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My '12 SE Picture/Project Thread

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#1 ·
Rather than continually update what was my introductory post, I figured I'd better start off an 'official' thread for updates regarding my Focus, as a single place to post news, modifications, or just pictures in general.

This is the car; a 2012 SE sedan, with Sport and Winter packages. I brought it home on September 23, after being lucky enough to find it at the dealership I work at.



The whole point was to have a safe, reliable daily driver, but I wanted something fun that stood out. Yellow Blaze and a 5-speed took care of that. [giddy]







As my signature says, this car is really just a mini-project, so I'll try to control myself and keep it relatively simple, but I'm still going to make some adjustments here and there to make it my own.

[wrenchin]
 
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#329 ·
Cheers bawxcar!

I was on campus late tonight for a class, and coming home it was borderline rain/snow. If it does happen to pick up overnight, well, that's why my summer tires are all-seasons.

Regardless, it looks like the Rs will be off soon. [:(] May need to move up the date for the 3M as well.
 
#335 ·
No worries you guys, I don't mind. [:)]

@bawxcar: Calgary. Boy was it cold this morning, our cars were all frosted over and we'd have to wait for them to warm up and the windows to clear before we could do anything! Winter's here methinks.

Fortunately the snow has left, but tomorrow I'm taking the Focus in to work with me (my day off from school and work, so I can get this done) and a co-worker and I are going to put the additional 3M on.

I'm still debating getting the headlights covered (my precious Titanium lights, oh so happy with those) but the lip and door handle cups are definitely getting covered.

I also have an OEM MS3 rear motor mount on its way to me, which I was able to get with a gift card I won in an Instagram contest, of all things. We'll see when that arrives, I'm hoping soon.
 
#336 ·
More winter prep:

Today as planned, I brought the Focus with me to work so that a couple of coworkers and I could wrap some more of it in 3M to protect it over the coming months.

Bouncing ideas back and forth with my manager and coworkers, we ultimately did more than just the lip. I was also wanting to get the door handle cups and possibly headlights done, but the final list was much bigger:

Original 3M:
-Front bumper
-Partial hood
-Partial fenders
-Partial mirrors

New 3M:
-Downforce lip
-Door handle cups
-Headlights
-Front Ford emblem
-Front license plate recess
-A pillars
-Leading edge of roof
-Full mirrors, replacing original 3M

I showed up at 9 this morning, and left at 4:30. It was a long, productive day. Thanks to my coworkers Mike and Ryan, who were the trained installers doing most of the work. I was in more of a support role for the day.

Start of the day: I washed the lip again (the car was washed Wednesday so it was pretty clean overall) and drove it downstairs.




This was the old 3M on the mirror, only covering the front face and not the top.
You'll see in the finished picture that the whole painted cap is now covered.



Everything but the lip was done downstairs. Due to the low height, I brought the Focus upstairs to Mike's bay and put it on his hoist so he could raise it up. Amazingly, he did the whole lip in ONE PIECE of 3M, for an almost seamless install. The only relief cuts were at the very ends of the lip, by the wheels.




Here's the new mirror cap wrap, now the only uncovered portion is the inside (facing the door) but that's out of the line of fire.



The first rock chip I picked up from driving was on the roof, directly above my head. Now the leading edge is protected, as are the A-pillars.



The fragile emblem is covered.



All four door handle cups are safe from fingernails now. I was cleaning a Shelby last week when I noticed it had these, and I knew I had to get them too. For some reason it never occurred to me before.



That wraps up the 3M, but that's not all for today. I also picked up my Mazdaspeed 3 rear motor mount and bolt on my way home, as it arrived today. The install will have to wait until I can spend a lunch hour at work and borrow a bay.


 
#338 ·
The pillars are indeed on the list, post-polishing. Despite maintenance, and not touching them, they're swirled again. [V] Le sigh.

I'm hoping the RMM lives up to the hype, I'm looking forward to it.
 
#339 ·
With some free time today, I figured I'd finally get around to redoing my front door trim so as to test the teal vinyl I had picked up and hopefully decide which I like better for that trim; colour-matched or an accent?

I popped off the driver's side trim and peeled off the vinyl. And part of the original finish on the trim piece. Oops.



So, now they HAVE to be painted for sure. I'm still stuck as to which way to go though.



That's the teal I used, almost an exact match for Tiffany & Co. but too light for what I'm envisioning.

At this point I think I'm down to two ideas:

-Yellow Blaze (colour match, obviously)
-Performance Blue (accent, to match the interior lighting, shift knob, and burple lug nuts)

Hmm. Decisions.
 
#344 ·
Can you see the damaged through the vinyl??
I love that teal!!!!


