Ford Focus Mk2 [ST] Estate Sleeper - Build Thread

[CHR15 G]

5potTurbo said:

Great work!

My S-Max was hardly a sleeper with it's 3" exhaust and wound down on KW coilovers, but it still surprised a great number of other cars.

I suspect it was still a lot quicker than anyone expected!

[CHR15 G]

Whats the best thing to do with a home built, untested, overly powerful, project car? Long distance Roadtrip!! Throw the bikes on the roof and gear in the back and head to North Wales for a bit of mountain biking!





It made it with no problems at all, apart from the boomy exhaust. Happy with that.

Edited by CHR15 G on Friday 13th November 14:23

[CHR15 G]

Muzzer79 said:

Superb

Got any pics of the finished interior?

Not right now, but I'll take some for you.

[CHR15 G]

deltashad said:

Possibly the best sleeper I've seen.

I'll take this as a compliment, but isn't the point of a sleeper the fact you didn't see it or know it was there?!

[CHR15 G]

pingu393 said:

deltashad said:

Looks really crap.

I hope Chris sees this as the ultimate accolade .

Haha, I really do!

Almost all 'performance' parts are made to be seen as you want everyone to know you've got this or that, so it's quite hard to package everything into an unassuming shape.

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Justin S said:

Fastdruid said:

Justin S said:

Drove my ST for its MOT this morning on greasy roads and spent time wrestling the torque steer, which is laughable, probably something any other road user wouldn't expect you to have to do similar in a ratty estate LOL. They are great engines, although looking at the weight chart on the MOT station wall, the 2ltr diesel estate is 1.3 tonnes, the ST is 1.5 tonnes. That's a lot of engine and gearbox weight.

Some significant rounding going on there. Parkers gives the 08+ ST-3 5d as 1437kg, the 08+ 2.0 TDCI 5d (hatch not estate) as 1391Kg. So it's 46Kg heavier (which to be fair is still a lot).

I rather prefer the difference between the 2.5T and the 2.0TDCI in the Mondeo, only 10Kg for a lot more power.

I wont believe the Autodata chart then, as the MOT man has to put weight on the computer relative to brake efficiency, as to where I got the numbers from. Looks a new chart too !

When it's finished I'll weigh it then we can have a definitive answer on the weight difference between the hatch and estate.

[CHR15 G]

Justin S said:

Drove my ST for its MOT this morning on greasy roads and spent time wrestling the torque steer, which is laughable, probably something any other road user wouldn't expect you to have to do similar in a ratty estate LOL.

Mine doesn't torque steers so much, it just spins wheels, or both wheels. I think I am certainly under-tyred! It must look very odd to other road users!

[CHR15 G]

Escort3500 said:

Just read the entire thread. What a great project, and top marks for ultimate stealth shedology

Edited by Escort3500 on Sunday 15th November 10:52

Thank you!

[CHR15 G]

Furyjoell said:

I absolutely love this car, fantastic build. I have a very scruffy old Mazda 6 wagon, I'd love to put the MPS engine in it. I don't think I could pull it off, though.

Thank you!

You should do it, if it's Mazda to Mazda (and the engine was an option in that shape?) then it should be fairly straight forward.

[CHR15 G]

Sf_Manta said:

Loving this, having read through from it being posted till today.

You sir, are utterly bonkers

Thank you, that's what I like to hear! The car is pretty bonkers in this weather, an absolutely animal!

[CHR15 G]

Another quick picture of the car with the surfboards on the roof, and a boot full of stuff again.



Which brings me quite nicely onto the topic of the rear suspension, as brought up by Jack.

JackP1 said:

Unless i've missed it, have you changed out the rear suspension from the ST or kept the originals on there?

Which as he quite correctly has pointed out is completely Diesel Estate standard. It sits far too high when the car is empty, bounces around compared to the front springs and I think the rear dampers are shot anyway.

As the picture above, the car sits nicely when fully loaded which is about 30mm lower than when empty and then the same ride height as the front end. It still bounces around terribly when it's loaded though!

