this is a link to a body kit that I could be convinced to purchase. Anyone ahve any thoughts? I don't want it for the winter, but I am not above bouncing back and forth.
IMO, and this is just my opinion, you'd be better off spending your money to make the car go fast than to look fast. There's a lot of decent performance parts out there for our cars for fairly good prices.
If you are bent on making the car look good, the first step would be a nice set of wheels. Bodykits on cars with stock wheels never look good. For a couple hundred more $$ (sctually, cheaper once you count painting the bodykit) you can have a really nice set of aftermarket wheels. Pick up a copy of Sport Compact Car magazine and look at the wheel specials available. A nice set of 17's with tires can go for as little as $600, and they'll look a whole lot better on the car than some eBay bodykit.
As for the kit, I am torn between saying it's garbage since it is a knock off and is so cheap, but at the same time, the knockoffs are getting to be so good quality lately, so I've been told.
Knockoff parts can go either way- I've got a set of cheapo knock-off fenders on PFF2, and they don't line up for crap. On the other hand, I have a knock-off hood, and it fits well.
If you REALLY want to make your Focus look stellar, you can't go wrong with the European-spec bumpers. Yes, they're kind of expensive, but they are the hottest thing under the sun.
____________________ 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?
As a general rule I agree that performance is king to looks. So talk to me about bolt-ons to gain performance. I don't believe, and never have believed that anything to do with the exhaust will gain WHP of any noticable level on a normally aspirated car. You'll gain noise volume but thats about it. My thought is that unless you are introducing considerably more air into an engine you won't get any more air out of it by opening the exhaust. I'm far from an expert though so teach me what you can.
One thing I ask is that you don't suggest a Turbonator or throttle body spacer or any other gimmicky thing.
Do these cool looking wires with braided stainless ground straps work well for the plug wires? I've never seen a plug wire with its own ground like these ebay wires and they claim to be 10.5mm wires. i haven't checked the local prices, but the set was under $30 including shipping.
Thanks a ton for your help. This is one of the least active message boards I've participated on but it has been one of the best in terms of getting decent replies and helpful info. Thanks again, all of you.
I wouldn't steer you wrong. I don't believe in gimmicky crap. That stuff doesn't work. I used to run a small-time Focus performance parts business. I believe Mr.Versatile is still using one of my short-ram intakes.
There is HP to be had by a cat-back exhaust. Believe it or don't, there are dyno charts to prove it. The stock exhaust is restrictive, and opening it up a little will only gain you HP. It may not be much NUMBER wise, but remember, a 5whp gain is ~a 4% gain. There are "quiet" exhausts out there, or you could have one made at a muffler shop. Even if you still use "quiet" mufflers, you can still gain by going larger size. The stock exhaust is an aneimic 1.75".... about 1/2" smaller than you want for maximum performance on even an otherwise stock engine.
The easiest mod you could do for HP gain without sacrificing ANYTHING (except a little green and a little elbow grease) is an underdrive pulley. You can net 7whp from this simple mod. And it doesn't affect anything else! No more engine noise than normal- you won't notice anything but the power.
Now, if you really want "bang-for-your-buck", you want to look into a nitrous oxide system. A 75hp shot is reliable on the stock engine. PFF2 is going to be running juice on my first engine, most likely a 100hp shot. Maybe 125. I like to push things a little. But anyway, a good nitrous system, like Nitrous Express' wet EFI system, is real "bang for your buck". Of course, when running nitrous, you want to free up the exhuast a little.
There are TONS of parts out there for the Zetec- pretty much anything you can imagine. I don't imagine you have 3 grand to blow, so I will keep away from the supercharger setups. If you do, however, the PowerWorks setup is so far the best one on the market. 220whp is easy with that bad boy.
You want to talk performance, I am your man. With a project car on the way with 300whp for <$3k as my goal, I'm learning every trick in the book to squeeze a little more out of the Zetec- for as cheap as possible. I won't sell you on something I wouldn't run in my own car, and I'll tell it how it is.
As a Focus enthusiast, I want everyone to enjoy owning a Focus as much as I do- there's a reason I currently own 3.
____________________ 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?
Awesome, thank you. I hope to be calling on an exhaust system tomorrow because my muffler has a series of rust holes in it and my resonator is long gone (PO must have wanted more volume). For little or no money I'm willing to try it, but I've never noticed anything on the dozen or so vehicles that I've tried oversized exhaust on.
I'm not sold on Nitrous primarily because I intend to autocross this thing and the sudden and severe boost of nitrous seems only beneficial on straight sections of track. Those straight sections are few and far between typically.
Any recommendations on a brand of underdrive pulleys? I'm guessing that it'll be cheaper to buy than to build (the set) when figuring any kind of value on my time.
Let me see what I can bring up as far as an underdrive pulley goes. Don't go any larger than 2.5" with the exhaust- 2.25" is pretty much ideal, and won't be too loud providing you get a decent muffler. I ran a 2.25" on my Mazda and it was just barely louder than stock, even with just a glasspack for the main muffler and an APC "cannon" muffler on the end.
