My ST170 'project'

[Preecematt]

Hello everyone,

This is my project thread about my new  (old) car, my st170. Brought off my father in law for the grand sum of a bag of Sand.   03 plate, metallic panther black, 3 door, 91500miles (going up as use it at night time travelling to work as other focus wakes boss up 😂), loads of service history and the only that is just starting at the bottom of both front arches.  This will by no means be a quick project and really all I want to do is some very slight modifications, so panel filter, silicone hoses and possibly a remap to get rid of the common flat spot between 1500-2000rpm.  So what have I done to it so far. Well I've washed and decontaminated the whole car and machine polished the bonnet lol, changed the horrible back lights for standard, put some ST170 stickers on the door trim, brought some induction hoses and I am currently trying to find some mudflaps.  Here are a few pictures, so we have a before, during and after of the machine polish (just a compound picture, not one after polishing), before and after of the lights and stickers and also my silicone induction hoses .  So not much so far. Around the back axle is rather worse for wear and in an ideal world I will be dropping this and refurbing it, so strip down, primer and overcoat in black, new bushes, gold zinc plated bolts and refresh calipers.  The rest of the chassis will hopefully be following suit. Tools, time and the help of my friend dependant.  My friend also has a st170 but his is Capri blue and he is 'tracking' his car which is sacrilege in my mind.  Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy reading the thread as and when, Matt

[wilto]

Look forward to following your project, nice to see an older focus getting some love and attention.

Nice photo bomb, pic number 4 😂

[Commencal24]

That's a nice clean looking mk1.5, look forward to seeing what you have planned.

[Dave1981]

Gd looking car man. Always had a soft spot for the st170, underrated in my opinion. Cant say i like the side badges but thats a personal choice. You thought about any other visual changes? Powdercoated alloys? Etc..

[Preecematt]

I thought the same about the badges at first but now I'm used to them, they actually look nice. I'm only playing with the idea of painting the alloys white, maybe. I'll paint the calipers black and see how they look as to whether I do paint the alloys, I need to refurb the alloys on the other car first when I get around to it.  I've always liked these shape focuses and to get a really good ST as cheap as I have then I'm really happy, I'd like to do a concours with it really but they're not really old enough in my mind.  

[Dave1981]

Think it depends what sort of white, remembering the discoloration from the brake dust.. it could look gd if they were a gun metal. My mk2.5's r a gun metal grey and they fit with the car, panther black.

[Preecematt]

So this morning before work I decided to put the neon snot green hoses on, well one of them anyway, where the other goes I'm assuming is under the snorkel, well since the other car is out of action because of autoglass and I'm working I'll leave that for another day.  Forgot to take a before picture but here is the after picture.  Forgot to mention a definite tidy up under the bonnet is in order with more hoses, and new heatshield cover, and possibly new fluid erm tanks. unsure whether or not I like the hose colour yet, still think I should of gone blue but hey ho.  

[Preecematt]

On 2017-5-18 at 0:59 PM, Dave1981 said:

Think it depends what sort of white, remembering the discoloration from the brake dust.. it could look gd if they were a gun metal. My mk2.5's r a gun metal grey and they fit with the car, panther black.

I think I've seen this shape st with gun metal alloys and to be fair it does look nice. But as there is no kurbing to them YET! I will leave them as they are.  And perhaps get them done when they need a refurb.  Next on the list is MOT then going to be a rear axle kit and refurb that.  But that can wait until the weather is better and after the mot 

[Dave1981]

I like the green, its different and stands out.. if you cud change the other hoses to match it would be better.. as for engine bay, its not bad bth. Nowt a clean up wont cure, heat shield might even come up with some cutting compound ?? 

[Preecematt]

24 minutes ago, Dave1981 said:

I like the green, its different and stands out.. if you cud change the other hoses to match it would be better.. as for engine bay, its not bad bth. Nowt a clean up wont cure, heat shield might even come up with some cutting compound ?? 

