*+Hi folks, though it was about time I started a thread as I've had the car for a month or so now.

Bought it, a Magnum grey 52 plate 3 door of a young lad near me (mind you, most people are young compared to me ), for the princely sum of 675, with 108k on the clock.

It had the cambelt and clutch done at around 70k. Plus it's had a K&N induction kit fitted.

Strangely, when they fitted the K&N, they seem to have removed the IMRC, but it seems to go OK.

Had a huge dent in the tailgate, b ut I managed to get one off Ebay for 54 shekels with the factory spoiler fitted so happy with that. Will post some pictures when I work out how to do it

I'm an amateur so please be kind to me

 

Well here are some if they come out OK

 

any ford is a good thing, that k&n is prob 1st thing I would remove as they run so much better with oe airbox and decent panel filter

 

Nice looking car

 

Thanks guys

I'll bear the OE box on mind Steve cheers Mate

Got some RS seats from a really nice bloke last week, (thanks Steve ) and put them in straight away...




Just have to sort out the airbag light now Going to try some resistors tomorrow, and long term get the side airbags turned off (RS seats don't have them)

 

That's a bit of a bargain. Best colour for one too.

 

I love the RS seats but how does it look inside with the standard rears? I'm thinking of getting a replacement drivers seat (half leather) as my fabric pattern is badly worn.

Oh and did they cost much? and easy to fit?

 

Not a good picture I'm afraid AL as it doesn't stand out that I fitted fronts and rears together, so it looks fine. I didn't get the cards though so there is some of the standard trim visible, but it doesn't really notice.

I bought them from 1-PD (Steve) really nice bloke and he did me a good deal, but you can get them from ebay for varying prices.

Fitting was pretty straightforward, 4 bolts for each of thee rear back sections, 2 bolts for each of the rear seat sections, and 4 bolts for eah of the fronts.

Best to disconnect the battery and leave it for a few minutes before you do the job, for the air bags to de-energise just in case (although I didn't bother ).

Then remember which plug you have to plug the orange seat belt restraint plug into as the old seats have a multi plug.

Downside is that the old seats have side airbags, so when you start the car up you get a airbag warning light on the dash. I've ordered some resistors which I am going to try instead of the airbag plug, and if that works, I'll post on here. I think it is possible to turn the side airbags off with the software, but I'm still looking at that. It's not an MOT fail, but it is annoying.

On th plus side they are really comfy, well supporting, and look cool too

 

Nice one. Thanks for the quick reply. I'll have a look at prices, the blue would suit my car better than the standard purpley blue current as I have a few blue decals on the exterior. Bit of a shame about the air bag issue, i'll keep that in mind.

 

The seats looks good, and I've been looking at some myself, but do they feel comfy, and do the sides offer any more support ?

 

You're welcome AL

Yes Paul, they are very comfy, and they also feel more supportive at the sides.

The colour would suit yours too, especially if you got the full set.

The only issue is the seat airbags, but as you are in the business, that might be easier for you to get sorted

So today's job. Mine has a Kenwood stereo rather than the original, which is a shame cosmetically, but it's a great stereo, just wouldn't work from the Steering wheel stalk So I got an adaptor from my favourite store, and after some fiddling about, I managed to get it working......

 

glad you are enjoying the seats and glad to see they went to a good home, if I did not have leather recaros in mine I would have kept them myself

 

I changed my crap JVC to Pioneer, my wrapping of the hole cover wasn't great though 😞

Before:

After:

im shy a stalk control though, where was yours from? eBay?

 

Looks good though Mate. You've got a heated screen too, mine hasn't

Stalk control was in it when I got it, but I did get one for my Transit from ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FOCUS...AAAOSwUKxYhmMV

The wiring should be there for it if you get one, but you'll need an adaptor for the Pioneer. My adaptor is a "Connects2" with a patch lead for a Kenwood. The adapor for yours is the same:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Focus...kAAOxy79JRgPdN

Just ask for the Pioneer lead when you order it.

