101 replies to this topic

[Lenny]

I've decided to fit the ST gauge pod to my 1.6TDCi Focus

This modification has been done before by another member and non members of FOC,

i have searched the internet for information on this Modification and it is possible to an extent.

The ST pod will fit the focus dash but the ST gauges wont operate in the focus due to them being a new breed of Can-Bus type electronic gauges and are not compatible with the regular aftermarket gauge probes and sensors,

their is one member who has converted his gauges to replicate the face of the ST ones and his Information can be found by Clicking Here

As result some after market gauges are required and a maximum of two 52mm Gauges can be fitted in the pod.

I have purchased the ST gauges and Pod from this seller at a very affordable and Competitive price of £50 Click Here
He will also supply the outer dash piece required for the install on request all for under £100 including P&P

Since the stock ST electronic gauges are no use in the focus

i Purchased these beautiful ford racing gauges on eBay Click Here The seller is 100%

a maximum of 2 will fit in the ST pod and are available in black or white face depending on your personal preference.





i started to get to work on what i currently have to hand,
Which is the gauge pod and dash piece,


so i have disected the gauge pod and plan to use the existing ST gauge face as the flat plate to drill two new 52mm holes in the centre and fit the new gauges in to it,

then carbon wrap the area around the gauges resulting in a nice tidy fit in the pod and saving me over an hour trying to manufacture a plate to hold the 2 new gauges.

Here are some pictures of the gauge pod and the parts i plan to use on the focus.











Guide Continued Below

[Lenny]

the gauge face looks slanted at an angle but it actually sits flush when mounted to the pod dash piece,

i thought the slant would be an issue when fitting the new 52mm gauges to the clear plastic face of the stock pod,

but since it sits flush and straight in the pod this plan will work perfectly,

i also need to cut away the silver rings behind the clear section to create space for the rear of New Gauges.
Decided to Purchase some Matt Black Vinyl for the spacearound the gauges,

purchased an A4 Sized sheet from this seller Click Here Fast Delivery and a Perfect Match to the Pod surround

and I plan to fit it over the clear Plexiglas section of the pod then drill thetwo 52mm holes for the new gauges.

[Lenny]

Got the Dremil out and fitted the angle Grinder type Blade and since the clear plastic lens on the gauge pod is seperate to the silver rings, im going to cut the silver rings out of it, leaving a flat surface with a clear backing to fit the new aftermarket gauges in place.

[Lenny]

Plenty of room at the rear for the new gauges to fit




Next Step is Cutting ou the Dash to fit the Pod Surround

first step is to

Remove the stereo surround,
The stereo
2 centre air vents

and finally the speedo cluster,

[TDCiST]

its such a shame they arent just plug and play!!

I'd like to do this mod, but i get the feelig id get too lazy half way through!!

[Lenny]

to remove the speedo cluster, put the steering wheel in the lowest position possible,

then where the leather skirt meets the dash above the steering coulmn just pull to unclip it,
followed by removing two T25 screws holding the cluster in place, simply remove these screws and store in a safe place till cutting is complete,

once screws have been removed, insert a small flat headed screwdriver in the line at the top of the cluster and genly push downwards,
the speedo cluster will drop out of position,

once out reach around the back of the cluster and unclip the plug, it is on a hinge type clip,

please note: electric windows, wipers, indicators and central locking ar all still fully functional when the cluster has been removed.










Once i had the gauges removed, i sat the dash section on top to see where it would sit and also try and spot the markings under the dash made by Ford on the production line,

each hole that needs to be cut in order to fit this section is all premarked on the underside of the dash by ford

[Lenny]

Pictured Below is an image of the Dash under the Speedo gauge,

you can see one of the markings made by ford, this is wher a hole is required to be cut in order to fit the pod surround.



