[@doval]

Awesome !

 

[JayneCobb]

So, not really directly related to Cody, but I finally popped the question to my GF over the weekend!

She always joked and said she'd buy me a Fox body once we got married, but I've since decided I want a newer Mustang when I pay off Cody, so I told her she can start saving for a big turbo instead... and she said ok. Time to start BT planning... I mean wedding planning!

 

[Nittany_Hawk]

So, not really directly related to Cody, but I finally popped the question to my GF over the weekend!

View attachment 99941

She always joked and said she'd buy me a Fox body once we got married, but I've since decided I want a newer Mustang when I pay off Cody, so I told her she can start saving for a big turbo instead... and she said ok. Time to start BT planning... I mean wedding planning!

Congrats man! Best of luck with planning for both. I still owe you pictures from the drive. Hopefully will get them to you tomorrow.

 

[shineboy]

Buying you a big turbo, rare find and wise to keep her!!

Seriously, congrats and enjoy!

 

[Duece McCracken]

So, not really directly related to Cody, but I finally popped the question to my GF over the weekend!

View attachment 99941

She always joked and said she'd buy me a Fox body once we got married, but I've since decided I want a newer Mustang when I pay off Cody, so I told her she can start saving for a big turbo instead... and she said ok. Time to start BT planning... I mean wedding planning!

Congratulations man!!! I suggest a GTX2971r...

 

[JayneCobb]

Thanks guys, she really is a keeper!
@Nittany_Hawk I'm looking forward to what you were able to get on our drive.

 

[JayneCobb]

I didn't take any good pics at The Carlisle Ford Nationals over the weekend, but on the drive up with Nittany_Hawk , his wife was able to get a few good rolling shots.

I'm disappointed that I didn't spend more time in the ST area, since I wandered the show for most of the day with my dad looking at the older cars. It really is too much to take in for one day, maybe I'll spend the weekend next year.

Also want to give a shout out to @Red and @BADWOLF, it was nice to talk to you guys and see your STs.

 

[Red]

Always great to meet another fellow ST owner. Congrats on the engagement!

 

[JayneCobb]

Ground improvements

Over the 4th of July weekend I decided to take care of 2 easy and cheap, yet time consuming, things on my to-do list.

First was improving the stock grounds. After talking to a few guys at Carlisle, I found the main thread on this topic. http://www.focusst.org/forum/focus-st-maintenance/39126-your-car-might-have-ground-issues.html
I am by no means an EE, and most of this in depth analysis goes a little over my head, but I undersnatd the concepts and agree that a little work needs to be done. Basically the argument is that with the body being painted at these grounds, they aren't as "clean" as they can be. Some people claim big improvements after removing the paint and adding an extra cable, some people saw no change. I'll get to my findings in a bit.

Basically there are 3 easy to reach grounds that can be cleaned up, and one 24" ground cable (available at any Advanced Auto or Auto Zone) is added to these existing grounding points. There is another ground or 2 that is called out in the post mentioned above that you can do as well.

First, disconnect the ground by the driver site strut tower, and clean off the paint in the area where the ground cable touches the body. I used some sandpaper and a dremel.

Next, remove the airbox and you'll see these 2 grounds on the frame. Remove the cables and clean up the paint.

And here is where I realized I should have taken more pics. If this is at all unclear, head to the link above and there are more pics from other members who thought more about the documentation process.

You're going to take your new 24" grounding cable and attach it from the top (strut tower) ground to the bottom (closest to the headlight) ground. Some people combined the 2 grounds under the airbox and sandwiched them all together, but I decided to keep them separate. Route the cable however you want it, I tried to go under the fuse box but couldn't get enough clearance (Clarance) so I went around it. 24" should be just enough to reach without pinning or stretching the cable. Don't forget to add some dielectric grease when reattaching the grounds to bare metal.

My awesome MS Paint skills at work.

Now, for my findings. I did the work with low expectations, because of the large disparity between complete "success" (it fixed everything, including low testosterone levels) stories, and "failures"(it didn't change anything about how the car runs).

