rcnut's "build"

[rcnut14]

ok, so I figured I'd take to few minutes to make a build thread, if nothing else just as another way of documenting (I'm the type of car owner that keeps a little black book of everything, with prices, for future reference that I'll never look at again....)

this won't be anything crazy, as it is currently my only car. I plan to go FBO with some other cosmetic/supporting mods. Once it's paid off, assuming I decide to keep it, maybe I'll pick up something else cheap and this can be a summer-only project car. but at this point, my main goal is a fun, nicely modded daily driver, that's still reliable of course. (any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated as always...
So here is how she sat when I picked her up about 2 months ago from the dealer. 2018 base model (no recaros) magnetic with 38k on the odometer

The first thing I did to it, as soon as I got it home, was delete the front plate (I live in PA, so it's not needed and I hate the look lol). The next day my AP showed up (thanks to a member on here), so it got a stage 1 tune.

since then, I've been doing lots of small things to it. Inside, ST shift knob, rubber floor mats, full LED interior lights, and some gap trim (don't @ me). I also sent all the "chrome" bits (door handles, steering wheel trim, and vent trims) out to be hydrodipped. they turned out ok, I would've liked a more black carbon fiber look over the gray look, but it's better than the silver (which I couldn't stand) so I'm ok with it. I also painted the trim around the gauge cluster and around the cupholder.

on the outside, I did an 18% tint all the way around, with a 5% brow. Added a shorter antenna, and a lamin-x rear bumper guard. wheels are sparco 16x7, tires are continental DWS 03's in 205x50rz16. Oh, and of corse the decals for the +/- 5HP

I also picked up some 15" rims with snow tires off of facebook as well. the plan is have the sparcos as my 3 season setup, and to just change out for the winter months when it might snow (mid December-easter). might keep them as is, might plasti-dip them, idk yet.

And, finally, under the hood. Only thing I've done mechanically is a turbosmart dual-port BOV (vacuum operated). also did some painting, cause it's not expensive and it gives me something to do lol

I got some more stuff coming in this week (intercooler and some bits) to work on it over the holiday next week. (I work Saturday mornings and am busy Sundays, so I can't really work on it more than half a day at a time)

 

[FiestaSTdude]

No recaros? Get outta here!
Lol, just kidding!
Looks good, I like the blacked out interior.

 

[rcnut14]

YEA....I've been keeping my eye out for some if they ever pop up near me.... the SVTF I had had Recaros and they were great

 

[FiestaSTdude]

YEA....I've been keeping my eye out for some if they ever pop up near me.... the SVTF I had had Recaros and they were great

Ah, a former SVT owner!
Hopefully you'll find some. I love having the recaros in my fist.

 

[CarGuy]

Another former SVT Focus owner (3) here.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

 

[rcnut14]

Ah, a former SVT owner!
Hopefully you'll find some. I love having the recaros in my fist.

Another former SVT Focus owner (3) here.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

eyy! more SVT owners! I've noticed there seems to be a lot of us in the FiST community 9and prolly FoST as well)

It was the first car I ever actually bought. 03 with a K&N CAI, Magnaflow catback, and for some reason the previous owner lowered just the front of the car (I assume maybe so he could put weight in the back, I know he had a sub, tho I had a 2x12 cabinet and amp in the back and it still sat way high in the back so IDK). WHile the Fist is much more fun, I f4reaking loved that car.

it blew up at about 130k, very sad, and I went and bought my fusion I had for a few years. My dad bought it off of me and rebuilt it. this picture was taken early this year now that it back up and running. I think he's selling it now, so if anyone in PA and looking for one.....

 

[rcnut14]

also, can anyone tell me what rotors these are? they were basically new when I bought the car, they don't look stock

 

[Jabbit]

also, can anyone tell me what rotors these are? they were basically new when I bought the car, they don't look stock View attachment 48844

They aren't stock, a couple companies sell them on Rock Auto. No way to tell brand really but if they perform well then great! It looks like the pads are different than oem too.

