2003 Focus SVT EAP $201X Build

ScreaminE wrote: In reply to Mitchell: Appreciate the info on the clutch kit. It's still on my list to buy. With free shipping it's around 40 bucks cheaper than RA (which is 100 cheaper than anywhere else). I def. will be hitting up the dealership formally known as Tousley. Just when I think I've got all the parts I need, I go to the garage and find 5 more things to buy.

When I get home, I will give you the part numbers for the hardware I have purchased so far. Navigating the fordparts website is a PITA.

The clutch kit does not have replacement flywheel or clutch hardware. ARP sells a kit for the flywheel bolts, which you can also find on amazon; the clutch bolts (that bolt the pressure plate to the flywheel), I ordered through Ford. The flywheel bolts are mandatory because they are torque-to-yield; the clutch bolts I consider good insurance.

Bought these already: http://www.c-f-m.com/performanceparts/pc/Ford-Flywheel-Bolts-for-Focus-SVT-ST170-p809.htm#.Uu_q-bS1sfw

Def. send over your part no.'s. I basically search google with the two focus forums to find part numbers.

Didn't these cars run a dual mass flywheel? If you could find a lighter one that would be a big help.

Nitroracer wrote: Didn't these cars run a dual mass flywheel? If you could find a lighter one that would be a big help.

Yes but I have $300 for a clutch and not $900.

I will verify that everything is what it should be after installation, but here is what I picked up:

Pressure plate -> flywheel bolts: W702426S303 x 6 (packed each)

CV joint half-shaft bearing retainer: YS4Z3N324AA x 1

Center Bearing Retainer Nuts: W520102S309 x 2; Ford Parts says that they come 4 to a pack, but the one I ordered was delivered individually.

Catylitic converter nuts: W520103S403 x 1, maybe 2? These come 4 to a pack; a fifth nut may be needed, because I think one of the ends is triangular.

Again, I am still determining what hardware truly needs to be replaced, and what the service manual says to replace for legal purposes. My catalytic converter nuts look pretty crusty, considering that all other hardware under my car is about perfect.

I am hoping that my exhaust gaskets hold up, because replacing both sides of the cat will be about $50.

Oh, and congratulations on the purchase. Yours looks great! Much better looking than mine, with 120k miles. 7 years of apartment complexes, street parking, and in-town commuting are hell on a car.

This is just a little aesthetic thing, but I remember poopshovel singing praises over the 3M headlight restorer kit. I need to try it myself; I remember the HID headlamps being amazing when I first got the car.

I just remembered that I have a picture creeping on the internet from when I first got it:

The years have not been kind.

Thanks again for the part no.'s. My car is no beauty queen either. It's got some rough spots. Passenger door is ruined with lip rust, front fender is dented and ruined from the driver door being backed into over extending the door. The PO was rear-ended and messed up the rear bumper grill and took out the rear lunchbox. The hood is also ruined with rust at the latch area. All in all it needs a driver door, driver fender, hood, and rear bumper grill. I'm not all too concerned with the looks of this car considering the price I paid for it. I figure after a ton of maintenance has been tended to, I will eventually buy replacement body panels in black.

It does get a little daunting looking at how much I will have invested in this car when I'm done with maintenance, but for such a low purchase price, I will basically have a car that I would have paid market value for that has been gone through from bumper to bumper.

No problem! Oh, and if you have a cooling system leaks, check your thermostat housing first. If it is the culprit, don't replace with the SVT part. There's a part for the Escort that has a better casting, and is only a few bucks more. I replaced it a year ago, so I will have to dig for the part number.

Well, you sure don't get much for $700 bucks these days.

Off the top of my head I bought:

• Upper/lower radiator hoses
• Rear Centric rotors x2
• Wearever Silver rear brake pads
• In cabin air filter
• Driverside CV
• New upper motor mounts (oem equiv)
• New t-stat housing
• Timing belt set (gates)
• Serpentine belt
• Left rear caliper (old one sticking)
• Lower motor mount insert (Prothane)
• Valve cover gasket
• Rear main seal (if needed)
• New oem sifter arm and bushing (to fix shifter slop)
• Motorcraft Trans fluid
• Timing belt tools
• OEM Flywheel bolts
• Motorcraft Plugs
• NGK Wires

I still need to buy:

• OEM oil separator (stock is rusted through)
• Dipstick tube (rusted)
• Lower radiator support (rusted)
• Oil pan (rusted)
• Exhaust gaskets
• Front Endlink
• Clutch kit
• Front brake pads
• Front rotors
• Tie rod ends
• Ball joints
• Rear track arm bushings

Needed parts total just under 700 with shipping. That takes my total up to around $1500 in parts once I'm "done." There will be more expenses I know.

I was actually able to do some more work to the car late last night. Been getting a CEL for the Intake Manifold Runner Control (IMRC) module. Luckily there is an easy online fix seen here:

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=222180

This is me removing the cover. I eventually made the repair but I need thermal grease and some clear RTV to put back together.

Mitchell wrote: No problem! Oh, and if you have a cooling system leaks, check your thermostat housing first. If it is the culprit, don't replace with the SVT part. There's a part for the Escort that has a better casting, and is only a few bucks more. I replaced it a year ago, so I will have to dig for the part number.

Please more info on this. I have run across something about using a Contour part, but I think that involves using a new temp sensor and splicing the sensor wire. I replaced my Tstat housing when I did the timing belt as a preventative measure, however I am suspicious the new one may be leaking.

Man, wish you would have sent me a followup email. I have some of those parts you already bought. I'd let them go for cheap. I have a damn axle for a car I don't even own, haha. I still have that MSS dogbone motor mount, MSS pullies, Taylor wires and Motorcraft plugs. Quick peek in the garage showed that I have axle seals, exhaust gaskets, flywheel bolts, SVTF header (might be dented, have to check), a wheel bearing, and more. One cool item is a SCT tuner. All this crap is sitting around and I have no plans on getting another SVTF so let me know!