Depending on what tools you are using for this Modification,
you may not ba able to reach all of the holes marked out by ford, but dont worry,

i couldnt reach them neither i simply cut out the ones i could see and reach from the speedo slot and through the stereo slot,

and once i had ehat i could see and reach with the dremil all cut out i placed the pod surround on top of the dash again,

i lined the pins up with the holes i had cut already, which ment the piece was aligned correctly,

i then pressed down hard on the pod surround which left a mark on the dash in the locations of the other pins,

so i then began to cut holes from the top of the dash through to the bottom,

i knew the hole markings would be correct because i cut the front ones going by fords markings which aligned the piece correctly so the others had to be correct also.



also as you can see in the picture above, i have used a clear plastic sheet, to cover the windscreen vent and also to cover the windscreen and surrounding dash, because the heat generated from the dremil is enough to melt the plastic on the dash and can cause fragments of melted plastic to fly off in random directions, so i didnt want the windscreen or surrounding dash to end up like a pebble dashed wall
also to prevent dust from entering the vents,

before starting the process

it is very important that you wear safety glasses and a dust mask when cutting with any power tools in the car.

because it would be terrible not to be able to either complete or see the end results of this fantastic Modification.

I began by cutting out the large centre square, to help get more light in under the dash and be better able to spot the markings,
so without any markings currently visible i began to cut out a large area of the centre dash.

the cutting blade wasnt wide enough to cut through the hole dash section which consists of foam and plastic, so i had to cut away the foam section first, followed by the plastic layer,

once the plastic was cut i could then see the markings made by ford for the cutting of the centre section,

by sitting in the passenger seat and looking up at the dash through the slot from the radio,

then cutting along the lines by reaching in with the dremil through the hole i had cut in the centre. and making it the correct size as marked out by ford.

[Lenny]

[Lenny]

went for a cup of tea at this stage guys,



came back and cut out the plastic section isong the bit in the picture below,
although i have failed to take a picture of the cutting of the plastc i was covering the dremil so as not to splatter hot plastic on my windscreen,
im sure yu guys will understand and forgive me for this minor error in the guide that i have only realised now




also to demonstrate the level of heat, here is a picture of the blade afterwards, with the plastic melted on to it, i used a stanley blade to cut this off and the blade is like new, i must say it took less than 2minutes to cut out the plastic with the dremil a fantastic tool goes like a hot knife through butter.




using the same bit in the dremil
i then began to cut the holes up through the dash from under-neath the dash, looking through the stereo hole and speedo slot, and i had better light in the area due to the extra hole in the centre of the dash



I then put the pod surround section on top and pressed down to make a marking on top for the other holes to be drilled out

[Preee]

Keep up the good work Lenny , great guide m8

[Lenny]

as you drill the slots for the pins, keep offering the pod surround up on the dash and sitting it in the holes

then remove and cut the areas required that need a little more space,

the best thing about the pins is they have a good tolerence when inserted in to the dash so if one of the slots is slightly too big, its no problem you can spread the metal clip wider on the end of the pin and it will grip just as good,
also the pod surround covers all of the area so if you slip and cut the foam its all hidden too.



as you can see in the pictures below the pod surround is now fitted, i still need to cut the far right slot a little wider and shave a wisker off of the front left to get it snug, i had to stop at 5pm today due to the dark evenings,

i will update again with pictures in day light tomorrow,

and i will continue this guide in the new year with the fitting of a boost gauge and oil pressiure gauge,

in the mean time if any one requires information on fitting any type of gauge to their car you can email me at Click Here

and i will get back to you with information on installing within 24 hours,

however i will be posting a guide on fitting them on to the end of this thread once i have purchased the gauges

[Lenny]

I Didnt Fully Clip the Pod Section in to the Surround Just yet, encase it is difficult to remove again because i hae yet to fit the gauges,
but once the gauges are fitted the pod will sit snug in the pod surround

[Lenny]

I Wrappd the face of the ST Pod with some Matt finish Vynal Wrap, but unfortunity i drilled the 52mm holes for the gauges in the wrong locations leaving the original face of the pod usless,



















.







