mattym

So I've been a member of this site for some time and looked in from afar, always owned new Fords rather than the older ones that seem to be majority on here. Would love a Saph in burgundy colour but currently need something solid and reliable. Thought I would stick my diary up here for my current ST, no major revolutions with it but always tinker with my cars and this will be no different. Just copying it over straight from another forum.

mattym

So been a while since I have done anything constructive in regards to my cars as my personnel life has meant they have taken a back seat. The biggest impact was the arrival of this little guy:



The news of him coming meant I had to reassess the car situation as I was driving around in my Mk7 Fiesta TDCI quite happily which was not suitable to drive him about in with me, the wife and the dog. The diary from my Fiesta can be found here:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=275451

So what to buy, wanted something that looked decent and also went well enough but didn't have huge running costs as I would be doing a fair bit of Mileage. Looked at a few, but the new Focus ST fitted the bill nicely especially in diesel form as the running costs of the petrol over the diesel I.e. 30mpg to 55mpg made me go for it. The obvious difference in power means it's not as exciting as the petrol but it's still got enough to put a smile on my face. Ford were selling them with decent discount as well which added to the fact that I bought it tax free as a member of the Army in Germany means I got a bargain. So ordered in Oct 15 and in March this year my ST3 turned up and I went and collected it.









Bought it with the added extras of the premium sound system, heated steering wheel and reversing camera. I have had it a few months now and absolutely love it, drives wonderfully, seats are amazing and although it could do with a little bit more umph (it is and ST after all) it is by no means slow. A drive from Germany to UK had the MPG at a solid 57 and that's with the engine not fully run in and doing 75 mph.

Already have plans for it and whilst nothing ground breaking i have a few things I would like to change. I am very much of an OEM+ modded and like smooth clean lines. Plans currently sit at:

1. Remove horrid dealer plates.
2. De tango all lights.
3. Try and get a little pit more power, hopefully through a warranty friendly source such as Mountune.
4. Lower it.
5. Spacers on the wheels to sit nicer in the arch.
6. De badge
7. Through detail and clean up after dealer "valet".
8. Swap clear high level brake light for a red one, don't like the clear one against black paint.
9. Swap puddle lights in wing mirrors for LEDs, same for boot light.

Longer term plans which I have fully decided on are:

1. Upgrade sound system and sound deaden
2. Remove both Ford badges.
3. Triple R front splitter.

That's it so far, but very new and we will see how time goes.

mattym

First and easiest job was replacing the nasty dealer plates, hated them ever since I bought it. Didn't like the webpage part underneath and the rest of the guff on them. Old ones:





Swapped for my new pressed metal ones.





Very happy with the quality of them and think they look much nicer. Bought them from www.ukmetaplates.com and they came in no time at all.

mattym

Today I did another quick and simple job, de tango the lights. Very easy to do on the Focus, more so than any other car I have done before. Only real drama I encountered was the rear cluster which has two screw tabs holding them in and who ever fitted them had them tighter than a Scotsman. Eventual after Chaffed knuckles and much swearing they were off. Not so noticeable on the rear. Before:



After:



Then moved onto the wing mirrors, simply a case of moving the mirrors forward to ease them off their mounts, them pull out the bulb underneath. Before:



After:



Finally it was the headlights, again very easy, simply undo the two screws holding them in and lift out to get loads of access. Just be careful on the paint. Before:



After:





Much better .

mattym

Forgot to add that over the Easter break I accumulated some Mountune goodies as they had a 15% off deal.



Not in a rush to fit them as the car is so new but will no doubt get itchy fingers leaving them to much longer.

mattym

So got another one ticked off the to do list, another job that as soon as I picked the car up I knew I wanted to do. On a black car a completely clear light looks odd to me and stands out. It died a death soon after collection and I was left with the choice of taking it back to Ford to replace or replace it myself with my preferred choice of a red one. Went to Ford and asked if they did a red one for the Focus ST estate to be told that they didn't. A bit of research on the internet suggested that a Mk7 Fiesta one would fit, checked it out and they looked exactly the same except the colour. Ordered on and they do fit perfectly. Looks much better to me:

Before



After

mattym

So quick little update. I have now moved back to the UK from Germany and so took advantage of nipping up to SCC Performance whilst the wife took the kid to the in laws. Job at hand was to fit Eibach lowering springs and 20mm spacers, but also ended up the Tripple R front splitter fitted whilst I was there. I have to say fantastic service and can't recommend them enough, made very welcome and not left to feel like they didn't care as I wasn't spending mega money. Happy with the results, would like the rear to sit a touch lower, hopefully it may do as the springs settle. Any Ho pics:











The eagle eyed amongst you will spot another subtle little mod I did the other day.

mattym

So this arrived this morning.