I had already ordered all this stuff before we emailed. Would be interested in the axle seals and exhaust gaskets because I need both, but right now I'm flat broke. SCT tuner would be sweet as well.

In reply to GTwannaB:

Ask and ye shall receive

Was able to wrench a little tonight. Went through hell unhooking scum welded coolant hoses and removing a radiator that is clipped to the a/c condenser. Something about antifreeze annoys me greatly.

I will get some pictures of how cruddy the engine bay really is. I'm nervous about removing the header bolts.

GTwannaB wrote:

Mitchell wrote: No problem! Oh, and if you have a cooling system leaks, check your thermostat housing first. If it is the culprit, don't replace with the SVT part. There's a part for the Escort that has a better casting, and is only a few bucks more. I replaced it a year ago, so I will have to dig for the part number.

Please more info on this. I have run across something about using a Contour part, but I think that involves using a new temp sensor and splicing the sensor wire. I replaced my Tstat housing when I did the timing belt as a preventative measure, however I am suspicious the new one may be leaking.

Looks like it was for the contour after all. I haven't found my invoice yet from a few years ago, but here is a thread that lists the parts numbers:

http://forums.focaljet.com/ford-svt-focus-headquarters/621238-who-wants-guinea-pig-stat-housing-4.html#post7220760

Post #53.

As mentioned in the thread, you will need a brass plug to finish the job. I found mine at The Fastener Store, but most hardware stores should have them too.

Note: When removing the subframe,I interpreted the arrow pointing directly to the lower control arm to mean, remove the lower control arm bolt. Nope, it is instead referring to a bolt above the lower control arm, invisible in the picture.

Of course the bolts I removed are torque to yield. Jerks.

I'm going to attempt to remove the engine from the top so I can keep the car as a roller while I clean. People on the forums say it will only come out from the bottom, but as with most forums, those people are not speaking from experience. Everyone who says they've attempted to remove the engine from the top has succeeded.

Mitch, where and how much was that service manual?

eBay, and around $80. Money well spent. I'm sure that you can find it as a PDF as well. With this project, I took pictures of every job I needed to do, printed it out, and put it in a binder in the order I needed to do it. Much easier than thumbing through a manual.

I'm working from below because I don't have the room for a cherry picker, nor the know-how to go off-the-book.

It has been slow-going for me, but I attribute that to having to take everything out/put it away every time I use it (no garage) and by operating by the mantra of, "don't berkeley it up... Don't berkeley it up..."

Hmm. I realized that I needed to change the halfshafts after draining the clutch's hydraulic fluid and after putting the car in neutral. Can anyone think of a creative way to lock the axle in place, so that I can loosen the axle retaining nut?

Have a friend stand on the brakes.

ScreaminE wrote: I had already ordered all this stuff before we emailed. Would be interested in the axle seals and exhaust gaskets because I need both, but right now I'm flat broke. SCT tuner would be sweet as well.

Ah, I see. Well let me know when the purse strings loosen up a little. Or better yet, if the money flow isn't in line with the project pace, just drop me a line and I can send the seals and gaskets out. You can pay me when you get the money.

BTW I took the motor out the top so it's definitely doable. I have a whole motor mounted to a stand in my garage. Damn shame I never got to put it in.

Mitchell wrote: Hmm. I realized that I needed to change the halfshafts after draining the clutch's hydraulic fluid and after putting the car in neutral. Can anyone think of a creative way to lock the axle in place, so that I can loosen the axle retaining nut?

http://m.harborfreight.com/12-in-electric-impact-wrench-68099.html

This is what I used. Car in neutral on jack stands. Zipped right off.

bgkast wrote: Have a friend stand on the brakes.

Why didn't I think of that? Thank you!

Now, I'm thinking of what other little things I can replace. The front wheel bearings are new; I replaced one of the rear bearings last month , and it made such a huge difference in how quiet the car cruised (before the bearing when crush-boom-scraaaaaape).

A case of the might-as-wells. It's a serious affliction , y'know.

I'm almost thinking that I should make my own thread, although I like having some communal knowledge in this one.

In other news, I'm thankful for living in the south. Why? The ten-year-old crusty exhaust nuts came off easily.

I'm currently doing almost the same thing to my SVT. It turned out to be a turd. The kid (18yrs) sounded like he knew what he was talking about and since his dad owned a repair shop, figured it was a good buy. It figures that this kid was a complete hack job. At least in my case, the clutch and timing belt were recently done.

Here's what I've done/is wrong so far:

Valve cover/VCT gasket/plugs/wires- Had a huge vct leak that ruined everything, causing a miss that he claimed was normal.

Cold air intake on the stock box was never hooked up and had a black filter. Luckily I had a stock box from my old one laying around.

All fluids original....and had zero coolant in it.

Ball joints all ripped from lowering spring install, replacing with new Moog control arms.

Putting a new stock suspension back in, I discovered he never replaced one of the rear springs. So it has one lowering spring in one side and the stock in the other. W T F

Lug nuts all mismatched.

Tires are corded on the inside from never having an alignment done after lowering. Tread is like new on the outside.

Radio doesn't work....and he works for a stereo shop.

That's just from fixing the most noticeable issues. I now have to go through literally the entire car to make sure things are done right. I can't imagine what kind of work comes out of his dad's shop.

FWIW, just buy new control arms. They're only ~$100 and good ball joints are $50. And if you want my lowering springs, let me know, they were only on the car for 10k.....and one is still new! Also, be VERY careful what you read on the focus forums. Most of the people on there are like that kid.