The other evening I was browsing through the guides and one of those I read was Lenny's Guide To Converting Stock Climate Controls To Custom Set. I didn't really think too much about it at the time - another nice mod, and a well written guide.

The problem was, the next time I got in Eve, I glanced down at the heater controls and thought to myself "well, they don't look all that great"... so that evening I found myself ordering some black and aluminium controls from eBay.

I put them in today and they do look better!

15 08 29 - Heater controls 1.JPG

15 08 29 - Heater controls 2.JPG

I bet Missus P has "kill Lenny" etched out of the wooden chopping board in your kitchen :)

I bet Missus P has "kill Lenny" etched out of the wooden chopping board in your kitchen :)

Haha! Not at all mate.

Mrs P is very supportive of the project, although I did get a bit of an eye roll as I installed these whilst waiting at a set of traffic lights!

Haha! Not at all mate.

Mrs P is very supportive of the project, although I did get a bit of an eye roll as I installed these whilst waiting at a set of traffic lights!

propper street modifying style fitting at the traffic lights :)

August has been a busy month... time for another recap on progress and my current plans.

Done immediately after getting the car – Aug ‘08:

Pioneer PH-P80BT double-din Bluetooth tuner
Infinity Kappa speakers front and rear
Genuine Ford mats

TomTom Go 6000 (Jan '15)

Done this summer:

Replaced tailgate
Replaced rear passenger side door
Heko wind deflectors
Ford mud flaps
Replaced front bumper
Replaced front grille with chrome surround with one with black surround
Plasti dipped front fog surrounds
Numerous dents and damage removed at body shop
Cree Q5 reverse light
Philips X-tremeVision H1 & H7 headlights
LED interior light
LED boot light
Vinyl wrap in gloss indigo blue
Replaced number plates

Done in August:

Brodit phone holder

ELM327 Bluetooth

Torque Android app

Plasti dipped wheels matte black

Painted callipers and hubs black

Resolved small boot leak (from spoiler)

Gel badges (black and chrome)

LED glove box light

SatNav cable routed behind dash

Terraclean

Lowered on Eibach springs

ECU remap

Cruise control added (modified stereo remote control)

Custom heater controls

Planned and upcoming:

Paint alloys matte black or replace

Interior valet
Fit new genuine Ford mats
Additional 12V supply for phone charging with cables to be routed behind dash

Being considered for the future:

Mist-type washer jets

Silvatec indicator bulbs

LED number plate lights

Additional reverse light

Subwoofer

ST spoiler

Looking good Fella.

Give me a shout if you need a 12V extension made (unless you prefer to make one yourself that is).

Looking good Fella.

Give me a shout if you need a 12V extension made (unless you prefer to make one yourself that is).

Thanks... I do like a bit of DIYing but your extensions look very appealing... expect an order soon!

With the plasti-dip on Eve disintegrating I need to crack on with getting a permanent solution for her matte black wheels.

As I see it, the options are as follows:

A - do nothing

The plasti-dip is torn and flapping off of the two front wheels and is already starting to lift on one of the rears. I can't see it lasting much longer to be honest.

B - remove plasti-dip

If I go with option A for too long, then I'm going to have to move on to this. I don't really want to revert to having the wheels back to their original colour and fatigued appearance. Right now Eve looks better with tatty black wheels than she did before I plasti-dipped them but that won’t be the case for much longer.

C - repaint the alloys myself

A good cheap option to get the result I want. If I was to go for the DIY route then I'd need to get hold of a pair of cheap wheels with tyres (from a scrap yard or eBay) so I could repaint two wheels at a time and keep the car on the road.

D - pay for the wheels to be refurbished and repainted

I should end up with a better result than the DIY option and it will be a lot less hassle. I could hopefully get the wheels turned around in a day or two. I'm yet to get any quotes but from my research so far I expect a cost of around £250.

E - get a new set of alloys

I'm probably looking at £500+ before I've even thought about tyres. I've not seen any rims that I like enough to justify this cost – although I do like the Team Dynamics Pro-Race 1.2 quite a lot!

So, at the moment I'm at A, heading towards B unless I do something quick. I could save money by C but I'm not feeling all that inclined! I don't think it's a job that I'd enjoy doing; I've already done the wheels once and I'd have to do a lot more work to repaint them compared with plasti-dipping. E is too expensive.

So the sensible choice looks like option D! I'll start making calls in the morning...

In reference to my previous post, I've just gone from A to B, but only because D is happening tomorrow. I shall translate...

I've just spent the last half an hour removing the plasti-dip from Eve's wheels (rather depressing that a very long day's work was undone in such a short space of time!) She looks all wrong, but it's only temporary as tomorrow I'll be taking her to First Aid Wheels in West Hampstead to have the alloys refurbished and repainted matte black.

I made some phone calls and did a bit more online research this morning to find the right solution. The lowest price I found was £240 from a place a few miles away but there's enough negative press about them to make me wary. There were a couple of mobile providers offering between £260 and £300.

