[Gear] crunch time & losing its cool... RFU's adventures with a MK2 Focus that escaped death and proves to be a free* car

[puddlethumper]

Well done. Excellent shite.

[RoverFolkUs]

More progress - it drove out absolutely fine! 

It's currently parked outside waiting for me to find the inclination to get all the other little bits back together 

After a miniscule test drive (50 yards!?) it seemed transformed to be honest, the clutch is so much better and I never realized there was anything up with it, new slave cylinder with fresh fluid has solved a problem that I never knew existed! Bonus! 

Couldn't drive it any further as the driveshafts aren't in the hubs properly due to some rust which I need to clean off, I can't use the bolt to pull them through as they're only 13mm stretch bolts and they'll snap. 

Also it's not insured or taxed, which is a bit of a hurdle. 

I'm insured to drive any car, so there's a workaround, might just have to drive it to a pre booked MOT and "stop off" on the way, home, to address the tax situation 😉

I'll be away for a couple of weeks after this weekend so I don't want to tax it for this month for the sake of a couple of days... Cheapskate problems 😂

I'll gather all the paperwork, and crunch the numbers for those interested in the next couple of days

[RoverFolkUs]

Been slowly getting the little bits back together on this. There are lots of fiddly things to do, like refitting clips to wiring, hoses, pipes etc and go around checking nothing is fouling, and everything is routed correctly, etc etc

Lots of faffing around with the underbody heatshields, the flood water ripped some of them off their fixings but I've refitted them with repair washers as I'd rather not remove them altogether. 

I had the car on a different ramp this evening, and something rather unpleasant caught my eye.. 

(The nearside was facing the wall before, so it hadn't caught my eye, but today the offside was facing the wall so I was walking past the nearside a lot more. When it was airborne, I found this...) 

Hard to describe, but that suspicious tide mark is kind of facing at a 45 degree angle downwards, so when the car was on the ground I never noticed this. 

Oh dear..  

Didn't take much poking to find a hole

Better get that welded up as well then... 🤬

[sierraman]

Shit! At least the sill cover will hide the patch. This is part of the reason I’m moving my attention to the Mk3 as a lot of Mk2 seem to be very rusty now. 

[RoverFolkUs]

6 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Shit! At least the sill cover will hide the patch. This is part of the reason I’m moving my attention to the Mk3 as a lot of Mk2 seem to be very rusty now. 

Yes that's a good point, I think those sill covers are totally pointless as well

I think it seems to be fairly isolated. I was really surprised to see it as it's the only structural rust on this car, the offside sill and all the underside is structurally solid, and I can't see any evidence of it having had any welding before

The rear suspension looks like it was fished out from the bottom of the ocean, as they all do, but the rest of it is solid structurally! The bottom of the drivers front wing is beginning to dissolve. No holes yet but if I poked it I bet it would create some 

Not bad for a 17 year old Ford to be honest, but yes like you say, a lot of them are getting really rusty now

[beko1987]

Well shit... Still, your in too deep now! 🎇🎇🧨

 

Gr9 for it still running and a bonus improved clutch though 

[RoverFolkUs]

Just now, beko1987 said:

Well shit... Still, your in too deep now! 🎇🎇🧨

 

Gr9 for it still running and a bonus improved clutch though 

Yeah it's usually better to make sure a car isn't rotten as a pear before replacing the engine but we'll go with it 😂

Luckily I'm doing all this myself otherwise it would have cost a fortune. I can't imagine anyone else would have undertaken the work, rather just led it round the back and shot it in the head 😂

(I like that expression, which I stole from someone on here )

[RoverFolkUs]

I've also just remembered that the ABS light has come back on for some reason. Not too sure why, so I've also got that to sort out!

[tooSavvy]

The 'auld GETZ', I think, isn't ready for 'a round in the head'[yet ...]

Money Light 😮?

My dash lights up like a Xmas tree... Then they ALL go out (but for handbrake, obvz..).

I live in constant fear.....

*Discovered a Big zipper, down the edge of the front seats.... AirBags ☹️💥

Yoo R N eerohh, M9 👍😉

[RoverFolkUs]

And it's finally FINISHED!!

All back together, running sweet as a nut!

Cooling system bled and run up to temperature all ok, air con regassed and ice cold, new rear shoes and drums fitted. 

