"taking Oval To Blue Horizon" Lenny's Build Thread 2010-2015

[Lenny]

I've run my power cables inside the trim under under the seal that runs around the passenger doors! :)

The Torx bit you Will need will be around a 50.

As for Clarkson... Gutting.. but to be honest.. imagine Guy Martin in His place!

Looking good there Lenny. It's all coming along nicely. I like how all the amps are on one side.

With regards to your wires, I put my 4 awg wires under the side sill on the left of the car. I just tucked them on the inside after going from behind the glovebox. I had to take out the glovebox to make that work.

Sadly can't help you out with rivets :(

As for the torx, let me know when you find out as it's something I too want to know.

Best of luck with the upgrade.

Gutted about Top Gear but still Clarkson should not punch other people.

Morning update:

Had a sesrch on google says the Torx is a T50

Going to Halfords after the school run to pick up a T50 torx

I can then earth the cable in back seat,

Fit the isofix braclet

And remove all seats aswell as carpet to route both power cables through the factory channel in the floor.

Ill also bring rear speaker bracket and drop in to B&Q for advise on rivets.

Meanwhile the car has loom hanging out everywhere its like an indian Taxi full of dream catchers and beads

[Lenny]

Fitted speaker Grill

Fitted the buggy

Went to Halfords,

Actually met a very helpful staff member whom assisted my purchase,

Took out his own Torx set and tried the various sizes on the focus so i needed T40 and T50 Torx bits

So i purchased individual T40 & T50 Torx drive sockets and the Allen key style set.

I then went to local Engineering supplies shop to purchase rivets and male spade connectors,

Then at 11:00am on route home to perform a days work on the car,

Victoria had alternative plans entailing two trips to two different doctors and a trip to the hospital which all ended in the same diagnosis of Tadhg's getting teeth.

Had an unmanned, unofficial ford meet at the hospital car park:

Consumed my whole day,

Sadly no further progress can be done as I've gotta try sleep now as I'm in work again at 23:00

I will try get somthing done in the morning after work,

Perhaps if i leave a bus fare on the table

Tried the rivets and no good,

The brackets are too thick,

Ill try get some M6 nut & bolts tomorrow to secure brackets instead,

Perhaps camp outside DIY store after work to ensure i get them before going home to the chaos.

[Lenny]

Double Post

Moderators please delete this post

thanks 👌

[Hassen]

Thanks for the info and good to know they have it in Halfords.

Liking how the buggy fits and with a bit os space to spare. That enclosure just for that is money well spent :)

[Lenny]

Thanks for the info and good to know they have it in Halfords.

Liking how the buggy fits and with a bit os space to spare. That enclosure just for that is money well spent :)

+1

[Lenny]

Were in progress:

[Lenny]

Darkness is beginning so I've had to stop on the car,

No difficulty's today at all except for my miscalculation on quantity of M6 bolts purchased this morning.

As result I've gotta go back to DIY store tomorrow for another six.

Ive run the power feeds for the amps down the passenger side of the car along side the factory fitted loom underneath the carpet,

Then run all audio speaker feeds down the drivers side along side factory loom under the carpet.

Since I'm not installing door poppers i had no need to route cables through to the doors,

Instead i used the Haynes manual to diagnose the correct factory loom cables and spliced in to those cutting off the feeds from the headunit,

Rear passenger side left speaker:

Rear Drivers side right speaker:

Audio is now fed from the headunit via RCA cable to the amp,

Then out of the amp to the speaker via these cables.

The rear Speakers are now fully installed,

I've run the front speaker feeds

And

Front speaker output from headunit

Feeds

To the rear of the headunit along with the remote line feed and three RCA's

I plan to cut the front speaker feeds at rear of headunit wiring both ends up to relevant looms.

I've drilled out the front Speakers and currently in the process of fitting the replacement brackets this is where I've run out of bolts.

I've had to put seats back in,

In order to reconnect battery without an airbag error,

Then locked it up for the night.

I've brought in the front door tweeter housings,

Going to try sort them out inside tonight,

Here's some pictures i took at random times of the day guys:

[Hassen]

Absofreakinglutely awesome! Love it when a plan comes together. Keep up the work as I can't wait to see the final results.

I am very surprised how I couldn't see much/any sound deadening on the metal floors used. Only the thick carpet to cut noise intruding the cabin. After driving in a Lexus and an Opel Insignia recently, the sound deadening levels in those cars were much better than the Ford. That's one thing that I would really like in my car as on the motorways, the noise can get tiresome.

[Philf1]

Lenny you are a legend man. I can't believe you've basically stripped your car back to bare metal I wouldn't have the patience. Can't wait to see the end result.

[Brigante]

Lenny dont wanna alarm you mate but someones nicked the seats outa your focus :o

[Lenny]

Absofreakinglutely awesome! Love it when a plan comes together. Keep up the work as I can't wait to see the final results.