Just about to plug it in and see the results.

mattym

So took a little longer to setup than I thought, had to upload my original map to super chips then download their latest map. All done and took the car out and it's a much better car now, really pulls now all the way to the higher revs (for a diesel), drive ability is much improved to. Not going to guess on BHP figures as that's not what's important to me, what is is the way the car drives and that is great.

slammedorion

Seen this on detailing world I think... Looks well.
I keep thinking of looking at getting one, but wouldn't know if to go petrol or diesel?
Abit out of my league tbh...

mattym

Would recommend test driving both, loved the petrol for the obvious fact of the more power but the practicality of the diesel won me over. Ł20 tax, cheaper insurance, 55 mpg, decent boot space, car is same in diesel or petrol guise just the performance of the engine separates them, so handling is the same as the diesel is just 20 kg heavier.

Diesel obviously isn't as fast as the petrol but I've had plenty of fun in it when I was potting around the autobahns in Germany.

stevos

That looks mint mate I have been contemplating getting an st estate but would need to be the petrol one for me. Seeing yours makes me want one even more.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Saw this on dw too, looks really nice!

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Looks nice. Ideal for kids. Congrats on the birth of your son.

My son is nearly 5 months old. I dont prat about with cars much either.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

How is your little lad getting on Glen? Can't believe my youngest is 8 months old today. Time flies!

Mondi-DZK

iTrader: (1)

Looks nice. And i like al the subtle mods. It's al about the details.

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

Tidy, i have a 62 plate petrol estate. This is after 20 hours of detailing

mattym

So not really an update as such, just stopped off on the way to work and took a few pictures of it.









Then decided to put a few through the Instagram filters.

mattym

Really nice finish there, I will get on top of mine but struggling for time at the moment with the little guy and jobs at home etc.

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

cheers, I must say yours looks very clean still. mine is currently hanging with the weather and drive to work lol

mattym

Quick update, early Christmas present to myself finally arrived this morning. I say finally as I ordered it in November but there was a delay in the order coming from America. Hey ho wasn't in a big rush but now it's here I'm chuffed with it.



First time I have got my hands on a 3D printed item and the geek in me loves it. It's a very solid unit unlike some the other types of these I have seen. Comes with all the bolts etc to fit as well as some, ahem, very simplistic instructions. All in American inches but straight forward enough as you can imagine.

Looking forward to my Christmas time off as this and my intercooler/charge pipes will be getting fitted.

JasonPD

Car looks well I really could do with a bit more boot space in my focus, shame there was no estate option with the RS lol

mattym

So getting to the time when I want to fit my Mountune intercooler and pipe work now I have some time off. Before I can fit them I wanted to find some decent clamps to secure them. The reason for this is that when I have fitted silicon pipes before on my Astra Turbo I had issues with boost hoses popping off, which can be a very scary thing indeed when you're pootling about. I also have noticed cheap clamps can bite into the silicon causing damage.

A bit of research showed that Murray Corp's Turbo constant tension clamps were about as good as you can get. No leakage, expand with the pipe as temperature rises, even tension around the entire diameter so no biting and therefore no damage. They aren't cheap and it could be argued that it's overkill for a turbo diesel but I would rather over engineer the solution than buy cheap and buy twice.

Found for sale here: http://www.siliconhose.com/content.a...&catalog=MS503

Wanted to order them in so had to work out the sizes. Pulled the pipes down out of the attic where they have sitting. Rough measurements with a steel ruler



So Mountune charge pipe A ends 76mm and 58mm



Charge Pipe B ends 63mm and 59mm



Charge Pipe C ends 77mm and 60mm



Intake Pipe ends 87mm and 67mm



So have placed my order for eight clamps, the benefit of them being that they have a wide amount of expansion so can cover my poor measurements and also account for any slight expansion when they slide over the pipes they will attach to. Please excuse the horrid carpets in the pictures, Army housing for you.

mattym

So my Murray clamps arrived this morning, must say SFS Performance were excellent to deal with even with such a small order. When they didn't have the clamps I wanted in stock they offered me alternative Murray clamps that would still work for what I needed and kept the price the same even though it cost more, on top of a 25% forum discount. Mega.