 

[rcnut14]

got some stuff to do this holiday weekend

 

[rcnut14]

So, I had a LONG weekend. Between Sunday afternoon and most of the day Monday, I had about 13 hours total including cleanup and test driving and such.

so I started by removing the front bumper, and painting that silver brace that goes in front of the radiator. I know, it's a nitpicky thing, but I just hated it every time I saw it. put some black engine enamel on it, and looks so much better! took like 5 minutes and 1/4 of a can of spray paint, too. (FYI, yes, I disconnected the battery before removing the airbag sensors)
Unfortunately, I forgot to take many progress pics. but I painted the whoosh stencil on the V3 I got from Ron's flash sale the other week. Not quite as good as the V1's that he does, but not bad for my first try. I asked Ron, and he said he uses just regular engine enamel. So just an FYI


next, was a pair of Hella horns. I put a big mouth on it as well, so my goal with the hella horns was to have them on to the opposite side of the grill from the big mouth. We sell some hardware where I work, so I just grabbed a bunch of brackets and such and whatever it didn't need, I put back on the shelf. this is what I ended up with:

I decided to mount them on said bar I painted earlier. there is a hole in just the right spot, you can see it to the left of the airbag sensor:

I wired them in parallel using the stock wires (just extending them through the crash bar)

next, and I forgot to take pictures of this so please forgive me, I got a full charge hose kit from whoosh, as well as 2 sets of clamps. I did all the hoses but the symposer (I will delete that at a later date). I was able to double clamp all of them except for the turbo outlet itself. I couldn't fit 2 on there, so I just made sure it was good and tight (as I did for all of them). I also did the hairspray method that @TyphoonFiST has recommended on many occasions. Had no issues getting the hoses on at all.
Then I mounted the intercooler itself. It's tight, but it went on decently easy. I did have to take that plastic air dam off that sits above it. the center clip on the bottom of it still doesn't pop forward as it's hitting the back of the intercooler (the tab that the bottom bumper fascia screws to, there are 3 of them and the center one is directly below the intercooler. IDK if most people just cut them or what, but even with it not perfectly in place I was able to screw the fascia to it, so I let it go.

mounted the big mouth (that locknut is a pain in the ass to get up in there, and even once I did I could barely get a wrench on it) and here is what it looks like:

pretty happy with how it turned out.

finally, I cut some plastic XXL diamond grill material from customcargrills.com and mounted it (also cut the supports for the stock grill to give it a cleaner look) I'm happy with the result:

looks much better, and hopefully will help keep rocks away. ran it a bit, and everything looked a-ok, so I flashed cobb stage 2. So far so good! Intake temps are barely going over +15 degrees ambient, when stage 1 it was getting to +30-40 depending on temperature.

 

[FiestaSTdude]

Nice work! I like the way that the red horn balances the red big mouth intake.

 

[rcnut14]

ok, so it's been a nuts month, but I managed to pick up a full set of Koni oranges (front and rear). I know, not the best option, but I wanted something that works well with factory springs (not looking to lower, at least not at this point) and gave me a smoother ride. WOW what a difference. the car (especially the front) just soaks up bumps very nicely. Yes, turn-in isn't quite as good, but honestly it's a fun daily, not a track car, so I really prefer the comfort over tip-top performance.


(forgot to take pictures of the rears, but I promise they are there lol)

 

[Boosty McBoostface]

Glad to see some "hardware" upgrades happening... not a fan of the tacked-on dips, stickers, and trim bits (all those just scream lower resale, to me). But upgrades to suspension and intercooler? Now we're talking!

 

[Business6]

Glad to see some "hardware" upgrades happening... not a fan of the tacked-on dips, stickers, and trim bits (all those just scream lower resale, to me). But upgrades to suspension and intercooler? Now we're talking!

Probably shouldn't give a shit about resale value on a cheap domestic car that hasn't been in production for years and probably a decade at the time you sell it. You won't even have paint on the car by then.

