nevsrevs

Looks like the bush sleeve is still in there mate,
As for the springs is there a lot of diff in spring rate?

The Underdog

thanks nev. i didnt want to get the arm powdercoated with the sleeve in there but without having the new bushes i didnt know whether it was part of the arm. it looks fused solid.

the coilover springs are rock solid compared to stock ones. hoping they are the right ones.

any ideas where to get new bolts please? seen some on ebay. havent priced fords but assume they wouldnt be cheap?

thanks

jonfoc

Nice project pal. I'm building a focus RS track car too. I've just replaced my rear tie bars with adjustable ones. Total cost was 70 quid. When you think about it it's just as cheap as replacing the bushes, blasting, powder coating etc.

The Underdog

thanks. im planning on getting the eibach adjustable camber bolts, found them for £23. i would love to buy all new arms but my budget is so tight i have to scrimp where i can.
im very very lucky that my best mate has blasting and powder machines so its only costing me the price of powder and his electric( love you jamie cos i know your reading ).

otherwise i would never afford to get powdercoated.

even though im on a non exsistant budget at the moment due to the wife, lol im still living the dream

smudger068

Interesting build, i havent fully read it all so correct me if it has already been said,
Redoing all the bushes will be a muchly worthwhile thing as i have learnt but i practically had to do ever one like you have just done, a blow torch, grinder and mould grips came in useful
That sleeve in the arm you have removed does come out, takes alot of pushing from both sides with a press, but if your bushes fit in there already leave it in, as you will only be swapping like for like parts.
Just a heads up if you are doing it is the gearbox mount, its made of cast and will smash under the press, I found just drill around the edge of the rubber to releave the sleeve that holds it in and they will come out

The Underdog

thanks smudger. i had no idea how hard these bolts would be to get off.

finally finished dismantling rear end today and got some bushes out.

i havent got a press or a vice so i improvised with a sash clamp.



this worked ok for 5 bushes and then it gave up and broke



so il be getting the rest of the bushes out in my fathers vice tommorow hopefully.

so after days of temper filled, work i ended up with this lot



i did get the sleeves out also.

the last time i changed bushes was on my sierra cos about 13yrs ago and they werent this hard.

Any suggestions on where best to buy new nuts and bolts.???

iv chopped most of them and ground the welded nuts off so need nuts also.

thanks again for advice and help if you can give it.

smudger068

excellent

Did you take the whole rear beam off, as i couldnt get to the upper trailing arm, and need to so im just figuring a way to get to it.

I got all the bolts from ford, as you then can see exactly what you need on there computer

The Underdog

yes i stripped the whole beam off the car.only 6 bolts holding it all on and they were all easy to undo. taking all the brakes off etc took most of my time up.

what sort of costs are they at fords??? i found a website selling a full set of ford bolts and they were £78. i nearly fainted

jonfoc

What's the website called pal? Put a link up I need a I need all the bolts

The Underdog

they are for rs but i assume they are the same as normal focus??

car parts express.

http://www.carpartsexpress.co.uk/RS-...49-53-710-374/



scroll down the page

edit. just realised you got the RS so fine for you

The Underdog

iv got some small progress done over last few days. not had much time but heres what iv done.

finished getting all the rear bushes out.



then a little bit of sand blasting at my mate jamies. (cheers bud)



a before and after shot









might as well show jamies car too. Gbs zero, 2L zetec jenvey itbs.


so not major progress but its something.

cheers all and thanks jamie for powdercoating for me.

yanto

No probs me ole mucker but you could have taken a better pic of my car!

The Underdog

had another pic but wont show up for some reason

The Underdog

por 15 marine washed



por15 prep and ready rust treatment left to soak in



4 coats of silver hamerite

The Underdog

i had a change of plan on the blue podwercoat. it was much quicker for me to drill wire brush the parts then marine wash and prep and ready rust killer and finish in 4 coats of hamerite silver. just need some dry weather to get the rest of the under car stripped off to start paint on the chassis.

sick of rain

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Top work matey.Lol at breaking the vice.

The Underdog

thanks glenn. in comparison to the other builds on here this is a extremely low budget build but hopefully theres skint people reading who may fancy doing a similar poor boys project.

The Underdog

An underdog story



il be listening to this as i drive round the track lol

yanto

very good steve very good!!

( said in the meerkat voice)
lol

White focus

hi m8 ford are cheaper for your bolts and nuts iam geting mine from there 42 items for £89 every nut and bolt for the rear end iam just w8ing for a price for all my front bolts

lordjc

He was and so was I, it's a good track, it was brilliant weather for once too!