UDP's: Ideally, you want as much underdrive as possible. I milled a one-off 52% underdrive pulley and never had an issue (except that the material I used was flawed and failed). But I never saw a cooling issue, and anything above 1000 RPM and the lights weren't dim.
Check it out for yourself. AFX being the most HP (smallest pulley). Stock pulley is 5.2", AFX is 3.5", 33% underdrive, most of the others are ~20%.
EDIT: AND by the way- DISREGARD the AEM pulley- it is garbage. 1hp maybe. All it is is an alternator pulley, not a crank pulley like you'd really want.
EDIT AGAIN: And it's probably going to cost the same at an exhaust shop for stock size or larger size, MAYBE a little bit more. You might as well just go bigger. Especially since you're planning to replace the exhaust anyway.
____________________ 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?
ProjectFocusFast wrote: UDP's: Ideally, you want as much underdrive as possible. I milled a one-off 52% underdrive pulley and never had an issue (except that the material I used was flawed and failed). But I never saw a cooling issue, and anything above 1000 RPM and the lights weren't dim.
Check it out for yourself. AFX being the most HP (smallest pulley). Stock pulley is 5.2", AFX is 3.5", 33% underdrive, most of the others are ~20%.
EDIT: AND by the way- DISREGARD the AEM pulley- it is garbage. 1hp maybe. All it is is an alternator pulley, not a crank pulley like you'd really want.
Actually, for the zetec motor, there is a pulley smaller. A guy on TeamZX2 makes them. They are a 40% underdrive. I had one on my ZX2 and had no issues with the material it was made of during the 10k miles I ran it. The only issue I had was that my alternator wasn't charging enough for my car in the desert heat. A Alternator ODP fixed that.
Well let me know when you find this UDP. It still doesn't beat my 52%
____________________ 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?
He's just getting his 4th group buy made. I think that you can still get in on it for $85 shipped w/ the belt. After he has them made, the price jumps to $93 shipped for the few extras he has made.
Any recommendations on material? I am a pretty fair machinist and what I can't do, I have an excellent machinist as a best friend, and an even better one as a father. Especially if I only need the crank pulley. Is there any harm in making a larger alt pulley?
There's no HARM in running a larger alt. pulley.... but there'a really no GAIN either. Especially because the Focus turns the alternator off at wide-open-throttle. So the only time it'll actually do anything is when you're NOT flooring it
As far as material, get a good piece of 60-61 spun aluminum. They're a chore to make. Also, you'll need to get a keyway cutter. I don't remember what size. Unless you plan on making more than 1, there's no sense in buying the materials and special tools, in my opinion.
____________________ 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?
Spun aluminum? Why would you start there? It would be a whole lot cheaper to start with a solid bar, removing material with a lathe to create a cylindrical shape. As much as I hate to use the word, "billet" aluminum seems like the better choice but please elaborate if you really meant "spun" or if the term does not mean formed via a spinning operation starting with a round sheet of raw material.
Anyway, I have a full set of broaching tools available to me and I question whether or not they are necessary. What would be the harm in using a 0.060" cutter and simply making the cut slightly deeper (away fromt he center)? For that matter, do you gain anything by not going with a tool steel like O1 or even A2? I could go thinner to cut weight and it's easier to get ahold of.
I'm just thinking of cost cutting at this point. I'm going to call my old shop to see what they have on the shelf. They use some T? grade of heat treated aluminum for quite a few things and that stuff had an incredible compression rate (density). Higher than many steels.
Thanks again for the guidance. Do you hae a supercharger in the works for your Focus?
I noticed the vast majority of pulleys out there were made of 60-61 spun aluminum. I thought about the bar-stock idea as well, just make sure you have a good piece (that's what I used and it failed).
Pretty much no matter what you use, it'll be lighter than the stock steel pulley. That thing weighs a ton!
Billet would probably work well, too. I just used what I had, which was a piece of bar stock. It warped around where it bolts to the crankshaft, bent and started vibrating. Stock pulley went back on.
My supercharger setup is for my second motor. My first motor is going to be all nitrous, while I save the money up to build the boost motor. I'm looking for 220whp with the nitrous on an otherwise stock engine (+ bolt ons).
____________________ 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?
heard of minor fit problems which were taken care of with trimming, otherwise just complaints of breaking the front bumper below the bigmouth.
then again im not a fan of the evo kit, theres way better looking kits out there.
my friend bought that same kit,,came cracked and he had to wait on the guy to send him a repair kit,,,but it turned out awsome,,,looks great on a focus....if u know how to do body work then id say get one,,,if u dont,,,dont do it unless u got the money to pay someone to fix it,,,also,,fiberglass dont fit really good when u get a kit,,,so u might have to cutt and drill and make it fit
