Bobberoo’s Ford Fetish Thread (Warning: Contains Peanut)
Discussion
mercedeslimos said:
Nice to see attention being lavished on a "normal" car.
I do the same usually buying a car on the scrapyard's door or beyond economical repair for many people (only VW really as that's what I know) about twice a year and doing all the little bits and pieces that are tatty or annoying, and doing all the mechanical bits, driving for a few months then selling on. Get a kick out of bringing a decent car back from the dead for someone else to use.
Things like centre caps would be ignored by many, but it's all the little details.
What cars have you saved??? Do you have any threads on here? Always interested in "normal" cars being worked on at home!!!!I do the same usually buying a car on the scrapyard's door or beyond economical repair for many people (only VW really as that's what I know) about twice a year and doing all the little bits and pieces that are tatty or annoying, and doing all the mechanical bits, driving for a few months then selling on. Get a kick out of bringing a decent car back from the dead for someone else to use.
Things like centre caps would be ignored by many, but it's all the little details.
Question, will a large mobility scooter fit in the back of a a Focus estate?
Why yes, yes it will!!!
Used it for what it was designed for, for the first time today!!!
Just over 1000 miles in and still very happy with it, averaging 42.2 mpg according to the OBC but I've done several short town journeys and been stuck in traffic a couple of times, so not too bad!!
Why yes, yes it will!!!
Used it for what it was designed for, for the first time today!!!
Just over 1000 miles in and still very happy with it, averaging 42.2 mpg according to the OBC but I've done several short town journeys and been stuck in traffic a couple of times, so not too bad!!
A bit of an update, I decided to treat myself to a Pure Highway 600 DAB+/Bluetooth handsfree and music streaming set up, I toyed with the idea of a headunit change but as anyone with a Focus will know it's not as simple as removing one unit and replacing it with another, nope, it requires a dash insert to change the shape of the unit, a patch lead to adapt from ISO on the new unit to a CANBUS on the car and a stalk control interface, and a DAB aerial too!!!! 
So around £100 in parts on top of the initial cost of the new headunit, which as we all know can be from £100 to gazillions!!!!
I'd seen the Highway 600 and as I already have a Pure DAB radio and a Pure docking station at work I knew they were good quality and reliable, so when the 600 came up on Amazon for £68.85 I grabbed one!!!
They say that everything you need is in the box, they say that it's easy to just wire in, they say that you just stick the master unit to any surface you want...................they say a lot don't they???
The reality is that a) to run the power wire to the power outlet in the armrest cubby you need a USB extension, b) to really bury the wiring properly you need to remove the glovebox, and c) the sticky pad supplied for the mount on the master unit is pants!!!
It probably didn't help that I guess my new(old) Focus had probably had silicone spray on the dash at some point and I didn't clean it well enough, so I had to source some good double sided tape and some rubbing alcohol to clean the dash properly, I promise I didn't drink any of the 70% proof rubbing alcohol, honest!!!
The result is really good, excellent reception and sound quality, excellent connectivity and really good quality of call reception!!! I started by removing the A pillar cover on the passenger side.
Cleaned the windscreen and applied the DAB receiver and antenna.
At the same time I ran the wire and microphone to the drivers side and ran the power and line in cable down the pillar, removed the glovebox and opened up a hole in the front of the glovebox to allow the line in jack plug to be fed into the glovebox and plugged into the line in for the headunit.
I then fed the power cable which is a USB connection down to the edge of the centre console, where I joined it to the extension USB which I ran under the console and up into the cubby under the armrest and to the 12v socket there!! It was at this point that it all went a bit poo, I used a screen wipe to clean the dash ready for the master unit, stuck it down and it immediately fell off again!!!
Two days later I'd gathered the bits to clean the dash and replace the double sided tape and finished the installation today!!!
As I've already said I'm really pleased with it and would recommend it to anyone else who wants hands free, music streaming and DAB for not a great deal of money!!!!
So around £100 in parts on top of the initial cost of the new headunit, which as we all know can be from £100 to gazillions!!!!
I'd seen the Highway 600 and as I already have a Pure DAB radio and a Pure docking station at work I knew they were good quality and reliable, so when the 600 came up on Amazon for £68.85 I grabbed one!!!
