Comet's PB Focus ST (Australia)

[green_comet]

Hey guys,

I've had my car for a couple months now so it's time I make a timeline build thread.

Originally I had a deposit down on a Toyota 86 GTS, after waiting over 4 months for it to be made in Japan I lost interest and started to look around at what else was on offer. I had a look at the Megane RS, the Opel Astra OPC and the Focus ST which all were in a similar price bracket as the Toyota 86. After driving all of the cars I was interested in I finally settled on the Focus, so we ordered the car and picked it up on the 16-11-2012 from the Ford dealership


At the dealership.







Speed holes.





Shortly after we were ready to go, we said goodbye to our old Astra SRi-T (trade in) and were on our way. The drive home was fun, we were stuck in traffic for a while, so this gave us plenty of time to play with all the gadgets and see how everything worked.

Once home the dealership number plate surrounds and stickers were binned and the car received a quick foam wash to remove the dust on the paint, I'll be getting stuck into it on Sunday with a full detail and opti-coating.





One of the things that was bugging me since collection were the ugly amber indicator bulbs, so when we got home they were the first thing to go.The front and rear bulbs were replace with Philips PY21W SilverVision bulbs, these will flash amber but not look fugly inside the lights.





Two bolts and the the front lights were out.





Out with the old amber bulbs and in with the new chrome bulbs.





Before





After





Fitted





Next the rear bulbs were swapped out.









Lastly the T10 amber bulbs in the mirrors were replaced with chrome ones.









Interior pics.







After wash and new bulbs. (Couldn't quite get the drl's to show in the photo)

[green_comet]

The day after picking the car up we went for a decent break in drive through the hills to King Lake and then onto Healsville. We put about 350km on the car and it didn't once skip a beat, it's seriously good fun.









On the Sunday I gave the car a full exterior detail in preparation for Opticoat, being new the paint was already in very good condition so I only had to do a quick pass with some Menzerna Ultra Finish and a finishing pad.






Once finished the entire car was wiped down twice with Carpro Eraser, this removes all of the polishing oils, finger marks and other contaminants from the paint and also preps it for Opticoat.

All finished and ready for Opticoat.






Opticoat ready to go.






The Opticoat process took about an hour and a half, the entire car was coated, including paint inside the door and boot. The wheels would be done in the morning.






The next day each wheel was taken off the car and Opticoated inside and out, this will make them much easier to clean and stop brake dust from destroying the alloy.








The car was left in the garage for the next 24 hours so the Opticoat could cure correctly.


A few days later took the Focus into the city where it was accompanied by a few other hot hatch friends.





The next morning the car was booked in with Rob Tait at Cartint in Ringwood to get the windows tinted. I didn't want some slap dash place to do the tint, so I searched online and Robs name kept popping up as being the best tinter in Melbourne.

He's been tinting cars for over 37 years and I found out (once I got home) that he actually tinted my dads Honda Accord back in 1978. I got home and my dad said "Nice tint job! I remember back in 78 I was one of the first people in Melbourne to have tint on their car, a man called Rob Tait did it for me." Seriously blew my mind when he told me.

I brought the car down at 11:00am and Rob got stuck into it straight away, I had nowhere else to go so I stayed there and helped him out. He seriously knows his stuff and is an extremely nice guy, he showed and explained the entire tinting process to me and was happy to answer any questions I had.


His workshop





Cutting film





Getting the rear window ready






Four and a half hours later it was all finished, in 35% (darkest legal) Madico Charcool film. Not the cheapest place but considering his knowledge and attention to detail it was well worth it.







At home after tint and a wash.









A few days later the set of euro plates I ordered arrived in the mail, so I got the paper work sorted and fitted them up. They finish the car off much better than the standard Victorian plates. (sorry but I have photo shopped out the last digits)

[green_comet]

A couple days after ordering the ST I ordered a paint protection film kit from Prints N Plots in Canada, it arrived a couple weeks later and it was time to fit it up.


This is what the kit looks like, I got parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 cut from Avery Dennison Nano Fusion film, it's pretty much invisible on the paint and will provide some protection from small stone chips.






First the car needed a wash after the ridiculous rain we had the day before.






Everything's ready to go.





I started with the small and flatter front guard parts as they are easier, less curves means less working the film and less chance of things going wrong. Once on you work out all the air bubbles you then move on to removing the large fingers (lifted parts) in the film, this is a serious pain in the ass job to do as the film wants to bend/lift and you have to force it not to using heat and Isopropyl alcohol.






After about 15min it's looking good.





