Kiddo.... mk3.5 focus estate 1.5tdci 120 titanium x

[Pug=309]

Hey guys and girls, I'd like to introduce Kiddo (wife named her), shes a 1.5 tdci 120 titanium x estate in deep impact blue, has just over 92k on the clock.

We have had the car from new as a motability car and bought her as she does the family job, plus we do more miles that are allowed.  She had a replacement short block at 47k as the camshaft sprocket decided to splinter into 4 pieces.

 

Ok, enough background for now,  plans are to remove all chrome from the car as it ain't our cup of coffee, then the usual wheels, suspension brakes etc, some sort of rear pipe, making the full car body coloured (front balance, skirts and rear valance), tints, interior, then we can get to engine fun.

Ok now for some pictures, forgive the mucky car, hides the scratches from inconsiderate people that scratch her as they walk by, already added the fake foglight grills, as you can see here, and just added the genuine black honeycomb grill but forgot to take a snap of it, i also have a complete genuine st line front valance but not the 4 brackets that as needed to fit it.

She has a few miles on her

And is starting show

Can anyone recommend a good obd plug/software for diagnostics and possibly for changing variant configuration?

 

Thanks

[Pug=309]

Hey, little update, got a great deal on a set of 8x18 inch Rosso RR9's

and I'm going to marry them to 225 40 18 Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5's

 

I know there will be a discrepancy of 1.51% in the speedo, at 60 I will be doing  about 60.9, acceptable I think especially considering the saving over the 235's that would be the correct dia to keep the speedo correct.

I know I should get the steering lock limiters but from what I have read some 17inch wheeled cars got them as standard, is there anyway to tell without taking the boots off.

 

Pics once fitted.

 

Thanks

 

 

Allan

 

[Pug=309]

A few pictures of kiddo wearing her new shoes, as said in the post above, these are 18x8 rosso rr9's 5x108 et40 wearing Goodyear Eagle f1 asymmetric 5's in 225 40 18's

Started getting weird looks from people so took a couple more from home, on the plus side the rain made the car look more cleaner than it is

Fills the arch nicely I think, and there is only a very minor rub on full lock, so I'll be looking into the steering lock limiter as well as dropping the car a little.

 

 

Thanks

[Luke4efc]

Missed this one lol. Don't often come to this part of the forum.

Anyway, if you're lowering the car at all, then I'd definitely recommend rack limiters.

Perhaps look into getting the back windows tinted? You'd be surprised how much of a difference it makes to the look of the car.

[Pug=309]

4 hours ago, Luke4efc said:

Missed this one lol. Don't often come to this part of the forum.

Anyway, if you're lowering the car at all, then I'd definitely recommend rack limiters.

Perhaps look into getting the back windows tinted? You'd be surprised how much of a difference it makes to the look of the car.

Hi, aye the wife wants tints done asap, but with needing a pair of tyres for the Original 17's, then getting a great deal on the wheels and tyres, it's been pushed back a wee bit.  We are hoping to get it done soon though.

 

Thanks

 

 

Allan

[Pug=309]

As the parcel force can pulled up, I felt like a kid at Christmas, 2 nice big boxes all the way from Poland.

 

Bilstein b12 set, b8 shocks and Eibach 25mm lower springs.  They look so pretty, shame they're so rarely seen when on the car, the only disappointment is that the fronts no longer come with dust covers, instructions say to cut the stock one to fit, I'm going to keep a lookout for a pair for them though as I'm thinking about just making up the front shocks, taking them down to a local garage and getting them to use there spring compressors to build them up instead of me putting a shock threw my front door trying to do strip the top mount off the stock ones with chocolate spring compressors.

I will be definitely replacing the top strut bearing regardless.

Will be changing these during the October holidays.

 

As I was under kiddo trying to fix the undertray as (loose screws and large puddles) tore it up, I noticed oil on the lower gearbox mount, I found the culprit 

Can these seals fail within a few months?   Car recently got a pair of driveshafts, near side one is fine, offside one is the bugger,  guess that explains my issue with gear changes when the car is cold.

To go with this, I noticed a drop link was past it as well as an inner tie rod, so 2 genuine of each courtesy of fleabay, 

Kiddo is less that a thousand miles off her 100k mark so rear tints and a big service kit are next up on the list.

 

Allan 

[TomsFocus]

You can usually get away without spring compressors at all to build up the new struts with lowering springs, might as well use top mounts with everything else being new.  Saves hassle and also means no spring paint damage to rust in future!  Just pull the shock up as high as it'll go, then put your weight on top of the top mount to compress the spring slightly and you should just get enough threads poking through to get the top nut on.  

