Project: 2001 Focus Wagon 5 speed
 

Picked up a car to mess with for my first ever project focusing on 'economy'.

I've had I think 9 Escort ZX2s with the Zetec engine (modding, parting out, etc) and figured I'd give the Focus a try a few years later.

Just purchased it Jan 4th from a service center. It was the owners sons car and had a 3/4" thick folder of maintenance records since 2007. It now has 140k miles.

My first recorded drive of 107 miles after filling up got me 29.34mpg as a base number about 50/50 back road/highway driving. This was with the front brakes dragging and driver side dragging enough that it pulled left. Tires were also at 30psi front and 28.5 rear. There was also oil on spark plug tops from leaking valve cover.

Could hear the brakes dragging as well and would slow between shifts.

Now coasts amazing and will roll on the slightest grade.


'Maintenance' & MPG Mods:
40psi F, 35psi R
Windshield wipers
Rear wiper
Hatch Shocks
Motorcraft Dbl Platinum Plugs gapped to .060 (up from .050)
Foam under hood to fill gap to fenders
Removed roof rack cross bars
Pulled front calipers and polished the pins, cleaned pin seals, and greased.


Ordered:
Timing belt
Coolant hoses
2.25" 45* mandrel bends
Vibrant res to replace 'lunchbox' rear muffler
2.25" in to 2.5" outlet tip


Coming Soon:
Fix slight steering leak near rack
New steering fluid
Check toe settings and adjust if needed to 0 rear and only slight toe-in front.
Belly pan(s)
Push out and brace front bumper to match wheels on the bottom
Side skirts
Front air damn/extension on bottom of bumper
Front lower grill blocked on outer thirds with ABS
Upper grill blocked with Lexan
Wiper cowl/hood extension?
Remove intake snorkel that pulls air at hood front so it pulls air from engine bay?
Foam front of hood to grill gap.
Remove roof rack main rails and cap off roof holes

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...pshu4xdzoo.jpg

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Installed some mirrors I purchased like 2 years ago for my brother. He was to put them on his old fenders on an old BMW his has before we replaced the fenders for body/paint work as a joke...

Dug them out and pulled the inner trim and self tapped them on. I'll be driving the next week or 2 with both factory and these on till I get use to them, then I have to get my car inspected. After inspection I'll be removing the factory ones and double siding some ABS plastic on the outside to cover the factory mount holes.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...pshxojccyz.jpg

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Looks way too clean for a 15 year old PA car.

Any rot underneath? The rear suspension on those things has a habit of rotting out.

Suprisingly clean underneath. The rear suspension parts do have some surface rust but nothing crazy, mostly underside and trailing sides. The rear coils are still black except for right on bottom where they sit on arm they're peeling

The pinch/weld seams on the res/mufflers are rusting/seperating but not leaking yet.

I plan on jacking it up in a week or so and wire brushing it all and spraying a converter/sealant on it then monotoring it for years to come.

Rockers are solid.

Looks familiar, I'll be interested to see how your Zetec performance compares to my and AK-focus' Duratecs. These cars just seem to be geared horribly low, limiting MPG potential in opinion. The gap under the front of the hood is HUGE on the mk1.5, I put foam tape down and it didn't seal out anything, need to get bigger stuff eventually. I hope your mk1 has a better gap there that will seal easier. Your front bumper cover is more "lip friendly" than mine with a more straight, square design compared to my "wrap under" look of the mk1.5 bumper.

I miss my 2000 Focus because it was fun to drive. The best I ever did was 38 mpg doing as many hypermile tricks as I could (but no mods). The only significant maintenance I ever did was replacing a motor mount because it vibrated quite a bit (which was easy). GL

Last tank 32.8 mpg cruise at 70.

Added a lower blockoff from 1/8" ABS and a Mach 1 lip. Also removed muffler and added a 2.25" straight through.

Still need the factory radiator shrouds as mine are busted. Also picked up spare mirrors for the bases to make ABS delete panels. Then a near full belly pan.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...psdchzxtt9.jpg

Just did an A-B-A trip to a junkyard, 173 indicated miles, actual was 177 so my odometer/spedo is on somewhat close (2.3%).

Indicated mpg: 34.16
Actual mpg: 34.95

Not to far off.

That's a nice looking grill block. Do you have pics of the build process?