Tried to upgrade my throttle body (again), killed the #Focus (again)

I’m still trying to figure out someway to upgrade the electronic throttle body on my 2009 Ford Focus 2.0. I’ve messed with the gears inside of it, and it killed the Focus a while back. That post is here. I had to wind up replacing the throttle body.

This time, I’ve been trying to make a Mazda3 throttle body fit. Has the same Duratec engine, but with a 2.3 displacement. The throttle bodies physically match up on the outside quite well, with the Mazda 3 having a larger butterfly valve. This means more air would be able to flow into the engine, with air = power.

Of course, nothing can be that easy when dealing with electronically controlled engine components. Tried with the Mazda and Ford throttle position sensor, and neither let it work. Also tried rearranging the wires in the plug. After making it half a block down the road and realizing that throttle response was severely limited, I turned back to take it all apart again.

Luckily I didn’t mess around with my previous throttle body this time, so I eventually got it working again. I also polished my throttle body, although I did not do port and polish yet. In the coming weeks I’m going to get another Focus throttle body and see just how large I can port it, and then I’ll polish it and install it if all goes well. For now, it has eased the motion of air coming into the engine.

I’m pretty sure that there’s a bump in power, but it could just be due to the butt dyno effect. It did increase the volume of my K&N intake some. If anyone has suggestions on a plug and play throttle body that will work for the Focus, let me know. Would be appreciated.