[Skykri]

Hey all, figured it was about time to start one of these. Mostly for me to keep track with what has gone on the car and maintenance things.

Current mods:

Performance:
Engine:

• Depo 3.5" FMIC
• Depo 3" downpipe
• Torque solutions downpipe hangar
• MBRP XP 3" catback
• CPE Xflex stage2 RMM
• Damond Passenger motor mount
• Damond drivers motor mount
• CPE Exhale cold side charge pipe with HKS BOV.
• Cobb 3" CF intake with green filter and filter sock.
• Cobb AP with Edge Autosport Pro 93 octane tune, mounted on passenger seat rail with Arkon 20" mount
• NGK Ruthenium 1 step colder plugs
• Amsoil XL boosted with the FL400S equivalent size filter
• Radium:
  • Pcv catch can with petcock drain
  • Ccv catch can with petcock drain
  • Pcv Baffle plate
• Steeda sound symposer delete

Transmission:

• Jbr Short shift arm
• Boomba shifter bracket bushings
• Alex the machinists cable end bushings
• Synchrotech carbon synchros
• Mfactory helical LSD
• Rs clutch
• Rs slave cylinder
• Steeda stainless clutch line
• Amsoil DCTF trans fluid
• Steeda shifter base bushings
• Billetworkz Weighted shift knob

Brakes/Suspension:

• Brembo 4 piston RS front calipers and Stoptech slotted rotors.
• Rs front brake deflectors
• Frankenbrake rear caliper brackets with RS Stoptech slotted rotors.
• EBC yellowstuff front and rear pads
• Konig oversteer wrapped in 235/45/18 Goodyear eagle sports (for now) (summer)
• Monte titano with 225/35/18 Dunlop winter max (winter)
• Gorilla lug nuts
• Eibach
  • Front sway bar
  • Rear sway bar
• Goodrich stainless brake lines on all 4 corners.
• Motul RBF 600 fluid

Apperance:

• Velossatech Big mouth snorkel
• Velossatech wing risers, painted tuxedo black.
• Diode Dynamics:
  • Sl1 fog lights
  • HP5 trunk lights
  • XPR reverse lights.
  • Hp5 for the puddle lights when the projectors aren't installed.
• Rs/focus electric taillights
• ST Puddle lamps ST projector, Orange
• Cates custom creations:
  • Wing vinyl (CF)
  • Rear badge inlay(CF)
  • Ford logo overlay (black w/silver)
• East detailing steering wheel wrap
• Restitched red shift boot
• Restitched red Ebrake boot
• Boomba:
  • Oil cap
  • dipstick
  • hood release.
• Mishimoto coolant tank
• Redline hood struts
• Rallyarmor mud flaps
• Custom Painted my own version of tuxedo black:
  • Battery cover
  • Fuse cover
  • Mirror caps
  • Rear bumper trim
  • Front intercooler trim
  • Fog light bezels
• Ford performance engine cover (soon to be painted)
• Dress up bolts:
  • Catch can bolts
  • Intake cover bolts
  • Licence plate bolts
  • Underhood mounting bolts
  • hood hinge bolts
• Craigs custom front plate bracket
• HELLA sharptones installed behind shaved grill.
• LIT logos RGB front logo
• Sequential mirror turn signals

Miscellaneous:

• Carls 3D creations:
  • Phone holder
  • Cupholder inserts
• Steeda jacking rails (best mod)
• Weather tech floor mats all around
• Polyfilled subwoofer
• Sync3 jailbreak with different mods.
• Lots of different forscan modifications.
• Some random billet aluminum 1" gas pedal spacer.
• Whiteline sway bar collars for the Recaro front seat creak/movement.

Sigh, it was supposed to remain stock...


I'll be updating this thread with pictures and such when I remember or add new things.

