My Focus RS mk1

[Sean.]

Best place for the scanguage is in the triangle storage slot.
(IMO)
There was someone making face plates for it on RSowners. Had one for mine

yes very true, its a great place for them, however it involved a st170 surround with some fabrication involved. i couldnt be arsed with that and liked the idea of not having to look eleswhere for information.

i did find one for sale but they guy wanted £70-80 for the surround which is silly money, so i thought id go with my orginal plan of where it is now!

 

[Gray]

I am keeping my eye out for a Scangauge II kit... You never see them come up for-sale second hand!

 

[Sean.]

always a few up for sale over on the RS owners club. Rarely in the FS section though, i put up a wanted thread. had several people mail me with some for sale. Turned one down for £80.

 

[Cookson]

Surely a little interior panel fab would be easy with some filler?

I remember I used to build boost gauge pods back in the day, and will have to fab up something for my ACT gauges in my new RS

 

[Sean.]

New small update.

The stereo in the car currently is some single din pioneer unit. The lights dont work on it, sometimes it doesnt even come on, when it does come on it cuts out some times! I think this is mainly due to a worn front panel connection which i plan on looking at when its out. It was only a matter of time before i bought something to replace it. Now in my opinion, any decent modern car comes with a touch screen media unit, with or without satnav, i wanted to follow that trend.

As this car is going to be my daily driver as of next week, (the punto sale will fund the stereo unit), i wanted something with satnav and all the extras that come with. So after lots of searching and settling on my budget i picked this unit:

Its a Pioneer AVIC F930BT, retails around £650. Did some reading yesterday, this unit will be going in the new 2012 Lotus Evora so its not all bad! The only down points i could find with it was that its slow to boot up, but after watching a video on you tube its not that bad.

I full expect a lot of 'why didnt you go for a cheapo ebay chinese job'. Well for two reasons really, there cheap for a reason and a lesson ive learned in the past is, 'you buy cheap, you buy twice'. So im doing properly. Im not adding any other sound system additions. Im probably going to change the standard ford speakers in the doors but thats as far as it'l go.

Check back in a week or so for further updates with the installation.

 

[Sean.]

Another update to add. Removed the old thing in prep, luckily i wont have to buy adaptor wires as the old unit was a pioneer so it will be a straight swap! Also managed to heat wrap my down pipe today: Also sorted the tail light issue out, the rear tail light wouldnt work, but the brake light would. tried all sorts but to no avail. Fitted a replacement bulb holder and job done! Next update will be stereo fitment with any luck.

 

[ben_p]

Good times, nice looking unit!

 

[Jason_E]

I didn't think double dins could fit in MK1 focus'. Think you have to trim it down at the top and bottom?

 

[Sean.]

Ford has 1.75 Din, however with the correct adaptor peices they can fit, also i think some chopping is required behind the uint. No biggy though.

Fitted in a focus RS:

You can see thin fillet pieces down the side of the stereo, those ive got ready, ebay jobbies.

 

[Jason_E]

Nice! Always makes me laugh how the FRS has a carbon centre console and then a poverty spec plastic dash!

 

[Sean.]

Small crappy update, but will add full write up over the weekend. just to get your going for now:

 

[ben_p]

Cool!

 

[Eddie.]

Looks great that tbh!

 

[plymcl172]

looks awesome ditch the flaps tho

agree ! Stunning car minus the flaps

 

[.Andy.]

Lovely car! That stereo unit looks cool!

 

[Sean.]

So as i teased you all with the update in the dark of the sat nav, ive finished fitting it all and now can just set it up, readio stations, sound settings etc, but thats for another day, here's the pictures:

Antenna for the sat nav:

16GB flash drive and doc for ipod in a discreet place:

Another phot form the other side:

So, first impressions of the unit, very very tidy, very intuative to use. Buttons are clear and simple. Dont need to read the guide to know how it works.

Two small downers though, one, it takes a good 10-20 seconds to boot up, two, the button noise beeping can either be off or on, i like it on but the beep is way too loud and as far as i can see can't be turned down!

Touch screen works well, bluetooth had no worries hooking up to my old nokia. Made a call with it easy peasy!

Dvd operation works fine, happy with the screen qaulity. Button illumination can be change to any colour you want, mine now matches the dash.

Havent actually used it for navigating anywhere yet but i'll try soon and report back.

Also added this week were a fresh set of areo wiper blades to replace the worn old items. Some of you may have seen the scratch that was cuased in my works car park this week:

Got a mate of mine popping over tomorrow to have a go at machining it out. fingers crossed its not too bad.

End of this month i'll order my replacement steering wheel from ebay (german guy).

Then after that who knows!

 

[Sean.]

Evening all.

Since having the car ive washed it every weekend, however this weekend i decided it needed some proper TLC so i thought, lets get this done properly.

I called upon a mate of mine who has just started getting into his detailing a bit more seriously. He has a lot of proper kit, machine polisher etc, various different products, even allowed me to have first use of his new £120 a pot wax!

