Mk1 Ford Focus RS
Discussion
Hello Folks
Decided to start a thread to show my Mk1 Focus RS and the work I have done to it over the last couple of years.
The story starts when they first came out in 2001 / 2002, I was a big fast ford fan and had been looking forward to the unveil of the new RS for a long time, the first review I saw was on top gear and I was blown away by how it looked and even with all the bad press it received at the time for its way ward handling I knew that I had to have one.
Fast forward 10 years and I'd been to Uni, got a job and bought a flat, but still didn't have an RS. My current Focus TDDI was beginning to cost me money and while I was offshore my mother advertised it and before long it was gone and I was forced to use my 110 defender as a daily. A couple of weeks went past and I was looking through the classifieds and the last advert in the ford section was "RS Focus", I would normally have stopped looking once I got past the Focus's but it must have been fate for me to read on and find it.
I went to see it that day and a deal was done, this was probably my first mistake buying the first one I saw but I will come to that later haha.
2 weeks later and I headed North of Inverness to pick it up. The drive back home was awesome, I got to the Tore roundabout again still North of Inverness and it was the first time i felt the diff working, being pulled towards the apex was such an alien experience but exhilarating at the same time. I had to wait another ten miles before there was another decent corner to feel it again haha.
It was a fairly standard example, with the only mods being different brake disks and a couple of stickers, but it had quite low mileage and was on an 04 plate which made it quite rare. I didn't know this at the time but there are less than 30 in the UK on 04 plates.
From there I had 2 years of using it as my daily driver and enjoyed every minute of it!
Eventually the bodywork began to bubble on the rear aches and the bot lid so I took it to my bodyshop to get that fixed which was successful initially but unfortunately it wasn't to be a permanent cure, my friends eventually started to make fun of my car that would need an annual paint service!
2 years later at the same time as the rust re-appeared I also ended up working abroad for six months so the focus was left in the garage and forgotten about or almost forgotten about! I began preparing for refurbishing the car when the time came. This included buying new standard suspension and new genuine steel front wings which were ridiculously expensive!!
On my return I put the car in for an MOT and the true extent of the rot was revealed behind the side skirts
Decided to start a thread to show my Mk1 Focus RS and the work I have done to it over the last couple of years.
The story starts when they first came out in 2001 / 2002, I was a big fast ford fan and had been looking forward to the unveil of the new RS for a long time, the first review I saw was on top gear and I was blown away by how it looked and even with all the bad press it received at the time for its way ward handling I knew that I had to have one.
Fast forward 10 years and I'd been to Uni, got a job and bought a flat, but still didn't have an RS. My current Focus TDDI was beginning to cost me money and while I was offshore my mother advertised it and before long it was gone and I was forced to use my 110 defender as a daily. A couple of weeks went past and I was looking through the classifieds and the last advert in the ford section was "RS Focus", I would normally have stopped looking once I got past the Focus's but it must have been fate for me to read on and find it.
I went to see it that day and a deal was done, this was probably my first mistake buying the first one I saw but I will come to that later haha.
2 weeks later and I headed North of Inverness to pick it up. The drive back home was awesome, I got to the Tore roundabout again still North of Inverness and it was the first time i felt the diff working, being pulled towards the apex was such an alien experience but exhilarating at the same time. I had to wait another ten miles before there was another decent corner to feel it again haha.
It was a fairly standard example, with the only mods being different brake disks and a couple of stickers, but it had quite low mileage and was on an 04 plate which made it quite rare. I didn't know this at the time but there are less than 30 in the UK on 04 plates.
From there I had 2 years of using it as my daily driver and enjoyed every minute of it!
Eventually the bodywork began to bubble on the rear aches and the bot lid so I took it to my bodyshop to get that fixed which was successful initially but unfortunately it wasn't to be a permanent cure, my friends eventually started to make fun of my car that would need an annual paint service!
2 years later at the same time as the rust re-appeared I also ended up working abroad for six months so the focus was left in the garage and forgotten about or almost forgotten about! I began preparing for refurbishing the car when the time came. This included buying new standard suspension and new genuine steel front wings which were ridiculously expensive!!