They say that everything you need is in the box, they say that it's easy to just wire in, they say that you just stick the master unit to any surface you want...................they say a lot don't they???
The reality is that a) to run the power wire to the power outlet in the armrest cubby you need a USB extension, b) to really bury the wiring properly you need to remove the glovebox, and c) the sticky pad supplied for the mount on the master unit is pants!!! It probably didn't help that I guess my new(old) Focus had probably had silicone spray on the dash at some point and I didn't clean it well enough, so I had to source some good double sided tape and some rubbing alcohol to clean the dash properly, I promise I didn't drink any of the 70% proof rubbing alcohol, honest!!!
The result is really good, excellent reception and sound quality, excellent connectivity and really good quality of call reception!!! I started by removing the A pillar cover on the passenger side.
Cleaned the windscreen and applied the DAB receiver and antenna.
At the same time I ran the wire and microphone to the drivers side and ran the power and line in cable down the pillar, removed the glovebox and opened up a hole in the front of the glovebox to allow the line in jack plug to be fed into the glovebox and plugged into the line in for the headunit.
I then fed the power cable which is a USB connection down to the edge of the centre console, where I joined it to the extension USB which I ran under the console and up into the cubby under the armrest and to the 12v socket there!! It was at this point that it all went a bit poo, I used a screen wipe to clean the dash ready for the master unit, stuck it down and it immediately fell off again!!!
Two days later I'd gathered the bits to clean the dash and replace the double sided tape and finished the installation today!!!
As I've already said I'm really pleased with it and would recommend it to anyone else who wants hands free, music streaming and DAB for not a great deal of money!!!!
dandam said:
I fitted the same Pure unit to my LR D3, and I agree it’s great. I’d prefer an integrated unit, but for the price it’s unbeatable
Agreed, for the money it's a great piece of kit, my only gripe is that it will only connect to one source at a time, meaning that if I want to stream music from my ipod I can't have my phone connected!!
Another small update, with the wet weather we've been having I was very aware of how rubbish the front tyres were, a friend of a friend did me a deal on four new Goodyear Efficientgrip Performance for £230 fitted, so today I took my new(old) Focus in and had them done along with the tracking, it turns out that it had the wrong sized tyres on anyway wearing 225/55/16's instead of the 205/55/16's it's supposed to have!!
Still all done now and much happier for it!!
Obligatory picture of car sans wheels!!
Still all done now and much happier for it!!
Obligatory picture of car sans wheels!!
Eyersey1234 said:
How are they both running Bobberoo99?
Absolutely fine thanks Eyersey, nothing to report other than my fuel consumption seems to have improved markedly since replacing the tyres and getting the tracking done on my newer Focus, I was expecting it to be a tad better but it's quite noticeable, looks to be around 5% + better!!Update time for these two, I purchased the new(old) Focus on the 27th of September 19 so I've had it coming up on 6 months, bought with just under 69200 miles and now on nearly 71500 miles so I'm doing sod all mileage!!! The old (old) Focus is still going strong despite me finding some rust bubbling up on the drivers side sill!!!
Not sure whether I'll sand it back, treat and fill and spray it over or wait and have it cut out and plated!!
Gave them both a clean today and they both scrub up ok!!!
Not sure whether I'll sand it back, treat and fill and spray it over or wait and have it cut out and plated!!
Gave them both a clean today and they both scrub up ok!!!
Time for a small update, the DMF on the new(old) lovely Rioja blue Focus was starting to rattle quite badly especially on startup, now dipping the clutch while starting alleviated this but every time I stopped at traffic lights and took it out of gear it would start juddering as the DMF started rattling, not cool 
, couple that with the strange squealy noise the thrust bearing was making on engagement and the occasional juddering on pull away I came to the conclusion it was time to replace it!!! So i started calling around a few places to see what sort of price I could expect, there was a huge variation in cost ranging from £685 from a gearbox and clutch specialist to £905 
from the Ford specialist I used for the belts to be done, after a bit of research into the gearbox specialist I went with them, Rio the Rioja Focus was dropped off there yesterday where they assured me it would be ready for me to collect today and that they only use LUK clutches and DMF's which I was glad to hear, and I set off to walk home 
...........yes, you did read that correctly I walked home, all 7 miles of it, well ok about 6 miles is what I actually walked as Mrs Bobbers finished early and came to rescue me, but that's not the point, the intention was there!!!!
