The Story of a Car
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Once upon a time, there was a guy. He had a car. His wife had a car. Everything was good, until one day, when the wife went away, and took the practical car (which was hers to start with) with her. This left the guy with a nice, but relatively useless car. So one day, he decided that, after selling off a project he could no longer work on, he'd buy another one, but this time, he'd buy one he could use every day. So here we are.
This is the chronicle of my 2002 Ford Focus SVT. I bought it with just over 78k, and I've poured a bit of heart, soul, swears, and money into her. My goal is to bring back some of the car's original charm, with most of the work that I keep or do remaining subtle, so as to not look out of place. And so it begins.
The day I brought her home. She was looking kinda rough...
I thought I might start with the little things. Like taking all of the poorly cut vinyl tape wrap stuff off of the turn signals, marker lights, and badges. And mechanical stuff. I think it looks nice without it.
After her first bath. Had to put down some pretty heavy chemicals to get some of it off.
One of the things I immediately didn't like was that the upper and lower grille didn't match. So I fixed it. That was hard to get..
Steeda plate, brace, and intake were all in place when I got it. The plate fell off, but I cleaned it up, along with the fuse box cover, and put it back. Plenty left to do under here...but a little cleaning doesn't hurt.
I experimented with some rubbing compound on the turn signal lenses. Before and after:
Finally, I got to give her a good bath. this was the result.
New Motorcraft timing belt coming Monday, and plenty more to come after that.
This is the chronicle of my 2002 Ford Focus SVT. I bought it with just over 78k, and I've poured a bit of heart, soul, swears, and money into her. My goal is to bring back some of the car's original charm, with most of the work that I keep or do remaining subtle, so as to not look out of place. And so it begins.
The day I brought her home. She was looking kinda rough...
I thought I might start with the little things. Like taking all of the poorly cut vinyl tape wrap stuff off of the turn signals, marker lights, and badges. And mechanical stuff. I think it looks nice without it.
After her first bath. Had to put down some pretty heavy chemicals to get some of it off.
One of the things I immediately didn't like was that the upper and lower grille didn't match. So I fixed it. That was hard to get..
Steeda plate, brace, and intake were all in place when I got it. The plate fell off, but I cleaned it up, along with the fuse box cover, and put it back. Plenty left to do under here...but a little cleaning doesn't hurt.
I experimented with some rubbing compound on the turn signal lenses. Before and after:
Finally, I got to give her a good bath. this was the result.
New Motorcraft timing belt coming Monday, and plenty more to come after that.
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18,751 Posts
Looks great man! How you like driving it around?
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96 Posts
I absolutely love it. Its less abusive as a DD than my Saturn, easier on gas (if I keep my foot out of it) and significantly more practical. I've got a long way to go with it, but I'm loving it. If i had one bad thing to say, its that the seats lack proper support for mountain driving. I would love to do an EAP interior swap, but that whole money thing..
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11,098 Posts
nice svt, you may wanna try the rubbing compound on the headlights [thumb] [welcome]
welcome to FF
welcome to FF
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96 Posts
Good for building upper body strength, yeah? lol
I have wet sanded and buffed them once, so I'm wary of trying to spend too much more time on them. First things first, though. Still waiting on it to come back from our local ford dealership with a new timing belt. [
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96 Posts
Whelp, the local ford dealership has my Focus in captivity. Anyone who has had experience with the timing belt on these things, how much play is the intake cam gear supposed to have? Mine seems to be going about ninety degrees before it engages the camshaft. Frustrating when the techs can't figure it out. Still, while its apart, the valve cover is off for cleaning and paint. Cant wait to see it bright, shiny and silver again![]
On this subject, I've been talking back and forth with Tom (1turbofocus) on the subject of doing a VCT delete, and getting adjustable cams. I've seen people do them before, and it seems like a better long term option than replacing the VCT cam gear if it is shot, but I don't know the who's who as far as quality in that regard.
]On this subject, I've been talking back and forth with Tom (1turbofocus) on the subject of doing a VCT delete, and getting adjustable cams. I've seen people do them before, and it seems like a better long term option than replacing the VCT cam gear if it is shot, but I don't know the who's who as far as quality in that regard.
