Ford Focus Mk2 [ST] Estate Sleeper - Build Thread

[CHR15 G]

Hello all,

So I'm a long term reader, but [nearly] first time contributor and I thought what better way to start than with my project build thread.

A bit about me first; I'm a 26 year old Mechanical Engineer who works for a small company that design and manufacture bespoke torque measurement systems for the Oil&Gas, aerospace and, my specialty, the F1 industry. In my spare time I'm also the Trackside Team Manager for a race team that run these F3 cars:



My current fleet:
Daily Driver: Clio 182. I have a 25 mile commute each way across back roads and this is just perfect! It's getting a bit high on miles (90k) so I want to replace it with the Focus sleeper, and then save it for fair weather Sunday drives and keep it forever!



Shed: Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec estate. This has actually been owned by my family since new, I remember the day my dad picked it up. 130k miles but it still drives so nicely. This will succumb to rust before the new Focus is finished and will fail its next MOT.



Classic: 205 GTi 1.9. I've had this for about 5 years now and is a bit of a rolling restoration project. It isn't perfect, but that just means I'm happy to drive it.



Next Project: Land Rover Series 3 109. I've owned this for about 10 years now, and to start with I used it daily. It's now suffered the usual rust and needs a new chassis and bulkhead so this will be my next project after the Focus. It's currently used occasionally around my parents land.



So that's my current fleet, which will hopefully show why I want to build the Focus and what I want it to be.

The basic plan is to transplant the complete running gear (engine, 'box, suspension, brakes), electronics and interior from a mk2 Focus ST (2.5 inline 5 turbo, 225bhp) into a poverty spec Focus estate. What I want to achieve is:
1. Usable daily driver
2. Enough power to annoy people in 'flashy', fast cars
3. Tatty enough to leave in supermarket car parks and not worry about it
4. Not feel the need to clean it and keep the paint in good condition
5. Big enough for a weekend of mountain biking
6. Tow car for small race car trailers
7. A few subtle hints, such as big brakes and visible intercooler
8. Doesn't need to be the finest handling as I have the Clio and 205

I think that's about it for now, but I'll try and keep this updated with my progress.

[CHR15 G]

I know the whole mileage/age/service thing on cars, but once you get north of 100k on a little fragile car like the Clio you are looking at clutch, gearbox, engine mounts etc. Because the bodywork is still nearly perfect I'm terrified of leaving it in car parks or parked on street overnight.

It terms of other Volvo engines, I already think that this project won't be easy and it's my first, so I don't want to make things even more difficult for myself. Although a 2.3 could be made to fit, I know a Focus 2.5 will drop straight in and the bigger bonus is that all the wiring and ancillaries will swap straight over. Think of it as re-shelling an ST into an estate body.

Costs will be kept down by using a bodywork written off ST (so I get all the wiring) and a blown engine estate.

I don't want to 'just' tune up an existing car either, I want to build something that no one else has.

[CHR15 G]

I'm also a Ford boy, always have been. I respect Volvos and realise that they are great cars (hands down the best alround car I have ever driven was a brand new XC70 rental last year, that includes super cars, luxury, SUVs), but they are just a bit to big, over engineered, heavy and lacking chassis finesse for what I want everyday.

My personal preference, but it's my build so I can do what I want to!

[CHR15 G]

rb5er said:

Bookmarked. That orange estate ST cgi looked great, hopefully this will look similar.

Thanks for the support, although I haven't seen the picture I suspect that it won't look anything like that. Imagine dark coloured bog spec estate, on slightly bigger steel wheels, sitting a bit lower and wider, hint of big brakes, intercooler through the grill and big but mainly hidden exhaust. And a nice interior.

Sorry to disappoint!

[CHR15 G]

KingNothing said:

You planning on running a standard engine?

What does 'standard' mean...? I'll leave the actual engine internals for the moment, but I'm thinking induction kit, intercooler, exhaust and remap to start with. I'll aim for 300bhp for starters, then push for 350bhp when it's up and running.

[CHR15 G]

bakerstreet said:

Whats wrong with the Series chassis and bulkhead? There is a wide variety of repair parts for both.

My series has had a new rear 3/4 and two outriggers, so they can be repaired. I have also seen ones with more repairs than that too. You can get new footwells for the bulkheads as well as top sections.

I wish you the best of luck with the ST project I'm surprised that Ford took so long to bring out a full fat ST Estate. Maybe they were put off by poor sales of the ST170 estate.

Mine have been patched up so much, and need so much work now that I just want to start with new galvanised parts, and ground up re-build it. But I won't be tackling that just yet, still planing to do on it.