On my return I put the car in for an MOT and the true extent of the rot was revealed behind the side skirts
Edited by MK1RS Bruce on Monday 18th March 22:14
Based on the above pictures and the fact that the car had sentimental value to me the only option was to strip the car down cut out the rot and weld in material then rebuild it back up with new components.
Had I known the cost and time it would take I might not have been so keen to do this but once you start you are committed and have to follow through with the work.
I managed to find a bodyshop who were willing to take on the work and fit it in around the insurance jobs that was their bread and butter. They had recently completed an original Audi quattro and their quality of work and skills looked good, they had to make new wings for the Quattro so I was fairly sure the new rear wings I needed wouldn't be an issue for them.
First job was to strip the car down to a shell and begin cutting out the Rot, the above pic shows the rear arches both inner and outer being cut away to add in new material.
Then the old sills were cut off and new ones trimmed to fit. A lot of the original RS parts don't exist anymore so it was very much a case of make new panels for it from scratch or from normal focus panels and modifying them to fit.
Finally the engine and subframes were removed and it was attached to a spit to begin the rebuild works.
Had I known the cost and time it would take I might not have been so keen to do this but once you start you are committed and have to follow through with the work.
I managed to find a bodyshop who were willing to take on the work and fit it in around the insurance jobs that was their bread and butter. They had recently completed an original Audi quattro and their quality of work and skills looked good, they had to make new wings for the Quattro so I was fairly sure the new rear wings I needed wouldn't be an issue for them.
First job was to strip the car down to a shell and begin cutting out the Rot, the above pic shows the rear arches both inner and outer being cut away to add in new material.
Then the old sills were cut off and new ones trimmed to fit. A lot of the original RS parts don't exist anymore so it was very much a case of make new panels for it from scratch or from normal focus panels and modifying them to fit.
Finally the engine and subframes were removed and it was attached to a spit to begin the rebuild works.
Edited by MK1RS Bruce on Monday 18th March 22:20
r5kdt said:
Looking forward to this , owned 4450 from new until divorce forced a very reluctant sale... I think it is on R5 BVM now if anyone knows its wherabouts. Cracking car if you didnt mind the Quaife!
The Handling characteristics of the diff is one of my favourite aspects of the car! Yes it feels like its trying to kill you but if you relax your grip a little you soon realise it never pulls you far from your chosen path and it always feels like its trying to seek out ever last bit of grip! A very forgiving car too, I remember coming up a slip road once, going too fast obviously! I stupidly lifted off slightly and the back end came round on me probably to about 45 degrees but I buried the throttle and she straightened up luckily.
Once the car was on the spit we decided the best way to sort out the underside was to blast it. The bodyshop constructed a ply wood blasting bay in one of the workshops and two of the guys spent a morning cleaning all the surface rust and old wax oil off the bottom of the car and the underside of the arches, One of them blasting and the other one shoveling grit into the blasting pot haha. The it was into the paint bay immediately afterwards to get it primed before the surface began to corrode.
Underside
front arch:
Engine bay:
Underside
front arch:
Engine bay:
Post Blasting any steel that was thin or rusted through was cut out and new steel welded back in place.
the most of the work was around the rear arches.
At this point it was pretty demoralising being around the car as it seemed to be continually cutting parts out to replace them and the end was far from sight, this was partly down to the body shop refusing to cut corners so hopefully once its all done I shouldn't have anything else to worry about ever again, the car is not going to be a daily after this and probably won't see rain unless I get caught out haha!
the most of the work was around the rear arches.
At this point it was pretty demoralising being around the car as it seemed to be continually cutting parts out to replace them and the end was far from sight, this was partly down to the body shop refusing to cut corners so hopefully once its all done I shouldn't have anything else to worry about ever again, the car is not going to be a daily after this and probably won't see rain unless I get caught out haha!
r5kdt said:
I was fortunate enough to get up to Gaydon as they had delayed production so long they offered the people that had kept deposits on an opportunity to get out with test drivers in a couple of preproduction left and right hand drive cars, they said exactly the same thing let the car do what it wants to do, do not correct it and it it will steer you where you want to go. lots were written off in the early days with people being too enthusiastic with their steering input.
God those ford "sparco" seats were uncomfortable though lol....