To try and combat this I have ordered a set of Eibach lowering springs (-30mm) as these are the only estate springs I could find that are actually stuffer, but should also match the ride height of the front springs. This may not be the final solution to the problem, but it's a good starting point.

Despite a lot of suggestions otherwise, there does not seem to be a mk2 estate 'Handling Pack' option on rear dampers, as equipped and non-equipped cars bring up the same rear damper part numbers. Therefore I have selected a set of Sachs rear dampers, nothing special but I don't want to spend a load of money on something as a starting point.

[CHR15 G]

Furyjoell said:

It looks so plain and boring in that picture, I absolutely love it, the ride height looks spot on too, in my opinion.

In the picture the boot is fully loaded so that's why it's siting level, that's the ride height I want to achieve when it's empty. But I also want to make it stiffer as the rear is far too soft compared to the front.

[CHR15 G]

luggie said:

Don't gaz do custom stuff? Been looking at them for some shocks for my caddy

Yeah they do, but I'm not sure what I want so this is a much easier starting point!

[CHR15 G]

Furyjoell said:

CHR15 G said:

In the picture the boot is fully loaded so that's why it's siting level, that's the ride height I want to achieve when it's empty. But I also want to make it stiffer as the rear is far too soft compared to the front.

Yeah I know, I was agreeing that that amount of drop when empty would look perfect.

Right, I see! And yes, that's what I'm going for, a 30mm drop from empty.

[CHR15 G]

blueST said:

You could cut the springs as a temporary measure, which would have the duel effects of reducing the ride height and increasing the spring rate. Or is that too bodgetastic for this thread

Not really into chopping springs, and I don't thin that will actually change the spring rate either.

[CHR15 G]

pixelatedJH said:

Stumbled upon what must be the most absolute, complete opposite to your car.

(Cover your eyes)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-FORD-FOCUS-LX-RS-RE...

I'm not going to judge, as the person who did that car probably wont understand my car either, but yes-that is the complete opposite!! (they haven't swapped the interior either)

[CHR15 G]

blueST said:

13aines said:

It still takes the same load to deflect the spring one unit of measurement. A 100 N/mm spring (for example) requires 100N load to compress it 1mm.

To increase the rate of a (standalone) spring you can produce it from wire of a larger diameter, or coil it with a larger outer diameter, or fewer active coils.

(Spring rate, when fitted to a vehicle, is dependant on spring-damper angle and wishbone geometry I think though)

I am not recommending cutting springs, but it definitely does increase the rate. I'm not great at explaining stuff, but spring rate is also a function of length of the wire. Think of a straight torsion spring, if you shorten it it gets stiffer, same applies to a coil as it is still torsion that gives the springiness. If you google it there a some far more detailed explanations than I can manage.

If you think of your spring unrolled as a single bar: a shorter bar is stiffer than a longer bar of the same cross section. Therefore a longer Spring is less stiff than a shorter Spring of the same cross section.

[CHR15 G]

13aines said:

Wow, you learn something new everyday. I think you were correct all along blueST... I think this is the explanation mathematically, as I was thinking.

Length does not come into the equation for calculating spring stiffness - I thought it did, so assumed that with a linear spring by reducing length you would reduce the number of coils roughly proportionally.



k = spring stiffness
d = wire diameter
G = shear modulus of spring material
D = mean diameter
N = number of active coils

When you cut the springs you reduce the active number of coils and the length. Since length doesn't come into calculating the spring stiffness the only change in the equation for calculating the spring stiffness is a reduction in the number of active coils, which since this is on the denominator increases the spring rate.

Embarrassing! My apologies for doubting you.

Edited by 13aines on Thursday 19th November 20:35

I love a good equation! Thanks for clearing that up for us with a bit of maths!

[CHR15 G]

Heaveho said:

CHR15 G said:

What sort of heat wrap would you recommend?

I used Agriemach products, the woven stuff on rolls of varying widths..........I used it primarily to reduce underbonnet temps, but if I was faced with trying to reduce exhaust boom, I'd also try it for that.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

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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!