Things I do like

[BigLen]

15 minutes ago, Turvey said:

I could fit all my friends into a Focus! 😀

Same here; wife three kids and the dog 👍🏻

Have a picture of the three kids and dog sitting in the back set as the background screen of the 7" Pioneer head unit. 

[TomsFocus]

12 hours ago, Turvey said:

I could fit all my friends into a Focus! 😀

Nowadays I could fit all of my friends into a Peel P50...  

[iantt]

whats a peel p50? cant be bothered to google it. 

[TomsFocus]

2 minutes ago, iantt said:

whats a peel p50? cant be bothered to google it. 

Single seater car.  Was the smallest ever production car I believe!

[iantt]

oh yes! my kinda car if i could squeeze i  my 17st 6ft3 body in

[zain611]

21 hours ago, dtulip8 said:

Is anyone going to Ford Fair tomorrow? Will be taking the ASBO on the EOSTOC stand, really looking forward to it!

Sadly not able to make it due to working today. 

Saw some really stupid drivers today at 6:30 in the morning whilst I was on the bus. Two doing around 45mph on a 30 and one guy in his EP2 civic overtaking the bus and going on the wrong side past a zebra crossing 🤦. They lucky I wasn't driving as I'd of reported them. 

[zain611]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Nowadays I could fit all of my friends into a Peel P50...  

I think I can fit my imaginary friends in there too 😂.

 

[StephenFord]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Single seater car.  Was the smallest ever production car I believe!

Can't be that small, Jeremy Clarkson fitted into one LOL

[iantt]

7 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Can't be that small, Jeremy Clarkson fitted into one LOL

Ah, was that the one he was driving round an office?

[StephenFord]

9 minutes ago, iantt said:

Ah, was that the one he was driving round an office?

Yep, the one he got into a lift whilst admiring Fiona Bruce's bottom, and having Dermot Murnaghan spin him round in reverse at a zebra crossing LOL

[zain611]

So got kind of a result from the police. Don't think this will deter the crook though driving without insurance however I hope the letter which came to him scared him

[jace1969]

I like my new Echo Dot 4 gen,never had one before but person was selling 2 New for a good price,its great.

[TimST2]

I now have both of my cars insured through Adrian Flux - the 310R with agreed value and track use for £360, and the ST with modifications for £240. I can't be doing with non-specialist insurers anymore - they all seem to think that any deviation from factory spec means they either can't insure you or they need to double your premium.

[jace1969]

It was not a fiesta RS..........You were all right but i made a stupid mistake,it was the RS Focus,dont worry i only had a fiestas for over 15 years,tell the truth i never went that close becasue he comes in it and dont sell,and yes i have Pics.

Sorry all.

[TimST2]

Well I've finally covered 1,000 miles since I installed the oil catch can four months ago, so it was time to open it up to see what it had caught...

Add the result was only about 5mm of fairly clean oil, no sludge 

I've also been recording fuel efficiency over that period too - 36 mpg on Esso Supreme Plus 99, which isn't bad either 

[zain611]

Good news everyone. Got the car back from the bodyshop on Tuesday. Also got bits colour coded.

Looks as good as new 😁. There are some things though I've noticed which I'm not happy with. Just above the rear quarter there's sanding marks I think they forgot to polish out which I can do however I noticed scratches just below that on the tinted glass 🤦.

The boot handle paint finish isn't that great but I'm sure I can take that back to them. Or just sand it then polish.

[zain611]

Good news is I brought the paint up on the painted boot handle and now looking like new. Wet sanded it with 3000 grit sandpaper then compounded it.

 

Will next try polishing this bit here which looks like sanding marks. Wi have to fix this and polish the glass below as that is scratched

 

Really happy though how it looks all blacked out on the front

[TomsFocus]

Those colour coded grills look much better.  

I'd be a bit careful polishing that bit near the roof though, I think that's in the paint rather than the lacquer.    The 'blend' on mine is about as good as that when viewed up close.

[zain611]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Those colour coded grills look much better.  

I'd be a bit careful polishing that bit near the roof though, I think that's in the paint rather than the lacquer.    The 'blend' on mine is about as good as that when viewed up close.

Thanks Tom 😁. This morning I noticed dad put the colour coded mirror caps on which look good. Just need to now stick the panther black door strips on. 