Well pleased with it, you can control virtually everything from the stalk

 

I still have the oem fitted radio/cd player in mine, but the cd system no longer works, and oddly I've never replaced it. I've always hoped to have a louder exhaust so it wouldn't be needed lol.



I do like the carbon wrap also, but wished actual real carbon was cheaper, as then I would do a lot of the interior in mine.

Good news on the RS seats, and I agree, the blue would look good in mine, maybe one day

 

Does look good though Mate, I really like the oem look too I was going to replace the Kenwood with an original, but it does work well, and the cables cost me less than a replacement new stereo Yes, real carbon would be nice, but a bit pricey for me

If you do seriously think about the RS seats, let me know, and you can sit in mine to see what you think

I tried some resistors I thought would sort the airbag problem, but no luck I do have different errors now though "capacity out of range", so I've ordered a different value, and we'll see how that goes

 

I happen to spend a lot of time near you as I am a member of Ellingham water ski & wakeboard club and have a caravan in St Leonards.
Good choice with the seats. You seem happy with your ST, I have fallen out of love for mine at the moment. I also have a large hole where a radio should be and have yet to decide what to do with it.

 

Still waiting for my resistors, but I did fit my new PassionFord stickers (Cheers Steve )



Also fitted a new whip arial after Pauls recomendation Well pleased

 

I used to have a ST170 too. There a bloody good car. Mine had both climate and custom packs. The recaros in mine were a really comfy seat.

 

Good sticker placement

 

So, new resistors arrived to day, and still don't sort the light out

Back to the drawing board. I'm not bothered about the light, until it comes around to MOT time when I'd prefer it to be on so as not to attract an advisory. I could rip the bags out of the old seats, and just stuff them under the seat for the MOT, but I'd rather not rip them up as they are pretty good

Will have to think on it......

 

Is the airbag light constantly on? If so that's an mot fail

 

Yes that's correct Mate, the rules were changed back in 2013. So I need to have the light not on. But also, I can't remove the bulb as that may fail also.

There must be a way around it as the MK1 RS the seats came out of obviously didn't have seat airbags

I've tried ELM and software, but it doesn't give me the option to turn off the seat airbag

So I'm working through resistors ate present

any help would be appreciated

 

Just put your standard front seats in for mot. Could you not get an air bag way that doesn't have them in the seats??

 

Just don't have the space to keep the original seats around Glenn Mate

Am thinking of buying a couple of air bags off Ebay, but they're rare and the cheapest is 26 sovs. I could stash them under the seat for the MOT, then remove them afterwards. Bit of a palaver though

 

Did you resolve the issue ?

 

Not yet Mate, waiting for another different value set of resistors to arrive, plus an answer with some advice from an electrical geek on ebay who makes ones for airbag removal purposes.

If all that fails, there's a good bloke on the Transit Forum who's a Ford IDS expert. Did a brilliant job on mapping my van and turning all sorts of bits and pieces on for me, so will contact him. He's in Uxbridge though, so it's a fair way to go, plus it will cost a bit as he does it for a job.

As soon as I get some kind of result, I'll post on here. How's yours going?

ETA Ooops just read your most recent post, so answered my own question.

I need to get a couple of tyres, but not sure what to get, or whether to get all 4 done. Can't afford loads, but it definitely warrants some decent ones. Any ideas?

 

Tyres is a funny one really, when I first got my ST170 I had 4 lovely Toyo PX4's fitted. The reason being is on a previous car I had some Toyo t1r's fitted, and although a lovely tyre, I thought the sidewalls were a little soft, but again a brilliant tyre. The PX4's I found a little firmer on the sidewalls, which is a personal preference I guess at the moment I have some Goodyear f1 asymmetric 3's, which work really well, but if the budget allows I'm thinking of a set of lovely summer tyres on a second set of alloys.