I am very surprised how I couldn't see much/any sound deadening on the metal floors used. Only the thick carpet to cut noise intruding the cabin. After driving in a Lexus and an Opel Insignia recently, the sound deadening levels in those cars were much better than the Ford. That's one thing that I would really like in my car as on the motorways, the noise can get tiresome.

Thanks mate,

Id say the mondeo would have more sound proofing aswell,

I did notice an increase in motorway noise after fitting the bigger wheels bit it doesnt bother me much,

Im concerned about putting too much weight in to the car, so im sort of holding back on the sound proofing to see how much effect the rest of the items have on driving.

I will be stripping out the floor again because ive found my focus has another common fault

Paasenger footwell wheel arch weld hickup,

This has happend on production line where the machine stoped welding for a second causing a gap in the wheel arch joint allowing water in,

I had assumed it was pollen filter housing, but since seeing it today i know now its wheel arch,

Lad on RS owners club Ireland had same problem and told me about it a while back.

Also im tempted to fit roof monitor tomorrow but afraid ill make a balls of it lol

Lenny you are a legend man. I can't believe you've basically stripped your car back to bare metal I wouldn't have the patience. Can't wait to see the end result.

Thanks very much Phil i was just short of rubbing my nipples while stripping the car today mate i was giggling with excitement while carrying parts in to the house.

The drivers seat is easily 40kg with airbags in it,

Good modification would be a set of aftermarket bucket seats lol

Lenny dont wanna alarm you mate but someones nicked the seats outa your focus :o

i thought there was an increase in leg room

[Lenny]

Tweeters now fitted in stock locations.

I did try dissecting the tweeters to smaller size as in removing there grill but not a chance,

These are sealed tight one inch silk.

Progress continues at 7am 😩...😴

[Lenny]

Been at the car today from 9am to 19:00

Had to drive with only drivers seat installed to local DIY store 😀

Bit faster with no interior or door cards fitted, had to purchase some more bolts as previously mentioned,

Got home and fitted front Speakers completly.

I failed to take many pictures,

Fitted front Speakers and wired in the feeds from amp to Speakers aswell as the front audio to boot connector feed.

Removed the iso adaptor loom and hard wired all cables to reduce bulk at the rear of the headunit,

Would have been tight if not impossible to fit the headunit back in along with the additional 7 RCA plugs.

Took some time and Haynes manual

Front speakers now fully installed and door cards fitted,

Tomorrow I've gotta fit the isofix bracket in back seat,

Refit all panels,

Route power feeds through firewall to battery,

Fit PlayStation socket extensions,

Begin wiring Xtrons HD DVB Tuner.

There was a lot of time spent phishing RCA's in to headunit cage today guys,

Had to go in one at a time and took forever,

Was like seeing your child being born,

The euphoric feeling when the RCA cable finely peeps through where you want it😮 😂

Headunit now refitted and functioning 100%

Currenly powering front speakers from headunit via the new plug&socket system in the boot compartment until the amp power is complete.

More progress tomorrow thanks for reading.

[Lenny]

Todays progress:

Well its day three of flat out working on the car,

Started off with the TV Tuner

Wired up a loom for it,

I then routed the cable from the passenger fuse board area back along factory loom to the passenger side boot panel where i plan to mount the tuner box.

I then had to temporarily cease installation of the tuner as i require a ring crimp terminal to earth a cable aswell as some more insulated female crimps,

I didn't fit aerials yet neither as the manual says the tuner will display signal levels to assist mounting in optimum location,

So I've gotta get it powered up first,

I then got the Ford IsoFix bracket fitted for the little man,

Hoovered out the car and put the whole interior back in except for glove box,

Not one screw or clip missing,

Very surprised at that lol

I then routed both 4 Gauge cables from the amps through the firewall,

Fitted the 30 and 40amp circuit breakers, bolted to the side of the battery box all ready for final crimp ring terminal to be applied.

I've got the crimps,

But i don't have a large crimper,

I've gotten a loan of one from maintenance workshop in work before to crimp all other connections,

I've now got the final four connections ready for crimping,

Should have these done on Tuesday morning and that will see the amps fully functioning,

Ill pick up crimp ring terminal tomorrow and get back to installing the TV Tuner,

I've decided to source a company to install the flip down Monitor as i don't trust myself to line it up correctly,

I've got all the cables figured out etc.

