#StreetFocus

[MisterMundane]

Hey all! So I picked up my new to me 2008 Focus on saturday. She's fully stock, sitting on steelies right now. Not really anything to look at. Has a few dings here and there, not perfect condition but pretty damn close.

This is gonna be a car I take care of properly. I've been known to abuse my cars haha, but this thing will be kept in good condition. have some big plans for it, a fewsmall things, and a few bigger things.

So let's get it started with some pictures, in the condition shes in right now!






Options:

Well, she's not fully loaded, but it's decently optioned out.
It's an SE, it's got heated cloth seats, which are amazing.
5 speed stick, duratec obviously.
sync I believe as it has a little button with a phone on it.
Sirius radio, aux in.
Cruise, command start (which is awesome)
That's about it really.

[MisterMundane]

So, basic plans right now are the typical things. Wheels, lower, tint, etc.

I do have a set of 17" SES wheels that I ran on my old focus, a ZX3. So those will be swapped over to the 2008 once the weather stops being mean. I keep waking up to snow and icy highways so the steelies and winter tires are staying on for now. Forecast looks good, should be on the 17's soon! Have plans to powdercoat them a bronzy/brown color, as the paint is peeling and it has more than a few rock ships.

Lpowering springs will hopefully be picked up this week, local guy has a set of eibach pro springs and swaybars for an 06-07. So i'll pick those up if we can agree o na rpice, then i'll have to get some 06-07 top hats from rockauto and ocne those come in, springs will go on!

tint, Legal limits here are 35% backs, 50% fronts. So that's likely what I'll be doing. Don't want to go too dark although 35% all around would be nice.

as for exhaust, I'm not sure which route I'll go, if anything. I do want a bit more noise, but don't want to go crazy.

I will be stealing the projectors from my zx3 to do a retrofit in this car eventually, once I can get a second set of lights for this car. And, I have an idea to make the taillights look 100X better, more on that later! Oh, and chrome. It's going bye bye, have some plasti dip to take care of all that ugly chrome.

that's about it for plans right now. I know some planned mods don't really effect MPG, and some will hurt it a bit (the 17's) but I want this thing to look half decent as well.

once I get the ultragauge in I can keep a better log of which mods effect what. Intake may change as well, undecided as of right now,.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Why do you wanna get rid of the chrome? Anyway, what are you going to do to keep the undercarriage more protected against rust?

[spacemanspif]

Certain trim levels came with blacked out grill and black headlights. If you want to keep looking completely stock (and since you're thinking about headlight retrofit) it might be a good option. If you remove your grill for dipping or buy a black one I'd do block on the back to close up the air coming in the upper grill while your at it. As you know, these cars dont have real temp gauges so an auxiliary gauge like the ultra gauge is best to have before modding the cooling system for better aero.

Can't wait to see how the old and new cars compare.

[MisterMundane]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Why do you wanna get rid of the chrome? Anyway, what are you going to do to keep the undercarriage more protected against rust?

Getting rid of the chrome because I hate chrome haha. It's ugly IMO. On certain things it works, but not on my car imo. undercarriage will get the typical undercoating I do on all my vehicles, in the areas required, It's a rubberized coating. have used it on my truck with great results.

Originally Posted by spacemanspif

Certain trim levels came with blacked out grill and black headlights. If you want to keep looking completely stock (and since you're thinking about headlight retrofit) it might be a good option. If you remove your grill for dipping or buy a black one I'd do block on the back to close up the air coming in the upper grill while your at it. As you know, these cars dont have real temp gauges so an auxiliary gauge like the ultra gauge is best to have before modding the cooling system for better aero.

Can't wait to see how the old and new cars compare.

yeah, there were a few trim levels that have a "black chrome" grill. I may try and track one down. Till then, Plastidip will work. As for the lights, I'll be retrofitting projectors into them, and painting the chrome at the same time.

Also have an ultraguage in my current car that will be going into this car when I can figure out a mounting solution! so temp gauge will be there soon. aero mods like grill blocking will follow.

[MisterMundane]

as for old focus vs new focus, I expect the new focus to do better than the old one. For one, it's rated to do better, and secondly, this one has cruise which will help on the highway.

I stopped tracking the old one a while ago, but ultraguage lifetime average was 28 MPG. Already doing better with the new one according to fuelly haha.

[MisterMundane]

Stopped tracking the truck a long time ago, it got too depressing lmao. would probably be around 14 MPG at this point.

[MisterMundane]

32 MPG fill yesterday. With some city driving. Picked up my lowering springs last night, will get those on soon, should help on the highway. Will drop the car about 1" all around.

[MisterMundane]

well for the 2 days it warmed up, I got really great mileage! Back to colder temps and lower mpg. But, still havent had a tank under 30 MPG. Pretty darn happy about that so far.

[MisterMundane]

still haven't dropped below 30 MPG, which is quite surprising due to some of the trips I did.

weather has finally warmed up again, and the first tank on a warm day got me 36 MPG, right up there with the past warm days i had. Looks like ti will be pretty easy to hit 40 MPG commutes when summer rolls around!

Lowering the car this coming weekend, that will help a bit.