I think the original pilot sport tyres were pretty poor and didn't help things either, Mine was and will be running michelin pilot super sports, they seem to suit the car quite well. Just got to hope that it handles as well when I get it back together as it did when I took it apart haha!God those ford "sparco" seats were uncomfortable though lol....
Yeah they are not the best, long journeys and they kill my back!
I honestly don't mind the interior but it is difficult to defend it against criticism, however the thing is I never think oh god this interior colour scheme is terrible when I am driving because the experience is so rewarding in other ways.
Max_Torque said:
Jeez, these threads on people "restoring" their RS's make me feel old, as i was part of the team that developed the car!
AP3 (Attribute Prototype 3) on Stevlio pass, way back in, umm, 2002 i think. #nowanoldgit
Good to see people looking after their RS's though, and values are on the up :-)
Did you ever think when you were doing the development that there would be people like me who would see the car on release and aspire to own one and probably never ever sell it?AP3 (Attribute Prototype 3) on Stevlio pass, way back in, umm, 2002 i think. #nowanoldgit
Good to see people looking after their RS's though, and values are on the up :-)
Not sure which parts you were responsible for but thumbs up from me, you absolutely nailed it!! Love it!! The way it drives and handles is unbelievable, looking forward to getting it back on the road shortly!
Edited by MK1RS Bruce on Monday 18th March 22:23
Poynter87 said:
You have obviously put a lot of time and effort into making the car nice again. The mk1 focus rs is a very fun car to drive, I've had mine 8 years now and I still enjoy driving as much as I can though it needs a bit of bodywork doing. Keep up the good work.
Yeah I don't need to tell you how much fun they are and how special they feel. hopefully its as good to drive as I remember!With all the cutting done the guys began to work on replacing the sills. As I mentioned before there is no such thing as focus RS specific sills so the replacements had to be created from standard 3dr focus sills and modified to fit with the lager rear arches.
It was quite satisfying to finally see the car going in the right direction
It was quite satisfying to finally see the car going in the right direction
Alex said:
Great work. I must say I am surprised how bad the rot was on such a relatively "young" car!
Thanks! It seems to be an age related thing to an extent, as a lot of mk1 focus RSs are getting the same treatment at the moment. There are a couple heading towards and above 200k miles which are in no worse condition.
I also suspect mine is quite bad as it came from the North of Scotland and has spent its whole life up there. Perhaps examples from the south of England where the climate is slightly better might not be so bad.
ruggedscotty said:
Its a Ford..... lol..... they are known to rust.
I had a 2002 Focus, not even a cooking one, a zetc with the 1.6 litre Yamaha engine, a special edition silver with the leather heated seats and windscreen, what a car it was a total revelation. a gem of an engine and a chassis that was unlike anything on a mainstream car before.
really liked that car.
I guess the expectation was that with a new age car that ford might have finally managed to solve the rust issues but as you can see there is still a long way to go! I had a 2002 Focus, not even a cooking one, a zetc with the 1.6 litre Yamaha engine, a special edition silver with the leather heated seats and windscreen, what a car it was a total revelation. a gem of an engine and a chassis that was unlike anything on a mainstream car before.
really liked that car.
I agree with you the standard focus when it was released was a total revelation, my first one was a base model TDDI but even on that the handling was superb for what it was! The funny thing is that when the Focus first came out in 98 I wasn't convinced by it at all, I was so used to the shape of the Escort that it was a bit Alien to lines of the focus and the rounded shape.
The next step in the process was to begin painting the underside and engine bay. The underside was done with Raptor UPOL to try and get a coating that was as robust as possible. I decided to go for the underside done in Imperial blue instead of the standard grey with over spray. I know it will upset the purists but its my car and hopefully always will be. I always felt that the grey with over spray was a little rough and if I had had the choice from the factory then I would have had it done in blue too so here we are haha!
