Mk1 focus estate
Discussion
Hello all, not sure how this thread will go but it will be my Ford Focus mk1 estate based. I bought one new in 2002, sold that to pay towards divorce costs and have been gradually working through a couple of older mk1s to my current 2004 version. Probably the last one I’ll own now. Below are pictures of the few I’ve owned
This panther black estate is the one I bought new in 2002. It was a 2.0 zetec which I added the leather heated seats and HID headlamps as factory built options. Metallic paint was part of the leather option. It took 10 weeks for delivery and was a bit miffed as the st170 version was released the month I took delivery as I thought I had the best sporty focus estate at the time. I drove it for a year standard then bought the 7x17” ford mp3 7 spoke alloy wheels. Had lowered springs and new shocks fitted. No pictures of it like that unfortunately then in 2008 I bought the 7x19” five spoke wheels as shown in the picture it was sold soon after.
This dark blue one I bought used, it was an early version. The pictures shown are those I used when I sold it. Spec wise it was a 2.0 ghia with a rather nice grey leather interior which came with cruise control as part of the option pack. I fitted the later headlights as the originals had yellowed beyond repair.
Reason for selling blue car was mileage was at 98k, needed a cam belt change, an annoying dent in front wing and drivers door and rust appearing in the outer panels. Cleaned up really well though.
My current estate as I bought it in 2017 below
This car is a 60k Miles, 1.8 petrol ghia model. Cloth seats but does has abs brakes and the important rear brake discs. So much easier to maintain than drums. I’ve changed a fair few things on this one. My last mk1 and thought bolt on all the goodies I bought for the dark blue car before I dented it and it started to rust
This panther black estate is the one I bought new in 2002. It was a 2.0 zetec which I added the leather heated seats and HID headlamps as factory built options. Metallic paint was part of the leather option. It took 10 weeks for delivery and was a bit miffed as the st170 version was released the month I took delivery as I thought I had the best sporty focus estate at the time. I drove it for a year standard then bought the 7x17” ford mp3 7 spoke alloy wheels. Had lowered springs and new shocks fitted. No pictures of it like that unfortunately then in 2008 I bought the 7x19” five spoke wheels as shown in the picture it was sold soon after.
This dark blue one I bought used, it was an early version. The pictures shown are those I used when I sold it. Spec wise it was a 2.0 ghia with a rather nice grey leather interior which came with cruise control as part of the option pack. I fitted the later headlights as the originals had yellowed beyond repair.
Reason for selling blue car was mileage was at 98k, needed a cam belt change, an annoying dent in front wing and drivers door and rust appearing in the outer panels. Cleaned up really well though.
My current estate as I bought it in 2017 below
This car is a 60k Miles, 1.8 petrol ghia model. Cloth seats but does has abs brakes and the important rear brake discs. So much easier to maintain than drums. I’ve changed a fair few things on this one. My last mk1 and thought bolt on all the goodies I bought for the dark blue car before I dented it and it started to rust
In the above picture, 2018 I’ve fitted Ford option 6x16” wheels with 205 50 r16 tyres. These were fitted to my previous dark blue estate. You don’t see these wheels often. Also I’ve changed the front and rear bumpers although only the rear is obvious. The rear bumper is an earlier version without the raised plastic bump strips. That’s to match the collection front bumper but the facelift version without the bumper fitted front indicator lenses. Bit of mix and matching but I think works. The rear lamps were an eBay find, part LED part regular bulb. I went for left and right fog lamps which deletes the reverse light. Perfectly legal for pre 2005 cars and mot purposes.
Leather seats are also fitted now.
I’ll take some up to date pictures of the above parts soon. Currently my estate is sitting on axles stands in the garage waiting for parts to complete the fitting of new suspension components and an easy brake upgrade. I’m also wondering about fitting another different set of wheels. As the suspension has been lowered now
I have a set of 4 of the above 7.5x19” et48. I bought these ages ago used. They were missing the spigot rings so were very inexpensive. I made a set of stainless steel spigot rings with a nice drive fit so they won’t fall out and get lost again.
Tyre size I’m extremely limited keeping it narrow enough to fit in the standard arch and keeping as close to possible to the original rolling radius. 215 35 19 is a little taller than standard but the best width. The other choice is a 225 30 19. This is perfect in keeping the original rolling radius of the 195 60 15 the car came with. Width wise I’m not sure if it will rub when the car is fully loaded doing a tip run or ferrying family and 2 dogs around?
The above wheels I was looking at earlier. The big chrome ones I think go with the silver body and ghia chrome.