The Underdog

yeh i remember you too mate. iv seen your vids on youtube and the one when your in aj's focus. i remember the horn beep lol. was a great day out and be good to meet up next time. is your escort modded?

The Underdog

thanks il take a look from fords.

The Underdog

small gits of work done yesterday and today but the rain is killing me. had plans of getting loads done in the hols but weather is stopping me. wish i had a garage

firstly my fix of the pollen filter seal didnt work so opened the door to this yesterday





it was an inch or 2 so had to bail it out. got tarp over it now till iget new seal sorted.

got the petrol tank off and exhaust



also gave me chance to look at the pump.

when i took for the car for a test run before buying it was dying occaisionaly at high revs as if it was being starved of fuel. gutted as i loved the car at first sight lol but i took a chance on it at a reduced price and hoped it wouldnt prove an expensive fix.

iv all along assumed it was pump issue or a clog in fuel system so stripped pump out and opened it up and was a fair amount of crap in it so give it all a good clean with marine wash and cleaned the 2 filters within the pump.



i have got another pump i bought on ebay so may just swap the motor over only.

thats all iv managed anyway and until the rain stops ive got no motivation to crack on.

please sun come out

The Underdog

Question for ajc. as you have the same suspension do these rear springs look correct to you???

ajc.78

it was me that beeped the horn it wasn't meant to be agressive lol I beeped coming into the bus stop so you would aware (although you obviously were) of where I was coming out as you came up the inside . On previous day there I had an incident where car went up the inside and then cut back across to the outside where I was and nearly wiped me out as he didn't check his positioning. Just wanted to make sure the same thing didn't happen wasn't meant as a criticism.

BTW the rear springs look right mate. They look the same as the ones I have

despite the shorter springs the set up can still be set up to allow comfort if you drive to the track and can then be adjusted at the track due to the top mounts it is easy to adjust the damping throughout the day to get the set up that feels right. I have also have the camber adjusted to give more grip

the sales blurb probably explains it better than I can if you've not seen it

http://www.bc-racing.co.uk/coilovers-series-br/

will probably be back at Llandow a couple of times next year if I have finished the work I need doing on mine so will keep an eye on your thread

aj

ajc.78

the best thing about Llandow is the days are very cheap compared to a lot of other tracks however as the tarmac is so abrasive the cost of tyre wear probably makes it more expensive TBH. Like you my tyres were ****** at the end of the day despite being nearly new at the start of the day

basically from this



to this



I always take a spare set of tyres with me now for getting home. I was told the first time I went there that the police often turn up outside to check the state of tyres on cars leaving

did you get to go out with the corvette. I am always the first to admit that I take it easy on the track (as you would have seen from overtaking me) but enjoyed passing him through the corners although he was probably more worried about righting it off.

aj

The Underdog

no probs mate no offence taken at beep. i understand and was expecting my mate in the kit car to come through the middle of us which would have been fun but he backed off.
glad you cleared the springs up for me. as i got them used iv been a little concerned they were wrong ones being so small in comparison but the standard ones do compress a lot.

im getting a full suspension setup when its done so camber and toes will be set but looking forward to playing around with bump and rebound settings myself. i was told by a local tuner to me to not use the first 6 or last 6 of shock clicks as this can blow the seals long term. dont know if this true but he seemed to know so basically adjust between low 6 and high 24.

also i found llandow perfect for our gearboxes.
i only used 2nd and 3rd. back straight and first straight was just shy of hitting limiter in 3rd so 2nd around the tower and 3rd rest of track. was one of the advantages i had over my brothers civic as he needed to use 4th so i save 4 gear shifts per lap. twice up and twice down. every little helps aye when your underpowered.

The Underdog

yeh at £80 a full day its great value for money. i got out 6 times all in. plus i only live about 20 miles away. i cant remember if i did see the corvette on with me but funnily enough i was watching my mates footage today and was looking at the vet as he passed him lol. i was more shocked by the radical. he turned up and did nothing all morning just watched the track then when he did go on the track i thought james may was driving lol.

what you got planned for your car?? let me know if your selling any parts

what do you think of strut braces?? and what tyre you use??

thanks for all help its appreciated.

ajc.78

yeah I only use 2nd and 3rd at llandow most people seem to say how **** the box is but I reckon it is alright mine is remapped so it revs to 7.6k rpm so hits the redline at about 95mph which as you say is good at llandow as you can basically rev as hard as you can on the straights and when you hit the limiter you know it's time to hit the brakes.