Still no sign of any leaks from the power steering pipes although time will tell on that

All that's left to do is the cambelt and water pump. Possibly would have been better to do it while it was out of the car but I wanted to make sure it was a runner first. A slightly suspicious noise emanating from the cambelt cover when hot so I'm going to do it just incase 

The signs/smell of burning oil has cleared, so no worries there for now.

Unfortunately this engine does suffer from the death rattle on startup, a little bit more frequent than the old one did but that was an inherent risk with these engines. It doesn't seem to harm them, so I'll live with it

Will crunch the numbers tomorrow if I remember to bring the paperwork home! 

Now to sneak it back home.. it's a walkable distance so hopefully I don't have to "pick anything up from home" on the way to the MOT station 😉

[beko1987]

Sill covers nicely refitted with the rust watermarks polished off for the intrim I assume? 🤣

 

Good luck with the mot 🤞

[RoverFolkUs]

3 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Sill covers nicely refitted with the rust watermarks polished off for the intrim I assume? 🤣

 

Good luck with the mot 🤞

No MOT needed, it's an imaginary one for the no tax situation and being too tight fisted to tax it and lose the whole of this month 😉

[RoverFolkUs]

Oh, and the ABS light it seems was triggered while the car was up in the air. As it came up no signal from nearside and offside rear wheel speed sensors. Cleared the codes, they haven't come back, checked live data and they appear to be working ok so no problem there, it just got confused. Free fix. Winner

[High Jetter]

How much for a random, mister?

[RoverFolkUs]

34 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

How much for a random, mister?

I think I'm going to keep it for a bit after all of this!! 😅

[GregZX]

Amazing work. Pretty jealous of your skillz. 

[puddlethumper]

Well done @RoverFolkUs.  Proper job.

[RoverFolkUs]

Thank you @GregZX and @puddlethumper 

So, time to crunch the numbers.. ouch! This is the biggest repair bill I've ever had on a car... 

- Engine - £335.00

- Thermostat housing - £60.96

- Cambelt kit - £46.08

- Water pump - £36.14 + £29.23 (incorrect one will be sent back) 

- Concentric slave cylinder - £25.90

- Brake drum pair - £84.00

- Brake shoe set - £24.00

- Aux belt pair - £37.54

- 4x Spark plugs - £12.14

- Air filter - £10.16

- Oil filter - £4.37

- Sump plug - £3.46 

- Engine oil - FREE

- Coolant - FREE

- CHF Power Steering fluid - FREE

- Air con regas m8 - FREE

- Gearbox oil - FREE

- Clutch fluid - FREE

Bringing a grand total of.... 

£708.99!! 

I've roughly calculated 19 man hours, but that includes getting everything out and packing away, and tea breaks, on 7 occasions so probably 12-14 hours of solid work? 

The freebies are perks of the job, I'm free to use workshop stock fluids and consumables. Anything I order specifically needs to be paid for. Oil out of the big barrel of 5w-30 does not need to be paid for

The power steering fluid arguably wasn't free, but I had a couple of bottles left over from my other Focus so it was effectively already paid for, and just sitting there. 

So, all in all, what work was actually done? 

- Replacement engine installed. 

- New thermostat housing. 

- New concentric clutch slave cylinder (clutch disc and pressure plate reused) 

- Fuel rail/injectors swapped from old to new engine, they were the only difference despite being the same engine code 🤷

- Replacement starter motor from new engine. Need to bench test the old one to see if I need to bin it or keep it

- New auxiliary belts

- New rear brake shoes and drums 

- Air con regas

- New engine oil, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs, gearbox oil

- Will have new coolant when the cambelt and water pump is fitted in a couple of weeks 

What's left to do? 

- The cambelt + water pump

- Small patch of welding to nearside sill

- Sort the bead leak on O/S/F wheel 

What do I have at the end of it? (The above outstanding fixes are at no extra cost or already accounted for) 

A MK2 Focus that drives absolutely BRILLIANTLY

Honestly, the drive home was a feeling of satisfaction like no other. I knew this car drove superbly and all this work has only improved its comfort thanks to the fixed heating/air con, and the new concentric slave cylinder + fluid. 

It's going to be a fully sorted car, it's cost me about £700 and a shit load of time. Was it worth it? I think so. But only because I knew this car drove as well as it did. 

Will tax it next month and just use it. Yay!