Sent from jeremy's iPhone using FF Mobile
Fortunately not. I made sure to sand the area with a very fine grit of sandpaper to smooth it out just in case but it was minor.

Not sure if I'm on the teal bandwagon.

I think that maybe a metallic robin's egg blue might work better? [dunno]
In my mind I'm picturing Ford's Performance Blue, as seen on the 2013 Foci now, but the teal was the only vinyl I had that was at least somewhat blue. It's a decent match for the interior lighting but too light for what I want.

I did a very quick and crude edit of a shot of my interior, using Performance Blue on one trim piece and keeping the other the yellow that it was. Comparing the two, I think I'm leaning towards a colour match.

Tomorrow I'm back at work so I'll quickly talk to my manager, who deals with the body shop we use and see if there's a way to get the pieces in for a quick paintjob. I wish I could send more off to take advantage of 'having' to paint pieces, but I don't have anything else.
 
#346 ·
Might be a lot of colour. [hihi]

I just called our bodyshop, tomorrow I'm dropping off the door trim for paint. It's about time I got around to this, I guess the damage was the catalyst to speed this up.
 
#352 ·
that is how it usually works for me. hahaha
Very convenient excuse, isn't it? [:D]

Color is our friend, and... Have you looked at your car recently? LOL
Point.

I like the teal [thumb]
The teal looked good, but the yellow is going to look great!

Beautiful car BTW
It still has lots of teal at least, just maybe not the trim. Thanks Kevastator!

I'd do the yellow for the silver on the doors, and do 3M Dinoc on the center stack.

That much yellow on the center stack would be a bit overwhelming.



Thread HERE.
Exactly what I was concerned about. If the car was something like SGM, or a dark red (think Burgundy interior package) a colour-match on the center trim would be much less in your face. With the contrast between the interior and exterior colours though, I don't think it'd work for this one.

I do rather like how the ST uses a black center stack, so that's an option. Ideally, real carbon fiber would be my choice. [clap] We'll see what I can come up with.

In the meantime I'll wait for my trim to come back, and then I can reinstall that and see what I want to do next. First though, another update is coming...
 
#353 ·
MS3 mount and T1R antenna:



Yesterday after work the Focus went up in the air again to have the MS3 mount installed. The photos from the install are from my phone, so I apoligize for the quality.

The install is very simple, it's a total of 5 bolts (after you remove the tray under the engine) and fits perfectly.

The new MS3 mount and bolt, and a comparison of it next to the stock Focus piece.




Two bolts hold in the mount, and the last three hold in the 'bracket' that connects to it. All removed, it looks like this (Left and right of picture are rear and front, respectively):



Installation is just the reverse of removal, with the mount going in first and then the bracket following it. The mount is at the top of this picture, though it's mostly hidden from view (Top and bottom of picture are rear and front, respectively).



Really, as long as you can figure out how to remove the stock piece you can put the new one in. It's very simple.

While the Focus was in the air I also grabbed a quick shot to better show the mounting of the front lip. You can see the bolts, which use the OEM clip mounting locations.



With the MS3 mount in place the change is immediately noticeable. Shifting feels much more precise, and the 1-2 shift is the one that really improved. I highly recommend this upgrade.

The second part of today's post deals with a part I picked up on Wednesday; a T1R stubby antenna. A fellow member of a local forum had one for sale so I messaged him and picked it up. It is much shorter than the stock piece but there has been no change in reception yet to speak of.





There is a difference in finishes however, the antenna being glossy and the base being more satin. I may need to see what I can do about that. Regardless, it's time the rest of the exterior saw some more changes, since the nose has received almost all of them.
 
#360 ·
Out of curiosity, how well does that antenna pick up radio stations? I replaced mine (different brand) and I may as well not even bother trying the radio because it is nearly useless now. Not a huge deal because I listen to Sirius, but I try to incorporate some function instead of just form...

Sent from my stupid phone.
 
#374 ·
Thank you guys! I really appreciate it. [thumb]

Later today I'm picking up my trim from the body shop. I'm excited to see how it came out; this was a more complex paint job than my usual requests (plain white for my GP).
 
#375 ·
Painted door trim:

Fresh paint is oh-so-nice, isn't it? Yesterday I picked up my door trim from the body shop. I left them with just the parts and paint code, and they managed to get a really close match to the tri-coat paint. I guess that's good news for if/when I need body parts painted.



You may notice the dirt on the black side skirt, I got caught in a massive downpour when I picked these up last night. It's getting a bath tonight before a car meet. The car's dirty, I'm sorry!

[shhh]




Anyway, there they are. There isn't too much to say aside from that I'm happy to finally have these colour matched and not covered in vinyl.
 
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