The ST170 was a bit of a flop, nobody really wanted fast estates then (apart from RSs and AMGs), but they've definitely come back in vogue now.

[CHR15 G]

Thanks for the tips on the block mod. I've heard about it but don't know much about it. I'll probably do a precautionary belt change when I'm up and running anyway, so sounds like it will be good to do it then.

So I've already made a bit of progress on the project, but need to catch up with it on here. First up is the donor ST! I've found a written off car with fairly major body damage, but very little mechanical damage which is all concentrated on the LR suspension which I don't need anyway as it's different on the estate. Side airbags have deployed, which again I don't need, but none of the dash ones that I do need!

It's got a Puma Speed induction kit with a K&N cone filter, ProAlloy intercooler, full Milltek exhaust and an RS clutch. The previous owner (who crashed it) has assured me (with no proof) that its 350bhp, so I'll take that as high 200s which I'm still happy with. Anyway, pictures...









This last photo shows my barn space that I've got to work in. It's a really nice space, perfect for working on two cars side by side, but it is a little dark.

[CHR15 G]

Max M4X WW said:

Has this been done before? I didn't think the extra cylinder would fit in the older Focus but hoping to be proved wrong!

I think that a guy in Holland has done the engine swap, but he also did all the bodykit and wheels.

The red Focus in the foreground isn't the project car, that just my run around which will die due to rust soon.

[CHR15 G]

Barchettaman said:

Awesome project!
Have you found a suitable donor estate yet? Ebay.co.uk threw up a few possibilities!

Yep, got the estate already! I'm a bit behind writing up here and have made a bit of progress, but i'll try and catch up.

It turned up not very far from me for a bargain price and a smokey 1.6 diesel, the guy even delivered it to me. It's got 149998 miles on it, was tempted to take it around the block just to get it up to 150k. It's an LX with er...aircon and that's it, really is quite basic in there. I think the previous owner keep chickens in it because it is full of feathers, or maybe he just owned a pillow factory, but I'll swap the interior anyway.









The last picture below shows some of the barn and how much lovely space I've got to work in, never had this much dry, indoor, dehumidified (!!) space before so I'm really looking forward to it.

[CHR15 G]

Fastdruid said:

Excellent project, watching with interest.

Rather jealous of your workspace though, in building a kit car in a single garage and I'd kill to have that kind of space!

Thank you, and yes you can't beat a good space. I've worked on cars in single garages before and I've just not enjoyed it as much.

[CHR15 G]

Barchettaman said:

Any chance of the ST bonnet going on the estate? It might add a certain 'je ne sais quoi'

I know what you mean and I had thought the same. Unfortunately my graphic designer/petrolhead friend said it would be too much, so I'm currently thinking just wing mirrors, much like Dale's Seat from a few days ago.

[CHR15 G]

When I started this project I promised myself a new set of ratchets as the set I had was all mis-matched and bits missing. After a lot of looking around and speaking to people I settled on Teng. It turns out that a set of ratchets and sockets turns out to be not much less than one of their tool kits, and I needed a new toolbox anyway so a bit of man maths later and I ended up with this little lot.









Unfortunately I can't blame my tools now.

[CHR15 G]

R6VED said:

Nice little collection there. Considering that this is PH I am surprised no one has noticed that the numberplate on the old Landy looks a bit like Finger Blast :-)

Amazing! Never ever have I thought about it like that in the last 10 years!

[CHR15 G]

ChrisR99 said:

Sounds like an interesting project!

Sad to hear that the red MK1 will die soon, no hope of saving it? I really love those.

Unfortunately I can't weld and it needs a lot doing, so would be very expensive. The mk2 is almost exactly the same underneath if that's any consolation?

[CHR15 G]

KarlMac said:

A few pointers for you when tuning so you don't make the same mistakes I did when tuning mine.

Things that will break so you might as well replace / uprate while its out:

- Boost solenoid
- Recirc valve
- Turbo actuator

For tuning, consider the following:

Intercooler - easy, go for the Auto Specialist one (if it fits your application). The standard one can barely cope at standard boost.

Induction - I've tried them all, by far the best was an RS airbox mated to a Dreamscience or Elevate crossover pipe with a k&n cone. Requires RS ecu holder and some wires moving but nothing an hour on the drive can't sort. Guides online.

Injectors - try and pick up a second hand set from an RS, normally readily available secondhand.

Downpipe/Cat - Mongoose. Dead straight forward.

Clutch. As per intercooler the standard clutch dies at anything above standard boost. A new RS one from Ford is fine. Was cheaper from a Volvo dealership for some reason. Fitting this keeps decent road manners and will cope with decent torque.