 

[Skykri]

So, starting off my ST journey is a bit of an long story. Had a buddy in school with me with a Focus SE sedan who swore up and down it was an ST. This was in early 2018. I liked how his focus drove but I knew his wasn't an ST. I went on over to the dealership because they had an 18' ST3 in Magnetic metallic there and I wanted to see what the STs were actually like.

After that test drive I was hooked!
Couldn't really afford that brand new one at the time with what I had saved so far so I started more aggressively saving money with the plan of buying new in 19'
Well, ford screwed that plan, quit making these cars in 18'

Middle of 2019 rolls around and the '97 chevy cavalier I was driving back and forth to school decided to kill one of the lifters and the camshaft. Whole engine locked up with bits and pieces of metal everywhere.
That set me back a little bit eating into the ST savings.

Thought about settling for a FiST in late 19' again, in Magnetic. Went and test drove it. Just too small and kinda basic compared to the FoST. Didn't feel like it had the punchiness of the focus either.

I also camp a lot so the storage space just wasn't there like the FoST.

I had multiple searches saved on autotrader and a few other sites. Nothing came up that was really catching my eye.

This one popped up on my searches in late January 2020. 42.8k miles

Went by and took a look at it on a day trip to the beach with the GF as well as taking a look at an RS in early February. No test drive at that time, just wanted to take a look at it, was very unsure on the color but it looks much better in person.

Covid started happening around then.
They ended up dropping the price 500$ in mid February and another 500$ a week or so later. Went back with my mother to take a closer look. I needed a cosign because I had no large credit purchases before. We test drove it then and it all checked out with the exception of the AC not being super cold. We let them know about it and said we'd come back when it got fixed and it got a wash so we could see any scratches in the paint.

Came back for the 3rd and final time a couple of weeks later in march after they dropped the price another 250$ and did some negotiating. Scratch in the rear bumper-500$ water in left rear taillight -250$ a couple of other little things here and there lowered the price a bit. Got them to include some vinyl to redo the front stripes from the rock chips that were in there.

Ended up settling on a price and got all the paperwork signed! Cool! I'm now the owner of an ST.

Funny part of that is that it didn't have a front plate bracket and the dealership dude reached in a desk drawer and grabbed a drill to put the plate bracket on. I was like NONONONONONOO told him I would leave the temp plate in the front window until I got my plate bracket from craigs custom mustang brackets.
Glad I saved my front bumper from being molested!

First fill up, AKA the last time the car had 87 octane in it. I just did that because it was in interstate gas station and I had 200 miles till home.

Continue to the next page for the start of
"The addiction"

 

[Skykri]

The very next day after I got it home the work began. Pulled everything out and did a deep clean. Removed front stripes and redid them.
Also Installed my first "official" mod being the @VelossaTech big mouth gen 3.

Also ordered some vinyl badge overlays from Cates custom creations on etsy.

Found a local dealership with a yakima rack they pulled off of an RS, just so happened to be the exact type I wanted so I grabbed that.
Test fit the kayak and it goes up there nicely.

Next up came the steeda jacking rails.
HIGHLY reccomended these if you plan on jacking your car up at all frequency.

Next up immediately after the jacking rails came the mountune RMM.
My OEM downpipe bracket bolts were the BIGGEST pain to get off. Absolutely terrible.
If anyone is thinking of upgrading theirs, do yourself a favor and start PB blasting multiple days before

A month had gone by i put about 7k miles on it in the first month! Lots of parkway miles and mountain drives.
50k miles i flushed the brake fluid and did an oil change. Also changed the trans fluid. Only pic I took was of the ODO.

Little over a month after having the ST I sold the cavalier.
Still ran great with the new motor. The stripe on the hood was from where I had to repair a spot from someone backing into me at the school parking lot. I know exactly who it was and told the cops about it. They had paint chips on their trailer hitch which they collected and I pulled the car up real close to the truck and the height was was an exact match. Still kinda pissed about that.

We're gonna start the serious stuff in the next page. Lol

 

[Joe R red14st2]

Z24?