At the same time the engine bay was also done, this was the first time that I had seen the quality of the paint and painting process. I was blown away by the colour and how fresh it looked. At this point if I wasn't already convinced I had made the right decision to go ahead with the build I definitely was when I saw this:
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/VLHE8lK8.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/7QLCLjpV" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/7QLCLjpV.jpg)
Sorry for all the pics but the colour still blows me away when I see these pics
At the same time the engine bay was also done, this was the first time that I had seen the quality of the paint and painting process. I was blown away by the colour and how fresh it looked. At this point if I wasn't already convinced I had made the right decision to go ahead with the build I definitely was when I saw this:
Sorry for all the pics but the colour still blows me away when I see these pics
Alex_225 said:
Great car there OP. I'm not even hugely into Fords but recall back in 2003 when I bought my first quick car, seeing the RS Focus around. Always just seemed like a special car and in my eyes the best Focus RS looks wise.
Keep up the good work.
I think they are a very under rated car, the head line figures aren't very impressive by modern standards but they don't really tell the whole story. I drove a MK2 Focus RS and don't get me wrong it was definitely quicker in a straight line and the noise was excellent but it just didn't feel as special or as composed as my MK1. I agree with you that the Mk1 is by far the best looking of the Focus RS's, the design is almost timeless and subtle in comparison to the more recent versions.Keep up the good work.
lord trumpton said:
Great read so far and great to see a proper job bing done.
Am I being naive here...I'm gobsmacked a car as 'new' as this rusted so badly.
Is it commonplace on the mk1 focus then or has this car had previous damage? Looking at the pics then the sill cover adhesive looks non OEM
thanks Am I being naive here...I'm gobsmacked a car as 'new' as this rusted so badly.
Is it commonplace on the mk1 focus then or has this car had previous damage? Looking at the pics then the sill cover adhesive looks non OEM
Obviously you can never be 100% sure a of a used cars history but there was no obvious evidence that the car had been in an accident previously and the condition was the same on both sides. We have had it back to the bear metal and rust
in some places obviously and there is no sign of previous repairs. The cars were all hand finished so that is possibly why the bonding agent left on the sills looks non OEM? There are currently a lot of cars undergoing the same sort of work so I believe its possible an just an age thing, which has been compounded by being in the North and North East of Scotland all its life.The plan is to have it as a summer weekend and dry days car so hopefully I shouldn't have the same issues ever again.
Max_Torque said:
Now, i'm biased i admit, but the thing about the Mk1 RS was that every single person who worked on it was a serious petrol head! Yes, the basic ingredients weren't that special, but it was not just done well, but done well by people who really, really wanted to, and did, a terrific job. Taking what as a fairly cooking car (ST170 was as sporty as it got till that point, and that wasn't, well, very sporty), and modifying or changing anything that was felt to let the side down, which as the Project managers and final Profit /loss accounts bear witness too, was a lot of parts!
Members of the RS Team have gone on to some pretty serious jobs and done some great things!
Here's Neil Briggs, (now of course of BAC Mono fame) and I with a 1PP mule car, high in the Italian alps. Neil was the guy who did a lot of the chassis sign off and attribute setting for Ford, clearly setting him in good stead for future projects ;-)
Thats a spectacular photo, I seem to recall someone telling me that around 70% of the parts were specific to the focus RS and that each one cost Ford about 5K more than they were able to sell them for, you might know if the figures are near the mark or not.Members of the RS Team have gone on to some pretty serious jobs and done some great things!
Here's Neil Briggs, (now of course of BAC Mono fame) and I with a 1PP mule car, high in the Italian alps. Neil was the guy who did a lot of the chassis sign off and attribute setting for Ford, clearly setting him in good stead for future projects ;-)
Its nice to hear that people involved in the development have gone on to do well for themselves, I didn't know that Neil Briggs was involved with the car!
Its amazing how many subtle changes there are over the normal focus, The obvious ones are the branded parts like the dampers from Sachs, the brakes from Brembo and the wheels from OZ racing. The subtle ones are the front knuckles are different to give the wider track, the front wish bones have a stiffening plate in the middle of them and a slightly larger bush which means the front subframe is slightly different to a standard focus one too. On the rear the stub axles are unique, the hubs are different, the rear arms have a stiffening plate for the Anti-roll bar, the trailing arms have a stiffening plate where the stub axle bolts onto.
There are probably quite a few more that you know of that I haven't stumbled across yet.
Its all quite interesting finding these unique parts but it does make finding new ones very difficult haha.
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