Thought id share my current ST170 track project....

Started with a standard ST170 that I bought in Dec 2014





Bought another Cat and stripped its guts out



Removed all front heat shields and wrapped exhaust manifold




Removed AC pump, some pipes and the condenser rad



Stripped out a lot of the interior and sold the heated leather recaros



At this point I fitted some standard focus seats just to use for the upcoming first trackday in this car. From what I remember the car was quite good, very impressed with the brakes. But the cat snapped around lunch and was blowing for the rest of the day.




Got the cat welded back up

Bought some BC BR coilovers, they were fitted without major drama. The rear bottom arm bolt to hub was seized in so had to force the standard springs out, thankfully the BC springs are tiny so slipped in easy. Springs are standard kit 7kg front and rear.



Got some second had TD pro race 1.2s, unsure of offset but stick out further than standard.



Decided to spray the inside of the xenons satin black




My new Corbeau seats arrived and were fitted using OMP subframes




Millers 5-40 oil change



Pic of the engine bay at this point



Think I did another trackday around this point.

Got some Nankang NS2R tyres on



Cut some holes in the bumper and a section out of the front crash bar



Did another track day after. Had a bit of a spin at Coram.



Moved battery to behind the passenger seat



My rear brakes were making noises after trackdays and just generally not sounding great. Found a slider per side was completely solid and corroded. Clean them all up.



Did a trackday at Bedford autodrome

Bought an arch roller as getting rubbage on rear



Cut some slots in the front strut tops to allow for BC camber adjustment.




Won a Dremascience handset on ebay for a good price and the loaded race 97 induction map.



Got a lightweight battery and a new big air filter for a custom induction setup.





Did another Snetterton trackday

Bought the lower engine mount powerflex bushes as the engine felt like there was excess movement.




Fitted ducts to the brakes



Did another trackday at this point. Rear brakes were making some bad noises from around lunchtime, as the rears were making noises a few months ago I pretty much ignored this and carried on and set some new lap records for me. Found this when I got home.



Track pictures:





I thought I’d spruce up the brakes so I grit blasted the rear calipers and carriers. Fitted new discs and pads.




Also I thought while I was doing the rear I would just do the fronts aswell as I was planning on Ferodo DS3000 pads for a while. Fitted these along with some new discs from Burton Power. Very impressed with the brake setup now, haven’t been on track yet though.





Pic on stand at Ford Fair:



Now im currently on another weight saving mission. Swap rear parking sensor bumper with a mate, remove climate box and do half dash, probably this year ill strip out the doors and fit poly windows front and rear. Also on the look out for a second hand rollcage. Soon will do front bushes, probably Powerflex blacks but dreading doing the rear end as all bolts appear seized.




Also doing some work on another project – My MK1 XR2, needs engine rebuild – 1600 xflow, engine bay and outer respray along with some minor repairs, it does have a fresh MOT so is usable. This is gonna be long term project though.




Cheers

 

Looks great Lewis. I love the ds3000 pads on mine. Didn't know you had a mk1 xr2. I'd love one of them. My first 2 cars were mk1s but unfortunately not a xr2. I'd love to kit one out with 170 engine.

 

Looks good dude. I should really start a build on my car. But waiting on more funds first.


Super charged 170 lump and keep it standard looking on the out side with stock interior would be sweet project for the MK1

 

Cheers Steve, got some more pics of it if you're interested. Doesn't get too much of my time because the next thing is engine out and prepare the bay but i want to drive it and enjoy it a bit before winter so may start then.

 

Cheers, yeah im on a tight budget. I had some cash in the beginning after selling my MK2 Focus ST hence buying new coilovers etc but im skint now haha.
Supercharged would be awesome, still a load of cash but im not saying it wont happen eventually

 

far play mate. I've just got back from a few months working in Australia so proper skint lol. How do you find the BC coilovers? I've got Eibach coilovers on my focus with slightly stiffer springs but had them a few years now and think they need replacing now. But need new engine and finally fit my gearbox with better diff and final drive which I've had kicking around for a while

 

Yeah i think there alright for the price. They fit easy and are easy enough to adjust the height and very easy to adjust the damping. As i said above you have to cut away some of the strut top to allow for camber adjustment. The damping adjustments are quite good and reasonably sensitive so a few clicks will make a noticeable difference. You can buy pairs of springs for Ł60 if you fancied a change of spring rate which is pretty reasonable as well.

