Ford Focus Mk2 [ST] Estate Sleeper - Build Thread

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neilbauer said:

Great to meet you and see your beast in the flesh, it must be so much fun looking at peoples faces as you destroy them

Thank you, although I don't usually get to see their faces as I'm hanging on for dear life!

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Max M4X WW said:

Very nice! More than enough

Fastdruid said:

Nothing more than intake kit, intercooler and exhaust (and obviously the remap to make it work and an RS flywheel/clutch to handle the power)? Awesome.

maxypriest said:

Thats a great result, 388ft/lbs will be cracking fun!

djgritt said:

:lol:

That power in that car.

Amazing.

pingu393 said:

Superb.

560Nm @ 2500 may cause some issues in the snow, but if the tyres can handle it the rest of the year will be fun .

alec.e said:

Saw a glimpse of this on Seen Though Glass video:
https://youtu.be/VK5ADL57j7Y?t=5m34s
5:34 mark

Who would have though over 300hp! Sleeper- mission accomplished!

Thanks all, I am also very happy with the power and torque outputs, more than I was hoping for. I'm also happy with the way that it's running, slightly rich just to keep the turbo temps down. Guys at the rolling road thought it was running nicely too, which is always a bonus!

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Buff Mchugelarge said:

It drew a well deserved crowd and it was great to meet you

Now.. Do something Saab based!

It was great to meet you too. I think I would struggle with something SAAB based as I don't have 20 odd years of SAAB knowledge stored up like I do with Fords!

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A bit of a photo update from last weekend...

Old shell on the way to the scrap yard.

[url|http://thumbsnap.com/FilPz82f[/url]

Where we found that one of the employees had one, so we had a good chat.



Then on to the rolling road. I had asked them if they had somewhere to keep a trailer whilst we did the run, so they were slightly surprised (understandably so) when we turned up with an empty trailer and did the run on the tow car!





Then onward to pick up a new workbench for my next project, the Land Rover chassis swap and restoration.



The car towed beautifully all day and 150miles. Mainly due to a wonderful nearly new Brain James, not much load and that torque!

The next day was down to Goodwood for the Sunday Service, where the car attracted some attention which was nice



On the way back the car developed a bit of a boost hesitation so I ordered a new boost solenoid. And then on Monday evening after work the car went into full on, 15mph, limp mode, and sounded rough. The computer suggested that it was the throttle body, but the internet didn't seem to feature many failures of these on STs but had a few more on Volvo T5 stuff. Anyway, on Friday I picked up a secondhand throttle body and several hours later it was all fixed (including the boost solenoid that cured the boost hesitation). Old and new below, old is pretty dirty inside and out but it was the actual motor mechanism inside the casing that had failed.





That's all for now, but I'm sure that will be some more soon.

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With these feet said:

You said at the Sunday Service there was an issue, you thought it was MAF sensor. I assume you sorted it befoer the dyno?

Yes, you are right, the boost hesitation had cropped up a little bit a couple of days before. It was hardly noticeable until the drive home from Goodwood, and behaved itself beautifully on the dyno, as the problem was only showing up on very light throttle.

After a bit more research I thought the best place to start was on the boost solenoid, then it would have been MAP sensor after that, then MAF sensor.

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helix402 said:

Great project, the steel wheels are the best bit!

Thank you. Just bought another set and have plans to make them wider (into the arches) for more grip.

Cylinder 8 said:

Love this thread, absolutely brilliant!

Definitely needs some videos though.

Thank you, I know - I need to make some videos!

miniman said:

Superb. I want one.

I'll build you one if you want...

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darkyoung1000 said:

Nice to meet you at the Sunday service today and see the beast in all her stealthy glory (!?)
Good luck with the bonnet!

Cheers,
Tom

It was great to meet you too, and to see your car, nothing beats a supercharger! Bonnet isn't fixed yet...

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thespannerman said:

Saw it today at the Ginetta Sunday Service, absolutely stunning... My dad couldn't believe it when I told him the power output!

Was meaning to come and say hi, but I was chatting to the gearbox engineer and watched you leave!

Dom

I'm glad you enjoyed it! The tours were exceptional, they went into so much detail.

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giblet said:

Completely and utterly missed it at the SS yesterday. Proper stealth!

I'll take that as a compliment! That's is the only downside to the car though, sometime when people don't notice the car I want to shout out of the window 'I'm a Petrol Head too!!'

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BexleyJim said:

Read a lot of build threads on PH, but as I have an orange ST, this is the one that's prompted me to create an account so I can post.

Superb work sir, and done so quickly. Will you be taking it to any shows this year?

Also, what map is the engine running? Couldn't see that mentioned anywhere, but 325bhp with those mods is a great result.

Cool, I'm glad you've been prompted to post! Since starting the build my admiration for the orange ST has grown a lot.