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11,098 Posts
Try general tech chat
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96 Posts
Got the valve cover back from the machine shop. Cleaned, and painted, and looking pretty good. No more two tone valve cover for me! []
Now to figure out the other part...
All in all, though, I'm really pleased at how this thing has come together.
]Now to figure out the other part...
All in all, though, I'm really pleased at how this thing has come together.
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1,821 Posts
Nice work so far bro! Doing the most important thing FIRST! ?
Doing the most important thing FIRST! ?
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96 Posts
UPDATE TIME!!!!
It was touch and go for a while, but Les at Edward's Ford got the timing belt situated. New NGK plugs went in, instead of the old, worn out Motorcrafts. Couple hundred miles later, and its running better than it did when I bought it. Amazing what basic maintenance can do for a car.
With that big ticket item out of the way, I've moved on to other things, like fixing the cruise control. Also found a couple of keyless entry remotes in the spare box at work, and one of my co-workers showed me how to program them. Turns out, it's pretty simple. New trunk release switch, too. +9 livability.
I'm gonna pretty up this rat's nest, I swear.
It was touch and go for a while, but Les at Edward's Ford got the timing belt situated. New NGK plugs went in, instead of the old, worn out Motorcrafts. Couple hundred miles later, and its running better than it did when I bought it. Amazing what basic maintenance can do for a car.
With that big ticket item out of the way, I've moved on to other things, like fixing the cruise control. Also found a couple of keyless entry remotes in the spare box at work, and one of my co-workers showed me how to program them. Turns out, it's pretty simple. New trunk release switch, too. +9 livability.
I'm gonna pretty up this rat's nest, I swear.
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33,477 Posts
Looks awesome, great job. Love the svt's
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175 Posts
Nice car
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96 Posts
More livability fixes!!! WOO!!! The cruise control works again, and though I rarely use it, it's nice to know it works. Thanks to 6SPD_soul for his write up on the diagnostic procedures.
Here is the link to that:http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311984
Five hundred miles on the new timing belt and plugs, running good with no lights, so good there. []
Also got around to addressing the lack of seat belts in the rear. The center still isn't perfect, but It'll do for now.
Now, I think it might be time to address the "clunk" coming from the passenger's side front when I accelerate and brake aggressively. Ruled out CV's, and had the alignment done not too long ago. When that was done, two tie rods were replaced. So what does that leave? Ball joints, control arms, and suspension components. Not sure where to start, so I'll put it up on jacks, and see what I can see. More to follow.
Here is the link to that:http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311984
Five hundred miles on the new timing belt and plugs, running good with no lights, so good there. [
]Also got around to addressing the lack of seat belts in the rear. The center still isn't perfect, but It'll do for now.
Now, I think it might be time to address the "clunk" coming from the passenger's side front when I accelerate and brake aggressively. Ruled out CV's, and had the alignment done not too long ago. When that was done, two tie rods were replaced. So what does that leave? Ball joints, control arms, and suspension components. Not sure where to start, so I'll put it up on jacks, and see what I can see. More to follow.
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96 Posts
So I took a day off from work for a change, outside of my Sundays off, and got the itch to find a junk yard to root around in. I ended up in Toccoa, GA, at Carters, a pick and pull yard. I didn't have any real expectations when I went in, and ended up leaving finding what I wanted and then some. I finally got my cargo cover ($10), and two new hooks for the strings. WOO!!! The only hatchback they had still had it. It had been knocked in the front, which is fine, since it was face lifted Focus. Moving on down the line, I snagged a neat looking radio/hvac control surround out of a 2002 ZTS sedan. Kinda has a brushed look to it, so I nabbed it for ten bucks, and the HVAC controls for $20. I put it in last night, and IMO it doesn't look bad. The icing on the cake though, was the Blaupunkt head unit I pulled from a wrecked 2004 ZTS. $20 for that. My next time wasting mod has been confirmed. [clap]
I also got my Lloyd mats, complete with SVT logo embroidery, so you could say that this was a productive update.
I also got my Lloyd mats, complete with SVT logo embroidery, so you could say that this was a productive update.
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