 

[Skykri]

Z24?

Hell no, I wish. Lol
It was as base model as you could get!
2.2, 3 speed auto.
Only options it had was power windows, and cruise control. Which i was thankful for. But still.
Motor was the most gutless thing ever something like 85hp to the wheels. Trans shifted into 3rd, AKA,"top gear" at 40.
Didn't have a tach but I know it was way up there at 60 mph. It would scream at 65.
Took it on the interstate once, it only wanted to do like 70, and it shook soooo bad. Acted like it wanted to fall apart. Which it did as you can see from the pic.

I'm still very grateful for my parents for getting it for me though. Did decent on gas for my first 3 years of school. Taught me a ton about fixing cars because it was breaking so often. Parts were relatively cheap if you went to the local junkyard and pulled em yourself. Definitely taught me to appreciate the nice things the ST, and other cars have.

St3 package still feels like a luxury car to me because of the cavalier. Lol

If I could have picked 1 thing to change, I would've liked to have the manual.
ST was a great car to get to finish learning/daily drive for stick but inwouodve rather did that on the junky car that doesn't spin wheels so easily. Haha

 

[Sabatzis]

Sick car dude!! It was fun working on mine with you!!!

 

[Skykri]

After the cavalier was sold itnwas time to start some more mods!
But first, another blue ridge parkway trip. This particular trip ended perfectly. Picked up some fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts and found a spot to park and watch the sunset.

The next day when I got home, my RS airbox lid and COBB filter arrived. More whooshy turbo noises!

Ordered the cupholder inserts and phone holder from Carls 3d creations.

Got my wing decal from cates custom creations. Also did the DIY wing risers to make the butt look less round.

Somewhere in there I decided to attempt to get the ecomode trophies, succeeded and never attempted again. Sooo boring.

Ordered some @Diode Dynamics SL1 fog lights and XPR reverse lights. Both were a VERY nice upgrade to the stock units.

Attended my first car meet on the 4th of July, 2020 after meeting up with the local ST owners. Bunch of really cool guys.

Finally got my tags in on July 11th. Took em like 3 months lol.
Also got my ford badge overlays from cates custom creations and I painted my "Focus" badge gloss black.

 

[fuelishfan]

Looking good. Tangerine Scream is one of the colors I prefer. The wing decal is a nice addition.

 

[Skykri]

Mid July took the ST on it's first long road trip. Vacation down to Wilmington, NC
Got my first ever ticket there, tell me what you all think.......

For context, we arrived early in the day and parked centered between the vehicles on either side and stayed till late afternoon. Paid like 25$ for an all day-pass. This was in a Thursday afternoon so there were hardly any people there.
Ended up getting it dropped because it was BS. Just trying to scam me because I'm out of state. Btw, what are parking placeas?

The rest of the road trip was without incident.
I definitely made the right choice for cargo space. The ST carries a week of supplies and gear for comfy camping (GF doesn't like to go without creature comforts) easily!

When I got back from the vacation, Driver Motorsports had just opened up a new Dynometer and was offering 2 pulls for 50$ i thought, "why not" and stuck it on there. Just wanted to get a stock baseline.

I was surprised at the results! I guess the car liked the 93 I had been feeding it!

Sigh, I miss sub 2$ 93. I think I took this picture because I thought it was a little high.... August 1, 2020

I can't remember exactly how or who, but I got hooked up with the Blue Ridge Road Rally. Hitting the backroads with them has definitely been some of the best times I've had. That trip was the yearly camping trip down to Back of the dragon in Tazewell, VA. (Not to be confused with Tail of the dragon in Robinsville, NC) If you're at all close, I reccomend taking a trip there! Super fun twisties.

Found my twin one night out in town!
Hence the reason for the plate. Haha.

 

[Skykri]

Looking good. Tangerine Scream is one of the colors I prefer. The wing decal is a nice addition.