The multi spoke need a re-furb but look factory but different from the actual st170 wheels. They are originally from a Mk2 mondeo st200. The last wheel is one I modified from a BMW. Genuine 2 piece BBS but the rears are 8.5j with a slightly stretched 215 45 17 tyre. I really need the estate off the axle stands to see if these are going to give massive issues with the standard rear arches. I used them for a while on the dark blue estate before I put a dent in the front wing. Standard height suspension on the dark blue estate though
Edited by RobXjcoupe on Tuesday 28th July 22:34
Eyersey1234 said:
Nice selection of Foci you have owned.
. There was another. A W reg red 2.0 ghia estate between the black car and dark blue car. It was 4 different shades of red. I thought it was a simple cause of t-cut and polish to bring it back to one shade but alas it didn’t. Got shot of that one really quickly. A few pictures of the grief I’ve had to simply change springs. Mot man said last year they had to be replaced due to corrosion. My Haynes manual said simply job. Once on axle stands to jack up rear spring pan, remove wishbone bolt then lower down to remove spring. Well that bolt sheared. The head I thought was moving the whole bolt wasn’t. Then so began the strip down of the complete rear suspension to remove siezed and sheared bolts. Luckily I have another car to use so no expensive call out mobile garage guys etc. In the end I had the rear trailing arms in my workplace toolroom machineing away the offending bolts and then using an oxyacetylene torch to heat the remaining stds to free them whilst gradually winding the stud out.
As I had the rear brakes stripped off the trailing also I did a clean up to bare metal and rebuilt those parts with the help of the equipment I had been using on my current classic car restoration.
Once back to bare metal, a high zinc weld through etch primer was first applied then a top coat of satin black. The smaller parts of the brake caliper I used a home plating kit to put a coat of zinc on so effectively galvanised those bits.
I enjoy the brake caliper rebuild. I’ve done many front and rear calipers and it’s really not difficult with as new results each time. The front calipers on my car I rebuilt last year. No pictures unfortunately but they work like new. Interestingly I have a Mk5 fiesta with a 278mm front disc and Mk2 mondeo v6 front calipers fitted. When the mot man does the brake test. The big v6 calipers don’t give a higher brake reading compared to the smaller standard calipers I have on the front of the focus. Both cars use slotted brake discs with genuine ford brake pads. The Fiesta when driving has sharper braking though. Probably due to less weight to stop. Using slotted brake discs has always given me identical brake pressure readings left and right at the mot check.
As I had the rear brakes stripped off the trailing also I did a clean up to bare metal and rebuilt those parts with the help of the equipment I had been using on my current classic car restoration.
Once back to bare metal, a high zinc weld through etch primer was first applied then a top coat of satin black. The smaller parts of the brake caliper I used a home plating kit to put a coat of zinc on so effectively galvanised those bits.
I enjoy the brake caliper rebuild. I’ve done many front and rear calipers and it’s really not difficult with as new results each time. The front calipers on my car I rebuilt last year. No pictures unfortunately but they work like new. Interestingly I have a Mk5 fiesta with a 278mm front disc and Mk2 mondeo v6 front calipers fitted. When the mot man does the brake test. The big v6 calipers don’t give a higher brake reading compared to the smaller standard calipers I have on the front of the focus. Both cars use slotted brake discs with genuine ford brake pads. The Fiesta when driving has sharper braking though. Probably due to less weight to stop. Using slotted brake discs has always given me identical brake pressure readings left and right at the mot check.
Retro_Jim said:
I can't believe how old the focus is as a model, the mk1 has the nicest shape and your collection of estates has got me thinking about the daily driver.
Keep up the good work, the callipers look excellent
I wouldn’t be without an estate car and the mk1 focus is one of a few with an upright back door to make the most of the interior height rather than a styled sloped off rear. My Doberman appreciates that Keep up the good work, the callipers look excellent
As a drivers car I like it. Easy to fix at home. Replacement parts are cheap if you don’t want to refurb lol. Currently they are unwanted in many peoples eyes so lots to choose from at cheap prices. Only one downside I think is the 2.0 petrol cars from 2001 are over £300 for road tax.
Re brake caliper rebuilds I do on all my cars as generally previous owners never bother and after 16-20 years they have seen better days. The mk1 focus brakes are very simple. Non st and rs front calipers are all the same but can’t be upgraded to larger discs because the steering knuckle/wheel bearing casting incorporates the brake pad carrier. St170 versions have different steering knuckle/wheel bearing castings.
