine was still good.

He need not have worried, as at 50k miles, it was perfectly internally, and we moved on quickly to diagnosing the pending fault code.

You could jump straight in and smoke test it, but having a closer look soon located the source of the issue, a very old Turbosmart dual port valve that was time expired and unable to hold pressure or vacuum when statically tested with the Mityvac, combine that with a misaligned remote adapter that was a bit suspect, we chucked the valve in the bin and fitted a GFB DV+.

This showed an instant change in the LTFT and idle behaviour, and after checking the rest of the system, I was happy we had found the problem.

I was keen to get some data from this, as its been a very long time since we logged one, so long in fact that a quick message to a very familiar chap who did the calibration originally confirmed what sort of boost we should see on this closed loop based software, 1.6 bar mid range, 1.4 taper at the top.

Given the heat and the age of the set up, this is exactly what the car did, a little less in the mid range due to the aforementioned factors, but still excellent to see. Again, due to the heat, it wasn't going to see the ignition peak it would do in cooler weather, but it was in the right area.

Things have definitely moved on and there is a vast amount of changes we could make to the calibration to bring the boost in earlier and stronger, and see more at the top end without pushing it, but that may be a job for the future, for now it was about resolving the issue it had and ensuring the integrity of the engine.

It could do with a new post cat lambda sensor which is responding very slowly and affecting the trims, it will then have tight control of the fuelling in all circumstances.

Other than that, careful fitting of the rear spats supplied and a 'to do' list now being compiled to make this car perfect all round.

Great car to work on, almost a time warp to when we used to work on these cars from new, and a big thanks to Tanju for bringing it to us 👍

15/08/2026

I'm sure Neil Woodcock is waiting for a post on his Focus ST170 !

Neil needed the majority of his brake lines and flexis replaced with upgraded braided lines ,and an oil/filter change.

He supplied the parts here , and we fitted them, but these old cars can be a little challenging with corroded fittings .

But we took our time on it, starting at the back end first , removing the exhaust system , dropping the fuel tank , and fitting the Kunifer pipework first before the lines , and replaced the rotten fuel tank straps once completed.

At the front , not a huge amount of access, and the NS pipe was in decent condition, just as well as that one goes back to the ABS block and access is... Difficult. This one was cleaned up and a proper epoxy primer applied to protect it.

Fresh fluid bled through a treat and it's now safe !

In the process we removed the Pipercross air filter and managed to find what is most likely to be the reason why the car isn't running at its best - the filter element had gone !

The MAF sensor will need to be cleaned thoroughly once a new filter is fitted and we can access the overall running after , all going well , we may be doing a little calibration enhancement on this one.

It's a smart looking car for it's age and fair play to Neil for putting money into it as there really isn't a huge amount of these left on the road, and that should be commended.