I think I will try and still polish that area and see if those scratches come off. Saw some videos on how to remove scratches off glass so may try that one day but need a lot of patience.

[StephenFord]

9 minutes ago, zain611 said:

...Saw some videos on how to remove scratches off glass so may try that one day but need a lot of patience.

If you can feel the scratch in glass with your fingernail, you'll have no chance, if not, polishing may work...

[BigLen]

On 8/20/2021 at 11:04 AM, zain611 said:

Good news everyone. Got the car back from the bodyshop on Tuesday. Also got bits colour coded.

Looks excellent mate, the grills enhance the apperance nicely too,

the Mk6.5 fiesta is still my favorite shaped model since the mk1 itself. 

[BigLen]

I'm happy well almost borderline delighted; to be at the end of a difficult few weeks,

wasn't sure which thread to post this in as its a mix of dislikes and likes but the final outcome is a positive so here we go; 

my beloved and well known focus which has been the star of connects2 magazine aswell as featured in all of my guides,

Guides Documented here: Full List Lenny's Guides - General Ford Related Discussions - Ford Owners Club - Ford Forums

Build Thread here: "taking Oval To Blue Horizon" Lenny's Build Thread 2010-2015 - Ford Project and Build Threads - Ford Owners Club - Ford Forums it  has now gotten 216,000 Miles on the clock or 347,000km and that's not 100% bad news because its a 1.6TDCi engine with the factory turbo 😀 its doing phenomenally well, has only ever let me down with a leaking injector seal (common problem) aside from that everything has been 100% just usual battery change and servicing brakes, wipers, bulbs etc. 

Over the past few years; since mid 2016 I've put my attention heavily in to home improvements where i made the mistake of taking out a bit too much of the existing contents at the beginning in efforts to save money on purchasing further waste Skips, followed by investing heavily in an entire RJ45 home network and multimedia install which further prolonged the return of basic aspects of the home, 

That progress is documented here: Living Room Project - General Chat - Ford Owners Club - Ford Forums

As documented in the beginning of the home improvement thread; I was doing it without any loans from the bank and that worked well to this day; however as all of the progress was going on with the home; the miles were slowly increasing on the beloved focus along with some wonderful journeys creating many memories and stories of the once show piece turned work horse and at times accommodation 2010 Mk2.5 Ford Focus 😅

being the only earner in the home mainly due to the high cost of childcare; I'm paying a mortgage, all household bills and providing for my wife aswell as our three kids and beagle proudly without any benefits, all excess income was being invested in to the home to bring it back up to living standards at a higher level of comfort than was initially aswell as more efficient to heat where possible or cheaper on electricity. 

 

While all this was happening; i never took the time to think about the future of the beloved ford focus knower had i expected the home improvement project to be spanning over this many years, so my mind became consumed with question; what i would do in order to get to work should it ever let me down which is inevitably going to happen, 

This vehicle is my only life line to get myself to work six days per week, and its due NCT/MOT next month which it may not pass as there's a few creaks from the front suspension or steering rack when started up; it feels a bit clunky; it could be just some bushings needing replaced; I'm not 100% sure yet, and there a squeak from the clutch at times when taking off in first gear, 

my anxiety began to grow over the past few months well since March; worrying about the future of the car,

so I went to see the bank to discuss the prospect of getting a car loan, something which I hadn't since around 2013, mainly because there's a lot of overtime available in my job,  I'm a chemical process operator manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients more recently two parts of the increasingly popular Covid vaccines, the parts wee manufacture are essential in all common brands of the vaccine, overall I'm good in terms of job security and have been extremely lucky to have maintained position on site six days per week throughout the pandemic,

Which also had its challenges, self isolating and mostly working alone, I installed a TV tuner in to the focus and had lunch breaks alone in the car, then the battery decided to die in the focus during the first full lockdown; there wasn't anywhere open to source a replacement and i couldn't get a lift to work with a fellow colleague due to covid19, there's a supplier less than ten minutes walk from my home but he wouldn't open the doors at all, 

thankfully it was post Brexit at the time, and I was able to purchase a replacement from a supplier in Manchester, had it shipped to Ireland and I was back on the road within three days, that's one story for my grandkids,

anyway; getting back to the more recent times; the result came back from the bank and they said no to my loan application on the grounds that I didn't have any savings, despite having a sustainable income with steady outgoings leaving an ability to repay the requested loan; the computer said no. 