Rear disc calipers are all the same. Different pad carriers are used from the standard car to st and rs.
I personally think a ghia spec car is a good daily. A good load lugger but comfortable when kept clean and tidy. Stereo systems are an easy upgrade also as the doors are really well insulated from the factory
David_M said:
RobXjcoupe said:
What did you clean those up with? Exceptional result!
Forgot to show these pictures earlier. Above is the rear trailing arm bush which bolts up in front of the rear wheel. As I was replacing all the other components that came with new bushes I thought do a good job and replace this one. All originals have steel outer shells, to remove heat up the outer shell with a good blow torch. This melts the glue holding the rubber inside the shell. When you get a slight flame on the inside of the shell the middles are ready to carefully knock out with a mallet. Quench in water to cool down then use a hack saw to carefully cut the shell still located in the trailing arm. Once cut through the tension is relieved and once again use a mallet to tap out the shell.
I choose to fit a new poly bush. Some poly bushes need the original shells. The ones I choose don’t.
Once I removed the original bushes I gave the trailing arms a bit of a refurb and a coat of etch primer
Usual black satin top coat ready to fit new bush
The new bushes although no steel outer shell I still used a hydraulic press to push in. Possibly they would go in within a vice but I didn’t want to damage the new paint. These in theory will outlast the life of the car. So the rear has all new bushes. The front I fitted new top spring mounts and bearings but still original front wishbones. That’s bugging me now
New replacement brake discs have finally been delivered so now I can finish the rear suspension/axle assembly
Brake pads I usually fit ford motorcraft but thought I would give these ebc ultimax 2 versions a go. Apparently less aggressive to the disc so should wear out before the disc. I’ve noticed over the years discs wear just as quick as pads so each pad change I’m needing discs also.
The coated discs I’ve been using on my fiesta to good effect with just the wear face having a bit of surface rust if parked up whilst it rains.
Brake pads I usually fit ford motorcraft but thought I would give these ebc ultimax 2 versions a go. Apparently less aggressive to the disc so should wear out before the disc. I’ve noticed over the years discs wear just as quick as pads so each pad change I’m needing discs also.
The coated discs I’ve been using on my fiesta to good effect with just the wear face having a bit of surface rust if parked up whilst it rains.
Above shows one of the front brake discs I’m replacing. You may notice how even the face is, with no worn grooves like you get with a normal plain disc. The grooves keep the disc face really flat By stopping debris build up on the pad so look quiet new even when needing replacement.
New coated disc. I would imagine for true performance cars you wouldn’t want this coating as the heat when racing would burn it off. As it’s just a road car with 115bhp the coating stops the non wear face from turning orange the first time it rains when fitted. I tried them out on my fiesta and that’s a good 3-4 years now.
I finished off bleeding the front calipers purely to make sure all the fluid was new.
First test drive is very carefully. The ebc black stuff pads I’ve used have a bedding in coating which I thought would help clear the coating quickly from the wear face of the brake discs. Gentle braking and the brakes are reasonable after about 5 miles, so now it’s bedding into the metal the next time I use the car.
Great stuff. The pictures of your navy blue one sure did take me back. I had a V plate 2.0 Ghia in the same colour and with the same interior. Wonderful car, subjectively the "best" car I've ever owned in many ways. The Mk1 Focus was just so "right".
Just checked and it looks like mine made it to over 200k miles in the end (I sold it at 95k), last MOT it passed in 2017 had some odd advisories which suggested it likely wasn't long for this world and then no more from then
Just checked and it looks like mine made it to over 200k miles in the end (I sold it at 95k), last MOT it passed in 2017 had some odd advisories which suggested it likely wasn't long for this world and then no more from then
Benmac said:
Great stuff. The pictures of your navy blue one sure did take me back. I had a V plate 2.0 Ghia in the same colour and with the same interior. Wonderful car, subjectively the "best" car I've ever owned in many ways. The Mk1 Focus was just so "right".
Just checked and it looks like mine made it to over 200k miles in the end (I sold it at 95k), last MOT it passed in 2017 had some odd advisories which suggested it likely wasn't long for this world and then no more from then
Thanks Just checked and it looks like mine made it to over 200k miles in the end (I sold it at 95k), last MOT it passed in 2017 had some odd advisories which suggested it likely wasn't long for this world and then no more from then
Yeah, mk1’s seem to be ageing well. Mine being an estate doesn’t really have much hope for any attention amongst true classic Fords or the sports high powered stuff.
Just thought I would share a few ideas and pictures whilst I still drive it every day.
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