ST ENGINES

2.5-LITRE DURATEC TURBO

FOUND IN MK2 FOCUS ST (225)

Although borrowed from Ford’s sister company Volvo, the 2.5-litre turbo motor – now rebadged as a 2.5 Duratec – was one of the most powerful engines ever to find its way under the bonnet of a Blue Oval. The ST’s five-pot formed the foundation for the thundering RS version to follow in 2009, and many of the tuning upgrades are interchangeable between the two. That means we’ve seen STs producing well over 600bhp, and all quite reliably and with minimal fuss too.

The very first tuning steps are a remap, air filter and exhaust upgrade, taking power to 270-to-280bhp. Robbing the RS’s bigger turbo and injectors gives headway for over 400bhp, but an ST engine will want an RS’s rods and pistons (or aftermarket upgrades) for anything over 380bhp, and needs the fabled ‘block mod’ (or RS block) for anything over 300bhp

From there, the possibilities are endless. Hardware upgrades and turbo choices are aplenty, but the real game-changer has been modern, stand-alone, plug-and-play ECU systems from the likes of Syvecs and ECU Master; not only do these give mappers much greater control over everything, they also allow extras like