Ford Focus Mk2 [ST] Estate Sleeper - Build Thread

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Maty said:

Fantastic! Well done that man, by far one of the best projects I've seen on here.

Please do absolutely nothing to it that gives the game away in any shape or form

Thank you! I'm torn between nothing at all, and a few subtle hints that only a real petrolhead would notice?

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pingu393 said:

Digitalize said:

I'd put a slash on that so the outlet is level with the ground, and paint it black.

I was going to say that.

and add a 1.6D badge as well .


Did you make it yourself or was it made for you? A very professional looking job (beautiful looking welds).

To make it more invisible?

It's got a TDCi badge on the other side.

Exhaust was made by Pete at PTR in Brackley.

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whytheory said:

Not many cars would aesthetically benefit from fitting a tow bar but is definitely one of them!

Just this and a Defender?

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Six Fiend said:

Excellent build, enjoyable read and looking forward to video

Thanks. I'll get a video when I can!

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shalmaneser said:

How noisy is it?

It's not very loud as such, but the system has a resonance at between 2-3k rpm which is loud inside the cabin, so I need to change something.

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KarlMac said:

CHR15 G said:

It's not very loud as such, but the system has a resonance at between 2-3k rpm which is loud inside the cabin, so I need to change something.

Mine was horrendous for this. With a decat it was unbearable at 60-70mph.

How did you fix it?

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Justin S said:

Mines a terrible drone. Was worse with the DreamScience exhaust than the Ferrita I have now. I even stripped the seats and boot and sound proofed it , which was better but its not great. When on boost its fine , but slowing down and the lag spot its boomy as hell.

That sounds exactly the same as mine. Do you know if there is a fix?

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BenWRXSEi said:

Spot on

glasgowrob said:

Utterly awesome

Thank you very much.

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JackP1 said:

I appreciate how it has the X from the LX badge missing, ultimate sleeping.

TartanPaint said:

It's just...perfect! That delaminating rear reg plate with screw-cap missing...

Edited by TartanPaint on Thursday 12th November 09:09

All genuine patina from a 150,000 mile car courtesy of the previous owner, couldn't have got the details so perfect if I'd done it myself.

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KarlMac said:

CHR15 G said:

How did you fix it?

Sold it and bought a golf

I found that some EPDM sponge/foam worked great under the boot liner.

Haha, the answer to everything that isn't solved by getting an MX-5 is to buy a Golf!

I was thinking about doing the whole car with Silient Coat sound deadening.

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AWG said:

Great thread mate, enjoyable read. I guess these threads never show the true man hours that go into such projects but I can imagine they were plentiful!

Thank you. No, this was intended as just a summary of the major steps, but I think it is somewhere close to 500 man hours on the build itself and the same again in research, which really did pay off.

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Six Fiend said:

On my X-type I had a hideous drone after changing the back boxes to custom made items. The guy then made a resonator part way back which cured it. Still sounded great and I no longer had to endure the drone...

That sounds like the best solution I've heard so far. I don't know much about resonators, are there different ones off the shelf or do they need to be made up to suit the application?

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Six Fiend said:

Mine was made to measure. The guy is a wizard. He listened to the car, to what I said, got his tape measure out and about an hour later all was done!

Bristol prob a bit far for you Although he's one minute from M4 J18 (Bath).

Edited by Six Fiend on Thursday 12th November 17:28

I'll try my guy first as he's also a wizard, but if not then I guess have a day sight seeing in Bath wouldn't be the end of the world!

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deltashad said:

I don't like 'keying' cars, but somehow think a few key marks, bumper scrapes and poor paint touch ups would suit it.
Video would be awesome....

Don't worry, every panel has a mark already-car park dings, hedge scratches, bumper scrapes, touch up paint that's run, missing plastic trim. In my eyes perfect!

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deltashad said:

A 406 drove up behind me today, I could just make out the large intercooler and blue samcos under the front bumper, when he passed me the only other thing which looked out if place was his exhaust, not over the top but stainless and larger id. Looked about 2.5". I was hoping he may give it a bit of loud pedal but he resisted.
Sleepers are incredibly intreaging. You just want to stop the driver and find out what he's done. A car designed to blend in with everyday traffic but has received huge modification performance enhancement is so much more interesting than something originally designed to be high performance then modified.

Green lights must be very satisfying.

I would like to meet this 406, it sounds very interesting! I would be happy to stop and chat to anyone about mine, but I'm usually long gone by then!

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C70R said:

Brilliant! One of my favourite builds in the short time I've been here.

Please don't bother with the subtle 'hints'. Just tidy it up, and it will pass completely unnoticed.

By 'tidy it up' do you mean 'do nothing at all to its appearance'?!

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13aines said:

Tremendous work. A great read!

I think you should have one wheel trim each side, with suitable kerb marks. Also, remove a wing mirror cover for added "I don't give a st about my car effect"...

Oh, and definitely a National Trust sticker.

I think I'm going to keep it fairly simple, with just the National Trust sticker. I've always liked steel wheels with no trims, and I think it suits the car, although if I find any suitable sized ones on the side of the road I may pick them up...

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va1o said:

Awesome build, well done! Definitely up there with the best

Reminds be a bit of someone on one of the VW forums who's taken a standard looking VW Touran and put in tuned Golf GTI running gear, named the 'TFSI Bus'. Would be funny if it ever met your car!

I like the sound of that!

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Heaveho said:

You could try using heatwrap and plenty of it along the length of the exhaust, that should help deaden some of the noise.

What sort of heat wrap would you recommend?

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Justin S said:

The only fix I know is to keep the right foot in, but it doesn't take long before you need to back off. It does limit the car to taking the kids out and using earplugs !! The Dreamscience was a 3 inch system and seemed to drop low end torque compared to the 2 1/2 inch Ferrita. The Ferrita is pretty mellow , which is what I wanted, but allegedly the wife can hear me, warbling exhausts a minute before turning into the drive ........ooooops.......
Your project looks totally spot on. Congrats on the stealth machine !

Keeping your foot in is one way to solve it!

Thanks, it is pretty stealth!