I was also told the same about the damper settings for the first few miles but after that they should be ok. can't remember how low down mine are but probably around 25 or so out of the 32 settings which has been alright as it gives a bit of flexabilty over the curbs. with the other handling stuff there is no virtually no body roll and you can corner in mine as hard as my confidence in my driving lets me.

I had a full front and rear allignment done on mine by Jamsport and thet set it up perfectly for me with all the camber settings compression and all the other settings. the setup is fairly agressive and makes the car handle a lot better than I can drive it TBH. they even rang me after my track time at ford fair to see if I was happy with the set up first company I have used that were genuinely helpful

aj

ajc.78

I have front upper, front lower, rear upper and rear lower sway bar. Out of all of them I would say the only one that made a noticable difference was the rear lower whiteline sway bar which makes a noticable difference when you push it in the corners.

http://www.part-box.com/product_info...ducts_id=71708

I have pro race 1.2's with toyo r888's and superturismo wrc's with kumho v7oa semi slicks

The kumho's are the best track tyres I have used better than the r888's IMO although they are semi slicks I used them in the rain this year and they still gripped except on standing water where they were "interesting"

I am planning on getting a roll cage fitted before going to any of the bigger tracks next year.

Only bits I will have for sale is the carpets lol I do have a cheap set of st200 alloys in the garage but they are not really worth posting

aj

The Underdog

i think when we were in the office at llandow looking at the picture you mentioned to craig in the other focus you wanted a cage.(if iv got you as the right person)
it was me who said dont do it they add too much weight lol. was joking of course, safety first un all that.
my long term plan is to get decent tyres but they will have to wait a while. my wife is not keen on me spending another penny on it so every thing has to wait. plus shes due another baby this thurs so my time to work on the car will be reduced soon. no money no time lol

i read strut braces are not too effective on our cars but will def consider the roll bar in future.

how many track days would you say you get out of a set of semi slicks??

The Underdog

this is where i pretend to be a proper racing driver. sad i know but im a big kid at heart.

ajc.78

From what I read the front ones are not much use as there isn't much flex where they brace.

I had front and rear eibach arb's which are thicker so they do help noticably over the oem ones. I took the rear one off and replaced it with the whiteline one and could notice the difference again.

Track tyres are fun and do give you more confidence but they are not very cost effective I have easially spent more on tyres in the last couple of years than it cost me to buy the car. I try to stock up on them when they are on discount as they are around £600 a set in 17's

the r888s I got 2 sessions at silverstone and 2 or 3 days at my local sprint track and they still had plenty of life in them.

the kumho's I have only used at llandow and the fronts only last one day and the rears two days.

Tracks like llandow don't really bother me as much as it is fairly safe as far as tracks go and the speeds are fairly low and I have seen cars go over the barriers and the driver get out fine. However I want to get to some more bigger tracks next year and having had a few near misses elsewhere I don't want to take the risks again as although I drive fairly slowly you don't have any control over other people.

aj

ajc.78

that looks fun and I am a big believer that you are never too old for a blast on the ps3 (or x box)

I also think there is some (although perhaps limited) truth in the suggestion that driving tracks on a console does go some way to learning the corners. I span off at silverstone a couple of years ago and ended up facing the wrong way. After hours on the corner on the ps3 I did better the next time

aj

The Underdog

worn fronts in one day of llandow. phew thats expensive day out. my tyres were about 10000 miles old before i went on the track but were still legal. but they only cost £50 a peice not 150, ouch.

its an expensive hobby. next time i do llandow il be swapping tyres around each session to even up wear. i was also running too high psi last time.

what bigger tracks you planning next yr?? nurb??

nevsrevs

Do you guys know the spring rates of your rears?
Combes not far from both of you!
As for front strut braces I would not bother as said above, towers ate so close to bulk head there is little flex, rear helps alittle though.

The Underdog

theres numbers printed on the springs so i can take a look later and let you know what they are but i got no idea if that relates to spring rates.

yeh ive been to combe loads of times to spectate over the yrs and been on the track 3 times. twice when i had a cosworth and once in my blue focus. definately plan on going there next year.

thanks for strut brace info that will save me a few pounds.

The Underdog

these are the numbers on the rear springs but no idea what they mean. i think posssiblly the 155 is the height in mm but not sure

The Underdog

just went to bc website which i should have done first and they are 392lb front and rear

http://www.bc-racing.co.uk/c-bce07/f...cus-mki-98-04/