I chose instead to go for the most expensive option at £312. This is because I found a number of positive reviews, their process is more comprehensive than any of the others and they are able to provide me with a set of wheels whilst they carry on with the refurb. Hopefully I should have my wheels back by the weekend.

Took Eve to First Aid Wheels today. As soon as I arrived they put on some loan wheels and carried out an inspection of my alloys. There's a slight buckle on one and some pretty nasty corrosion throughout... as a result the price has gone up a little but I was able to barter back down a bit.

For the next few days Eve has got this set of wheels on loan - these aren't to my taste, but they're better than I was expecting. I can really feel the change in going up to 18" and I'll be glad to get my 17s back!

Oh, Mondeo wheels! Loving these! Except from RS style wheels and 5-spoke wheels from Mk3, they are my favourites on Focus! If I'm ever upgrading to 18"s, these are definitely ones to consider! :)

To be honest, I would maybe stay with "classic" silver/grey rims rather than painting them black, they create a nice contrast on the car and it still looks good even if the car is blue&black...

The silver wheels aren't really the look I'm going for. I had them for a short while after doing the wrap before I got around to plasti-dipping the wheels. The car looks fine with them - but I felt it was too civilised and unexciting.

From meh...

to yeah!

Yeah, I know what you mean ;) ... I have the same wheels on my MK2, but mine is black with chrome, so silver wheels go better with that look :) ... but I can see why you like it in black :)

I picked up my alloys from First Aid Wheels this morning - the wheels look as good as new, the finish is excellent and exactly what I wanted.

I’d also received a couple of deliveries today. First was these 19mm nut covers from eBay which I think enhance the look a little.

I also received this 12V extension from Stoney. It piggy-backs onto the 12V socket in the centre console. I wanted this to provide a permanent charger for my mobile phone so I wouldn’t have cables trailing over the dash.

I removed the kick panel on the driver’s side to locate the connector on the back of the 12V socket – the orange cable.

I then inserted the 12V extension between the orange connector and the socket. I plugged in a USB charger and cable then tucked the extension cable and socket behind the carpet and kick panel and secured with cable ties.

I then removed the stereo and fed the USB cable through the hole and secured it to the stereo housing with electrical tape.

I carefully slid the stereo back in, cut a hole in the surround and then fully replaced the stereo.

And here’s a photo of the completed installation – charging my invisible phone!

Had a little bit of a scare with the car yesterday.

As I went to start her nothing happened. This had also happened on Saturday, but I'd simply tried again and she started and I thought no more of it. This time was a little different as when I moved the key from position II to III I noticed that a Steering Assist error was briefly displayed then everything went blank and there was no attempt made to start the engine. I took a deep breath and removed the key, counted to 10, then tried again, this time moving the key to position II to see if I got any error messages displayed first. There were no errors so I then started the engine without any problems but the fault light was displayed.

I later used Torque and my OBDII Bluetooth scanner and found error code U1900 - which I believe is Power Assisted Steering communication bus fault. I cleared the fault and experienced no further problems.

Having given the issue a little bit of thought I realised that on both occasions I had left the OBDII Bluetooth device connected from the previous time I'd used the the car. I hoped that this was causing a spurious communications error and later set about doing some internet research into the problem. I was fairly quickly reassured to find that other Ford owners had experienced similar problems and traced it to the OBDII device - such as Jeebowhite described here.

Ha! Good to know! ;) I was thinking of leaving my BT ODB interface module permanently in the car, so I can connect to it whenever I want, but I see now that it's better to rather leave it in the glove compartment, or simply somewhere else, unplugged...

Ha! Good to know! ;) I was thinking of leaving my BT ODB interface module permanently in the car, so I can connect to it whenever I want, but I see now that it's better to rather leave it in the glove compartment, or simply somewhere else, unplugged...

I certainly shan't be leaving mine plugged in again!

Since installing my wind deflectors I've done lots of fiddling with the position of the clips in order to keep them in place. I seem to have got three of them reasonably secure but the passenger side rear one fell out today! I was parked at the time so at least I didn't lose it on the road.

Since doing my original fitting I've read that it's a good idea to clean the channel in which it gets inserted prior to installing. I did this with a damp cloth and then dried it using kitchen towel - it was filthy! I then added as much 3M 6mm double-sided tape as I could get onto the wind deflector before refitting it.

Hopefully this will make it more secure. If it works well then I'll probably remove and re-fit the other three in the same way.

This evening I have just fitted some Silvatec bulbs that I ordered from eBay. BU501S for the repeaters and BU581S for the rears.

First off I set about doing the side repeaters.

Removing the side repeaters was a little fiddly. I tried to ease them out with a bank card but it wasn’t rigid enough so I very carefully used a screwdriver with a cloth wrapped around it to ease them out from the front.

I then went to the rear.

I removed the rear light clusters by undoing the two screws on each side and then removed the bulb holders. My original bulbs were in a terrible state and there were small flakes of amber inside the light clusters which took a fair amount of shaking and poking to remove!

I then fitted the new bulbs and replaced the light clusters.