Just need a company to fit it in there for me,

Ill look in to it in coming weeks,

Its been a fun three days but im glad to be at the end of it because its quite stressful aswell as enjoyable trying to make everything go the way you want it to and always planning whats to be done next, in a bid to maximise daylight time,

Aswell as reserving some inside jobs for times that it begins to lash rain lol

Looking forward to getting back to work in order to obtain the crimper :)

[Hassen]

Looking good there buddy and looking forward to the future updates. You seem to be having a ball :)

[Lenny]

Looking good there buddy and looking forward to the future updates. You seem to be having a ball :)

Was fun mate but now i just want it to be over lol

Today fitted some decals:

Then brought the old battery in to the kitchen table and wired it up to the capacitor for first charge lol

Despite being red cable,

Thats negative feed wired from battery to cap,

The positive must be connected via this resistor until the cap has 8 volts in it.

So here we have capacitor held in right hand,

Voltage metre probe held in my teeth,

And resistor held in pliers with my left hand yes connecting to a car battery,

The chair has wooden legs so should be ok

Got up to 8 volts

Then connected full cables to battery,

Brought it up to 12.4

Now fitted to the car awaiting the final crimp connections tomorrow,

I've completed wiring of the tv tuner but i think I'm going to need to wire it directly to the battery because the start up screen and menu connection transmitting to the headunit is all fuzzy,

Think I'm out of my league with the TV tuner and flip down screen.

I've still gotta fit team hecko wind deflectors and short stem aerial but at present i need a break from working with the car lol starting to wreck my head.

Gauging interest on factory Speakers before i throw them out if anyone wants to pay shipping.

Excellent condition 25W Speakers,

Going in bin next sunday if no interest.

[Lenny]

Progress update:

Crimped the final connections this morning.

battery cover refitted:

Capacitor and amps now live:

Sounds great from default settings,

I attempted self calibration and it alerted me that the rear drivers side speaker is not working

"Pain in the glass" as they say in Holland,

Well I've successfully narrowed it down to the RCA connection at the rear of the headunit,

It must have become loose or disconnected as Channel 4 on the amp isn't receiving a signal from the headunit.

Once i solve this,

I can then calibrate the system.

At this point just want the process to flow like water lol heads wrecked and I can't leave it alone

[d4vog]

Looking sweet mate. You've done a stellar job in making everything look great, your attention to detail is very impressive!

Sent from my iPad using Ford OC

[Hassen]

It's Alive! Cue bass rumble.

Did you get the whole thing with the head unit working? I might need to take a drive to you to hear this in person :)

[Lenny]

Looking sweet mate. You've done a stellar job in making everything look great, your attention to detail is very impressive!

Thanks very much David, much appreciated.

It's Alive! Cue bass rumble.

Did you get the whole thing with the head unit working?

Not yet,

I've gotta take out headunit to check connections,

Reluctant to do this fast, as its a pain to get back in due to limited space at rear,

Ill sort it out perhaps Friday when I'm not working.

[Lenny]

Friday early morning update:

I've not yet sorted the RCA for rear right speaker, need to remove headunit later,

At present the whole sound system sounds worse than standard because the headunit puts all audio to lowest settings by default until calibrated to protect Speakers,

Cant calibrate it until all Speakers are working,

The RCA connection for the rear right speaker became disconnected at rear of headunit so I've gotta sort it out between now and Tuesday lol

I wont be sound deadening the car as i feel the boom mats are playing a sufficient part in keeping the sound inside.

However,

I've fitted the AutoLeads short stem aerial:

The radio reception has surprisingly gotten better because the short aerial is completely made from metal compared to the longer factory plastic one.

A link to supplier of this aerial is in an earlier update.

I then fitted the Team Heko tinted wind deflectors,

A link to there supplier is also on a previous page,

These Team Heko are as always more streamline than CimAer equivalent model.

Unlocked Car WiFi router also arrived:

My home broadband connection is via a SimCard Router so when traveling on long journeys or on holiday just transfer sim to the car router straming music via bluetooth to the headunit or browsing the internet travel with unlimited bandwidth.

Thats it from me now for a while guys,

My next update will be the flip down headunit and TV tuner,

I wont be installing these for a few weeks as im currently tired of removing panels and routing cables,

The TV tuner is wrecking my head,

I'm going to get em done in coming weeks, ill have an update when there in,

Other than that:

I will be fitting some Genuine ST front and rear bumpers around October at the latest August at the earliest,

That's it from me then its been a fun five years of modification.

Ill still be online but I've nothing left to do regarding my focus except keeping it serviced.

[JC600]

Will look awesome when finished Lenny. :)

[Lenny]

Will look awesome when finished Lenny. :)

Thanks Jamie mate,

I need a new hobby now

[JC600]

Thanks Jamie mate,

I need a new hobby now

That's why I brought the Mk3 Escort lol :)

[Hassen]

Awesome! The new ariel looks really good. How hard is it to fit? I might be tempted if it makes the reception better.

Also, those wind deflectors look really cool. I like them in dark much more than my old Climair ones.

Could you please point me to the links for the 2 above? Thanks :)