I will try to take it to some shows, and some specific Ford ones too, but I'm often doing motorsport work at the weekend so it will depend when I'm free.

It's a Dreamscience Mod X map.

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Man1c_M0nk3y said:

Cheers, very impressive then. Makes the Mountune 260 package seem tame then really considering the only difference is the exhaust and different filter iirc that is.

I think that people like Mountune need to play it very safe though, what with being 'official' Ford tuning.

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overshoot said:

Just read the whole rebuild from start to finish, absolutely fantastic. Just finding the donor vehicles with the 'correct' amount of damage and the unwritten research that much have proceeded the build before a spanner was picked up in anger is inspiring , much respect!

Thank you!

The damage to the donor car was spot on, but mostly down to luck. I bought it sight-unseen (only eBay pictures, and it was delivered), but if I was going to do it again I would definitely gone to see the cars as it's the bodywork condition is a very important factor of the finished car.

And yes, there was a huge amount of research before I started, I probably should have factored in a replacement computer during the build!

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dc2rr07 said:

Well done young man, will you be doing a new thread for the Land Rover restoration or have I missed it somewhere.

Thank you. Yes, I will be starting a new thread soon for the Land Rover. I've got a couple of small bits to finish up on the Focus, then a bit of workshop rearrange, then I'll crack on with it.

RoverP6B said:

I'm not really a Ford fan, but that really is properly stealthy, and thus I approve heartily...

Thanks, it's good to get some non-Ford fan love too!

morgs_ said:

Came across this from the PH front page and love it.

We love a project at work and this is brilliant, top work. Be good to see it at some shows this year!

Oh, when was it on the front page? Yeah, I'm hoping to get to a few of the shows this summer.

trunks82 said:

As a ford man myself,i enjoyed reading this immensely.well done!! I would love to drop a focus rs engine in my mk 1 1.8 but dont have the expertise,time or money!! Will you be taking it to ford fair?

That sounds like a great idea, and would be fairly straight forward with a mk1 RS I would have thought!

loudlashadjuster said:

This is brilliant. I agree that keeping the steelies is enough of a clue to people aware of such things. Doesn't happen often but I always get a little thrill seeing a car on steel wheels with much larger/wider rubber than it should have, tells me there is probably more to it than meets the eye.

There was a Mk2 Mondeo estate round our was that had a similar wheel/tyre setup to yours, always wanted to find out exactly why

I'm sure the owner would have been more than happy to tell you! My wheels might be about to go even wider, stay tuned!

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Shakermaker said:

Awesome!

Clivey said:

Just seen this...one word: Brilliant.

Funnily enough, I've always said the ideal bank job / secret agent's car would be something like a basic Focus with ST / RS mechanicals! Just try to avoid the temptation to make it look "better" - the standard old estate look is what makes this build!

bucks said:

Clivey said:

Just seen this...one word: Brilliant.

Funnily enough, I've always said the ideal bank job / secret agent's car would be something like a basic Focus with ST / RS mechanicals! Just try to avoid the temptation to make it look "better" - the standard old estate look is what makes this build!

That's actually 52 words but who's counting

But I agree entirety, brilliant

Gary29 said:

Well this thread got me all the way through the morning on a slow office Friday, have to say I just love this car, what a great project, nothing but commendation for the work and the idea.

With so many other sleepers there is usually a pretty obvious tell tale for people who know about cars, but this one you just wouldn't know any difference and you'd be thinking 'why can't I keep up with this stty old estate ffs' perfect.

QuantumTokoloshi said:

I had a good look around it at the Merc world SS, I had read this thread but still did a double take. It is a very convincing Q car, top work. It must be laugh out loud fun to drive.

jackmansfield1 said:

Epic work! Love an estate, love a sleeper - perfect combo!

sas782b said:

A bit late but awesome project, well done sir!!

NiallSlimDrew said:

Holy thread bump Batman!

I'm so glad you did though. Great read.

culpz said:

How in God's name have i only just come across this? (not physically btw )

An absolutely belting read and a fantastic project! To all those who clearly did not have a clue what the definition of a "sleeper" was on that other thread on here somewhere...

Nunga said:

I'm simply echoing the half a dozen comments above, but having just read 25 pages from start to finish has left me nothing but impressed. Job well done; to people like me who have simply debadged a performance car, hang your heads for this is a true sleeper.

Now to find the LR thread!

As ever, I am truly thankful for all the kind words from everyone who has taken the time to comment. But I have to admit that even if I hadn't had a single comment during the whole build then I would still love the car as much as I do now. Every time I drive the car, which is at least twice a day, everyday (and I'm now 30k miles and 18 months in), it either brings a smile to my face, a genuine laugh out loud, or a pinch myself moment! This car was built solely for me, I tailored it to exactly what I wanted from a car, and it continues to amaze me that other people seem to like it too.

