PaulinhoT

So last weekend I managed to get a little free time doing a few more of the jobs I wanted to on my St170'ish

The first job was to check the welding done a little while ago to the inner rear wheel arches. Both were treated to some additional kurust, you know, just because





After which I sprayed over the kurust with some blue spray, and yes I know it's a different shade of blue, but I can't find Capri blue anywhere, and as I have other plans for the interior, it doesn't matter at this stage.





I then decided as I already had all the rear trim out, I would give the car a clean inside. Plus I had treated the ST170'ish to some new mats as part of "our" approaching 4 year's of ownership anniversary



I cleaned and treated the leather, and also vacuumed the carpets, but because it wasn't very warm I decided not to shampoo the seats or carpet, as I couldn't see it ever drying

Rear seats:



Front passengers side:



Middle section:

PaulinhoT

Drivers side:



Dash:



Passengers mat trimmed and fitted:



Rear mats:



Drivers mat:



Oddly the more I get into car cleaning (my own), the less I like these silicon sprays that make everything inside shine. I prefer the natural clean dust free look, although that more than likely has a technical term ?

PaulinhoT

So after having completed the interior to my liking, I set about checking the rest of the car's exterior. Now oddly for some time I have felt the car isn't 100% right when cornering, and I put it down to the tyres being slightly down on the psi I like running. But the other day I set each tyre to 32psi and went out for a few miles to try and feel what was happening.

Now please take into account this is the slightest odd feeling of the car not being equal around medium speed corners of around 50-65mph which I had put down partly to my large size but upon checking the rear of the car I discovered that the N/S rear shock has a slight leak. It's hard to get a clear photo on my phone through the wheel, but you can just see a tiny bit of dampness at the bottom of the shock.





You can also see that the rear brake only uses about 2/3rds of the rear disc #annoying as this has been fixed twice in the nearly 4 years of me owning the car.

PaulinhoT

Well at this point my attention moved onto my yellow side light bulbs which has annoyed me a little bit. So I set about changing them before it started to get dark.

As you can see they have this horrible yellow hue about them.







Pretty crap in my opinion, so I also picked up some new 501 bulbs in Halfords



So after some tinkering I managed to fit the drivers side one, only to find out that it made no difference



Seems I may need some white led's ?

My attention soon moved on to a few other little jobs, one of which is trying out this screen wash additive (although I pre-treat the cars glass to rain-x anyway).

PaulinhoT

The next thing on my list of little jobs was to check the fluids, i.e oil, screen wash etc, and one of the other items I bought was this:



I already treat the glass with Rain-x and really rate it, so thought I would add some of this to my screen wash bottle and see what happens

Another item I bought in the week was some AutoSmart Tardis and smart wheels, I've yet to try the Tardis properly, but did try the wheels cleaning, and all I will say is that it works.

Dirty:



Cleaner:



I'm hopeful that this weekend I will be able to do a little more on the wheel cleaning and de-tar'ing (?) and share with you all some of the pictures I take whilst working.

PaulinhoT

So today (Saturday) I was off, so set about giving the ST170 a good old clean, although I only cleaned it last weekend, and it's only done 25 miles since then lol.

First thing I did (after a rinse) was to de-tar the car with my AutoSmart Tardis. This was a new product for me, and after discovering that you don't dilute it (I did with my test sample the other afternoon doh), I set about doing one panel at a time. Spraying the panel, waiting 60 seconds then wiping it down with a microfiber cloth (which went in the bin when finished) and following that with a quick rinse.

Here's a poor picture of the stuff in action, and these dots of tar have been on the car for nearly 4 years I recon



Some of the dots took a little work, but most just wiped off

This is the microfiber cloth after I had done the car, and I thought my car was clean



After that I decided to rinse the car down completely with some cheap car shampoo that I was given as a gift once Christmas (see even the crap presents come in handy). I used the soapy shampoo as a lubricant to clay the car as well. It completely ruined the clay bar, but I had bought a pack of 5 3M bars cheap'ish online so it didn't matter that I put it straight in the bin afterwards.

Again I followed this by a rinse and a dry, followed by cleaning the black plastic parts and glass, treating the glass to some more Rain-X which I love.

I then set about giving the car a quick polish with my MadWax, which is SO easy to use.

Here's the clothes I used just for a quick wax and dry.



(all set for the washing machine).

Here's the end result of 5 hours work





I need a new badge.



Front end.









Sadly the day started to end, and my hands got cold so I didn't get the chance to take the wheels off and do them, maybe next week

NobbyClark

That's looking great matey!!

PaulinhoT

Thanks you, I've ordered some more cleaning products which will hopefully be here in the next few days

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Looking good matey. I miss my ST17O a little bit.