 

[rcnut14]

Glad to see some "hardware" upgrades happening... not a fan of the tacked-on dips, stickers, and trim bits (all those just scream lower resale, to me). But upgrades to suspension and intercooler? Now we're talking!

Thanks! And hey that's fair, can always be removed if it needs to be. I don't plan on selling it anytime soon, so

next on the list is oil change, RMM (picked up a vibra-technics), new tranny fluid, and radiator (just to pull the temps down on real hot days on the highway. I haven't had any issues around town yet, even in 100+ weather, but I'll be taking it to the beach and I don't want to chance it.)

 

[rallytaff]

My 2014 is nearly 8 yrs old and the paint on it is as good as the day I bought it. It will still be in the same condition when I leave this planet!

 

[Business6]

My 2014 is nearly 8 yrs old and the paint on it is as good as the day I bought it. It will still be in the same condition when I leave this planet!

Sure, but when you see final year production models with 15k miles that have rust all over them or the poor dude that lost a large chunk of paint in an automatic wash, you get the impression that quite a lot of these are going to be in truly terrible condition on the used market in just a few years. There's always going to be good examples but there will always be far fewer of those available than the bad.

Anyway, I totally meant to say that I know the Koni orange don't get the best rap on here but they seem like a ride improvement over the stock suspension. There's this stigma that they're "floaty" at highway speeds but that might have been due to people having the ones for the regular Fiesta. Out of curiosity have you noticed anything like that yet? @rcnut14 ?

 

[rallytaff]

Sure, but when you see final year production models with 15k miles that have rust all over them or the poor dude that lost a large chunk of paint in an automatic wash, you get the impression that quite a lot of these are going to be in truly terrible condition on the used market in just a few years. There's always going to be good examples but there will always be far fewer of those available than the bad.

Anyway, I totally meant to say that I know the Koni orange don't get the best rap on here but they seem like a ride improvement over the stock suspension. There's this stigma that they're "floaty" at highway speeds but that might have been due to people having the ones for the regular Fiesta. Out of curiosity have you noticed anything like that yet? @rcnut14 ?

Mine has just over 100,000 miles on it. Parked outside in all weather, 365 a year because I can't get it in my garage. Will put a lot of newer cars to shame. Goes through the car wash at least once a week too!

 

[rcnut14]

Anyway, I totally meant to say that I know the Koni orange don't get the best rap on here but they seem like a ride improvement over the stock suspension. There's this stigma that they're "floaty" at highway speeds but that might have been due to people having the ones for the regular Fiesta. Out of curiosity have you noticed anything like that yet? @rcnut14

so, yes I did a TON of research on the Koni's. It seems like either people had ones for the regular fiesta's, or maybe had issues because they paired them with lowering springs. I'm pretty sure they were built to be paired with factory springs (much like you use B6's for factory and B8's for lowered).

They are NOTICEABLY softer, even when just pushing them by hand with no spring. So in a way, they are "floatier" (as they are softer). I never felt like an overly floaty sensation, tho, or like I was going to lose control or something.

I will say, while I have driven them at or above highway speed on county roads, I haven't taken them on the highway yet (I don't have to very often) so I will report back when I do

 

[Business6]

Mine has just over 100,000 miles on it. Parked outside in all weather, 365 a year because I can't get it in my garage. Will put a lot of newer cars to shame. Goes through the car wash at least once a week too!

Congratulations because that's going to be increasingly rare in the used FiST market.

so, yes I did a TON of research on the Koni's. It seems like either people had ones for the regular fiesta's, or maybe had issues because they paired them with lowering springs. I'm pretty sure they were built to be paired with factory springs (much like you use B6's for factory and B8's for lowered).

They are NOTICEABLY softer, even when just pushing them by hand with no spring. So in a way, they are "floatier" (as they are softer). I never felt like an overly floaty sensation, tho, or like I was going to lose control or something.

I will say, while I have driven them at or above highway speed on county roads, I haven't taken them on the highway yet (I don't have to very often) so I will report back when I do

Thank you for the feedback!