Kpgs Mk3 Focus Titanium

[Benlavelle]

Morning guys, 

 

I always follow this thread, loads of inspirational ideas, Tomson did you fit the Estate ST rear bumper yourself? 

I've got an estate myself and i think it looks amazing! 

[kpg]

Morning guys, 
 
I always follow this thread, loads of inspirational ideas,@Tomson did you fit the Estate ST rear bumper yourself? 
I've got an estate myself and i think it looks amazing! 

I put an @ symbol before his name for you pal so he's more likely to read your question :)

[b4zz]

On ‎05‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 10:59 PM, kpg said:

Hi folks. Apologies Ive not made many updates over the last few weeks, head has been up my back door oesophagus.

My wife and I are currently house/mortgage hunting and it's extremely stressful. So much so that my car was nearly having to be put up for sale to fund the deposit. But despair not, circumstances have come about and the car will be kept for another while.

Also, seems like this forum has taken a slight turn for the worse, lots of upsets and a few people threatening to leave. Such a shame as I've always found people on here extremely helpful and always polite. It must be the time year lol

Anyway I doubt I'll have many mods in the coming months as most funds will be going towards saving for the house but I'll be keeping the car immaculate and hopefully get the wheels refurbed at some stage soon. Another thing is to have it booked it to suss out why the suspension is creaking and knocking hard. I'll get posting as soon as I know more.

So keep an eye those if you who have subscribed to my thread, I'm sorry to disappoint but I'll try and keep it up to date as much as possible.

One more thing, everyone chill out, it's a new year, start as you mean to go on and smile as much as possible :)

glad you haven't got to sell the car as you have put in a lot of hard work to get it looking like it is. good luck in the house/mortgage  hunt.

[kpg]

I decided to have a look at my front struts today, just under the wheel arch. I noticed that the springs are sitting, with all the 'close' coils to the bottom, on the rubber perch:



I'm not sure but is this correct ?

I think I read somewhere before about springs being installed upside down but I can't remember where it was.

[kpg]

Ok on close inspection I can see that the writing is the correct way up:



I'm assuming this means they're installed the right way up.

Here's a few more pics of further up the strut near the mount. I'm not sure what way the springs should sit up here so if anyone sees anything not right please let me know:



Apologies for bad pics, it's the best I could do.

[Rainydays]

Check if the springs have discoloured areas. Check if the blue is chipped off. Examine carefully. Seeing how compressed the sprigs are I am curious if there is impact on the spring.


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[kpg]

Check if the springs have discoloured areas. Check if the blue is chipped off. Examine carefully. Seeing how compressed the sprigs are I am curious if there is impact on the spring.


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Thanks for the reply. Could you explain a bit more please? If there's pain chipped away where two coils are colliding how would this be fixed? Also I've read about the strut mounts having an arrow to indicate which way to install them, maybe this was not known by the garage when they were installing them?

[kpg]

This is what happens when you look too close at your car lol

Something else I've noticed:

Driver side headlight. Notice the silver bezel and the gap before the black


Passenger side:


Somehow it's sitting on top of the black bit. I've no idea how this is possible.

[Rainydays]

The spring seems to have a very high level of compression which may lead to clanking and handling issues. If that is the case , check the colour , you may need to reseat and solve your issue.

The writing is in the proper direction :).


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[kpg]

The spring seems to have a very high level of compression which may lead to clanking and handling issues. If that is the case , check the colour , you may need to reseat and solve your issue.

The writing is in the proper direction :).


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Thanks pal. The mechanic nextdoor to work said he'd have a look this week so hopefully he'll be able to sort something.

[kpg]

Ordered some replacement led door logos today as my previous ones have faded badly. Should be here by Wednesday and installed on the same day.

[Jeff Cooper]

This may be a bit erroneous, but could the touching spring coils be ready to expand when the car goes light (jumping for example!) to give extra height on landing?

 

[kpg]

This may be a bit erroneous, but could the touching spring coils be ready to expand when the car goes light (jumping for example!) to give extra height on landing?
 

I don't understand what you mean pal, could you explain further ?

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[Jeff Cooper]

When you jump a car, you need longer suspension travel for when you land - so by preloading the coils when the car is just normally driven, the spring elongates when there's no weight on the wheels as you go over a hump or jump, or even speed bumps - hence giving a softer more progressive landing.

[kpg]

I'm at my wit's end with all this knocking and creaking !

I asked Ford when the car was last for service to have a look, they said it all looked fine. I asked my mate nextdoors to work, he couldn't find anything wrong and I took it to a guy this morning who deals with rally cars, took him for a drive to hear the knocks and he seems.to think there's nothing alarming.

Granted the sounds weren't as bad typically when I tried to show him but I actually haven't a clue what to do next bar putting the stock springs back in. Which I don't want to do.

