Hey all! It took awhile to find you again, luckily I found the new address in my inbox amidst all the junk mail and new e-bill notifications.
I bought a new Focus. I still have the red one but I bought this beast from Larry in Florida. This is the infamous RoRo hatch. It has been passed around like a doobie and finally found it's way to Texas. Ive made a bunch of progress on it already so here are the pics from day one to today:
Here is when she first arrived. At this point, I had already loosly attached the hood and fenders. It showed up with them in the hatch instead of on the car.
Then I started pulling stuff out.
The lines have been left open for years. I figured the evaperator was probablly crudded up and the lines rotted so bye bye AC:
Spent some time getting the fenders and hood lined up right. Bumper was donated by a local jetter and the grill was my old one off the red sedan.
Everything else has now been removed. you can also see my getrag shifter and cables installed. The only piece that will remain is the dash and a corbeau seat I bought from a friend.
I already have a crate engine and used getrag transmission. I should be ready to hang the motor within a week or two. I also just bought a cold air intake and a few interior pieces to complete the dash. pics as updates come available.
Last edited on Tue Mar 18th, 2008 12:39 am by TXFO
Hey T-Man, glad you found us again with the new url. That looks like a fun project you got there. Keep us updated as the board has been getting a little busier lately. Thank God!
ok. so for anyone who dosent know, this car was featured in sport compact car magazine in like 01. It had a bunch of ricey early 2000's gear on it and one of the first turbo kits ever. After a blown motor, it ended up getting passed around from person to person, losing more and more parts.
I finally got it and I have the parts it needs. It was missing so much interior stuff, I decided just to finish the job and knock it down to just a dash. Ive begged alot of parts and bought a bunch more. The first goal is to get it driving. After that, Im having it painted flat black and continuing the mods untill Im tired of it or out of money. I bought 3 more parts just tonight and everyday Im recieveing more things to make this car run. Eventually, this thing will be a good track car and a great looker.
So what exactly are you doing to it? Gutting it and building a race car?
I'll race you to see whos gets on the road faster
____________________ Project FocusFast
'06 ZX3- Intake, exhaust, mount
'01 ZX3- Salvaged, SOLD
'01 ZX3- Repo'd several years ago
'80 RX7 SA- Where the f*** did THAT come from?
well, Its a little more than a straight gut job. Yes its being gutted but Im also putting in a brand new zetec engine with FR head shaved some, stage 2 cams, and aluminum flywheel. This is being mated to a used getrag transmission I picked up a few months ago. Im using an SVT header and SVT to Zetec ORP and a FocusSport stealth exhaust.
The car is so light I imagine the lowering springs on it already will not be low enough so probablly a set of PSS9's with a shorter set of coils will be ordered. I have a corbeau forza 2 seat for it and Im buying the steeda street cage with harness bar. Im also looking into getting lexan windows for it. SVT brakes all the way around are planned for it.
Body wise, the car will all be painted flat black with red accents to match the powdercoated valve cover I have.
My plans for it are local auto-x and some road course use at Harris Hill and Cannon base.
Mine is nowhere near finished- I just want to get it on the road. I need: PS lines, radiator hoses, acc. belt, plugs, wires, intake, and to re-assemble the front clip. Oh and the big one, KEYS. But the keys are coming next month. The PS lines are on order at the stealership, I have a $100 gift card to Checker Auto Parts (intake, hoses + belt here I come!) and everything else I'll probably order from Rock Auto since their prices are dirt cheap. I'm pretty much right where you are, except my motor is in but I don't have keys.
I'm just hoping to God that my state doesn't require airbags to pass inspection.
____________________ Project FocusFast
'06 ZX3- Intake, exhaust, mount
'01 ZX3- Salvaged, SOLD
'01 ZX3- Repo'd several years ago
'80 RX7 SA- Where the f*** did THAT come from?
I picked up the tailights that 1svt4u2c was nice enough to donate to me. They look great and I put them on first thing when I got there. I still plan on cleaning them up and redoing the nightshade but how can I resist installing new parts!?
I also got my new center tit and was disapointed when I saw it had a large scratch on it. I decided to sand it down and repaint it satin black. It'll look OEM but take care of the scratch. Here is the tit after removing the switches but before prep and paint.
While I waited for the paint to dry, I cleaned up the wiring some and put the lower panel on I think Im missing a start enable clutch switch, I guess I'll just short the connector together. :dunno:
After a few more coats, I spent the waiting time by pulling the car out of its hole and giving it a quick wash to clear off the muddy rain we had last week. I must say, she looks damn good!
by this time, I was done painting the tit. But I decided patience was the better part of valor and left it in the car to dry overnight before installing it. I'll go back tomorrow and actually put it in.