PaulinhoT

Understandable Glenn I still enjoy driving, clean and fixing mine. Although it does have a list of jobs needed doing to it at this very moment, I will hopefully get on the case #soon.

STeve

iTrader: (11)

nice to see you showing the 170 some love mine is still a pleasure to drive so cant see me changing it anytime soon

Rowe

ooooo nice and clean

PaulinhoT

Well the 24/10/2016 see's my ownership of my ST170 reach 4 years , and in general it's been an enjoyable journey. We've had our ups and downs, but in general the Focus ST170 has worked well for me, and given that I original bought it as a stop gap until I worked out what I really wanted in life, well it's not done bad.

I took the car out early this morning for a 20 mile hack, and the car just fit's well, hard to explain what I mean, but it's one of the nicest if not the nicest fwd car I've driven. Whilst out on my road trip this morning I stopped off to take some quick photo's with my phone.



























Yes the EML is on, has been for the best part of 4 years

PaulinhoT

Well mid-morning today I had my new side light bulbs turn up in the mail (I ordered these after the ones I bought in Halfords didn't emit enough white light).

I decided to order some T10 W5W Canbus LED Xenon HID White bulbs (37mm x 8mm) as these are the correct 5W output, matching the original 501 bulbs fitted.



They only cost Ł3.99 online for the two, although thinking about it maybe I should of ordered some spares just encase lol.

Well anyway, I decided to fit them straight away as I figured it was an easy change, and the one on the O/S was easy to change the other day, but sadly the N/S one was a pig to do lol, but only in the sense that my fat hands couldn't bend backwards enough getting to where I needed them to.

So I raised the car up a little and decided to loosen the headlight a little as I only needed about 10mm more space.

I took the battery cover off and then took out the two bolts securing the top of the headlight.



The third bolt is underneath the headlight (circled), and once I had removed this bolt I could lift the headlight unit up just a little bit, allowing my hands the space needed.





I checked to make sure they both worked correctly before I secured the light(s) back into place, and thankfully they did, so I just tightened up the bolts and job was done

I also spotted a tiny leak with one of the headlight water jets, which I've hopefully sealed, but if not I will order a new one.

As for the bulbs, well as you can they are 100% better ( I also gave the headlight glass a quick pass with some cleaner).









(Excuse the girlfriends Colt)

I'm much happier with these bulbs, as although the photos show them to have a hint of yellow, they are pure white

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

I really enjoyed driving my ST too. They seem to get slated but i dont know why.

I love driving my mk3 mondeo better but the mondeo doesnt handle as good as the st. I bought 10 led side light bulbs of ebay for about 3 quid. Ive put a pair in the mondeo and they look well.

PaulinhoT

That's good Glenn, nice to hear you can still get a good bargain on ebay.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

I missed out on one the other day. A set of 92 spec cloth door cars that sold for 99p. Shock they were down south

PaulinhoT

That was cheap

PaulinhoT

Another small update (as it's rather cold out).

For the last couple of weeks I've been really flat, and out of energy, in addition to suffering from this forever circulating cold-bug illness that's going around, which now seems like forever, so I haven't had much time to spend on the car, or felt like I could. But today I was determined to get outside and spend some time on the car, if only to vacuum the inside.

Dirty passenger footwell:



Clean passenger footwell:



Dirty centre console:



Clean centre console:



Dirty drivers footwell:



Clean drivers footwell:





Dash cleaned:



It didn't take that long, around an hour as I always try to stay on top of it. I also did the screen wash, and checked the oil level etc.

moondustka

Not sure if you managed to sort your front headlights being a slight yellow hue...

But this kit really is good:

https://www.autoglym.com/headlight-restoration-kit

You probably wouldn't want to start from the beginning by the looks of it. Anyhow, use water at every stage, not just the last two like it says. I did some Puma headlights that looked more than beyond salvageable and they turned out perfectly useable again.

PaulinhoT

Cheers, I will give that kit a go

PaulinhoT

Well today I managed to get outside and clean the glass on my car, and little else. The car is going to need a few parts come the early part of next year, i.e windscreen is heavily pitted now, and the rear shock is leaking, and I think the exhaust is knocking mid pipe due to a bracket failing, hey ho, maybe Santa will bring me something lol.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Its still looking well matey. Is there any rust on her yet. My old st had it on the front wings near the sills and the back arches where just to say starting to bubble.

PaulinhoT

Thanks Glenn, the only rust it had was on the back inner arches, which was cut out and repaired. So not too bad, although this week the N/S rear shock has really leaked, and I picked up a couple of lovely stone chips on the windscreen, and the rear caliper isn't working to the best of it's ability, despite being repaired twice

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

If you lived closer i would of give you a pair of rear shockers for your car.

