By Dean Larson

Photos courtesy of Dove Racing

With a completed weight of roughly 1,350 pounds, the Rocket II exo car from Exo Sports Cars LTD is like an ideal candidate for the 1.6-liter Ford EcoBoost engine. The trouble is, there was no such installation kit on the market that allowed the computer-controlled engine to function outside its original environment. Dove Racing LLC of Trenton, Texas, is a U.S. distributor for Exo Sports Cars, and is now able to offer a plug-and-play system for installing the 1.6-liter EcoBoost into the Rocket II exo.

Originally installed in the 2013 and up Ford Fiesta ST, the 1.6-liter engine system had a particularly difficult code to crack due to the multitude of functions that the stock ECM controls. Dove Racing sought out the U.K. firm SCS, which had broken the code for the EcoBoost engine. SCS was able to program a custom ECM to run the 1.6-liter engine, allowing it to be installed in the Rocket II along with the donor’s six-speed Getrag transmission.

To optimize the performance of the EcoBoost in the Rocket II, Dove Racing worked with Bell Intercoolers to develop a water-to-air intercooler that would function well in a mid-engine configuration. With SCS’s custom-tuned ECM and the new intercooler design, the 1.6-liter powerplant is tuned to a safe 220 hp, allowing the Rocket II to reach 60 mph well below 4 seconds, according to owner Pete Dove.

For more information on Dove Racing’s line of exo car imports, check out the link below.

http://www.doveracing.net/