My only concern is would it not be to much green lol?  Well my friend has a chrome heat shield(his dipstick broke so he had to buy new dipstick tube and shield) and it looks really nice and doesn't look as tacky/cheap as I thought it would.  But I suppose with green hoses it would look rather chavy, so I may look at getting a standard one OR if I can buy a stainless steel manifold I'll leave the heatshield off and wrap the exhaust

[Preecematt]

So today I got my strut brace in the post, didn't plan on buying one but was browsing through fleabay when it magically appeared in my basket.  Fitted it today and my only complaint is it rubs quite badly on the reservoir and slightly on the induction hose.  I will eventually stop buying additional parts and actually buy stuff needed for the car

[Commencal24]

2 hours ago, Preecematt said:

So today I got my strut brace in the post, didn't plan on buying one but was browsing through fleabay when it magically appeared in my basket.  Fitted it today and my only complaint is it rubs quite badly on the reservoir and slightly on the induction hose.  I will eventually stop buying additional parts and actually buy stuff needed for the car

Don't worry about that, I think buying additional parts is common practice, especially by myself 

[Preecematt]

I think that buying extra parts is a bug you can't get rid of hahaha

[b4zz]

looking good and looks a nice tidy example

[Preecematt]

On 5/23/2017 at 8:28 AM, b4zz said:

looking good and looks a nice tidy example

Thank you, it is a nice example, just starting to get a small amount of rust at the front of the side skirts and that's it.  SO a slight update on things, albeit a slightly boring one, I've brought a rear axle kit to be able to refurb back axle so that will hopefully be getting done over the next few days(it's weekend off and hopefully they arrive tomorrow) and I've also brought some 'genuine' boring black mudflaps for the ST.  Most of my attention at the moment has been on my other Focus, which is a mk3, I've brought an RS spoiler for it, brought a Zetec S front lip and booked it in to have some paintwork done.  I should really start a project thread on that as well.  Thanks for reading, Matt

[xpeterpx]

How did you find the improvement after fitting the brace?

[Dagger]

1 hour ago, xpeterpx said:

How did you find the improvement after fitting the brace?

I've fitted several strut braces to my various cars that i've had - and unless you use it on the track you won't notice any difference

 

BUT it does look cool 

 

 

 

 

[Preecematt]

On 5/26/2017 at 7:43 AM, xpeterpx said:

How did you find the improvement after fitting the brace?

Only really notice it around the roundabout lol.  Steering doesn't feel as wobbly down a straight.  Haven't really had a chance to notice it properly though.  Brought a rear axle kit, some new rear springs and some new brakes(brakes were needed & spring was advisory on the last MOT which is due some point in July.  

[Preecematt]

SO only a small slight update, haven't really done anything with the ST lately, it ran out of MOT last saturday and is currently sat at the in laws farm, I have however brought some service stuff for it and will be booking the car in for MOT and service next week(just to keep the stamp in the book and the service history up to scratch).  Currently in the process of taking the throttle body off to give it a clean and also going to have a look at the manifold as apparently(according to fast ford) that could be why I get a tappety sound when it's running.  Reason I haven't been doing much is I, yes me not the wife(who funnily enough after the 1st of August is on the insurance as a learner) scratched my Orange Focus so I had to pay for that last month which isn't to bad as the whole passenger side needed doing anyway(very s**t repair job by someone who needs to be sacked, by the last owner) I also got a Zetec S lip fitted and brought an RS look rear spoiler and Zetec S rear valance.  Running 2 project cars is very expensive lol.  I have also wrote a list of what I'm going to do to the ST.  I'm going to do a nut and bolt as I would really like a concours car.  SO once I get paid at the end of the month(also going to take on a 2nd job) I'm going to buy some rear brake and rear springs as these are needed and there is no point in rebuilding the back axle until I have these parts.  I have got some standard front struts off my friend, as mine are shot, so I'm going to tidy them up and put them on the car.  And then I will slowly work my way towards the front of the car.  SO yes sorry for the slow/none existent updates.  Thanks for reading, Matt

[FatHead1979]

Keep us all posted mate 

[Preecematt]