It’s a very subtle mod, but a very effective one – I’m genuinely impressed by the improvement they’ve made as I wasn’t convinced that it would make that much of a difference. It’s a shame that there’s not a lot that can be done about the front indicators as there’s an amber stripe in the cluster but I’m now contemplating fitting Silvatecs anyway just to reduce the orange a little.

Almost immediately after getting Eve wrapped Mrs P managed to damage the vinyl on one of the door handles with a ring.

I was quoted £42 to get the handle re-wrapped by Totally Dynamic which I thought was a little bit steep!

I then started to look into buying some vinyl and doing the work myself. Indigo blue does not appear to be a common colour and there aren't many suppliers. I found two suppliers and have just bought 1m x 1520mm for £37.80 including VAT and delivery from Victory Design.

I know it's not a great saving, but at least I'll end up with an emergency supply tucked away in the loft (depending on how many efforts it takes to perfect the wrapping!)

For the sake of completeness (and not because I’ve developed some kind of addiction for fiddling with the car) I replaced the front indicators with some more Silvatec bulbs - BU581S from eBay.

Replacing the front indicators with Silvatecs has made a slight improvement but that orange stripe is still annoying me!

With original bulb:

With Silvatec:

I replaced the sidelights with Philips White Vision W5W from eBay.

I replaced the fog bulbs with Philips Vision H8 from Amazon.

I also replaced the rear number plate lights with some LEDs from eBay.

I finally got Eve valeted by Autovalet UK, a local mobile service, who did a very good job. I’ve always kept her pretty clean on the inside but it’s the first time I’ve had the carpets and seats properly cleaned. I also had the engine bay given a quick once over and got Rain-X treatment on the windows. Once she’d dried out I fitted a new set of mats. The ones in the rear didn’t really need replacing but the driver’s one was really worn so I renewed the whole lot. It’s nice to have her looking as good on the inside as she does on the outside.

I’m currently awaiting delivery of some vinyl to re-wrap the door handle and some mist-type washer jets. Once I’ve got those two jobs sorted, I think I’m done for 2015… oh, and I might see if I can get a flip key. And then I’ll be done for the year. Maybe.

Last week Eve had her 7th MOT. I had the garage re-align the headlights as I knew they weren’t perfect after I’d replaced all of the bulbs. The handbrake cable had also snapped a couple of days prior, so I had them see to that too. Once those two issues were taken care of she sailed through the MOT.

Got a couple of small jobs sorted today, firstly fitting new windscreen wipers.

An incredibly easy job as outlined in Lenny’s guide.

I also fitted some new heated mist-type washer jets. These were from Aliexpress with a discount from the supplier arranged by Jeebo which brought the price down from $33.80 to $25 (I ended up paying £16.61) … details here. Delivery took just under three weeks and I got a free small non-slip rubber mat too.

I then used yet another of Lenny’s guides for installation instructions.

Suffice to say, they were very straightforward to fit and have a much wider coverage than the old style.

Wasn't sure what to do with the free gift and thought the instructions might provide some inspiration…

Hmmm… perhaps not!

liking what you have done so far. how are you finding your rear led number plate bulbs as I looking to replace mine on my mk2 facelift focus. how did you get to the bulbs?

Looking forward to seeing this one progress!

As for the old bluetooth, lol. Yeah, been there, lived that! I am very surprised that the car cannot handle it though, I dont understand why reading the values as it starts causes it so much chaos! never the less, its a simple enough fix!

liking what you have done so far. how are you finding your rear led number plate bulbs as I looking to replace mine on my mk2 facelift focus. how did you get to the bulbs?

The lights are good. Nice and bright and far whiter than the stock bulbs. Getting to the bulbs is easy on the Mk2, just two screws on each light under the boot handle. Don't know if it's as easy on the Mk2.5.

liking what you have done so far.

Looking forward to seeing this one progress!

Crikey guys, what else do you want me to do? Isn't this enough already!!

Pioneer PH-P80BT double-din Bluetooth tuner

Infinity Kappa speakers front and rear

TomTom Go 6000

Replaced tailgate

Replaced rear passenger side door

Heko wind deflectors

Ford mud flaps

Replaced front bumper

Replaced front grille with chrome surround with one with black surround

Plasti dipped front fog surrounds

Numerous dents and damage removed at body shop

Cree Q5 reverse light

Philips X-tremeVision H1 & H7 headlights

LED interior light

LED boot light

Vinyl wrap in gloss indigo blue

Replaced number plates

Brodit phone holder

ELM327 Bluetooth

Torque Android app

Painted callipers and hubs black

Resolved small boot leak (from spoiler)

Gel badges (black and chrome)

LED glove box light

SatNav cable routed behind dash

Terraclean

Lowered on Eibach springs

ECU remap

Cruise control added (modified stereo remote control)

Custom heater controls

Alloys painted matte black

Black wheel nut covers

Interior valet

Genuine Ford mats

Additional 12V supply for phone charging with cables routed behind dash

Mist-type washer jets

Silvatec indicator bulbs all round

Philips Vision H8 fog bulbs

Philips White Vision W5W sidelight bulbs

LED number plate lights

New Bosch windscreen wiper blades