Jockstar Posted June 14, 2014 Author Share Posted June 14, 2014 Thanks Hassen. The car feels nice to drive. A little bit harsher, but it feels more nimble. I'll need to let the suspension settle, then get the alignment checked. I'd have gone for the B12 kit if it dropped the car a bit more. It's a good kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckerp Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Nice wheels what size are they and what size tyres you running. Sent from my iPad using Ford OC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted June 15, 2014 Author Share Posted June 15, 2014 Paul, they're 7x17 with 215/50/17 tyres. They sit well, but they could be doing with some spacers. H&R hubcentric spacers are on the "to do" list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hassen Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I reckon the car round corners will be even more stable with just the medium setting on the Whiteline ARB. The chassis in the Focus is one of the nicest for a hatchback and as a result it handles very well with very minor tweaks. The way I see it, it's not that far off an ST that chassis and with a few subtle modifications ,it would result in a great handling car. Mind you, the lack of power I think would make it an even better prospect with that power being available to use, most of it, all of the time on normal roads within speed limits etc. Btw, the spacers would be nice as well but just be aware of tracking etc. It might mess up the alignment and result in uneven tyre wear over time. I have still not made up my mind on whether myself I would want spacers as there are good points on their advantages and disadvantages :) p.s: your tyres are the exact same as mine, so this definitely gives me a great idea on how a similar setup will look on my car. Thanks and keep up the modding :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckerp Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Thanks just looking at wheel options my self. Sent from my iPad using Ford OC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b4zz Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 you car is very nice fella and the white wheels go well with the colour of the car looking good lowred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted June 16, 2014 Author Share Posted June 16, 2014 Thanks for the comments folks. I took the car to the local alignment company. I don't think he was very pleased about how much the car is dropped. He reckons there will be too much negative camber and it's going to cause problems. I've got camber bolts for the back end, but I can't use them as one of the bolts on the car that goes into the suspension bush isn't for coming out. Looks like the ride height is coming back up! I've also got an error code that has appeared on the dash on my way home stating "engine management failure" and the car is in limp mode. It did this ages ago but it went away by itself. When I got it checked out there were no error codes on that occasion. Happy days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b4zz Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 hope you get the error code sorted out fella keep us up dated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted June 17, 2014 Author Share Posted June 17, 2014 It went away this morning after driving the car for 30 seconds! It has done this one time before. Got it checked on the diagnostic machine and it would appear it's the glow plugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b4zz Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 glad you have found out what it is fella and hopefully once they have been changed that will be the end of the error code for good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 It came on again last night and went back off before I even got home, so I think this is going to need to be addressed! Getting the alignment done on Monday afternoon, so we'll see how bad the camber is. The car seems to be settling down more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Well I spoke to my mechanic about the glow plugs, but he wasn't convinced that they would put the engine into limp mode. However, having done a bit of reading, it would seem that other people have been in my situation and replacing the glow plugs has cured the problem. So with that in mind, I went to the local dealership and bought four new glow plugs. I removed the engine cover, located the red cable that connects to all the glow plugs and had a think about how I was going to do the job: In the picture above, you can just make out the metal tab on the left hand side with the hole in the centre next to the red cable. This was the first tab I removed. Each tab is held onto the glow plug with a small nut that is screwed onto a thread bar on the end of the glow plug facing out towards you. You have to be very careful not to drop them as you'll never find them again. I ended up going to Halfords and bought a telescopic magnet with a LED light. It made life a lot easier. You require a 10 mm long socket to remove the glow plugs. A normal size socket will foul the tip of the glow plug so won't help at all. The job in theory, once you understand what you have to do, is quite easy. The issue is access. The glow plug on the driver's side is the easiest to access, but the other three can be a little trickier. The passenger side glow plug requires the removal of the top dipstick bolt. I think this was a 8mm. Once removed, the dipstick can be positioned to one side for better access. When I removed the glow plugs, I was careful with how much force I applied as I have heard they can seize and the end can snap off in the block. Fortunately this never happened to me. I applied copper slip to the threads of the new plugs and put everything back together. Here's a comparison between the old and new: And all four old ones out: I'm not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but I probably saved myself an hours labour at a dealership, so I'm quite pleased. Hopefully the error code won't return! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 Well today was tracking and alignment which I wasn't particularly looking forward to! However, the front end of the car ended up being within specification which was a pleasant surprise. The back left wheel was just within camber specification, but the back right wheel was a bit over. Because my camber bolts couldn't be fitted, the only way to improve the situation was to raise the back end up. The mechanic measured the ride height and told me the back end was 10mm lower than the front. The plan was to raise the back end 10mm, but it turned out that we could only raise it 7mm as that is the highest setting on the rear suspension! The car looks more even now and the camber on the back right wheel has went from 2.53 degrees to 2.44 degrees. Still not below 2.38 but there's not a great deal I can do. Below are the results prior to corrections being applied and a picture of the new ride height . The toe was fixed after the initial result: I stopped at B and Q on the way home and couldn't resist taking a photo of another Focus near to mine at standard ride height: Happy days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Haven't