Were the driveshaft seals replaced at the same time as the driveshafts?  They often fail soon afterwards if not, I always spend the extra on replacing the seals at the same time to save the mess later on.

[zain611]

Those wheels really suit the car 👍 

[Pug=309]

14 hours ago, zain611 said:

Those wheels really suit the car 👍 

Thanks, where growing on me, cant complain at £90 for the set, though they do need a refurb badly.

 

 

Allan

[Pug=309]

16 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

You can usually get away without spring compressors at all to build up the new struts with lowering springs, might as well use top mounts with everything else being new.  Saves hassle and also means no spring paint damage to rust in future!  Just pull the shock up as high as it'll go, then put your weight on top of the top mount to compress the spring slightly and you should just get enough threads poking through to get the top nut on.  

Were the driveshaft seals replaced at the same time as the driveshafts?  They often fail soon afterwards if not, I always spend the extra on replacing the seals at the same time to save the mess later on.

I was thinking about using the car to compress the spring, mount the strut to the hub carrier, add spring and upper bearing the Jack under the wishbone and bolt threw the top mount,  but for some reason I feel like that's one of the most dodgiest things that I would ever do.

 

As for the seal, it was a main dealer that did the work so I would assume that they would of done, though you do know what assumption is the mother of..... 🤐   l might call them and ask.

 

Cheers

 

 

Allan

[Pug=309]

Ok, so I have been on wish, I know, but I was bored,  got some door speaker adapters, and these

Not really sure what their called, I think they dont look too bad, though I'm going to paint them matt black.

 

Also some vinyl

I kind of like the look, sadly the carbon vinyl was very thin and would not contour to the fascia very well, so it's off for now

The matt black vinyl on the other hand was quite good, did the chrome ring round the gear gator and the U shaped piece that wraps round the lower console, mine was this gloss black slightly sparkly nonsense, the matt black suits better I think.

 

Anyone k now where i can get pre cut window tint for a m3.5 estate, specifically it's the carbon nano (think its called)?

 

Thanks 

 

 

Allan

[TomsFocus]

7 hours ago, Pug=309 said:

I was thinking about using the car to compress the spring, mount the strut to the hub carrier, add spring and upper bearing the Jack under the wishbone and bolt threw the top mount,  but for some reason I feel like that's one of the most dodgiest things that I would ever do.

 

As for the seal, it was a main dealer that did the work so I would assume that they would of done, though you do know what assumption is the mother of..... 🤐   l might call them and ask.

 

Cheers

 

 

Allan

Yeah, I really wouldn't suggest using the car to compress springs lol.  The springs are probably short enough not to need much compressing though, I built these up in my living room by just leaning on them slightly, not for a Focus admittedly.

I doubt the main dealer replaced the driveshaft seal unless it was leaking before the shaft change.  It should be itemised on your invoice if it was.

[Miggs2002]

I've done some dodgy things when i first started tinkering with cars, worst thing i ever did was taking an engine out of a car using the trolley jack to help wheel it out as i had no lift, thought it was a genius idea until while stood behind it in the bay i pushed the jack with my foot and the engine leaned back pinning me in the bay, luckily my mate, who i might add said it was a terrible idea, was there to help me out

for around £20 you can get a half decent set of spring compressors that will do the job safely 

them wheels look good on the car, saw the pic of them in general and thought they'd look awful but now they are on they suit it well, cracking buy that

also if you're bothered about speeding tickets due to the rolling ratio then you should be fine, the police have a 10% +2mph leeway before they prosecute due to most speedos and wheels causing cars to lose a bit or gain a bit over the years

[Pug=309]

7 hours ago, Miggs2002 said:

I've done some dodgy things when i first started tinkering with cars, worst thing i ever did was taking an engine out of a car using the trolley jack to help wheel it out as i had no lift, thought it was a genius idea until while stood behind it in the bay i pushed the jack with my foot and the engine leaned back pinning me in the bay, luckily my mate, who i might add said it was a terrible idea, was there to help me out

for around £20 you can get a half decent set of spring compressors that will do the job safely 

them wheels look good on the car, saw the pic of them in general and thought they'd look awful but now they are on they suit it well, cracking buy that

also if you're bothered about speeding tickets due to the rolling ratio then you should be fine, the police have a 10% +2mph leeway before they prosecute due to most speedos and wheels causing cars to lose a bit or gain a bit over the years

Oh I've had my fair share of "genious ideas" that in the cold light of day not even a complete muppet would consider, and I'm sure they'll be more.