[High Jetter]

A free* car for £700, and the satisfaction that you've sorted it properly? Priceless. 

[Popsicle]

Thats good going there mate, you've no chance of getting a sorted car for that money these days and you have the satisfaction of knowing the jobs been done properly - I know where to bring the Caddy when it next shits itself 🤣.

[Spiny Norman]

That's not bad really. Bet you'd spend more fitting a new exhaust and a couple of new tyres on the same car if you were daft enough to go to Kwik Sht.

[sierraman]

Bargain! Now don’t drive through floods again! 

[Low ontime]

9 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Thank you @GregZX and @puddlethumper 

So, time to crunch the numbers.. ouch! This is the biggest repair bill I've ever had on a car... 

- Engine - £335.00

- Thermostat housing - £60.96

- Cambelt kit - £46.08

- Water pump - £36.14 + £29.23 (incorrect one will be sent back) 

- Concentric slave cylinder - £25.90

- Brake drum pair - £84.00

- Brake shoe set - £24.00

- Aux belt pair - £37.54

- 4x Spark plugs - £12.14

- Air filter - £10.16

- Oil filter - £4.37

- Sump plug - £3.46 

- Engine oil - FREE

- Coolant - FREE

- CHF Power Steering fluid - FREE

- Air con regas m8 - FREE

- Gearbox oil - FREE

- Clutch fluid - FREE

Bringing a grand total of.... 

£708.99!! 

I've roughly calculated 19 man hours, but that includes getting everything out and packing away, and tea breaks, on 7 occasions so probably 12-14 hours of solid work? 

The freebies are perks of the job, I'm free to use workshop stock fluids and consumables. Anything I order specifically needs to be paid for. Oil out of the big barrel of 5w-30 does not need to be paid for

The power steering fluid arguably wasn't free, but I had a couple of bottles left over from my other Focus so it was effectively already paid for, and just sitting there. 

So, all in all, what work was actually done? 

- Replacement engine installed. 

- New thermostat housing. 

- New concentric clutch slave cylinder (clutch disc and pressure plate reused) 

- Fuel rail/injectors swapped from old to new engine, they were the only difference despite being the same engine code 🤷

- Replacement starter motor from new engine. Need to bench test the old one to see if I need to bin it or keep it

- New auxiliary belts

- New rear brake shoes and drums 

- Air con regas

- New engine oil, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs, gearbox oil

- Will have new coolant when the cambelt and water pump is fitted in a couple of weeks 

What's left to do? 

- The cambelt + water pump

- Small patch of welding to nearside sill

- Sort the bead leak on O/S/F wheel 

What do I have at the end of it? (The above outstanding fixes are at no extra cost or already accounted for) 

A MK2 Focus that drives absolutely BRILLIANTLY

Honestly, the drive home was a feeling of satisfaction like no other. I knew this car drove superbly and all this work has only improved its comfort thanks to the fixed heating/air con, and the new concentric slave cylinder + fluid. 

It's going to be a fully sorted car, it's cost me about £700 and a shit load of time. Was it worth it? I think so. But only because I knew this car drove as well as it did. 

Will tax it next month and just use it. Yay!

Turned out well all in all then!

run like a Swiss watch after all that effort and everything non engine else is known to be good…..

still a pisser about having to weld a sill after all that, but as said it’s a 17 year old Ford and at one point in the 90s most mk3/4/5 escorts would start to droop just going up on a 2 poster which cracking noises on the way.

heroic effort,  you 1 scrap man nil!!! 

[beko1987]

Dunno why you bothered m8, can get £700 focus's all day long... 

(was the first sub £1k one I could find, fuck me it looks grim!) 

[RoverFolkUs]

6 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Dunno why you bothered m8, can get £700 focus's all day long... 

(was the first sub £1k one I could find, fuck me it looks grim!) 

Not a bad price actually, but yeah I bet it's grim! 

To an ordinary person it's a better option than paying for all the labour on top I suppose

Looking at the MOT it probably wants a set of rubber quite soon as an immediate expense, is the cambelt due, etc etc

[sierraman]

You can’t get any Focus worth having for less than £1,500. Probably closer to £2,000 for something with some reasonable length of life left in it so really £700 is small beer to keep it on the road. 

[GregZX]

This has basically been a mechanical restoration of an old Ford Focus. 
 

This kind of madness is why we have  survivors from the 70s. 