So I went to pick it up today after a work colleague dropped me off there and was greeted with the following question, "Ah, I was about to call you, how are you paying?"
"Credit card"
"Er, we don't have a card machine, I forgot to say yesterday! Can you do a bank transfer?"
"Not really my account has a pin card thingy!
Oh poop, where's the nearest bank then?"
And so I managed to get £300 out, take the car home and transfer the rest!!!
Moral of the story would be, "check they take cards before committing to the work!!!
To be fair though they did an excellent job so no complaints there, there was however the teensy weensy issue of them having disconnected the battery and me not having a code for the radio!!!
But 10 minutes on Ebay, a couple of emails and a some button pressing later and that too was resolved!!!!
, couple that with the strange squealy noise the thrust bearing was making on engagement and the occasional juddering on pull away I came to the conclusion it was time to replace it!!! So i started calling around a few places to see what sort of price I could expect, there was a huge variation in cost ranging from £685 from a gearbox and clutch specialist to £905 from the Ford specialist I used for the belts to be done, after a bit of research into the gearbox specialist I went with them, Rio the Rioja Focus was dropped off there yesterday where they assured me it would be ready for me to collect today and that they only use LUK clutches and DMF's which I was glad to hear, and I set off to walk home ...........yes, you did read that correctly I walked home, all 7 miles of it, well ok about 6 miles is what I actually walked as Mrs Bobbers finished early and came to rescue me, but that's not the point, the intention was there!!!! So I went to pick it up today after a work colleague dropped me off there and was greeted with the following question, "Ah, I was about to call you, how are you paying?"
"Credit card"
"Er, we don't have a card machine, I forgot to say yesterday! Can you do a bank transfer?"
"Not really my account has a pin card thingy!
Oh poop, where's the nearest bank then?"
And so I managed to get £300 out, take the car home and transfer the rest!!!
Moral of the story would be, "check they take cards before committing to the work!!!
To be fair though they did an excellent job so no complaints there, there was however the teensy weensy issue of them having disconnected the battery and me not having a code for the radio!!!
But 10 minutes on Ebay, a couple of emails and a some button pressing later and that too was resolved!!!!
Not great if I'm honest Eyersey, aerospace has taken a kicking, my company have had around £51m wiped off our order books, over a period of a couple of weeks they've gradually furloughed around 70% of the workforce and a further 10-12% have taken voluntary redundancy, I was furloughed for the whole of May and that may well be extended through June, they've already said that they're looking to reduce the head count by a further 100 employees, so I have no idea if I'll have a job come the end of the outbreak.
How about you, how's things with you and your job?
How about you, how's things with you and your job?
mercedeslimos said:
Eyersey1234 said:
Yes it doesn't look good, our coach division was loss making for years, it finally started to make a profit again just before the Go Ahead takeover a couple of years ago. It will be at least July before they are back to work, I'm on the National Express rota now after 12 1/2 years on local bus and they are talking about reintroducing a limited service 1st July, but that has been put back twice so we shall see.
Our mainstays are Trafalgar tours, Collette, Kuoni, etc, Ring of Kerry, etc. Very nice Van Hool EX fleet mainly. 90 fleet and nothing moving. We have something similar to NX here, but that's run by Firstbus. Always looking for drivers, but that's a tough gig!Sorry for spamming your thread OP.
At the moment I'm quite fortunate that we've been able to adapt our outgoings to the reduced income, we were all told to take the week leading up to Easter off as holiday, I already had the week after booked off so ended up having two weeks off, I've been off since the beginning of May and so far I've decorated our bedroom, the hall/stairs/landing and I'm decorating the front room this week, it's sort of good to be catching up with all the stuff I'd put off because I was working so much overtime. However, as I said, like a lot of other people I'm concerned that when things start to ease and businesses no longer have furlough to pay people I may not have a job.