Another update.  So put the ST through it's MOT, Passed...... FIrst time without fail.  Only advisories being rust on subframes and front shock leaking.  I've brought some waxoyl and the hope is to take the back arches out, strip and respray them and then waxoyl them.  On the lookout for a rear frame at the moment, as I've got the rear axle rebuild kit but As I've just moved to a horsey farm, I don't want the car sat around on axle stands while I do the work, so going to buy a frame and do that in the back garden then just swap them over as and when.  Unless I can persuade the mother in law to let me work on it at her farm in the machinery shed.  Not going to be doing many updates at the moment as we've moved house(again) and have no internet and my phone has broken(again).   If anybody has any advice on the waxoyl let me know please, its the one in the yellow can that is rust proofing.  Thanks for reading, Matt

[FatHead1979]

15 hours ago, Preecematt said:

Another update.  So put the ST through it's MOT, Passed...... FIrst time without fail.  Only advisories being rust on subframes and front shock leaking.  I've brought some waxoyl and the hope is to take the back arches out, strip and respray them and then waxoyl them.  On the lookout for a rear frame at the moment, as I've got the rear axle rebuild kit but As I've just moved to a horsey farm, I don't want the car sat around on axle stands while I do the work, so going to buy a frame and do that in the back garden then just swap them over as and when.  Unless I can persuade the mother in law to let me work on it at her farm in the machinery shed.  Not going to be doing many updates at the moment as we've moved house(again) and have no internet and my phone has broken(again).   If anybody has any advice on the waxoyl let me know please, its the one in the yellow can that is rust proofing.  Thanks for reading, Matt

Good news on the 1st time MOT pass, no-one likes MOT day (and the surprise bill that sometimes follows!) 

[Preecematt]

On 9/4/2017 at 8:54 AM, 1979Damian said:

Good news on the 1st time MOT pass, no-one likes MOT day (and the surprise bill that sometimes follows!) 

I was expecting it to fail lol.  But got it serviced at the same time and I didn't expect the bill it had lol.  £50 an hour labour!!!!  I could do it myself but I just like to keep a stamp + receipt/invoice.  And I provide the parts anyway.  But I've painted both of my back calipers(red to match the stickers) and I was in the process of doing the back axle rebuild but I'll give you 3 words.  ANGLE GRINDER JOB!  So going to look for a rear frame, buy that and do all the stuff in the shed/get it all nice and shiny, then take the old one off and bang the new one on.  Tried to take wishbone off and it's got a large washer behind the nut/bolt and it's put a hole into the frame.  I fear I'm opening a can of worms if I dig to deep, especially as my friend has a capri blue st170 that's 6 months older than mine(his is 52 plate) and his has got all rot/rust and holes around the arches and by the seat belt anchor points in the rear(he's sorted his out and put it through MOT, which failed on handbrake cable but he told them to fix it and it's passed).  I have taken some pictures of some during and afters and will upload them soon.  

[Preecematt]

Update time, been a long time since I put a update, but after constant mithering from my friend(who has the capri blue ST170) I brought some coilovers, no idea what make they are as they are orange and silver.  Anyway thought I'd have a bash at fitting these this afternoon, what a pain in the backside.  I haven't even finished one corner but cold and light drew an end to play.  I've actually attached a few random pictures to show the state of the underside.  Still not managed to take back axle apart either.  Motivation and weather is proving the main obstacles at the moment

Here's the one painted caliper(offside rear) with the old damper + spring

Here's the new spring and damper

Here's the back axle, the right hand bolt/washer has welded itself into the beam and I've attempted to attack it with the angle grinder, the anti roll bar will be sanded back, rust treated and resprayed(as is the plan with the arches, sills etc.  Got lots to do on it and it's going to be a very long drawn out process but I have a week off in a fortnight so hopefully get a lot of it done then.  HOPEFULLY, especially as my friend is off for 2 of those days so he can come help.  Thanks for reading, Matt

[FatHead1979]

Keep us all posted mate, it's good to see people taking the time/effort to keep some of the more classic models on the road.  If you're able to get everything done you'll end up with a car the corners like a go kart