Reinforced exhaust valves Ford 2.0 EcoBoost

Ford engines covered

The 2.0 EcoBoost is the direct injection turbocharged four-cylinder that Ford fits to the Focus III ST, the Mondeo IV and V, the Kuga II and III, the S-MAX and the Galaxy, under many codes of the R9C, R9M, TNC, TNW, TPBA and TPWA families.

Its cylinder head takes 8 exhaust valves, two per cylinder. The SUPERTECH version keeps standard size: a 28 mm flat head, a 5.45 mm stem, a 104.6 mm length and a single lock groove.

SUPERTECH reinforced exhaust valves

On a boosted engine the exhaust head metal goes past 1,000 °C, while it stays between 760 and 870 °C on a naturally aspirated one. Close to three quarters of that heat, about 75 %, goes back out through the seat and 20 % through the guide. An EV8 family steel, taken as the benchmark for the original, drops from 550 MPa at 600 °C to only 300 MPa at 800 °C: the head heats up, fatigues, distorts and stops sealing cleanly.

The FEVI-2500F-HS-8 is cut from Inconel, a nickel-based superalloy that still holds 860 MPa at 732 °C and 554 MPa at 816 °C, about 85 % better than EV8 steel around 800 °C. Its hollow stem contains sodium: liquid from 97.8 °C, it carries heat from the head to the stem and the guide.

Exhaust valve technical specifications

A single part number, at standard size: 28 mm flat head, single lock groove, hollow sodium filled stem.

Valve fitting

On reassembly, check that the collets sit properly in the single groove of the valve.

With the head staying at 28 mm, the exhaust seats are simply reground at standard size.

A sodium filled valve is never drilled or cut: in contact with water, sodium gives off hydrogen and caustic soda.

Technical guide

Our brand

SUPERTECH Performance, a Californian maker of competition valves for more than thirty years, offers for the 2.0 EcoBoost a sodium filled Inconel exhaust valve at standard size.

How to choose

One part number covers this engine:

When reinforced valves become necessary

• Boost pressure raised by a remap (Inconel version recommended)
• Larger turbocharger
• Track days
• Cylinder head rebuild with marked exhaust valves

Vehicle compatibility

OEM part number (exhaust valve):

Don't forget the inlet valves

With the 2.0 EcoBoost cylinder head off, change the inlet valves and the valve stem seals too.