A bit of an update, got fed up with the base unit for the Pure DAB Highway falling off the dashboard randomly so decided I'd make a little bracket for it to attach to, firstly I needed a bit of aluminium, my neighbour came to the rescue with a bit of aluminium angle.
Sadly it was not quite long enough on the angle, and so I thought "that's ok, I'll just cut the back off of the angle and make it into a piece of flat plate and bend to suit!!"
Only one teensy weensy problem in that I don't have a vice!!!
Correction, I didn't have a vice!!!
Everyone knows that spending £35.85 on a vice and bolting it down to the top of your racking in the shed, just to bend a single piece of aluminium for a bracket makes perfect sense!!!
And so after cutting, filing, bending and, checking, bending a bit more and checking, bending a bit more and checking, straightening a bit and checking, bending it some more and checking, straightening the bit I'd just bent and bending it in a different place and checking, swearing, bending it a bit more and checking..................
It finally fitted how I wanted it to!!!!
Sprayed it in some black paint and trial fitted just to check that a covering of black paint hasn't affected the fit!!
And gently, carefully, and with great accuracy and skill, ok, ok I slapped it on and just kept pushing and pulling it until it looked ok!!!!
Seems much more solidly mounted, let's see how long it stays there this time!!!
Sadly it was not quite long enough on the angle, and so I thought "that's ok, I'll just cut the back off of the angle and make it into a piece of flat plate and bend to suit!!"
Only one teensy weensy problem in that I don't have a vice!!!
Correction, I didn't have a vice!!!
Everyone knows that spending £35.85 on a vice and bolting it down to the top of your racking in the shed, just to bend a single piece of aluminium for a bracket makes perfect sense!!!
And so after cutting, filing, bending and, checking, bending a bit more and checking, bending a bit more and checking, straightening a bit and checking, bending it some more and checking, straightening the bit I'd just bent and bending it in a different place and checking, swearing, bending it a bit more and checking..................
It finally fitted how I wanted it to!!!!
Sprayed it in some black paint and trial fitted just to check that a covering of black paint hasn't affected the fit!!
And gently, carefully, and with great accuracy and skill, ok, ok I slapped it on and just kept pushing and pulling it until it looked ok!!!!
Seems much more solidly mounted, let's see how long it stays there this time!!!
Part1
And so a nupdate, the two old Focuseses are still going strong, however the knocking coming from the front suspension of the new(old) Focus can't simply be ignored any longer, despite turning the stereo up i can actually feel it through both the steering and the floor now!!!
Also there have been a number of incidents, including one particularly unpleasant confrontation, while driving so I've taken the decision to install a dashcam in the new(old) Focus!!
So I decided that seeing as I have a week off I'll do it all this week........or not, maybe I can get some of it done between the showers.........or not!!!!
Still it did stop raining around lunchtime so I got on with fitting the dashcam, if you have a mk2 Focus and are thinking of doing it, it's pretty easy, I chose to hard wire mine in so it only comes on with the ignition, "start by jacking your car up!!" (MCM) no, don't do that, start by removing the passenger footwell under dash protective carpet, remove the two retaining clips that hold the ECU/fuse bord/ mother board/ wire covered thingy and drop it into the footwell,
To save you all from trying to figure out which fuse use if you look at the first row of fuses there's a red 10amp fuse which is switched, so live only when the ignition is on,
The hardwire kit comes with a fuse piggyback insert, so remove that 10amp fuse, replace with the wired piggyback and insert the fuse into the piggyback, run the wire so it's clear of any fuses or relays,
Next remove the passenger kick panel and plastic sill cap exposing the two earth points on the sill top, now I'm not advocating what I did but it works, tape the earth with the two black wires down onto the sill top, loosen the earth bolt enough so you can insert the earth cable from the hardwire kit and tighten it down again, remove the tape, no need for it now, run the earth cable along the sill and into the footwell,now you need to remove the A pillar cover,
I used a stiff piece of wire fed down beside the dash, taped the power wire to it and pulled it up through the side of the dash, up the A pillar and tucked it under the front of the headlining at the top of the windscreen, this pops out by the rearview mirror and is tucked behind the cover over the headlight sensor, now is a good time to test it all by plugging the power cable into the piggyback wire, plugging in the dashcam and turning on the ignition, the dashcam should automatically turn on!! Now cable tie the excess wire up, tuck it up behind the dash and replace all the trim, position the dashcam so it's not in your line of sight, and jobs a goodun!!!!