been doing a great deal of modifying to the Focus recently as I became a Dad nearly 5 months ago, so I had other priorities! Other than servicing the car and fitting a new battery, I haven't touched much. alloys are off for the winter and I think I might make the effort to get the white colour changed to gunmetal. A baked on bird crap managed to damage the lacquer on my freshly painted bonnet and I have a very small break in the paint on the roof which could be doing with getting fixed. I also seem to have a parasitic drain on the battery which tends to kill it after a week to two weeks of not being driven. With the old battery, I managed to leave the car at the airport for a whole month and it fired up first time. I changed over one of my amplifiers last night to try and see if the problem goes away. I'm looking for ideas of what else I can do with the car. I've had the re-map carried out and I might sort the exhaust as the double skinned silencer has been down to the last skin for a couple of years now (still holding out). I'd ideally like a leather ST interior, but they're hard to come by. Any ideas anyone? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hassen Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Congratulations are in order and definitely right about your priorities. With regards to ideas, may I suggest sound deadening parts or the whole car if you already have a decent sound system in. The effort is definitely worth the end result and the ride is much quieter. If you need any info, give me a shout a I did a lot of research and still trying to find the most efficient and cost effective way to get it done. Also, maybe trying to colour code the fog light surrounds if you have paint left over while tackling the current paint issues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 The reason I didn't colour code the fog lamp surrounds when I had the opportunity the last time the car was in for paint, was that I wanted something to break the bumper up. Otherwise, it all just melts into one. I actually bought new fog lamp surrounds when the last batch of paint work was being done, so I had an ideal chance to do it. But, I just didn't think it would look right. I'm considering getting a front bumper extension such as the Rieger one, so again this will be colour coded and having something on the front end that isn't will look a bit better (in my opinion). Like this one: I'd also like to get a spoiler that can sit alongside the standard item on the car as I spent money renewing the spoiler lens. I've seen something like this that might do that job. The problem I have is that there's a lack of pictures to look at to decide: ICC Spoiler SWR spolier Style Tec The style tec one seems to be the only obvious one that doesn't replace the original spoiler. The other spoliers don't mention coming with a brake light, but it's hard to tell. The information on body styling is a bit scant! I hadn't thought about sound deadening, but I don't play my stereo as loud as I used to. I'm getting old! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FocusSmudge Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Eagerly watching this one, I like that you've done with it so far. The color is uncommon; only seen one once myself! The info on the ciggy lighter was of particular interest as mine also doesn't work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hassen Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Sadly I am not a big fan of extensions to bumpers but I do like this one from Rieger. It's a new bumper completely and looks very sporty and purposeful. http://www.rieger-tuning.de/en/news/Ford_Focus_2_frontbumper.php Would you consider the ST parts instead? e.g front bumper, skirts and rear bumper. Reckon you could find one, used and with your skills, you could definitely put them back into shape if needed. Since the car is now lowered, I do tend to think it needs a sportier overall appearance with bodykit :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Eagerly watching this one, I like that you've done with it so far. The color is uncommon; only seen one once myself! The info on the ciggy lighter was of particular interest as mine also doesn't work! I'm glad you found it handy. Not a hard thing to fix when you've done it before, but to begin with its hard to know what to do. Amazing how much you need to use one when it doesn't work. Even a coin falling into the cigarette lighter is enough to blow the fuse.I wasn't sure about the colour to begin with (originally it belonged to the other half), but it has grown on me and like you say, it's a rare event to see another! Sadly I am not a big fan of extensions to bumpers but I do like this one from Rieger. It's a new bumper completely and looks very sporty and purposeful. http://www.rieger-tuning.de/en/news/Ford_Focus_2_frontbumper.php Would you consider the ST parts instead? e.g front bumper, skirts and rear bumper. Reckon you could find one, used and with your skills, you could definitely put them back into shape if needed. Since the car is now lowered, I do tend to think it needs a sportier overall appearance with bodykit :) I wanted to stick with the standard bumpers due to having spent the money getting them repainted. I'm trying to tread carefully between making the car look nice and going too far and making it look tacky. Not an easy thing to do! ST skirts would be nice, but I'd probably need to ditch the mudflaps which wouldn't be ideal.Decisions, decisions... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FocusSmudge Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Just checked my fuse box and discovered the fuse is blown so thanks again for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 Not a problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Well, I'm still pondering modification ideas for Freddy Focus. I've got the car booked in next week to get the rear front bushes replaced (if that makes any sense!). It's a well known mk2 Focus issue after about 5 years. I've put it off for about 2 years, as the MOT station has never mentioned it, despite my mechanic picking up on it every year at my service. I've got a little squeak from what I think is the fan belt on a cold start that goes away quite quickly. I need to get the battery checked as well. As for actual modifications, I managed to negotiate a price for a ST spoiler from my local dealer as well as new boot badges. Still on the hunt for anything else that takes my interest. Would be nice to do something with the interior! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Facelift centre console ;) Highly recommended. Did this myself with the RS carbon trim, not cheap but well worth the effort. (Guide available via my link below this post). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockstar Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thanks Stoney. I'll take a look although it'l probably be beyond my skill level! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 If I can do it anyone can. The biggest part is wiring in power sockets and I can supply a loom for that for a very reasonable donation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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