I have days where I hate the wheels but days where I kindo like them, they'll do for now, might even treat them to a refurb soon.  The thing I do like about them is that with the et of these (stock et was 50, these are et40), they sit 3.7mm further away from the shock, and poke 16mm further out so it's sort of like running 15mm spacers (atleast where the poke is concerned), without actually running spacers,

 

As for the speedo, I'm 1.51% out so at 60mph I'm doing 60.9mph, so it's not too bad.

 

Cheers

 

 

Allan

 

 

 

[Pug=309]

Well kiddo reached a milestone today, well a hundred thousand milestone

Not bad for a 4 and half year old motor

We bought her a wee present to celebrate

A 2017 st line steering wheel

And lastly

From tunnel rat electronics, only ordered it yesterday 

 

More updates soon

 

 

Allan

 

 

[Pug=309]

Fitter the new steering wheel, didnt realise tha t I'd have to cut a chunk out the side of it for the cruise controls but, I live and learn, also removed the chrome and very quickly painted them in deep impact blue body colour, its rough and I will have to redo it once I find a way to remove the chrome plating on them, but for now I'm happy

Looks and feels way better than the old one.

Oh and excuse the dirty floor mats, I'll get on to that

 

 

Allan

[Miggs2002]

That's a tasty looking wheel, the blue is nice and subtle yet a big difference to the chrome

[Pug=309]

1 hour ago, Miggs2002 said:

That's a tasty looking wheel, the blue is nice and subtle yet a big difference to the chrome

Cheers, the wheel is from a 2017 st line, which is lucky as earlier ones seemed to have red stitching rather than black.

I agree, the blue breaks up the black nicely without being too in your face,  now I just need to work out how to remove the chrome, which is being a pig to remove, oven cleaner didnt shift it, neither is cheap bleach, I'll get there in the end though.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Allan

 

[Pug=309]

Wish me luck 

 

Allan

[Pug=309]

Hey all, so the deed is done, the Scottish weather didnt stop me, 1 boiler suit, 3 pair of Jean's, 3 t shirts, 3 pairs of boxes, 2 pair of socks completely soaking,   and 1 massively pee'd off wife.

Here she is (kiddo, not the wife),  a bit dirty, 

Here she is now after a quick clean ( all I had time for)

she is a little lower, but I'm not sure its 25mm, is there a "settling" time for the springs that I need to wait for before she's at that height?

Couple bonus pictures of old and new

And one final picture, proof that kiddo put up quite a fight

Tints be next,  rally style mud flaps too, if I can find them cheap cause I'm skint as f**k  😩

Allan

[TomsFocus]

New springs do take a few days to settle.  Don't forget yours will have been saggy and a little lower than new at that mileage as well!

I'm more interested in how you took that last picture though...  Tongue maybe? 

 

[Pug=309]

42 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

New springs do take a few days to settle.  Don't forget yours will have been saggy and a little lower than new at that mileage as well!

I'm more interested in how you took that last picture though...  Tongue maybe? 

 

Cheers

 

5 second timer, under my chin.

 

Only took 5 tries.

 

 

Allan

[Pug=309]

Hi all, ok, let's talk about gloveboxes, not the fanciest mod, but with 2 kids and a dog, you need all the storage you can get.   Now Ford in the infinent wisdom made the mk3.5 focus's glovebox smaller than the mk3's, ***** stupid but anyway, it's an easy fix, and luckily my local scrappy had a 62 plate zetec there, so, £20 and 10 minutes and we have this

Old and new

Mk3.5's empty

Mk3's

Job done.

 

When I removed the mk3.5 one, there was a load of stuff we thought we lost, must of went over the upper lip of the glovebox.

 

A few more experiments are coming soon.

 

 

Allan

[Pug=309]

So, I didn't think that my summer Goodyears grip would start to drop so soon (well it is November I guess)

So we needed winters, so facebook marketplace, 4 hour drive and £325 later, we have these 

Em....... ignore the emblem

Ok, that's better, Fox racing fx004 8x19 with 255 35 r19 dunlop winter tyres, didnt know you could get 255's on an 8 inch wide wheel, the sides are straight

Left is the 255 19 inch, right is 225 18 inch.  Strange eh?

So they're off of a jaguar (I'm starting a trend here) xe,  42et which is less than much 18's (40) but more than the stock 17's (50).  Only rub on mediumish compression at high speed and only on front inner arch plastic, I've noticed the plastic has a little "bump" that I think the wheels catching on hard compression

Car will be washed tomorrow so I'll pop some picks up.

 

And, I'm ordering some original emblems for them

 

 

 

Allan

[Pug=309]

Well, here's a quick pic of kiddo with her new shoes

 

I'll try and get her washed but the crap weather and muddy roads (tatty season) means I dont see the point in washing her cause the tractors run right past my house right after getting out the field so she gets sprayed in much.

 

 

Allan

 

Allan