At Jalopnik, we love when people come up with crazy combinations to make unexpected vehicles, suddenly become performance gods (or wannabe gods). Take this 2014 Ford Transit Connect listed on Cars & Bids. At first glance, sure, it’s just a Ford Transit van. But underneath the sheet metal beats an unexpected heart: the turbocharged I4 from a 2014 Focus ST.
Together, we have what Ford would likely have never given us, a Ford Transit Connect ST. From the outside, everything appears stock, aside from the ST badging. It’s a subtle hint letting you know that this Transit truly is something special, and different.
Sure, keen-eyed observers might recognize a few ST details like the 18-inch Focus ST wheels, the rally car-like mud flaps and the center exit exhaust. But there’s more where that came from.
Now to be clear, this van isn’t just a Focus ST engine thrown into a Transit Connect. This vehicle has been given all the mods to ensure that it drives well, like a Focus ST, too.
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Starting with the ST’s 2.5-liter turbocharged I4, which in its stock form makes 252 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque, and is paired to a six-speed manual. That part of the drivetrain has been modified with a stage 2 tune from Cobb, a stage 3 clutch kit from SPEC Clutch, a Mishimoto radiator, and a limited-slip differential from MFactory. The owner also threw on an Eibach lowering spring kit. Unfortunately, a dyno sheet wasn’t provided for the Transit’s mods, so it’s not known just how much of the work may have increased power output.
Inside there’s what looks to be the ST’s Recaro seats and its entire instrument cluster, auxiliary gauges on the center stack for things like oil pressure and temp, and a nice sound system setup including a Kenwood head unit and an Alpine amp.
There’s a rather glare problem with the instrument cluster. The seller says that when the factory cluster was swapped for the ST cluster “the instrument cluster was programmed to display the chassis mileage.” That means that the exact total mileage of this thing isn’t known, although the seller notes he’s put 7,000 miles on it since the swap was done in May of 2021.
Other problems appear to be a list of weird electrical gremlins like the radiator fan remaining on, or the a/c turning on after the car has run for a bit. Power steering also fair kicks in later “the first five or 10 feet of driving,” and the traction control, ABS and rearview camera all do not work. Maybe that comes down to some programming things. But regardless, all things to keep in mind.
If you can see the potential in the list of electrical maladies, the little scratches here and there on the outside, and the wear on the seat bolsters, there’s still time to nab this creation for your garage. At the time of writing, there’s still six days left, and the bid is at $12,500.
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