 

I see you got to drill and cut the strut to get the camber adjuster. I'll get the engine, gearbox and brakes done first the worry bout everything else. I only put stiffer springs on the Eibach's because they felt a bit soft on track

 

I see you removed the insides of your cat,does it make the car respond quicker,does it past the dreaded mot

 

Cool car matey.

 

Been busy this weekend working on going half dash and losing the heater etc...

Dash out-



Dash frame out-



Trimmed dash frame back in with all the heater removed-



Cut dash installed along with hazard switch and clock in vent. Also mounted the climate panel to the dash frame to allow the use of heated screens-



Still have to block up the holes left by the heater matrix pipes and A/C pipes.

Cheers to big Olly for the help

 

Yeah im not sure about that because i did alot of other mods at the same time etc interior strip etc. Making the car lighter made a massive initial difference. I bought another cat and stripped that one so still have the original with sensors in ready to put back in for the MOT

 

Cheers mate

 

seats look lovely. jammy git having heated front screen. wish i did.
is that a Ł40 arch roller from ebay. after looking at your pics i found them on there, any good.

keep it up looking great.

 

Cheers mate. Ah right shame, hoping this will stop a steamy window in winter without a blower/heater.

Yeah it is. Pretty good actually. I've only used it on the back cos I bought some unknown offset wheels which are a bit too much. Does the job though

Will do!

 

All looks rather nice well done

 

Good all round cars these. They all seemed to get tracked or broke though! Nice Mk1 more pics of that!


Ive an arch roller in the shed doing nothing

 

shame i didnt live closer fordmad id buy it off you.

lewis you seem to have tidied the wiring up well behind the dash. is it just hidden or have you removed what your not using. mine is a total mess behind dash and thinking over winter to strip it down.

 

also theres a bracket still left under bonnet that can come off. its the black metal one on top of gearbox mount. thats about a kg there. you will have to mount the alarm elswhere though.

 

Cheers mate

 

Yeah you are right there. I'll post some more at some point

 

Cheers Steve, yeah basically I taped up the unused branches of the loom to the main loom so it is now just a thick bunch of wires and then cable tied that to the main bar on the dash frame. The wires which come down and go to the airbag module etc are rather annoying though as there isn't much extra length to tie them out the way.

Ah yeah I know the bracket you mean, I thought about that before just haven't done it yet.

Quite tempted by plastic windows, might start with the fronts at some point.

 

i looked into plastic windows. acw are good value. i havent done it yet though as weight saving wise i dont really think your getting much for you money. plus i like the electric windows.

 

Looking good so far, if you are gonna keep this as a dedicated track car I would suggest cutting away the brackets for the rear seats and remove the spray on sound deadening, it's amazing how much weight that take up, any further ideas have a look at the AJ Racing Focus, that used to be a standard st170, it's now runninga duratec in time attack

 

Yeah I was looking at acw. Should be some good savings I think but have some more important stuff to do first.
I saw a grey 170 on PF stand at Ford Fair that had plastic windows and had some what looked like black vinyl around the edges to look like standard windows. Looked really good

 

Cheers,

Yeah I know the brackets. Pretty sure Steve done that as well so will likely be doing it as well haha.
I have scrapped off that stuff around the boot floor and under the dash. Still got lots more to scrape off yet

Yeah I know the car. 300 bhp N/A. Haven't seen much of the spec though.

 

We have been asked by the engine builder not to disclose engine spec, and honestly I don't know what's under the valve cover, but I do know it's got titan throttle bodies, dry sump system and carbon plated diff, mtx gearbox with custom ratios, omex management, leda coilovers, boxter brakes and a Peron built side exit exhaust.