Ford Focus Mk2 [ST] Estate Sleeper - Build Thread

[Sf_Manta]

CHR15 G said:

chrisnic0 said:

Hi Chris,
Great sleeper!
Are you based near Chester? I am sure I spotted you on the A55 the other day

Nico

Thank you!

No, I'm in Silverstone, A5, haven't been up to Chester in a little while. I hope someone else has also built a Focus sleeper!

Only up the road from me! Down in Milton Keynes here, have to drop by for a drink and see the nutty thing in person

[Digitalize]

Superforma are a great company, worked with one of their sister companies.

Also yes it will need to be tracked ideally.

[CHR15 G]

Schmeeky said:

Don't think I've commented yet, but I've followed this thread all the way from the start and it's been a fun journey!

Have always loved sleepers, and this is a great example of the breed.

It's been a fun journey for me too, although completely all-consuming at times!

[CHR15 G]

GrumpyTwig said:

Only issue might be the spacers could ruin the rather well executed look of bogo standard entirely average looking hack.

One of the more satisfying build threads one here recently, well done.

It will no longer look completely bogo standard average looking, but I hope that 99% of the population won't notice!

And, thank you.

[CHR15 G]

neilbauer said:

When it's lowered OP do you need to get the tracking checked?

Digitalize said:

Also yes it will need to be tracked ideally.

Yes, I will get the tracking done. I tend to get the tracking done every time I do any sort of suspension work, which is approximately every other day on the Clio.

[CHR15 G]

Sf_Manta said:

CHR15 G said:

chrisnic0 said:

Hi Chris,
Great sleeper!
Are you based near Chester? I am sure I spotted you on the A55 the other day

Nico

Thank you!

No, I'm in Silverstone, A5, haven't been up to Chester in a little while. I hope someone else has also built a Focus sleeper!

Only up the road from me! Down in Milton Keynes here, have to drop by for a drink and see the nutty thing in person

Yes, you'll have to pop down and see it at some point.

[CHR15 G]

I'm going to call it nearly done for the time being. Apart from:
Wing indicators
New driveshaft
MoT soon
Full service
Maybe some sound deadening
Wiring the towbar
and many other things...













I absolutely love it, and it is everything I hoped it would be when I thought of the idea almost two years ago.

[ALBA MELV]

CHR15 G said:

I'm going to call it nearly done for the time being. Apart from:
Wing indicators
New driveshaft
MoT soon
Full service
Maybe some sound deadening
Wiring the towbar
Check tyre pressures
and many other things...


I absolutely love it, and it is everything I hoped it would be when I thought of the idea almost two years ago.

I've added one for you

Great thread and an excellent sleeper.

[rohrl]

On the exhaust noise thing. If it's causing a resonating boom through the bodyshell at an annoying rpm point then I'm not sure that wrapping the exhaust or adding sound deadening will cause the problem. To get to the root cause of the booming you might well need to add another box to the system or at the very least another hanger to try and change the exhaust system's harmonic frequency. This is just the sort of issue that manufacturers spend a lot of time and money working out and home modifiers have to find out by trial and error.

[AyBee]

That is brilliant

[CHR15 G]

ALBA MELV said:

I've added one for you

Great thread and an excellent sleeper.

LR tyre pressure? Yeah, it was a leaky valve.

Thank you!

[JackP1]

Awesome, ride height looks spot on.

I'm local to silverstone, will try not to blast past many Grey Focus Estates anytime soon!

[CHR15 G]

rohrl said:

On the exhaust noise thing. If it's causing a resonating boom through the bodyshell at an annoying rpm point then I'm not sure that wrapping the exhaust or adding sound deadening will cause the problem. To get to the root cause of the booming you might well need to add another box to the system or at the very least another hanger to try and change the exhaust system's harmonic frequency. This is just the sort of issue that manufacturers spend a lot of time and money working out and home modifiers have to find out by trial and error.

Yes, I also believe that this is a natural frequency (resonance) of the system, therefore the two best ways to change this would be to 1) change the length of the system or 2) can the amount of gas flowing through the system. But as both of these are fundamentals of the system that cannot be changed I think the next best thing is to add a central silencer or to add a resonator. Unfortunately I believe that there will be a bit of trial and error involved.

I have bought 10kg of DynaMat as a general improvement to the car for road noise etc anyway, but I don't think it would ever get rid of the exhaust boom by itself.

[CHR15 G]

AyBee said:

That is brilliant

Thank you.

[CHR15 G]

JackP1 said:

Awesome, ride height looks spot on.

I'm local to silverstone, will try not to blast past many Grey Focus Estates anytime soon!

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the ride height too, just what I wanted.

Blast past them, and see if they're me!

[pingu393]

You need something like item 4 or item 12 for your exhaust. It is a weight that changes the harmonic frequency of the exhaust. As stated before, the manufacturers have complicated computer models that tell them where to add what weight, but you have to use trial and error.

Edited by pingu393 on Wednesday 25th November 00:55

[Justin S]

Its more than likely a back pressure thing, while off boost which causes the resonance.

[Fastdruid]

Interesting. I must to being tempted come insurance renewal (as I think previously mentioned, current insurer doesn't allow *any* mods) to fit a nicer exhaust to mine (although post remap and intercooler) but while I'd like a *little* bit more noise I don't want a lot or it to be annoying. So I'm getting a bit concerned that I might end up with something I dislike. There isn't anything off the shelf as the estate is too rare although I might be able to get a modified scorpion fitted.

FWIW The current (hatchback version) doesn't appear to have anything from the cat back to the silencers.



but the scorpion (hatchback again) appears to have an extra centre box



No weights though.

[Justin S]

Fastdruid, if you cut the rear silencer open on the original, you will find the pipe going in it is not linked to the pipe going out , this then increases back pressure and cuts resonance. The performance system, has a straight through silencer and has to compensate with an additional one in the pipe to cut down on noise as well as try and cut back on drone.

[KarlMac]

Fastdruid said:

Interesting. I must to being tempted come insurance renewal (as I think previously mentioned, current insurer doesn't allow *any* mods) to fit a nicer exhaust to mine (although post remap and intercooler) but while I'd like a *little* bit more noise I don't want a lot or it to be annoying. So I'm getting a bit concerned that I might end up with something I dislike. There isn't anything off the shelf as the estate is too rare although I might be able to get a modified scorpion fitted.

FWIW The current (hatchback version) doesn't appear to have anything from the cat back to the silencers.



but the scorpion (hatchback again) appears to have an extra centre box



No weights though.

From my own experience the best is Milltek, it's noticably louder on throttle with little additional noise off throttle/overrun. It's one of the more expensive systems but worth it.

On mine it got worse when I changed the downpipe and cat to a 3" straight through system, so I would suspect this is where the noise originates from.