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02fordsvt Build/Mod/Random Thread

261K views 2K replies 86 participants last post by  02fordsvt 
#1 · (Edited)
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]

Table of Contents

First post:

Current Status Section
  1. Current Performance Modifications
  2. Current Interior Modifications
  3. Current Exterior Modifications
  4. Current Exterior Pictures
  5. Current Interior Pictures
Second post:

Modification Time Line

Reference Material
 
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#1,664 ·
Only in the south could your season start in January. lol

This happened a while ago but the Mach headlights are back on the SVT for the winter.



I also took the time to repair the front Euro grill. It had a crack in it when I bought it so I JB welded it and repainted. The grill still has some breaks in the mesh but it looks much better and it hard to see the damage unless you look for it. Especially in a fuzzy photo. [:D]



I also sprayed the hatch area with bed liner to clean it up a little bit better. I'll hopefully get the Subwoofer re carpeted this week and begin on making a new floor.

And a small side project I've been working on. I took an old steel tool box my Grandpa had and restored it a bit and painted it red. It will stay right in the SVT to carry some basic tools while the my large tool box will stay in Rusty. I've got a plan for it's location but I have to do some more work in the trunk first.


 
#1,666 ·
Progress pic of the trunk floor. Still more work to go but it's heading in the right direction. I'm using pine wood board sprayed with gloss black polyurethane with the idea that I'll get it pretty close to a piano black finish. I might not get in to a completely perfect gloss finish but it's already getting a great sheen.

 
#1,667 ·
Trunk floor is "finished". Still got a couple other small things I want to do yet but here it is:





Next major project has begun. Moved the rear plate; three guesses why.


 
#1,672 ·
#1,673 ·
Yep, or at least I'm going to give it a try. Long term I'm hoping to make a fiberglass or if I get really brave, carbon fiber shaved hatch but first I need the mold. That's why I'm doing this rusty old hatch.

I'm going to use bondo and fiberglass to fill it in rather than metal so it will probably will weigh a ton and might not be quite as flawless. However, the hatch has a few rust spots developing so it's not worth too much of a fuss to do metal work. I wouldn't want to sell for much when I'm done with it and I just want a good pattern.
 
#1,677 ·
Progress on the hatch. Slow work but moving along nicely.

Started with the fiberglass backing.



Bondo



Sanded, sanded, and more sanding.



Should be able to prime it tomorrow.
 
#1,678 ·
Freaking awesome! I wish I had the patience for something like that.
 
#1,679 ·
did you do anything to promote the adhesion of the fiberglass to the metal? I would worry about it all coming out later. it would be very hard to mold the whole thing....you could likely mold the exterior of it, then laminate that to a fresh inner structure panel after you make a fiberglass or CF one out of the mold.....but it sounds like you want all composite parts for rust prevention....in which case your best bet is find a used CF hatch like what's sold on ebay and remove the outside skin from it and make your one-piece shaved skin to bond to it.
 
#1,680 ·
It would be great to use the framing from a CF hood but I don't think I could find the heart to rip one apart. I don't mind having the metal frame behind a fiberglass or CF body panel so that will most likely be the route I'll take. l won't really know how to hold the two pieces together, however, until I get a hatch split apart to see what can be hooked together. Basically, I'm just making it up as I go and having fun doing it.
 
#1,682 ·
Actually, more or less, yes. At least to a primer stage.

My computer crashed a couple weeks ago and I haven't hooked my camera back up yet so that's why I don't have pictures on here.
 
#1,684 ·
Hoping to prime it today so I'll try to get pictures by tonight. As long as I can get the building I'm working in warm enough. It's supposed to stay in the negative degrees F all day. [thumbd]
 
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