Ive never used a machine polisher before (its not a rotary polisher he said, but another safer kind for relative beginers), does figure of 8 motions. However he showed me how it was done and it was pretty straight forwad, he let me do the roof and he did the rest, i followed him round with everything else!

First we washed it using two bucket method, then clay barred the whole car, did a clear coat paint scrub, then with the machine we used a cutting compound, no idea what kind, but it was a megs bottle ive not seen before. Then we polished it, again with some megs bottle ive not used before follwed by waxing by hand with his chemical guys carnuba wax.

Very long process, not as obsessive as some detailing sessions ive read but it was a good day, hell of a lot quicker with the right kit and better results!

Anyway, enough from me, onto the pics.

Some in progress shots:

Didnt get too many before shots as i forgot, but i did get several reflection shots:

Then took it out before the light went to get some nicer shots of the whole car:

Thats the lot. Well happy with the results. Didnt wanna take it out the garage but had to drive back home! dirty again now!!!!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Matt W]

Wow. That looks incredible.

 

[.Andy.]

So much love for this!

 

[Stefan.]

:evil: i miss mine!

 

[.Kev.]

Love is mate, some good pics.

 

[Marky_]

Love it.

The mk1 FRS has aged well

 

[Jon.G]

I've really taken a liking to these recently!

Yours looks stunning. How did you get on with the scratch on the bootlid?

 

[Sean.]

cheers all. Scratch didnt come out, mainly due to the type of machine used. It isnt as bad of course but still obvious.

My mate said that it'l come out with a rotary polisher.

His uses the megs microfibre pads.

 

[Poopensharten]

Were xenons an option on these?

 

[.Kev.]

Th ST170 has them, not sure if they fit though. If they do this would be top of my to do list.

 

[Gally]

Looks fantastic mate. I did my brother in laws a year ago. Fantastic colour to work with of course.

Did he use a spray tar remover?

Also the are of the bonnet he is working is way too large imo to be working the polish correctly. Sorry to be picky.

I'm guessing it was Celeste Dettaglio wax?

 

[Jamie_182]

looks very shiny after the detail!

my dad's FRS could do with a going over like this, his is more brown with dirt at the min!

 

[Sean.]

Looks fantastic mate. I did my brother in laws a year ago. Fantastic colour to work with of course.

Did he use a spray tar remover?

Also the are of the bonnet he is working is way too large imo to be working the polish correctly. Sorry to be picky.

I'm guessing it was Celeste Dettaglio wax?

yes thats the stuff

spray tar remover no.

i'll be sure to pass your comments onto him, as i say, he's only just starting taking it more serioulsy so lots to learn still.

 

[Gally]

Cool. You can do a lot of damage if you clay without using a tar remover. For future reference.

 

[Sean.]

latest little purchase:

Got it off ebay for £13 delivered.

Currently have a space saver which i want to store in the shed and put the boot back to standard. Im going to pick up some new tyre weld type stuff and a tyre pump/compressor, if you know of one let me know.

Should have another update this weekend, ordered my new steering wheel too

Sean

 

[wag1]

Mate of mine has one with 130k on it, still got plenty of legs! Seem to remember him saying its only running about 250 bhp though.

He smashed teh front of it into a high kerb, f**k sake a second hand bumper cost him a fortune

 

[Sean.]

Thats probably because there arent a huge amount of these cars left and they have stopped making spares for them a while ago, so fresh bumpers are hard to come by and when you do its expensive!

 

[Sean.]

Sneak peak of the new wheel:

 

[Sean.]

Afternoon all, probably the worst minor update ever but got my new mats today, hated the spraco ones that were in there. Just wanted something that was a perfect fit that will look decent and hold up to daily abuse.

Ebay was my friend, found these from a private seller for £15 delivered:

They are black as black can be. Still on the look out for smoe nice orginal grey ones but for the price i couldnt turn these down!

My old ones up for sale if anyone is interested, £8.50 + delivery.

 

[Stefan.]

new mats are a major improvement!! such a lovely car :approve:

 

[Sean.]

New update

Part of my interior upgrade programe was to change the steering wheel, it was worn and at the end of its decent looking life! (its up for sale btw way, see FS section).
I was always quite keen on retaining the airbag, as my car is a daily driver, but i loved the feel of an aftermarket wheel. I looked at all sorts of aftermarket ones but couldnt find something that i liked that much. Then i saw the german ebay ones, perfect, just expensive. However, its the part of the car that has the most contact so its a good area to spend cash, so I did!

£168 lighter and a wheel replaced, straight forward swap over, took 3mins total. Superb upgrade, workmanship is 2nd to none and it feels superb!

Pictures, old one:

New one, only pics from in the dark, but shows how nice it is anyway:

Thats it for now, expect a further minor interior update later in the week. After that im not sure what else im gonna do!

 

[Eddie.]

That wheel is just lovely!

 

[Jason_E]

My brother is gunna be so pissed off when I show him that. He payed out for a replacement. But that looks MUCH better!

 

[ben_p]

What teh f**k are them pants lad