so the past few months; I've been working every hour possible and saving for a second hand vehicle;

Brexit has made a huge impact to both the availability and cost of second hand vehicles here in the republic of Ireland,

I've been searching dealerships within 300 mile radius of my home and I agree that is a very excessive distance aswell as a lot of sales garages; I've browsed stock from Atleast 20 different garages in search of a small petrol engine vehicle; 2012 upwards engine 1.2-1.6 with mileage under 100,000 with a budget of 7,000euro/6,000 pounds avoiding private sellers, anything Diesel (as I only do 24 miles per day), aswell as avoiding manufacturers; Vauxhall, Chevrolet, Fiat, Opel, Renault, Citroen & Kia,  

out of all that searching i managed to source three vehicles; a

2014 1.2L Dacia Sandero 

2012 1.2L Hyundai i20 

2012 1.4L Hyundai iX20

not a lot of variety out there, most dealerships are either full of diesels, high mileage petrol or less than twenty vehicles in stock, others have gone out of business completely, 

however; I've managed to purchase the 2012 1.4L Hyundai iX20 6speed 95Bhp for 5800euro/4,900GBP

which in my opinion is still very expensive for a ten year old small car with 128,000km/80,000Miles on the clock and NCT/MOT until July 2022 

it has stop/start technology, bluetooth, Air conditioning, privacy glass and two keys, nice little motor and the 1.4 Petrol engine shouldn't feel too under-powered compared to the 1.6TDCi focus although there will be a significant reduction in torque. 

ill be using this car for commuting to work and Im keeping the focus on the road for as long as the repairs don't cost too much, my wife will use it for the school runs and its something which we can all fit in for a Sunday drive, im interested to see how much more life is left in the beloved focus and ill be selling all mods when it does finally die prior to putting the rolling chassis in to the scrap yard, that is how that will leave my ownership when the time finally comes but hopefully not for Atleast another year.  

Plans for this Hyundai iX20 then well are not much to be fair its main purpose is to safe guard my ability to get to work but i would be missing some comfort features which i have fitted to the focus,

so my plans are to fit some Silva-tec indicator bulbs all around, LED reverse bulbs,

Steel pressed registration plates look more timeless & don't go smoky yellow,

Team Hecko wind deflectors which will allow me to leave the windows open a little bit while in work without fear of rain getting in, also replacing the factory head-unit with an aftermarket Pioneer double Din and reverse camera as there's a rule in my workplace to revers park only, and I've already put a camera in the focus which i really like the comfort of having,

finally then to fit a high speed USB charging socket which will allow me to charge my phone while in work, 

other than that there's nothing really worth doing aside from servicing once per year, the wheels are 15" steel rims, I'm thinking yeah some dark or silver alloys would be nicer and paint the brake calipers silver but if i was doing that id want to see a reduction in the weight of the rims which I'm not sure there would be much of a weight reduction on a 15" alloy compared to a 15" steel rim to sanction the expense around 500euro/430GBP for a set of alloys for it. 

Thanks for reading guys, I'm sleeping a lot better these past few days, 

collecting it next week,

insurance was 320euro and annual tax is 280 euro, NCT 70euro nice cheap motoring, 720 euro per year aside from service costs. 

[jace1969]

Still a nice car...had a good nose around it.

 

[BigLen]

Team Hecko wind deflectors, SilvaTec bulbs, 12v USB 3.0 charger to replace a 12v socket, Cree LED reverse, reg & parking bulbs on order and I haven't even picked up the car yet 😅

[BigLen]

I do like shopping for alloys for my newly purchased second hand car, 

It currently has 16" steel rims with factory hub caps, 

The part I like which causes me to post is that; the websites are offering me 16-18" variant's of some alloys to fit my specific vehicle, but having been there and done that 18" upgrade to my focus and experiencing the increased "unsprung mass" I'm trying best to keep things 16" but in alloy wheel form.

Which then leads to a question I have regarding weights; 

Is a 16" alloy wheel much lighter than a 16" steel rim on average? 

I'm sure there's a difference on the likes of 18" or 20" like for like in terms of size, 

But I suspect there's little to zero or even in to negative figures in terms of switching from steel to alloy on the likes of a 15" rim.