It's an odd coincidence that the thread seems to have been bumped back up this week, as for the first time in over a year I have decided to add to it and throughout the week I have been assembling some new photos and stories to upload, even before the latest comments.

I'll start with catching up with a few things that have been added/changed/modified over the last year and lead up to the heart-wrenching headline story, but don't worry: there's a happy ending!

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Welshman Adam said:

If you ever need a standard TDCI estate in Sea Grey to run alongside it for some comedy videos let me know - I have a 2006 1.8 TDCI and I'm in the Brands Hatch area. Will probably be at the The International Ford Show - Sandown Park at the end of April.

I'm thinking a drag race, with mine leaving a black cloud behind it while yours disappears into the distance...

We need to do this. Please tell me you still have the car, despite my slow reply?

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Robmarriott said:

If my suspicion is correct, you were somewhere on the outskirts of Kettering tonight?

Indeed I was in Kettering then, but surely you could have just spotted any grey, shabby Focus estate? Was this when I was trying to drive around the residential part as quietly as possible, or when I was on the dual carriageway and I was not trying to be quiet...?

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Robmarriott said:

CHR15 G said:

Indeed I was in Kettering then, but surely you could have just spotted any grey, shabby Focus estate? Was this when I was trying to drive around the residential part as quietly as possible, or when I was on the dual carriageway and I was not trying to be quiet...?

I live in the area you were in and happened to be going somewhere, The exhaust gives it away, if you know what you're looking for, working in the car parts business I'm more than aware a diesel focus doesn't have an exhaust quite like that, as subtle as it is!

I have to say though, other than that it's hard to spot and I did question it until you gave it a little bootful!

If I'd not seen it on here I'd never have known so that most be a good thing, right?

I'll take all of that as a compliment, as I did spend a lot of time trying to hide all of the fast bits!

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pingu393 said:

dandam said:

CHR15 G said:

It's an odd coincidence that the thread seems to have been bumped back up this week, as for the first time in over a year I have decided to add to it and throughout the week I have been assembling some new photos and stories to upload, even before the latest comments.

I'll start with catching up with a few things that have been added/changed/modified over the last year and lead up to the heart-wrenching headline story, but don't worry: there's a happy ending!

Looking forward to this.....

I hope you're quicker going to print than the guy with the safe on the other thread

Nope, turns out I'm not that quick... But it is less than a year since I said that, hopefully better late than never.

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DanielGlasscoe said:

Hello, Im a first time poster but have read your build thread twice now as its that awesome. My daily is a mk 2 focus estate in sea grey and realy would like to have a go at this now haha Did you come to a happy arrangement with your suspention set up? I bought some -40mm springs for mine a while back and soon found out about the difference in the rear subframes between the estate and hatch. Once fitted the front dropped nicely but the rear was still way up there! A quick chop chop with the grinder and minus two coils and she sat level. This was the end result.

You're correct - estate and hatch have different rear subframes. Originally I was going to transplant over the ST rear subframe until I realised how different they are. On the hatch the dampers sit into the wheel arches, whereas on the estate they come in at 45 degrees and attach in the centre of the car.

I bought a Eibach -40mm spring set (estate specific rears) for mine and just used the rears, and then sold the fronts. So mine has ST hatch front springs and genuine Ford dampers up front, and Eibach -40mm estate rear springs with a set of pretty standard Bilstein dampers. I'm very happy with the complete set up!

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CHR15 G said:

DanielGlasscoe said:

Hello, Im a first time poster but have read your build thread twice now as its that awesome. My daily is a mk 2 focus estate in sea grey and realy would like to have a go at this now haha Did you come to a happy arrangement with your suspention set up? I bought some -40mm springs for mine a while back and soon found out about the difference in the rear subframes between the estate and hatch. Once fitted the front dropped nicely but the rear was still way up there! A quick chop chop with the grinder and minus two coils and she sat level. This was the end result.

You're correct - estate and hatch have different rear subframes. Originally I was going to transplant over the ST rear subframe until I realised how different they are. On the hatch the dampers sit into the wheel arches, whereas on the estate they come in at 45 degrees and attach in the centre of the car.

I bought a Eibach -40mm spring set (estate specific rears) for mine and just used the rears, and then sold the fronts. So mine has ST hatch front springs and genuine Ford dampers up front, and Eibach -40mm estate rear springs with a set of pretty standard Bilstein dampers. I'm very happy with the complete set up!

Ignore the details of what I said I'd done above, I've just read back a bit and it turns out that actually this is what I did for suspension....

CHR15 G said:

As said before, springs are -30mm by Eibach on the rear and dampers are standard fitment Sachs items.

New parts...