[kpg]

Just leave these here...







Far from perfect but not bad for a rush job.

[kpg]

Nice weekend surprise at work the other day too:





Couldn't resist getting a classic/modern shot.

[tazzman600]

That's fantastic seeing a 1968/69 Ford Cortina still on the road. My cap tipped to its owner.

[ScorpionSX]

Hats off to the Cortina, I don't think I ever seen one on the road yet, but I also have to say that I like the mean stance of your FF, the front shot is absolutely fantastic! I've never been a fan of those vertical DRLs, but from this angle they give the car great agressive look! Very very nice shot! 

[kpg]

Hats off to the Cortina, I don't think I ever seen one on the road yet, but I also have to say that I like the mean stance of your FF, the front shot is absolutely fantastic! I've never been a fan of those vertical DRLs, but from this angle they give the car great agressive look! Very very nice shot! [emoji106]

Thanks bud, I'm really happy with how it's looking lately although I can't get the idea of coilovers out of my head. I feel the front sits higher than the rear. Realistically I only want to go down another 15/20mm so the arches are just inline with the top of the tyres.

Here's the most recent shop of the front and rear [emoji4] :



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[ScorpionSX]

You might consider the wheel spacers. You will pull the wheels out a little bit and it will create the look (I think) you're aiming to. I did it myself and I can't wait to put summer tires on, so I can see the difference on 17" wheels. But also with my winter 16s it looks great and it created the look I was going for (wheels in line with car body). You remember how deep in were wheels on MK2 - especially rear ones.

With your 18"s, I would add probably 10mm on each side (but do the measuring first) and it would be perfect!

[kpg]

You might consider the wheel spacers. You will pull the wheels out a little bit and it will create the look (I think) you're aiming to. I did it myself and I can't wait to put summer tires on, so I can see the difference on 17" wheels. But also with my winter 16s it looks great and it created the look I was going for (wheels in line with car body). You remember how deep in were wheels on MK2 - especially rear ones.
With your 18"s, I would add probably 10mm on each side (but do the measuring first) and it would be perfect!

I have actually been torn between the two, coilovers or spacers. Not sure which to do first. I want to do both ultimately. Which would you recommend first? I've done the math and read various posts and have decided that 20mm spacers front and back would do the job. There is plenty of space there under the arches.

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[ScorpionSX]

To be completely honest, I'm not really sure what's the benefit of coilovers. This is the part of car mechanics where I still have blanks in. 

But from my brief understanding, your car will sit a bit lower, if you decide to go with lower set than you have now (spring + shock). In this case, the looks might not have the required results, however the performance would be better a little bit. 

So I guess it depends. If you want to achieve the "alligned" (or, sorry for using the word , stanced) look, then go for wheel spacers. They will put your wheels out a bit and then you maybe decide that you don't need to go any lower, because tires would scuff the fenders. For example, I now can't really get 18" (and I don't really even want them), because of this same reason - I would need smaller spacers. And, after all, you maybe go for the coilovers, but you'll stay with the current height. 

But like I said, coilovers isn't exactly area where I shine, so probably someone else would have more professional opinion about this, hopefully with practical knowledge of the matter...

But I think, and this should be a logical conclusion, the spacers should go first (if you want to use them), so you'll see if and how much lower you can go with a new set of coilvers.

[kpg]

To be completely honest, I'm not really sure what's the benefit of coilovers. This is the part of car mechanics where I still have blanks in. 
But from my brief understanding, your car will sit a bit lower, if you decide to go with lower set than you have now (spring + shock). In this case, the looks might not have the required results, however the performance would be better a little bit. 
So I guess it depends. If you want to achieve the "alligned" (or, sorry for using the word , stanced) look, then go for wheel spacers. They will put your wheels out a bit and then you maybe decide that you don't need to go any lower, because tires would scuff the fenders. For example, I now can't really get 18" (and I don't really even want them), because of this same reason - I would need smaller spacers. And, after all, you maybe go for the coilovers, but you'll stay with the current height. 
But like I said, coilovers isn't exactly area where I shine, so probably someone else would have more professional opinion about this, hopefully with practical knowledge of the matter...
But I think, and this should be a logical conclusion, the spacers should go first (if you want to use them), so you'll see if and how much lower you can go with a new set of coilvers.

I see what you're saying. I've never had a set of coilovers before so I've always been curious. I think the thing that annoys me and makes me think coilovers is the difference in gap between the tyre and bodywork from the front and back. I may try the spacers first and see if it improves the stance of the car. If not then I will investigate coilovers further.

Thanks for the opinions. Always better to hear someone else point of view rather than it all running around in my head lol

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[ScorpionSX]

Happy to help, even with somewhat limited knowledge  

Already looking forward to see the results