I finally decided to make myself a thread I can call my own. I'm not expecting to do any major builds in the near future, but since I'm always doing little changes to my car, I figured I might as well put them all in one place and stop cluttering up the rest of the forum.
A bit about me and the car. I bought my 2002 Ford Focus Svt in June, 2010 and had no real hands on knowledge about working on or modding a car except some basics I learned from my dad and from reading auto magazines. Over the past few months I have done a lot of work on this car and have really learned how to do many things. In other words, it doesn't matter how much knowledge you have, you can do anything that I have done. Furthermore, I will be the first one to admit that I have not done many things in the best or most efficient way possible. I am just learning and having fun.
Thread Rules (Or lack thereof)
Feel free to post any kind of comments or questions. If anyone would like to know how to do anything, let me know and I can give you some of the resources I used. Becuase of the way I have this thread organized, it doesn't matter how cluttered the rest of the thread gets. Post anything you feel like from suggestions, questions, and random comments. I won't feel bad if anything gets a little of topic. [thumb]
Taking a break from the rear bodywork so I can work on the hood. The left is the original clear coat that is cracking really badly; middle right is after the clear coat was removed, and far right is a test polish to make sure I'm not screwing anything up.
Haven't decided but I'm thinking not. The hood has so much flex in it which which I'm blaming for cracking the old clear so bad; that and possibly the temp variances in winter. I'm afraid if I coat it again, it's just going to look the same in a year or two.
Part of the clear was already removed on one side all last year and the hood held up great in that area (never lost it's gloss, discolored, or cracked further) so I'm planning on keeping it "unfinished".
Rusty got some a little bit of love this weekend in between some other projects. Namely, did some much needed fiberglassing to the PS rocker panel that was getting really bad (DS has already been done). It's not done but this will keep it from getting any worse until I can follow it up with Bondo and paint or tape.
Also did this to one side of the fairing
And this to the other. It was a gloss black on this side but it was too hard to maintain with how I use the rack. Now it flat black bedliner. I think I'm liking the look a lot better than before.
Haha. I'm almost ready to change the name to Camo instead.
Well, I guess it's time to break the bad news. The details are still in the air but the plan right now is to begin parting out Rusty sometime in October through the winter.
The body is rusting so badly and the brake system has been a point of concern for a while now (not something you really want to fail). Also, this car would be a great winter car except that the rear is way out of alignment so the handling can be nerve racking even on dirt. This would be an easy fix except everything in the back is all froze up with rust. In the end, Rusty could be fixed and kept running but it's to the point that it's a safety hazard and not really worth the fight anymore. I'll miss it when it does go off the road but it's been a great 7 years and it's earned it keep.
A replacement is still in the air but it's looking vary much like an F-150 may be in my future. Once the Svt is back in regular service, I don't really need another car and a truck would make life much easier for everyone and everything.
Haha. Thanks guys. Sometimes I think I have too much fun with poor Rusty.
BTW. ST-170's are both running and on the SVT right now. I aimed them yesterday and now have to seal them up. More to come later.
Long story short, the two rear summer tires where bold and two of my winter tires aren't good enough to last another winter so I replaced the bold wheels with the two winter wheels to use them up before putting new snow tires on the rims.
Not the prettiest but it's a lot easier than swapping the tires on the wheels.
Only complaints so far is that the tint is a little dark (I used tinted Lamin X film to restore the lenses), but all I need to do to fix that is buy some clear film like the foglights. Also the light output is rather poor but that's just the combo of bulbs and the tint.
Working on fixing the Machs and getting them installed on Rusty.
No money has been exchanged yet and probably wont be able to pick them up till sometime this winter, but I've got dibs on this Christmas present for Rusty if everything works out. Mach edition grill is not shown but included.
Replaced the valve cover gasket on Rusty yesterday and took the liberty to paint the valve cover. Retro cool orange.
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