Once both sides were done I thought I would tackle the bonnet.






After about 45 minutes it was on and looking good.






It's very hard to tell that the film is on the paint once fitted, this small lip of the film is the only thing that gives it away.






Mirrors





There were two pieces to the mirrors but I didnt take any photos of me applying the second piece.






The last piece for me to tackle was the front bumper, the green parts I had already done the other day (no pics) so it was just the huge last piece (red) left.






First up was removing the tow point and hid washer covers.






Wet the whole bumper down and lay the film over the top. I had been working on the passenger side for a while and it was almost finished when I took the picture.






Passenger side 99% finished, just needs some cleaning up.






Drivers side done.






The film covering the holes for the washer and tow point covers was removed with a razor.






I had a few off cuts left over so I decided to wrap the washer {not pictured) and tow covers.









There was more left over so I also decided to film the fog lights, I found a jar lid the fit exactly into the fog spot to use as a cutting guide.








All done.





After cleaning everything up with a bit more working and a razor blade it was looking spot on. You can see the different shade on the bonnet of where the film starts, the Nexus HDR photos pick it up.









Total time to do the front bits was about 2.5-3 hours.

[green_comet]

Well it was bound to happen, a few days later some jerk opened their door into the side of my ST. Washing the car one morning I noticed the dint just above the rear wheel.

Was totally gutted when I saw it.





I was quoted $50 to take it out from a paintless dint removal guy, who's workshop was just around the corner from my house.


Here are some photos.


Before




Tony asked me to remove the inner panels inside the boot to hopefully get access to back of the damage, but no luck.




Instead a small hole was drilled behind the rear light so that he could get access with his tools.




Since the dint was almost on the point where two sheets of steel join it was making it very hard to get tools in. After about 45 minutes of screwing around this was the best we could get it, not perfect much much less noticeable.




Since it wasn't spot on I wasn't charged which was nice of the guy, I can live with the little ripple that was left.

[green_comet]

One of the big things that bothered me about the Focus was the ****ty stock rear engine mount, so after reading up on here I ordered an E-Focus mount. It arrived from the states a few days after Christmas.


E-Focus mount






It was a pretty simple install, took about 30 minutes while getting acquainted with the underside of the car.






This is the part that needs to come out.






Support brackets removed, just a few more bolts and the mount is out.






Original mount (right) vs E-Focus mount (left), notice the difference in the thickness of the metal and the design.






New mount in and ready to rock.






After install I took the car for a spin and immediately I noticed the difference. The power delivery to the ground and the gear changes feels alot more direct, there is no wheel hop, no banging, no vibrations, no nothing.... I'm extreme happy. This is the mount that should have been installed from factory, the car feels much nicer to drive.



Another thing I installed was an Itronics ITB-100HD dash cam, this things works brilliantly and only took me about 20 minutes to hard wire into the car with an uninterrupted power supply unit. Now it will record whenever I drive and also while I'm parked, if the power supply unit detects that the battery is dropping below a certain voltage it will cut power to the camera so that the battery doesn't drain.









Here is a quick test video I made before installing the engine mount, the dark spot on the right is due to the cover for the rain sensor under the rear view mirror. Not much I can do about it unless I mount the camera in a very obvious spot, which I'm not going to do.

[green_comet]

A few days later the H11 PIAA 2500k yellow bulbs I ordered from Amazon were delivered. I have always liked yellow fog lights, compared to clear ones not only do yellow fogs perform better at their intended purpose imo they look much better too.





Installation was pretty simple, undo a few fittings to loosen the wheel lining.





Locate the back of the fog light housing and remove the bulb.





Old clear bulb vs new yellow bulb.





Install the new bulb and then repeat the process for the other side of the car.





Some before and afters.














Fogs and drl's







Fogs and headlights.






Next was painting the calipers red, I picked up a couple cans of VHT real red caliper paint, VHT flame proof primer and VHT caliper clear.





I removed the calipers, disassembled them, primed them and gave them a few coats of colour and then clear.











All done and looking much better.

[SprintA3]

Awesome build so far and very nice photos. I'm impressed with how much of a change all of the lights make. It looks much cleaner now.

[davloose]

Thanks for the details, ordered the same fog light bulbs from Amazon.. damn expensive! Will be worth it!

[xBigone101x]

hell yah $$$$$$$ my jaw droped when i saw how much they were i was like dammmnnnn but great job on the story of yur car so far man cant wait to see wat u do next

[STmelb]

Awesome job!! Euro-plates finish the car off perfectly. Hope to have mine delivered in a few days