Looks much better in person than it does in pictures IMO. It has a lot of flake so it sparkles if you catch the light right!

Cate makes some good stuff!

 

[Phil449]

I love your build, lots of quality parts. I’m sure it drives great! How do you like the eibach swaybars? That’s another part I’m considering before the weather gets nice again. I’m only about 2 hours from the tail of the dragon. We are probably going to be up there around July 4th this year.

 

[Skykri]

I love your build, lots of quality parts. I’m sure it drives great! How do you like the eibach swaybars? That’s another part I’m considering before the weather gets nice again. I’m only about 2 hours from the TOTD (Tail of the dragon). We are probably going to be up there around July 4th this year.

Oh they're great! Front bar is a bit of a pain to install. Car is much more flat through the turns. I'll be getting to my post about TOTD (Tail of the dragon) shortly. Fun road! It'll be busy jul 4th week, see if you can go in the middle of the week.

Depending on where you are coming from, BOTD (Back of the dragon) is about 4 hours north of TOTD. It's a great trip if you can justify it. Let me know if you feel like going and I might be able to meet you down there and we can cruise!

 

[Phil449]

I already have vacation put in for that week. We’re unsure of exactly when we will go, but thinking of driving up on the 4th or 5th and staying a few days.. probably at Fontana resort.. would love to meet some other ST peeps.

I’ll probably do the swaybars.. it looks like the F&R balance is similar to stock, but much higher rates. I imagine it will feel more “sporty” and maintain good balance.

 

[Skykri]

I already have vacation put in for that week. We’re unsure of exactly when we will go, but thinking of driving up on the 4th or 5th and staying a few days.. probably at Fontana resort.. would love to meet some other ST peeps.

I’ll probably do the swaybars.. it looks like the F&R balance is similar to stock, but much higher rates. I imagine it will feel more “sporty” and maintain good balance.

Fontana resort is pricey Airbnb or Vrbo is where it's at!
I got an entire cabin for like 80$ a night last time I went on Airbnb.
Go ahead and book now so you secure your spot!

 

[Phil449]

Good idea, I just like that they have restaurants, a store, a gas station, and a pool/lazy River all on site lol. When we travel we usually stay at airbnbs.

 

[Skykri]

Got back from that camping trip and noticed a bit of a musty smell. Did some research and determined I needed to replace the cabin air filter. Was definitely right!

August rolls around and I bought some goodies. AP and a set of snowflakes.

Got to go on an ST/RS cruise organized by a Facebook group. That was super fun and really i liked seeing all the different cars. We ended with a ferry takeover which was particularly awesome. Nothing but foci on the ferry ride across the water. Obligatory sunset Pic while sitting on the bridge waiting on the next boat.

Of course this was during covid so I only got this one crappy pic before they yelled for us to get back in our cars... with all the windows down... on a boat in the middle of the James River at it's widest point...... whatever I guess.

The next day after that was the August Blue ridge road rally.

That was a loonnggg weekend of driving.
Lynchburg to Williamsburg, back to Lynchburg, up to Charlottesville, over to Cass, WV taking all the backroads and twisties. Back to Charlottesville again with the twisties, then back down to Lynchburg.
Something like 700 miles in one weekend. Fkin crazy!
But crazy fun. Had a blast on both trips!

Started working on plastidipping my snowflakes early September.

Also snagged the JBR shift arm and installed it.

Love this piece. It's been great since I've got it.

I'm out of picture space. Moving on to the next post.

 

[Skykri]

A month or so goes by. Didn't really do much to the car. Was chasing some false/real knock. In Hindsight it was the sensitive AF stock tune/crappy OEM FMIC and the motor mount bolt being loose.

September 21 I hit 66k on the way down to TOTD to meet some crazy guys with RSs.

Had a great time with them ripping around for a day. Hit my favorite road's southern terminus on the way back north for 50 or so miles before hopping back on the interstate.