The Block Mod. The cylinder liners are incredibly thin and fragile. High boost/high heat ovals the bores which leads to cracking. This is A Bad Thing. The Block Mod involves adding some small ally shims into cooling channels to supply support. Seems to work.

Mapping - lots of off the shelf maps available (my favourite is Collins Performance). Live mapping has proven to be best on these though.

Its a great engine, it does have a number of issues that need addressing though.

Good luck!

Thanks for all that great info. What happened to your engine btw?

Not 100% sure what has been done to my engine yet, so need to check it out. I know that it has got a ProAlly intercooler and PumaSpeed induction kit, I'll look out for some RS injectors though. It's got a Milltek exhaust currently, but I'll need to get a custom one fabricated due to having a spare wheel well. I've also got an RS clutch. When it's all up and running I'll get a live map down.

[CHR15 G]

Pictures of a bit of progress! First off stripping down the front end of the estate and engine out. Decided to start there to practise there so we know how to do all of the specific clips and fixing when it comes to the important bits on the ST. My friend Rich will be helping me who is a very accomplished 'home mechanic', with experience on Fords and Land Rovers so we should be able to do most things, or be able to resort to large hammers.













As we want to change the engine, gearbox and complete front suspension, we thought it would be easiest to do a complete power pack swap, ie unbolt top mounts, subframe, exhaust, electrical and plumbing (not rads/intercooler). This way everything can be taken out in one go.





Power pack out and sat on a pallet. Available for anyone that wants a slightly smokey 1.6 tdci!



And the nearly empty engine bay. We think most of this will need stripping out as it is either engine or diesel specific.



A good day's work! I promise I did do some of it, but the pictures of me working are on Rich's phone...

[CHR15 G]

Next up in stripping down the front end of the ST





Then a trial fit of the LX bumper onto the ST to see if it clears the bottom of the intercooler and intake filter-it does, just!



Then more stripping down. Pretty good at it now after practising on the estate.



Next step is engine out, after quickly moving house... What could possibly go wrong?

[CHR15 G]

Patch888 said:

This is coming along fast, great progress, keep the updates coming. I'm enjoying this.

It is a little articfially fast at the moment because I started the thread a bit late, but that just means you don't have to wait ages for the next update!

[CHR15 G]

Patch888 said:

This is coming along fast, great progress, keep the updates coming. I'm enjoying this.

It is a little articfially fast at the moment because I started the thread a bit late, but that just means you don't have to wait ages for the next update!

[CHR15 G]

So a quick house move from a furnished house with friends to an unfurnished house with my girlfriend. This meant that we had to assemble all the furniture we needed in just one day, but our parents (who both live a few hours away) had most things we needed to get started, apart from bedroom furniture. As a moving in present I decided to by a couple of 'shabby chic' restored chests of drawers and a dressing table for her. In my eBay hast I managed to buy the pair of chests from an hour and a half north of me, and the dressing table from east London, two hours away. Not a problem as I would get the chest on Thursday after work and the dressing table on Friday afternoon as I don't work then, go home and pack all my stuff ready for the move on Saturday.

Thursday after work I take the [red] Focus and collect only one of the chest because they are huge! Spend ages trying to get the second one in even though it clearly wasn't going to go, but fair play to the guy he helped for ages before we admitted defeat. Get home very late.

Friday lunchtime after work decided to go down to London first so as to miss the traffic. Get down there and load up no problem. Now the Focus has, apart from the rust, a dodgy fuel pump that very occasionally is hard to get going, and it decided then to be awkward. I tried all my usual tricks of replacing the fuse multiple times, then banging the fuel tank from the top and bottom, then hard wiring the pump, then hard wiring in reverse to try and free it, then giving up and calling the RAC. He then tried all of the above. He then called his mate and this happened.



By this time I was already supposed to be home and on my way to pick up the second chest, three hours north of where I was currently being loaded onto a flat bed. The whole time I'm telling my girlfriend that I'm getting on really well with the packing.

So a three hour journey through M25 and M1 traffic, but a really great chat with the driver who was a real petrolhead. The whole journey I was thinking that this would be the final demise of the family-owned-from-new Focus as the MOT was coming up and it wasn't worth repairing for the intermediate few weeks, it would of also been really useful for the next day's house moving.

The driver kindly take me to my barn where the other Focus (Foci?!) are and lowers the bed. I then needed to turn the key so as to deactivate the steering lock and low and behold I hear the fuel pump prime. I decided not to tell the driver it might have been a wasted trip, and wait for him to leave before firing it up. First crank of the engine and she fires up just like the day we bought her, ready for the next day's big move.