The next type of Gauges are Smoked Face Gauges.
the configuration for the smoked is much the same as the regular electronic, the only difference is you don't need to run a cable to the switched light feed because the backlight on the gauge is on all of the time when the gauge is in operation,


The third type of Gauges are the Mechanical ones,
These differ in that for oil pressure you runan oil feed pipe from the sump directly to the rear of the gauge, so if yourconnections are not tight there is a risk of the oil leaking in to yourinterior, but on the up side the mechanical gauges don’t require much wiringand this type is most favoured with Rally and Race cars designed for Circuitracing due to the low weight, low maintenance and simple configuration.



However the Visteon Gauges that come fitted to the Focus ST and Focus RS from the production Line,
they are a new Can-Bus type gauge that are fed from the cars ECU and currently not even NASA can draw a diagram of how those babys operate

Hope this helps

[Lenny]

The idea of using the existing face of the ST Pod as a face plate to mount the new gauges in to place, didnt work out as planned,
so it was back to the drawing board to figure out a new way of fitting the gauges in place, and thanks to leemaxed who told me when fitting his he had encountered the same difficultys and got around it by purchasing two single gauge pods, and fitting them in to the ST pod at an angle to maximise the viewing of the gauges.

so i purchased two single gauge pods which arrived on friday, i then decided to cut the backs from them to allow maximum clearance and ventilation to the gauges and cables inside the st pod






i then sat them in to the ST pod thinking that their would be enough clearance on the dash for the bases of the single pods to sit on the dash and face out through the st pod face.




unfortunitly the bases on the single pods were too tall to rest on the dash and allow the pod to clip in to place above them, so i got in contact with leemaxed again who informed me that he had gotten the same model of single gauge pods as me, then purchased a longer M5 bolt,

turned the two single pods on their sides, removed the bases from both of them and bolted the singles to each other.
so i done exactly that and it was a brilliant help in positioning them and gave great clearance to the underside of the pod too.





the next step was to find a way of keeping them in that position within the pod,
their is many ways this could be done by either glue, or silicone, but i had already got the face plat from the original ST pod gauges and no other use for it,



so i began to experment with it, cutting bits off to see if i could create some sort of support bracket to hold the two single pods in position,
unfortunitly i slacked on taking many pictures of this section in the modification process although i have edited the picture below to help describe the section of the plastic casing i used.

in the image below you will see the image i have coloured in various sections to help explain how i created the bracket to support the gauges in place,

the section with the yellow outline is the shap i cut out and used to supprt the under side of the pod, then the red box section with the X on it, that is the section that i cut out and glued at an L shape to the under side of the first section.

the solid red section i cut away and threw in the bin.




below is a picture of the end result. from cutting out the bottom section to create a flat plate to support the gauges underneath, and i left a lip on the rear to help grip the rear of the single pods too,



i also drillet a hole in the centre to allow the longer M5 bolt stick through and i plan to fit another M5 washer and nut to the end of it, so as it is 100% tight and secure,

i glued this section to the bottom of the gauge support, then fitted double sided sticky pads to the single pods where they made contact with the panel.

the results can be seen in the following images:






depending on the gauges fitted in the pod, you may also need to cut out a section of the pod surround to allow the boost pipe fitting to sink down in to the dash, i had to remove a square section but i have failed to take any pictures of this being done,

but once their is enough clearance cut out, the pod will sit snugly in to place in the dash as can be seen in the following image:



the next step of this modification is to fill the space between the two gauges in the front of the pod,
i have purchased some 1.5mm clear perspex from ebay, and i plan to trim it to the required shape then wrap it with some matt black vinyl to blend in with the rest of the dash.

the gauges are not operational yet neither,
i have to purchase the self sealing 1/8NPT adaptor and a oil pressiure sensor T piece, but due to the limits on the ammount of images that can be uploaded per post, i will need to complete the rest of this guide on another post at the end of this thread.
thank you for looking.

[Leemaxd]

I really enjoyed doing mine, the mess gets everywhere such a good feeling when it all pops into place