And so a nupdate, the two old Focuseses are still going strong, however the knocking coming from the front suspension of the new(old) Focus can't simply be ignored any longer, despite turning the stereo up i can actually feel it through both the steering and the floor now!!!
Also there have been a number of incidents, including one particularly unpleasant confrontation, while driving so I've taken the decision to install a dashcam in the new(old) Focus!!
So I decided that seeing as I have a week off I'll do it all this week........or not, maybe I can get some of it done between the showers.........or not!!!!
Still it did stop raining around lunchtime so I got on with fitting the dashcam, if you have a mk2 Focus and are thinking of doing it, it's pretty easy, I chose to hard wire mine in so it only comes on with the ignition, "start by jacking your car up!!" (MCM
) no, don't do that, start by removing the passenger footwell under dash protective carpet, remove the two retaining clips that hold the ECU/fuse bord/ mother board/ wire covered thingy and drop it into the footwell,To save you all from trying to figure out which fuse use if you look at the first row of fuses there's a red 10amp fuse which is switched, so live only when the ignition is on,
The hardwire kit comes with a fuse piggyback insert, so remove that 10amp fuse, replace with the wired piggyback and insert the fuse into the piggyback, run the wire so it's clear of any fuses or relays,
Next remove the passenger kick panel and plastic sill cap exposing the two earth points on the sill top, now I'm not advocating what I did but it works, tape the earth with the two black wires down onto the sill top, loosen the earth bolt enough so you can insert the earth cable from the hardwire kit and tighten it down again, remove the tape, no need for it now, run the earth cable along the sill and into the footwell,now you need to remove the A pillar cover,
I used a stiff piece of wire fed down beside the dash, taped the power wire to it and pulled it up through the side of the dash, up the A pillar and tucked it under the front of the headlining at the top of the windscreen, this pops out by the rearview mirror and is tucked behind the cover over the headlight sensor, now is a good time to test it all by plugging the power cable into the piggyback wire, plugging in the dashcam and turning on the ignition, the dashcam should automatically turn on!!
Now cable tie the excess wire up, tuck it up behind the dash and replace all the trim, position the dashcam so it's not in your line of sight, and jobs a goodun!!!!Edited by Bobberoo99 on Monday 17th August 19:45
Part2 (Because Scrump noticed I'd got it wrong)
Next I decided to replace the air and fuel filters, I'd already ordered 2 filter service kits from a company I've used several times, they do an air filter, fuel filter and oil filter, a sump plug gasket and fuel filter gasket, all Fram and £26.98 a set delivered, sadly due to me being a useless arse I neglected to notice that Ford in their infinite wisdom changed the air filter from a rectangular drop in to a cylindrical press in type, so the air filter will have to wait until I get the right one!!!
Still I did manage to change the fuel filter, which involves removing the plastic cover from the top of the engine, exposing the cam cover and at the right hand end as you look at the engine the metal plate which protects the fuel filter housing, remove the plate by undoing 2 10mm head bolts and moving to the side, next you need to unplug the electrical connector front left, the fuel line in (right hand top)
which requires the two white plastic tabs pushed in and then the line just pulled off, I find it best to plug the fuel lines with a small rubber bung, it just ensures that the fuel doesn't drain back and cause an air lock, lastly remove the line out, this clip requires the outer white plastic part to be pushed to the left and the centre piece to be pulled to the right and then the line can be pulled off.
I also plug this one to be on the safe side, the filter housing can now be pulled up out of its retainer, unscrew the ring holding the top onto the main body, fuel will begin to leak out so ensure you're wearing gloves and have somewhere to catch the fuel, personally I don't reuse the fuel from the filter housing, if the filter is anything to go by it's not particularly clean!!!