Did it fix my random negative corrections?
Fix? No. Improve? Possibly. I don't have datalogs to prove anything, but I believe I see less negative corrections than before this work during daily driving. They still pop up on cyl 2 and 4, but it seems like they happen less frequently and with less severity.

Did it fix my occasional low RPM drop/rough idle?
No. I still experience the near-stall scenario when popping it into neutral from a coast or when I engage the clutch fully for a few seconds. I count myself lucky that I've never had it stall. Also to note, my VIN is not applicable to the wire splice TSB.

Did it improve my MPG?
Actually, after a few tanks and the same driving style and the same gas station petrol, I have seen a steady .7 mpg increase. I'm about 4 or 5 tanks in, so it's not just from a KAM reset upon disconnecting the battery, but it's nowhere near the miraculous 30+ MPG another member claims.

All in all, it was a 30 minute and $9 job, so I'm not concerned that I didn't see the drastic improvements other members saw.

 

[JayneCobb]

Sanding the rest of the grill

I also finally found the drive to pull the front bumper off and sand out the grill corners, like I should have done originally. They are a PITA to do, especially with a big belt sander, but I'm quite pleased with how it came out. My biggest fear now is getting into an accident and having to do this to a new grill, or that my dad will notice how good it looks and want me to do it to his ST.

I also hit the lower part of the bumper with plasti-dip. My edges look like crap, but it's tough to get the flowing contours right with painters tape. I love the look of the cup spoilers, but this is as close to that look as I'm going to get for now.

About a week ago I ordered a battery tie down from the Boosted Designs group buy, so can't wait to get that in.

Also to note, I got laid off last Friday, so any future mods are being put on hold until I can find myself a new job. This is the 4th time this has happened to me (I'm only 28) and it's getting pretty annoying. Time to move into a well established company that is going to hang around for more than 3 years

 

[Duece McCracken]

Over the 4th of July weekend I decided to take care of 2 easy and cheap, yet time consuming, things on my to-do list.

First was improving the stock grounds. After talking to a few guys at Carlisle, I found the main thread on this topic. http://www.focusst.org/forum/focus-st-maintenance/39126-your-car-might-have-ground-issues.html
I am by no means an EE, and most of this in depth analysis goes a little over my head, but I undersnatd the concepts and agree that a little work needs to be done. Basically the argument is that with the body being painted at these grounds, they aren't as "clean" as they can be. Some people claim big improvements after removing the paint and adding an extra cable, some people saw no change. I'll get to my findings in a bit.

Basically there are 3 easy to reach grounds that can be cleaned up, and one 24" ground cable (available at any Advanced Auto or Auto Zone) is added to these existing grounding points. There is another ground or 2 that is called out in the post mentioned above that you can do as well.

First, disconnect the ground by the driver site strut tower, and clean off the paint in the area where the ground cable touches the body. I used some sandpaper and a dremel.

View attachment 105076
View attachment 105072

Next, remove the airbox and you'll see these 2 grounds on the frame. Remove the cables and clean up the paint.

View attachment 105077
View attachment 105073

And here is where I realized I should have taken more pics. If this is at all unclear, head to the link above and there are more pics from other members who thought more about the documentation process.

You're going to take your new 24" grounding cable and attach it from the top (strut tower) ground to the bottom (closest to the headlight) ground. Some people combined the 2 grounds under the airbox and sandwiched them all together, but I decided to keep them separate. Route the cable however you want it, I tried to go under the fuse box but couldn't get enough clearance (Clarance) so I went around it. 24" should be just enough to reach without pinning or stretching the cable. Don't forget to add some dielectric grease when reattaching the grounds to bare metal.

My awesome MS Paint skills at work.
View attachment 105078

Now, for my findings. I did the work with low expectations, because of the large disparity between complete "success" (it fixed everything, including low testosterone levels) stories, and "failures"(it didn't change anything about how the car runs).

