[tyellen]

I figured I would start one of these, I did with my dsm up until the last dyno run it made (472hp/429tq)and then... it caught fire on the way home. Ive been out of cars since that one but decided with my student loans almost paid off I should get another project.

Anyways, bought the car from a forum member, Thanks Nightclaw!

To start I was told the car had low compression in #1. After picking it up from ohio I started to tear it apart. Warped head .07 at the worst spot so nothing to stop if from running. #1 & #4 had leaky valves. Im fortunate enough to have a close friends dad own an engine shop. And he does all the heads there. At this point ive got a full valve job, resurface and decked head, and 1 new intake valve(damn those things are expensive). Waiting on the valve to come in to finish the head but after that its time to start reassembling.

Im hoping to track progress and have a way to follow and ask quetions, hoping this could help me or others.

 

[tyellen]

Just bought the 03 ford service manuals on dvd. Hope they work! Ebay ftw.

And rode in a guys svtf tonight. 1st one ive ever ridden in and holy crap what a difference between that and my ZX5!

 

[tyellen]

This little gem was sitting in my porch when I got home from work today! I might get to turn the car over Saturday!

 

[sleepyboy]

Nice, and good luck hope it goes back together well for you.

 

[qweesy]

cool

 

[zetecDon]

Moved to "Ford Focus Builds & General Showroom".

 

[tyellen]

I had a feeling that was going to happen. My head bolts are due in today so i should be able to get started.

Does anyone know what a felpro head gasket measures without it being compressed. I squezed it as much as i could with a caliper and got .056?

 

[ScreaminE]

Nice to see this one put back on the road. I bought a black EAP car from his room mate back in January. Unfortunately it was too far gone and I parted it out.

I was tempted to get this one, but for once I couldn't bring myself to part this one out.

 

[tyellen]

The thought was there to part it but ive have very little money into fixing it as it sits now but time will tell. I hope that I didnt buy a bundle of problems that seem to have plagued this car so far.


UPDATE:

I actually had time to get the head back on the car on Monday night. Saturday or Sunday I am planning on getting the cams in and getting everything timed. I wish that I had more time to work on it. Wish me luck!

 

[tyellen]

I actually got out of work early today...5pm. Put a new water pump on. What a PITA it was to get the old one off! I hope I put enough RTV on it to cause the next owner as much grief as the stock one caused me! I was about to take the header off to get it ceramic coated but realized that wouldnt follow the budget build of the car so left it the blue wrapped header. (maybe down the road if I keep the car for a length of time) So exhaust, power steering pump, alternator are all reinstalled after figuring out what bolts went where.

I ordered a under drive pulley and am looking into a throttle body. I am going to either gut the cat or buy an orp/have one made, leaning towards that later.

The biggest help thus far besides the forum... The actual ford manual procedure manual I bought on ebay. Bought the dvd variety but after you figure out how its laid out for the most part is almost better than the paper copy.

 

[tyellen]

The cams are in and the engine is timed!!!! I had to call in some help on this one, as the process is new but actually simple.

Tonight Im going to start putting the rest of the engine back together. Looking to start it this weekend!!!

 

[tyellen]

This will receive an update very soon. In short I have put about 3000 miles on the car since i got it running and what not.

 

[tyellen]

Here is the update I was talking about 5 months later.

Since reassembling the car I have put just under 10k miles.

Here is the the car after the weather cleared out at the beach! Pure MI!



Ive put 2 clutches in the car since Ive had it running, I put one in in the process of getting it running again, I thought it was a screwed up pressure plate ended up being a master cylinder. The second time was from blowing a clutch up, I burst a disc, the seal behind the release bearing was leaking fluid into the bellhousing, I dont know if that was the cause for the disc bursting.



Thankfully 2 of my good friends have lifts, which makes these kind of jobs a breeze.



Window tints!! 20% all around.




Once I got the car pretty much mechanically perfect I started on the exterior. I like the design of the wheels just not the 2 tone "discount tire" look. Plastidip was my friend.

They started out gray:



I didnt absolutely love it, anthracite metalizer fixed them.



This is kinda how the car sits right now:



With just gray wheels.


Its kind of hard to update this so far after the fact.

Mods list:
Focus sport intake box thing with no name filter
Screamin Deamon Coil and livewires(free from a friend.
Motorcraft SP463's
2.5" HFC, flex pipe, and out the back with 6" magnaflow resonator in the tunnel.
AEM Wideband
MACH's
Factory sub enclosure with pioneer amp and polk sub.
180 degree thermostat
plus countless new parts!

PLUS Many smiles given.

 

[sailor]

Late update is a good one, you've been busy over the Summer!

Lookin' good now.

 

[04ZTSJelf]

Great stuff! I've seen the anthracite on a few cars, love it!

 

[tyellen]

It was the first time ive used plastidip and didnt really want to get the bad rep for it but it does look very good, I will probably redo them this winter to see if I can get a better finish.

I just came back from the mail box.... Turbo parts are starting to show up.