[sierraman]

The Mk2 is a pretty tough mother fucker. They rust but rarely bad enough to write one off, the 1.6 keeps going while it’s got enough oil, it’ll rattle but keep going. I think just general apathy sees them off, they can look cosmetically terrible but be quite sound mechanically. Ours is what you’d best describe as careworn but it plods into with the minimum of fuss plus everything is fifteen quid. Brake pads... £14 delivered... oil £16 for 5 litres... genuine Ford oil filter...£7 delivered.

They’re an absolute piece of piss to work on as well with the exception of the rear suspension which is the work of the absolute devil, to the point the easiest way sometimes is to drop the entire rear axle on some of them. It’s one of those cars that is annoyingly competent, there’s no real pain points on them. 

[RoverFolkUs]

Its the start of the month, and you know what that means for a skinflint motorist... Yep, time to tax it!

So its taxed & insured back on the road

No breakdown cover yet, but what better thing to do other than take it on a 40 mile journey anyway!?

Well, it didn't skip a beat. I cant believe how well this old beast both cleans up and drives for a 17 year old Ford, I've driven cars that are 5 years old that feel more tired than this, seriously!

Air con has held gas and still operates perfectly so there are clearly no major leaks if any at all. There isnt a single record in its extensive history file that would suggest the air con was ever regassed so maybe it literally did just need a regas m9!

What more can I say? You seriously cannot get better value for money "an car" for that sort of money.

Resealed the bead leak but its going to want a couple of tyres in the next few months, and that patch welding on the sill so after a little fettling come MOT time it'll be right as rain.

That's all for now folks!

[RoverFolkUs]

Enter this excerpt from the news 24 thread: 

2 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Fuck. Right. Off. 😐

Decided to remove the sill and wing covers to inspect the extent of the rust that I need to repair. 

^ You can see how much that's going to snowball into one I do a *bit* more poking...

I was thinking about replacing the front tyres due to the questionable wet performance and worsening perishing. That's decided that for me then... 

Yeah, I'm really annoyed about that rust. Removed the god awful fucking sill covers which the factory put on. No idea why, all it's done is trap shit and it's caused that. Not too sure why I didn't think to remove them and fuck them off entirely when I first got the car more than 4 years ago tbh.. but there we go. 

That entire section of the sill is totally fucked, the rot runs all the way along, I've just not poked at it enough yet. I'm glad I've caught it before the sill completely disintegrated though!! 

The underside has lots of surface corrosion, particularly the rear suspension, which will greatly benefit from being cleaned off and waxoyled, so I'll do that soon. 

There's a positive to everything though, despite the nearside sill being fucked, the offside is a lot further behind and I've caught it just in time to treat it before it turned to swiss cheese. Clouds, silver linings etc. 🙄

Not totally decided what to do with the wings yet, because it's not structural I'm thinking of cutting out the rot, painting it to prevent anything further, then repairing* it with filler and then doing as nice as possible paint job on it... I think that sounds about right? The obvious answer is to get replacement wings, but pattern parts won't fit as well, and then I'll either paint them myself which will look shit, or source second hand ones in the same colour that aren't fucked? It's not a common colour so there's a first hurdle, and they all rot along the bottom, so I think that option is out the window. 

Oh, icing on the cake, thought I'd address the MOT advisory I've ignored since, erm, January, by replacing the discoloured indicator bulbs, upon twisting the holder it decides just to snap so now that's fucked as well. I cursed it, but a temporary repair with super glue got me home, but that means I'll be on the blower to the stealer in the morning expecting to be relieved of about £20 🫡

I resurfaced my "which tyres" thread in the ask a shiter section as I thought about getting a new pair for it a bit sooner than anticipated, well, now it's even sooner than anticipated as the drivers front has picked up a puncture.. It's already got a temp plug in it (unbeknownst to me until recently) - unfortunately the bargain priced clearance Michelin Primacy 3s are not available, as predicted, only the Primacy 4s at a! eye watering (to me, as a bit of skinflint) at £90 a piece.. wholesale price! Not fitted! That's too much for what this car is, a 2nd car/runabout... 

So trusty Toyo proxes it is then at a much more manageable £50!

I'd like to say that's all for now, but it probably isn't.. needy bastard. I really like it though, as it's a brilliant "an car" so that's why I'm persevering with it.