Did it fix my random negative corrections?
Fix? No. Improve? Possibly. I don't have datalogs to prove anything, but I believe I see less negative corrections than before this work during daily driving. They still pop up on cyl 2 and 4, but it seems like they happen less frequently and with less severity.

Did it fix my occasional low RPM drop/rough idle?
No. I still experience the near-stall scenario when popping it into neutral from a coast or when I engage the clutch fully for a few seconds. I count myself lucky that I've never had it stall. Also to note, my VIN is not applicable to the wire splice TSB.

Did it improve my MPG?
Actually, after a few tanks and the same driving style and the same gas station petrol, I have seen a steady .7 mpg increase. I'm about 4 or 5 tanks in, so it's not just from a KAM reset upon disconnecting the battery, but it's nowhere near the miraculous 30+ MPG another member claims.

All in all, it was a 30 minute and $9 job, so I'm not concerned that I didn't see the drastic improvements other members saw.

You should have pulled the battery tray and hit the 4 grounds under that. after doing all of them, I noticed a more accurate miles to empty, and an increase in mpg, 2-4mpg. Also you should have ran the jumper to the aluminum engine head. For best results.


I don't feel like quoting your grill sanding. So heres what it would say.

Nice!! Did you do the "wedge the corners up" method?

Sorry to hear about your layoff, maybe get some dumb under the table job and supplement it with unemployment, in mexico of course, not in the good old US of A, that would be highly immoral and illegal... :serious:

 

[JayneCobb]

You should have pulled the battery tray and hit the 4 grounds under that. after doing all of them, I noticed a more accurate miles to empty, and an increase in mpg, 2-4mpg. Also you should have ran the jumper to the aluminum engine head. For best results.


I don't feel like quoting your grill sanding. So heres what it would say.

Nice!! Did you do the "wedge the corners up" method?

Sorry to hear about your layoff, maybe get some dumb under the table job and supplement it with unemployment, in mexico of course, not in the good old US of A, that would be highly immoral and illegal... :serious:

Since I have all of this extra time, I think I'll do those extra grounds meow.

Yes I did, thanks for the tip. I also used a can of compressed air and shot it upside-down at the hot plastic to cool it off, not sure who I got that tip from. If it wasn't you then it must have been Red.

I got a pretty decent severance package, so I can avoid any imperial entanglements, I mean crappy jobs, for the time being. I'm not sure what the restrictions to PA unemployment are, but I shouldn't need it. I've been on NJ UI twice (both after layoffs and only for 3-4 weeks) but I've heard PA isn't as easy to qualify for.

 

[Duece McCracken]

Since I have all of this extra time, I think I'll do those extra grounds meow.

Yes I did, thanks for the tip. I also used a can of compressed air and shot it upside-down at the hot plastic to cool it off, not sure who I got that tip from. If it wasn't you then it must have been Red.

I got a pretty decent severance package, so I can avoid any imperial entanglements, I mean crappy jobs, for the time being. I'm not sure what the restrictions to PA unemployment are, but I shouldn't need it. I've been on NJ UI twice (both after layoffs and only for 3-4 weeks) but I've heard PA isn't as easy to qualify for.

Oh and use an electrical joint compound you fool!! Before those grounds all rust up. An anti-oxidant electrical joint compound, such as Burndy Penetrox, or Ilsco Utilico. Not a dielectric grease, you want conductivity here.

Severance package, cool. Yeah I use NJUI, its pretty painless with all the online filing. PA wasn't too bad 7 years ago when I used it either .

 

[JayneCobb]

Oh and use an electrical joint compound you fool!! Before those grounds all rust up. An anti-oxidant electrical joint compound, such as Burndy Penetrox, or Ilsco Utilico. Not a dielectric grease, you want conductivity here.

Severance package, cool. Yeah I use NJUI, its pretty painless with all the online filing. PA wasn't too bad 7 years ago when I used it either .

Crap, I'll have to agree with you. The dielectric grease will inhibit rust but since it's an insulator and not a conductor I guess it's not the right compound to use for this application. My brain has been in the clouds lately, time to wake up. I'll fix that when I do the other grounds, then maybe I'll see some improvements.

