[Rachie]

cai (volant has been strongly suggested in past)
new brakes (which pads and rotors should i get?)
get lowered
projector headlights
LED tails
some kind of body kit (nothin crazy, as much as i love to stand out i dont want to be the only one out there because im a cop attractant)
short throw shifter (but nothin too short or i wont be able to reach)

engine upgrades will be listed later as i dont know what to do yet, but heres where the real suggestions can come in.

 

[killer ZETEC]

brakes. stock ford pieces with ebc pads, for low dust. perhaps rear disc upgrade?
lowering kit. eibach pro kit, all around good buy for the money. gives ita 1.5 inch drop.
projectores, i'd go with st170's off of bat inc. expensive but worth it.
led tails, good luck in finding some. they are hard to come by.
body kit. perhaps one of wings west's lip kits and a set of euro grilles.
sts. perhaps. but i have one and feel its kind of unnecessary when racing. sure it helps but mine sucks. so get a good one or don't bother.

 

[FiFoci]

steeda triax for the sts i love mine

 

[eliaslincoln]

led tails, good luck in finding some. they are hard to come by.

LED tails here!!

http://www.jdmautolights.com/

 

[eliaslincoln]

as for brakes i hear power slot is nice. you can upgrade the back but most off breaking is done by the fronts. i think i'm going to upgrade my fronts to the brembo rotors with the ebc pads from massivespeedsystem.com

 

[jbodin]

A short shifter can give you a lot of grins per mile -- I'd recommend bumping that up to the top of your list. I've got a 2003 ZX3 that is mechanically bone-stock, but it came with a short shifter thanks to the previous owner, and I absolutely LOVE it. Really enhances the driving/shifting experience. Never would have thought about it much if my Focus hadn't come equipped with one already, but comparing my shifter to the stock height I can see how much nicer the short shifter is. I consider myself lucky that it came with it, otherwise this probably would have been low on my list of potential mods.

EDITED TO ADD:

I said my Focus is bone-stock, but I did have a stock flex-back OEM exhaust from an SVTF installed list week -- the stock SVT exhaust is a very nice little upgrade, and it's not hard to locate SVT exhausts in the "for sale" section (I picked mine up used with low miles and the resonators and mufflers were still shiny). Sounds great, and power delivery feels smoother now with the 2-1/2" SVT exhaust (I'm still running the stock ZX3 exhaust manifold, cat, and flex pipe).

 

[Rachie]

killer, yes i do want to do a rear disc upgrade! i forgot to mention it but thank you for adding it to the list!

fifo, hear that alot, think im going to go with it!

thank you elias, good brakes are a must as i tend to use mine ALOT!

and j, yes sts' are great fun! my boyfriend has one in his csvt and I LOVE IT! makes the drive so much more fun!

 

[jbodin]

Hey, Rachie -- check out the "Parts & Accessories" section of the "Buy - Sell - Trade" area . . . mlbbaseball has a Focus Central short throw shifter posted there cheap (LINK). I've dealt with mlbbaseball previously -- he's a good guy, and this is a good price. Good place to start!

[idea] [wrenchin] []

Noticed you're shooting for a Volant intake -- unfortunately the links are gone, but Jackson Racing did some dyno comparisons of the Volant intake and the stock SVT intake with a plain paper filter (not even a K&N drop-in), and the stock SVT intake out-performed the Volant, plain and simple. It was close, but the test showed that the Volant didn't out-perform, which you would expect for the $$.

If nothing else, grab an SVT snorkel to go with the Volant intake -- I don't think the Volant used in the Jackson Racing comparison had an SVT snorkel, so that might have changed things up. Regardless, an SVT snorkel now with your stock airbox is a good mod in and of itself, and then you'll already have it when you move to the Volant.

[cool] [thumb]

 

[badass3]

check this

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=177024

 

[sunyfoci]

suspension - Eibach sportlines and some new shocks
led's - careful the autozone ones started melting my taillights
intake- i know you're set on the volant but i'm running the aem cai with a k&n and no complaints so far

 

[Dcl2049]

SVT body kit looks SOOOO SEXY on white.

Just sayin'.

 

[sp3nt]

do the stock brakes really need upgrading for a n/a car or r they fine?? suggestions/comments

 

[RideRed0331]

well in general they are better upgraded, that is the point of aftermarket though. Plus, the rotors are terribly tiny, you can really tell if you run a wide spaced aftermarket wheel. I run 5-spoke 17's and I laugh at how small my own rotors are, lol. It's hard to understand how they actually stop the car. Anyways, I'm running Summit Racing cross drilled and slotted rotors and I love them to death. I'm also running Hawk pads and my stopping power is really increased, and its super noticable too. So I'd say N/A or boost, look into some better stoppers

 

[sp3nt]

ok, well not to hi-jack the thread any good recommendations for N/A and having just front would be ok eh? (since most of the stopping is done there)

 

[Dcl2049]

The stock brake size really isn't that bad... The SVT just happens to be super overkill.

It's my opinion though that you should get away from OEM Ford brakes and you will be fine, because I can lock up the wheels easy with just cheap sport pads from Mintex. They might not be ideal performers with heat and such, but they do OK in autocross and can lock up Azenis pretty quick so... I feel like the tires are involved much more in stopping power than going and buying expensive brakes. If you can afford it then there's no harm in doing it though. The OEM Ford stuff is junk for the standard 1st gen brakes at least, just get away from those and get a decent pad and rotor combo.

 

[RideRed0331]

good point...tires are huge. I run basically R compounds when it comes to autocross and my brakes feel much more grippy/touchy. never really contibuted it to tire makeup rather than pressure/other setup variations. nonetheless, upgrade at least your pads, when it comes time switch to a slotted rotor and youll never regret it.

BTW... R compounds + stock suspension = about 6" of rear wheel lift, lol

 

[sp3nt]

true tires are huge but i got some decent pirelli's and just the norm brakes, if you upgrade the rotors and the pads will the lines and everything else still work well with the new upgrades ??

 

[RideRed0331]

yes, the lines will still function 100% as they would with factory brakes. The real reason for switching to a performance SS braided lines or something similar is to eliminate brake fade, but for daily driving you feel none to extremely small amounts of brake fade. I have the factory lines with my upgraded brakes and dont feel any fade even at the end of a full day of autocrossing.

 

[Dcl2049]

Yeah I didn't feel too huge of a difference between SS and regular lines.

 

[sp3nt]

alright sweet, thanks, ok rachie you can have this thread back