I hope your sills are ok.

PaulinhoT

That's kind of you, and so far my sills look O.K.

H3lsing

Mine looked ok too, until I pulled off the arch liner and removed the rear bench to see the outside world lol. When I had my mot the tester put a screw driver through both sills. I was shocked .

PaulinhoT

I had the same problem with mine, I cut all the bad metal out in both rear aches and had some lovely new metal put in Hopefully it will last about 3 years

H3lsing

It will if done right . I used plenty of under seal on it, nice and water tight.

PaulinhoT

Well it's almost the new year (and all that), and today I've spent a little time going through some old photos on my p.c, well I say old, since I've owned the ST170 (4 years, 2 months ago). I've also gone through all of the repair and maintenance bills, which haven't actually been that many, and most of the work done has been at my requests as basically I like an honest car.

However, it is crunch time, as the car needs a few pounds spent on it to fix a few issues that have arrived just before Christmas, some of which I know won't be that costly, but some unfortunately are, but again, the car drives, turns and stops really well, actually better than SO many other cars I drive, so we shall see.

Here's a list of essential and non essential jobs that need doing:

1. DMF - it's been rattling since the day I bought it.
2. Lambda sensors - pre and post catalyst (ST's eat them)
3. Catalyst - may not need changing.
4. Cat - back exhaust (mod choice).
5. Windscreen - it now has a couple of hefty chips in it
6. Both rear tyres - plenty of tread but 4 years old now.
7. Timing fault code - needs adjustment.
8. N/S rear shock - decided to start leaking.

Let's see what 2017 brings...

PaulinhoT

Well it's the 1st of January 2017, so a quick vacuum was needed



Plus a quick wipe over inside



Sadly the outside can wait, as within 20 miles the car looks like this

Magnum_grey

Really nice car mate! Wouldnt want your fuel bills running yours as a daily for 4+years :P

You chose the best colour too

NobbyClark

Ive been following your thread for a while now but I realised I hadn't read it from the start, which I've now done this morning!!

I love your enthusiasm and detail you have for your lovely ST and its one of many Ford's I've always wanted myself!!

A ST has appeared for sale at a dealer near me which is a 5 door 2004 "54" plate in silver and is a 1 owner car with FSH and detailed hand written notes from the original owner of work that has been undertaken.

I've only seen pics on the dealers website but it looks immaculate but the only thing putting me off is it has 96k miles on the clock and its up for Ł2295.

What do you reckon on that???

PaulinhoT

Thank you, and it's the one calculation I've never sat down and completed

PaulinhoT

Thank you for your kind words, and yes the car has tested me on a few occasions, but it works well for me.

The car sounds nice, but like any car that's for sale, go and take a look and haggle like crazy "if" it's a straight and honest motor.

Also remember a 54 plated car is registered from September 2004 to end of February 2005(?), so it's still a 12+ year old car, all be it with only one owner. As a rough guide the average annual mileage for a U.K. car is around 7900 miles(?), putting the mileage at about 94800, so the mileage is about right, but by no means low.
As for the price, well that's a personal thing, I freely admit I paid about Ł800 for mine 4 years ago, but it has now done 127,000 miles, and is worth around Ł450-Ł600 ? maybe Ł1200 in the dark/wet

I personally wouldn't pay over Ł2k for an ST170, although maybe if they could prove everything was mint. Although having said that, I've seen new parts fitted on sales car fail within hours of them being sold

As for the ST170 as a car, yes the drink fuel either on or off throttle, they have "known" inherent faults (what car doesn't), they aren't the quickest "hot" hatch - either of that generation or of that engine size, BUT.. (here's the selling point)...

I find mine:

1. Practical,
2. Comfortable,
3. Understated ( it doesn't shout "LOOK AT ME" ),
4. Chassis - For the given era it's a very responsive and balanced fwd car.

Bin2hell

Hi guys sorry if this is in the wrong place, i have an st170 2005. When the weather is cold i.e -2 -4 like now after sitting for the weekend not started when i turn it over it turns fine but wont fire at all, this has happened every year that i have had the car but when the weather warms up later in the day its fine again. Any ideas it's like something is freezing open or shut stopping it from firing ????

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

I wouldnt pay 2300 for a ST17O. They are a cracking car they go ok and handle well.

I wonder how my old one is getting on. It went up to Scotland last year.

PaulinhoT

Sounds like you miss it Glenn

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

I do but i would rather have my mondeo. Now i love this thing.

PaulinhoT

I miss my old ST24...