 

[JayneCobb]

Boosted Designs Battery Tie Down

Because racecar.

Please forgive my dirty battery.

 

[ST2Bullitt]

I'm going to install mine on my lunch break today! Looks good.

 

[JayneCobb]

Well, this sucks big time. I'm usually regarded as a very attentive driver, and I feel like I have an above average sense of situational awareness. Both of the attributes failed me yesterday, I'm blaming it on stress.

Whenever I can, I park in the back of parking lots to avoid inattentive cart pushers and door dings, as I'm sure most of us do. Yesterday at Lowe's, I parked in the middle of the lot, next to one of those islands... surrounded by a 4" concrete curb, with no trees. Because parking lot beautification. I was so mentally distracted that when I got in the car, instead of pulling straight a bit then turning, I turned my wheel immediately to the right and proceed to beach myself on the ******* curb.

Fortunately I was able to back myself off, but the damage was already done. In addition to the plastic rocker panel being FUBAR, the gaping of the door and fender seem to be off. There's no visible damage to the fender, so hopefully it's just an alignment issue. The panel also fell off while I was driving so the road rash is worse than just the initial curb mounting. Fortunately I didn't scrape my rim, and there is no damage to the body under the rocker panel.

Needless to say, I was pretty miserable yesterday thinking about it. It should be an easy fix, but still. This is going to push back any future mod plans, and I'm still looking for a job. After the next wash I'm going to see if I can plastidip the panel, just to make it less obvious until I get it fixed.

 

[Duece McCracken]

well, this sucks big time. I'm usually regarded as a very attentive driver, and i feel like i have an above average sense of situational awareness. Both of the attributes failed me yesterday, i'm blaming it on stress.

Whenever i can, i park in the back of parking lots to avoid inattentive cart pushers and door dings, as i'm sure most of us do. Yesterday at lowe's, i parked in the middle of the lot, next to one of those islands... Surrounded by a 4" concrete curb, with no trees. Because parking lot beautification. I was so mentally distracted that when i got in the car, instead of pulling straight a bit then turning, i turned my wheel immediately to the right and proceed to beach myself on the ******* curb.

View attachment 108349
View attachment 108350
View attachment 108351

fortunately i was able to back myself off, but the damage was already done. In addition to the plastic rocker panel being fubar, the gaping of the door and fender seem to be off. There's no visible damage to the fender, so hopefully it's just an alignment issue. The panel also fell off while i was driving so the road rash is worse than just the initial curb mounting. Fortunately i didn't scrape my rim, and there is no damage to the body under the rocker panel.

Needless to say, i was pretty miserable yesterday thinking about it. It should be an easy fix, but still. This is going to push back any future mod plans, and i'm still looking for a job. After the next wash i'm going to see if i can plastidip the panel, just to make it less obvious until i get it fixed.

oh noes!!!!

 

[ST2Bullitt]

That sucks...but that plastidip idea isn't a bad one.

 

[JayneCobb]

So, the build thread has been dead for awhile because of my lack of employment. Luckily that streak has ended and I started as Assistant Manager of an STS on Monday. If everything goes well I'm hoping to have my own store by the end of spring next year. 1 great thing about the job is access to lifts, so no more ramps for oil changes for this guy. 1 sucky thing is that I have to work Saturdays AND Sundays, so my social life will suffer and I won't be able to make the fun Buck's county ST meets.

I've been saving money during unemployment and I'm pretty sure I've got a bit of disposable cash, so the mods should start to pick up again soon. 1st will be a Boomba OCC, hopefully by the end of the month. After that I'm going for the much needed TTR mounts, and hopefully FMIC and catless DP by the spring.

On Saturday I'm getting a "new" (to me) set of winter wheels, since my fiance is driving my Jeep. I'll post a pic on Saturday when I get it home.
::hint:: It's not a sent of winter rubbers for Cody. Looks like he'll be spending the winter months in the garage again.