Went ahead and did a resonator delete after getting back from TOTD. Loved hearing those RS but didn't like hearing my car sound like an angry vacuum cleaner. Haha

After I was doing all that I decided to replace an O2 sensor still chasing that false knock. That was an adventure....

After the O2 sensor was replaced, it was time for the season closer for BRRR.

 

[Skykri]

I hit 70k miles just after the road rally.

Fall was turning out beautiful and tangerine matches the leaves perfectly!

Started to attend some cars and coffee. I would highly reccomend these types of meets to any car enthusiasts. They're usually really laid back and earlier in the morning so all the hoodlums in their hellcats and street takeovers are still sleeping.

I really like fall, the mornings are so crisp and clear right at sunrise. Especially when you're on the way to a 8am university level Calc2 class. Good way to wake up on your commute looking around the scenery is so nice, calm, peaceful..........

!!!!BAM!!!!​

Wellllll Crap!
Antlered fur demon decides to jump a fence right in front of me in a blind curve. @ddfred calls them stilt rats, I agree with this assessment.

if you read on velossatech's website, they list deer strikes as a reason for their replaceable snorkel flares. I'm pretty sure I'm a reason for that. Lmao

Took the car to my garage to assess the condition and to keep it dry until it could be towed to the body shop.

it was pretty banged up. Coolant reservoir was broken, upper rad. Support was all crumply.

Got it towed to the body shop and that's where it sat for a week.
Got to borrow dad's extra work truck. 04' F150. Uggh. Awful. So much boaty, such slowness
At least I still had transportation though.

 

[Skykri]

Car progression at the body shop took FORREEVVEERRRR.
It came very close to being totalled due to the expense of the ST3 headlights.
Body shop charged my insurance almost 3k$ for the passenger side!

Took them 2 months from the time the car got there to even get a new hood and paint it.
At this point it was later December, around Christmas.

Insurance was going to pay out around 250$ish for a new OEM. FMIC so I paid the difference and had them install a DEPO 3.5"

Merry Christmas to me I guess..

Since it was decided the car wasn't going to be totalled, I found a good deal and grabbed another set of premium wheels with Michelin as3+ tires on them.

Body shop was nearing finishing up so I took a quick detour after work one day to see how it was progressing.
Was not very happy to find this when I got there.
In all honesty, the unit that came off the car was in better condition than the "like new" unit they put on there. I made them order an actual new unit since that's what they charged my insurance for. Uggh, more delays.

We're jumping several weeks between photos here so I can speed this up a bit.
Now in mid January I get the car back.
Right off the bat I notice several fitment issues and incorrect parts being used from regular Foci and pre-facelift foci.
Example:

So I drive it a few days and back to the body shop it goes.
They ended up having to replace quite a few pieces from the actual ST model.

At the time of this post, I've still got several paint spots peeling off. The car is going to be taken back to them to get the front bumper repainted to fix these peels where apparently the paint didn't stick enough.

 

[Skykri]

Got it back from the shop again and did a couple of new things I had got for Christmas.

Arkon mount for my access port, and a stubby antenna. Little install thread here:

Arkon Accessport mount

Hello all! I didn't see this written up anywhere so I thought I'd just write a little bit on my experience with this mount. I saw this for the first time when I was on a TOTD trip with some members from the RS forum and I noticed how one of them had their AP mounted by the shifter. I was running...

www.focusst.org

New Supras were starting to hit the local lots. Found a superior color Supra and got a quick photo.

Some politicians here in VA were thinking about passing some idiotic gun laws so I took a little drive to do some light protesting.

No Walgreens were burned down. Funny how none of the BLM/Antifa thugs showed up till after dark either..... even then they didn't try anything. Hrmmm wonder why... 😆 Yes, expect delays.

The next weekend we had a little local ST/RS get together and got some pictures.

Spot the poSEr

Got my shift knob beanie in. Pretty cool!

73k! Got some Forscan mods done too late January.