Good luck with the resistors, as I did spend a little while looking on Google for some results but couldn't find anything for you. After work tonight I will spend some time looking through some of the American SVT forums

 

You say you have tried Elm.

Have you tried this setup ?

https://passionford.com/forum/ford-f...em-module.html

 

Thanks Mate, yes, got this working and it will re-set codes but doesn't give me the ability to switch the bags off Had a feeling I'd seen your name on here somewhere

As I said on the other forum, I'm looking at switching the module out to see if that works....

 

Shame, I was hoping for big things from it.

 

Probably still worth you having a look at it Mate, I'm just an old f@rt so I'm probably missing something

 

So, I have finally given up on resistors. Searching the US SVT forums revealed that common thinking over there is that it is a resistor and capacitor in series that's required. that would tie in with the error message I'm getting which is "capacitance out of range" when i put in a resistor on it's own.

I'm pretty much outside the little electronics I leaned at school with this so I'm probably going to give up and try plan B. that, is to buy an airbag module from a Mk1 RS which should be set up without seat airbags and swap mine out for it.

I have one on it's way, so we'll see how that goes.....

 

My electronic knowledge is very limited, and you've probably tried this already, but could you not use a multi-meter to measure the output and then work out the range of the capacitor or resistor needed ?. Or do they make a variable resistor that you can adjust until the light goes out ?

 

did try my multi meter on the old seat, but couldn't seem to ge a decent reading for ohms or uF but might give that another try tomorrow if i get a chance Paul

 

Can I ask, what's the ohm reading on the resistor you used ? as most "other" cars use 3.3ohm 1.25volt (not to be confused with a 3.3k)( I think?)), although as I said my automotive electrical knowledge only extends to fitting stereos, spotlights and associated wiring etc.

Maplins do a range of resistors that aren't expensive, so maybe worth picking up a few with higher values ? and trying them.

 

Now you're asking Mate From memory, I got some 3.9 ohm from Maplins and they turned out to be 3.9kohm when I check the colour code, so then I tried some 3.6 from ebay from a guy who makes them with a 3 amp fuse in series to stop them blowing in the event of a voltage, no luck with those, but he makes some 2.somethings for mondeos, so I emailed him asking what he thought (as he suggests that on his ebay itme), and he's ignoring me, soo I bought some 2.2 ohm ones from ebay (just ordinary ones, no fuse), which is where I'm at at the mo. Having read up on it on the SVT forums, two of which I've now joined, it seems that they are not too sure, but a couple of times I came across the mention of the Ford ones they use to test them in the workshop being 2 ohm with a capacitor (0,47 uf), wired in series. So I thought I might try making one up.

Then somewhere else on SVT I saw a thread (bu33ered if I can find it now though) where a guy swapped out the airbag module so I thought I'd have a crack at that using one from an RS, so I'm waiting for that to arrive. It's only cost me about 8 quid, so it's worth a punt.

Worst comes to the worst, I'll buy two airbags, plug them in and stick them under the seat for the MOT. That's probably going to cost me about 75 quid though so I'll try everything else first.

Pretty sure that they could be turned off in a Ford garage, but I don't have access to one, and my local Ford man is definitely not keen on that sort of thing.

sorry for long drawn out reply

 

Crazy thing is, I pulled into the vet's car park in it yesterday taking the dog in, and a young lad commented on the seats being really nice, and did I have to put special rails in, etc., and when I told him the story he said "just pull the fuse" I explained it wasn't quite that simple

 

Sorry I am not going to be able to help as I have had to put my car into storage until next month, keeping an eye on your exploits though.

Have read somewhere that a 2 ohm resistor was used so think a variable one between 2 and 3.5 would be worth a go

I was going to throw my old seats out and had them cut up and in the back of the car, will try to get at the air bags first so don't go buying any as I can always drop them in to you.

 

It's all interesting, and given that SO many ST170 run with different seats, surely someone most have done it ?