Hi, Guest
03-03-2012, 03:08 AM
No offence taken ZTWsquared. The hardest thing to do when writing comments on these forums, is try not to insult other people. (My statement was meant to elicit an image of an old guy holding his fingers, well 20 mm apart or about the diameter of a bottle cap reminiscent of the old "Get Smart" series, missed it by that much.)
To review, it has now been a year and also remember it was my son who did all of the work. Focus wagons I think mostly (or all) have drum rear brakes. Another issue was the rear suspension on the wagon, while independent, was not easily adjustable. The drums were removed by cutting the welds. Mounts for the SVT rear brakes were fabricated from a combination of existing and replacement pieces. While we were replacing the brakes, we also installed H&R lowering springs (25 mm in the rear, 35 mm in front - I think - whatever they offer.) The rear pieces on each side that are non-adjustable on the original wagon, were replaced with adjustable pieces (should be available at any reputable wheel alignment shop.) The emergency brake cable was sourced from Ford (it was the cable intended for the five door model Focus. The dealer insisted we needed the wagon cable, but that was the wrong length.) The only thing still left to do is hook up the ABS sensors. That will be part of the work left for this winter or early spring. Our next task is to replace the stock SVT rotors with slotted rotors and hopefully we can hook up the ABS sensors so that we can also use the SVT traction control. And yes, that should shut off some of the dash warning lights.
Of course, as an old guy, I don't drive the wagon to the limits, but obviously they are way beyond my needs. I just like shifting gears (I lust after the new Porsche 911 with a seven speed manual.)
The other problem we found was the lowering springs meant anytime we hit a serious bump on the road, there was some tire rub. That problem will be addressed by using a rim roller tool to give us that extra couple of millimetres clearance.
The car in its present make-up is driven daily and has had racked up well in excess of 10,000 km since it was built (although I tend not to drive it in slush and on icy roads.) Also, please excuse me for being somewhat vague on the details; my son did all the work, I just did the dreaming. So any and all information here is second hand.
To review, it has now been a year and also remember it was my son who did all of the work. Focus wagons I think mostly (or all) have drum rear brakes. Another issue was the rear suspension on the wagon, while independent, was not easily adjustable. The drums were removed by cutting the welds. Mounts for the SVT rear brakes were fabricated from a combination of existing and replacement pieces. While we were replacing the brakes, we also installed H&R lowering springs (25 mm in the rear, 35 mm in front - I think - whatever they offer.) The rear pieces on each side that are non-adjustable on the original wagon, were replaced with adjustable pieces (should be available at any reputable wheel alignment shop.) The emergency brake cable was sourced from Ford (it was the cable intended for the five door model Focus. The dealer insisted we needed the wagon cable, but that was the wrong length.) The only thing still left to do is hook up the ABS sensors. That will be part of the work left for this winter or early spring. Our next task is to replace the stock SVT rotors with slotted rotors and hopefully we can hook up the ABS sensors so that we can also use the SVT traction control. And yes, that should shut off some of the dash warning lights.
Of course, as an old guy, I don't drive the wagon to the limits, but obviously they are way beyond my needs. I just like shifting gears (I lust after the new Porsche 911 with a seven speed manual.)
The other problem we found was the lowering springs meant anytime we hit a serious bump on the road, there was some tire rub. That problem will be addressed by using a rim roller tool to give us that extra couple of millimetres clearance.
The car in its present make-up is driven daily and has had racked up well in excess of 10,000 km since it was built (although I tend not to drive it in slush and on icy roads.) Also, please excuse me for being somewhat vague on the details; my son did all the work, I just did the dreaming. So any and all information here is second hand.