Only had a small window of time this afternoon so decided to fit my intake pipe, simple job.



Well it was made slightly more difficult by Ford positioning the clamp on the air box at some ridiculous angle meaning I had to pull the whole air box out.





With it out it was a very simple case of switching it over and refitting.



Looks much better, I will be honest and say I would prefer it without the Mountune branding on it but it's still nicer than the standard hose. When I get a full day on the car I will do the charge pipes and intercooler.

mattym

Another day on the car before the Christmas shenanigans start, although I have limited photos as time was getting on and ended up working for an hour in the dark finishing off so no completed pics yet.

Have to say that this focus is a pain to work on. Every nut is awkward, every clamp is positioned so that to undo it is nigh on impossible. The amount of parts you need to remove to gain access to the bit you need is crazy. But anyway, much knuckle rash later I got the front stripped.



Lesson for anyone doing similar with their ST, the plastic flaps you see above sit in a plastic frame with an electronic motor moving them. Seems there may be a temp sensor built in as I left it off when rebuilding the car and now the fan is on constantly. So need to strip down again tomorrow to put it back on.

Got all the intake system stripped down and after nearly an hour of swearing and lack patience I managed to get the charge Pipe off, here's a comparison pic of the two together.



So next job was to swap the intercoolers over. Decided to again do a quick comparison between the standard and Mountune one.





Not a massive amount in it, the Mountune one is slightly taller, same depth and 2 less rows of fins in it. Not sure how that works with it's efficiency. To be honest had I known they were so similar I may not have bothered buying it. I will say though that the build quality is spot on, fits straight in and bolts up very easy. This is an example of a well though out product for me:



That's were it ends on the pics of it coming together sadly as I said, time was getting on and needed to finish, I need to strip it down again tomorrow though to refit the fin blade system. One potential problem is that this boost pipe popped off:



I am hoping it is because I didn't tighten the clamp enough because if it's now over boosting then I am not sure why.

Another observation I made when working on the car was the size of the exhaust.



That's a decent bore size for a standard exhaust and from the limited angles I had it seemed fairly well bent, maybe not mandrel bends but as good as most aftermarket systems. Indeed, I haven't seen a system that has a tailpipe as nice as the standard one so other than longer life I am struggling to see reason to "upgrade" it to a stainless system.

mattym

So set about resolving the issues I had yesterday after finishing my work in the dark. Knew I should have just tidied up and left it but wanted to try out the new intercooler and intake. Lesson learned I guess.

Anyway, as mentioned I left the radiator vanes off as I didn't want to cut the plastic should I remove the velossatech intake. The motor being disconnected was causing the fans to be on constantly which is obviously not good. So I was resigned to cutting into it and so after refitting it I bust out the hack saw and hey presto.





You'll notice that I also removed all the plastic vanes from it to ensure the intercooler gets enough air onto it. I kept the one vane that is attached to the motor directly as I didn't want to force it out. It was very simple to strip and so will be very easy to revert back to it's original state, less the massive cut out I made lol.



Last job was to change the oil, I have been meaning to do this for a while but not got round to it for various reasons. Whilst it's only 4 months until it's due it's first service, I know I have fair bit of driving coming up so was worth doing. This car has a different sump plug to anything I have seen, a locking pin and twist lock plastic cap.



Remove the pin, half a turn on the plug and it's out. Word of warning for anyone else thinking of doing this on their drive, there's no getting your hand out of the way and the oil comes out at a right rate of knots, meaning splashes sadly.



New genuine filter and plug seal to go on.



Didn't take a pic but the filter is located in a very easy spot to remove it, makes a refreshing change from breaking my arm to get a good grip on it. Oil of choice was this:



On a separate note, does anyone with the same car know what this plastic pipe is from?



It was stuck between my boost pipes and the engine, neither end was actually attached to anything but still find it very odd to be just sat there in my engine bay.