Considering the car has a comprehensive service history I'd question whether that's been changed in a while, I'd even question whether it's ever been changed as it was a genuine Ford one!!!
For comparison this is the filter going back in.
And so on to the important bit, there are two seals on the filter assembly, the first is a small one which is on the top part of the housing, it's on a small lug which pushes into the top of the filter, make sure it's still there , then there's one which sits on top of the filter and lower housing, it's this one that comes with the filter, insert the filter into the lower part of the housing, making sure you've cleaned it out and emptied all the old fuel out, stand the filter on a solid surface and fill the filter and housing with fresh fuel, I always tap it several times to ensure there's no trapped air, fill it until it starts to overflow continuously tapping it, lay the seal on top centering it, make sure the screw ring is in place over the outside of the housing top and screw the two pieces together, it doesn't have to be too tight at this point as you'll want to be able to adjust the top to a suitable location for the fuel lines to be reattached, drop the housing back in to its retaining bracket, turn the housing top so that the ports for the fuel lines are facing forward and tighten the outer ring, remove the plugs from the fuel lines, push them back onto the correct points on the housing top, reattach the electrical connector and loosen the air bleed nipple on the housing top at the rear, prime by turning the ignition on until the lights come on on the dash but do not start the car yet, prime the filter three times then tighten the bleed nipple, replace the protective plate and start the car, job, jobbed!!!
Next I decided to replace the air and fuel filters, I'd already ordered 2 filter service kits from a company I've used several times, they do an air filter, fuel filter and oil filter, a sump plug gasket and fuel filter gasket, all Fram and £26.98 a set delivered, sadly due to me being a useless arse I neglected to notice that Ford in their infinite wisdom changed the air filter from a rectangular drop in to a cylindrical press in type, so the air filter will have to wait until I get the right one!!!
Still I did manage to change the fuel filter, which involves removing the plastic cover from the top of the engine, exposing the cam cover and at the right hand end as you look at the engine the metal plate which protects the fuel filter housing, remove the plate by undoing 2 10mm head bolts and moving to the side, next you need to unplug the electrical connector front left, the fuel line in (right hand top)
which requires the two white plastic tabs pushed in and then the line just pulled off, I find it best to plug the fuel lines with a small rubber bung, it just ensures that the fuel doesn't drain back and cause an air lock, lastly remove the line out, this clip requires the outer white plastic part to be pushed to the left and the centre piece to be pulled to the right and then the line can be pulled off.
I also plug this one to be on the safe side, the filter housing can now be pulled up out of its retainer, unscrew the ring holding the top onto the main body, fuel will begin to leak out so ensure you're wearing gloves and have somewhere to catch the fuel, personally I don't reuse the fuel from the filter housing, if the filter is anything to go by it's not particularly clean!!!
Considering the car has a comprehensive service history I'd question whether that's been changed in a while, I'd even question whether it's ever been changed as it was a genuine Ford one!!!
For comparison this is the filter going back in.
And so on to the important bit, there are two seals on the filter assembly, the first is a small one which is on the top part of the housing, it's on a small lug which pushes into the top of the filter, make sure it's still there , then there's one which sits on top of the filter and lower housing, it's this one that comes with the filter, insert the filter into the lower part of the housing, making sure you've cleaned it out and emptied all the old fuel out, stand the filter on a solid surface and fill the filter and housing with fresh fuel, I always tap it several times to ensure there's no trapped air, fill it until it starts to overflow continuously tapping it, lay the seal on top centering it, make sure the screw ring is in place over the outside of the housing top and screw the two pieces together, it doesn't have to be too tight at this point as you'll want to be able to adjust the top to a suitable location for the fuel lines to be reattached, drop the housing back in to its retaining bracket, turn the housing top so that the ports for the fuel lines are facing forward and tighten the outer ring, remove the plugs from the fuel lines, push them back onto the correct points on the housing top, reattach the electrical connector and loosen the air bleed nipple on the housing top at the rear, prime by turning the ignition on until the lights come on on the dash but do not start the car yet, prime the filter three times then tighten the bleed nipple, replace the protective plate and start the car, job, jobbed!!!
Edited by Bobberoo99 on Monday 17th August 22:45
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