When I got home today, this was sitting on the table for me. :party: Im going to swap the ****ty rubber couplers out for nice black silicone ones and get some black hose clamps. Give it that nice murdered look. :thumbup: I know the maf section is no good but Its ok I know how to fix this, Im the mechanic. Im taking it to the shop and using the chop saw to cut out the maf section. then i'll be able to use the stock maf housing in its place for a quality CAI at a fraction of the price. I also have a better filter sitting in my closet.
Wish I could have done more but I feel pretty acomplished and things are progressing as they should. I have fogs and lower grill coming as well as engine parts and other odds and ends.
I went to the stealership to pick up my PS line and they were closed.
____________________ Project FocusFast
'06 ZX3- Intake, exhaust, mount
'01 ZX3- Salvaged, SOLD
'01 ZX3- Repo'd several years ago
'80 RX7 SA- Where the f*** did THAT come from?
spent some more time at prestige today, working on the car.
I finished painting the coolant and power steering resevoirs today. there is a BMW ZF powersteering resevoir siting on the return shelf at work. Its been there for weeks, I keep thinking what if it just disappeared? :evilgrin: Maybe I'll snag that and replace the stocker.
Then I installed the lower radiator support bar.
Im planning on painting the engine bay flat black this weekend. In the interest of money, I'll be rattle-canning the engine bay. I'll use a pro for the outside of the car but the engine bay is no biggie. I'll scotchbrite the panels with the 90* and then flat it with the can.
Here are some pics of the car overall as Im just so damn pround of it. painted the corner vents black too.
Here are two pics of the murdered out resevoirs installed. Im thinking I might install the SVTF degass cover on the red car since the painted tank looks pretty good. Im also going to paint the brake resevoir and the fuse box black.
I'd reccomend NOT painting the master cyl. resevoir... you don't really want to get low on brake fluid without noticing.
____________________ Project FocusFast
'06 ZX3- Intake, exhaust, mount
'01 ZX3- Salvaged, SOLD
'01 ZX3- Repo'd several years ago
'80 RX7 SA- Where the f*** did THAT come from?
the pics dont show it but I did tape off a window on the coolant resevoir so I could see the level. Thats the only fluid Im really worried about being able to easily check the level. I even thought about buying the resevoir from a BMW Z3 becuase its about the same size and shape but has a level float in it (its also black). It would be easy enough to rig that up to another light for a warning. who knows, maybe I still will.
If it isnt pouring tomorrow, I'll be painting my engine bay.
I didnt get to really do anything yesterday because MArk took the day off and closed the shop. A heads up would have been nice. :lol: Oh well. I showed up and tried to do something. Unfortunately I didnt even have a pocket screwdriver to pop all the clips off the interior. I decided just to try some little test patches with the flat black paint to see how it would come out. Here are the results.
this before paint, cleaned up the area.
now here it is with some paint. It looks a little uneven because I took the pic before it was totally dry.
test patch on the frame rail.
I think it looks awesome! If I was drunker and dumber, Id rattle can the outside too. I used the rest of my day to go pickup a lower grill from Derrick and clean up the foglights CjMartinyZX3 sent me.
I also bought a new steering column and a clutch line that should arrive late next week.
Last edited on Sun Mar 30th, 2008 03:31 pm by TXFO
I'll show you my pics when I'm done. Of course my project isn't anywhere near as large as both of yours.
Unless you count the '68 but I can tell you right now that you both will be done your projects before the '68 is anwhere near being put back together nevermind in one piece and driving.
my clutch started slipping AND I developed a major misfire. I havent been able to go to the shop and work on it lately. I did manage to paint the engine bay black, I just dont have any pics up yet. Its also been raining all week. I'll have another update this weekend.
dammit what a long day! After working my normal job, I went to work on the hatch.
Here is a pic of the base coat of flat black I put down a few days ago.
you can see the oak pollen that has built up already. :rolleyes:
So I had to wash it off to paint it again.
while I waited for the water to evaporate, I pulled more junk off the interior, removed the antenna cable, and managed to pry off some of the sound deadener. Once the water had dried up, 2 more rattle cans went to work on it.
ALL DONE!!!!
I know it dosent look like alot but It took me all damn day and I still have to put the wiring harness back in place along with the headlights and grille. I'll do that tomorrow if my wife lets me out of the house. Maybe she'll go to church with the kids and I can sneak over there. :evilgrin:
steering column and clutch line will be here next week, then I'll be alot closer to dropping the motor and trans.
I decided to sand it down and repaint it satin black. It'll look OEM but take care of the scratch. Here is the tit after removing the switches but before prep and paint.
Im taking it to the shop and using the chop saw to cut out the maf section. then i'll be able to use the stock maf housing in its place for a quality CAI at a fraction of the price. I also have a better filter sitting in my closet. 