Knotty

The pipe is from the bottom of the fuel filter housing for if you drain it. Not
sure about removing the active grill shuttering idea. It's opens and closes on demand to aid up warming of the car, shouldn't have too much of a negative effect though ��

mattym

Cheers, will keep hold of that pipe then. Must have just worked loose, good job I have an under tray or it ,any have gone walkies.

The car has warmed up fine without the shutters on so far, because the motor is still working it's all fine. Having said that it's a very simple system to strip down and so would be no problem to reinstall all the other shutters.

Knotty

True, just a had few at work with water ingress into the multi plug and if stuck shut can stop regens taking place and it's a knock on effect. Cracking car though

mattym

Thanks, I will check the car once it's warmed to see if the remaining flap has moved or not.

RoscoST

iTrader: (1)

Lovely motor there with nice mods ! win

mattym

So today I have mostly been fitting a spot of sound deadening. Whilst I am happy that the car is a diesel, I have to say I don't overly love the sound of Diesel engines. From the factory the ST comes with some decent sound deadening in the form of the engine cover and bonnet lining. However I decided I would try and improve it slightly. Bought some mating here:

https://www.deadening.co.uk/products/dodo-bonnet-liner

Came very quickly so got busy today. Here's the bonnet with the thick liner in place as from the factory.



This is what it's like underneath:



Three definite areas that can be hit with some deadening.

First thing I wanted to do was ensure the surface area was completely clean so gave it a wipe down with this:



Method I used was to make stencils with cardboard by taping the cardboard over the area and pressing it in with a screwdriver in order to form the shape. First stencil done and drawn onto mating.



First bit cut and in place.



Second one on.



Time to stencil the middle section



Cut and in place to finish it off.



All finished and original liner back on to cover it over.



It has definitely softened the noise inside, although I think doing the bulkhead would improve this more. This is just one part of the sound deadening I plan on doing.

slammedorion

Nice work

fatboy billy

must admit i do prefer the st as an estate over the hatchback love the subtle mods you've done too looks smart

mattym

So one advantage of my job is that I have a weigh bridge in our yard. I have been meaning to get the ST on there to see what it weighs and so the other day I did it.



Excuse the state of the car but one big disadvantage of my job is I have to drive up a track to get to my office. I was surprised by the figure of 1580kg that came up against the Parker book figure of 1480kg. I had a few things in the boot by not 100kg worth.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Not surprised to be honest. As far as I am aware the parkers figure does not include fuel or fluids. Tank full of fuel is 60kg, 6 or 7kg of engine oil, coolant etc. Then add any accessories like the larger and heavier 19" wheels, spare wheel if you have one etc.

mattym

That makes sense actually, bigger wheels, subwoofer in the boot etc all adds up I guess.

mattym

So an up date of sorts, not had a lot of time to do anything recently as I have started a new role within the Army which has meant moving for the second time in 6 months. On the positive side the new house is much better than the last one and the garage is a decent size as well. As I will be staying here for at least 3 years I decided to sort out the inside of the garage, inspired by some of the great threads I have seen by other people. So this was the state of it when we moved in with loads of kit just dumped in there bybremovals etc.



A quick reorganisation followed to get rid of all the garden tools etc which have gone in the back shed. This reduced how much was left.



Next job was to paint the walls to try and brighten it up a bit.



With that done I could lay my rubber flooring and unpack everything.



Nothing spectacular as it's only a temporary home but much better than before. Just need to stick some pictures up and a few other things and it's done. I can get most the car in it still so will be able to polish it etc out of the direct sunlight.

mattym

So I have finally gotten around to sorting out the photos after Photobucket decided to go mental and charge to host them.

Since then I have also got some of the artwork I wanted put up in the garage:



Finishes it off nicely. Since my last update I have also done a bit more to the car but haven't managed to sort out photos as of yet. First thing is adding some sound deadening to the boot which has helped what is a pretty crap sub woofer that comes with the premium nab/sound pack sound a little better. I have also had the back box removed and replaced for some stainless steel piping, gives a very subtle burble. Will update these on the weekend.

massivewangers

iTrader: (1)

Love the Focus. A friend has an ST diesel and it's a nice car. A good blend of fun and practicality. Would be interested to see what kind of power/torque yours is producing with the mods you've done to it.