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My Focus RS mk1



  Focus RS Mk1
to answer a few questions, these cars a very reliable.

Mains things to watch out for are as someone said above, water thermostat can go, but there is no predidicting it at all. if its good when you buy it then happy days!

Clutch on modded cars, they wont take 300bhp forever, mine is slipping like a goodun when the beans go through it, so an uprated one is required. its not a matter of 'if' its more 'when', some will last 10k, some 70k. pot luck! @ £400 for the clutch alone its not cheap.

Seat wear on high milers, alcantara and leather can start to look pants!

Steering wheels melt, common issue, dont be put off it.

Front tyre wear for obvious reasons!

Boot foam and pump setup, foam may be out of date if still fitted in the boot.

Rust starts to form where the mirror casing meets the door, right in the corner by the window on the front, both sides, watch for this!

Usual stone chips on front bumper and rear arches

Thats about it really, nothing else worth worrying about, allt he other stuff is standard when buying any car!

great cars though, very rewarding when driven well, can catch you out though, takes a while to learn these things properly, i think it took me a good few weeks if not a month or two to learn how to drive this car fast and be economical with the inputs etc.
 
  Focus RS Mk1
Do you have to send your one back in exchange?

When you say easy, how easy? lol

No, i actually put mine on ebay for 50p, some dutch guy emailed me and offered me £90 posted for it! crazy! i thought it was a scam but he paid it up and i sent it off!

Easy to fit,

  • remove steering column surround (just pulls off gently) only the top bit required to come off iirc
  • undo two screws in rear of air bag (6mm socket will do it i think)
  • pull air bag towards you gently, unclip electrical connector. (no need to undo battery or any of that - just ignition off)
  • 24mm socket to undo the steering wheel bolt - medium sized breaker bar may be needed. Don't touch the steering column adjust, leave it well alone!!!!
  • pull off wheel, some can be stuff but mine can off no problem. if your is stiff its worth leaving the bolt in a few threads and pulling on it, that way your face wont get smashed!
  • Put new wheel on
  • bolt back in, tighten up
  • Push air bag into place (you'l beep the horn when doing this as it needs a firm push! quite funny)
  • fix in the two bolts at the rear. pop on steering column surround, job done!
Took me all of 3 mins! if you need some help nearer the time then i can talk you through it
 
  Insignia SRi
See I was very lucky as the previous owner not only up'd the power a bit but he then made it safe doing the clutch etc. Although I have an AP clutch in mine its still a fairly organic feel and not too heavy.
 
  Focus RS Mk1
Thats good, they are an AP organic clutch as standrad, however there is an Ap organic clutch with uprated spring and pressure plate i believe. Quite confusing! thats what im having fitted, didnt fancy the paddle option!
 
  Insignia SRi
Thats' the one I have with the uprated spring etc.

Yeah that would be awsome mate or when I get mine through maybe a trip to see my nan in Northants via yours ;) (two birds and one stone and all that)
 
Last edited:
  Focus RS Mk1
Thats' the one I have with the uprated spring etc.

Yeah that would be awsome mate or when I get mine through maybe a trip to see my nan in Northants via yours ;) (two birds and one stone and all that)

Sounds good to me, im on here quite often so just drop me a pm and we'l swap it all over :)
 
  Focus RS Mk1
if i was to do mine again i'd go full black, only because i think over time the blue can show up dirty and the black wouldnt.

However the alcantara one feels awesome! would have that over leather any day!
 
  Insignia SRi
The only thing that puts me off is that alcantara wont last as long as leather so at the moment Black Leather is leading the race.
 
  Focus RS Mk1
Forge actuator was on the car when i bought it mate so didnt really get a before and after feel. cant fault the way the car goes though.
 
  Focus RS Mk1
Afternoon all, yet another busy day on the car.


Ordered my OMP subframes from KamRacing a few days ago, arrived in great time which was a surprise knowing OMP lead times!


Anyway, as u know i had a set of cobra suzuka Pro's waiting to go in. Today was that day!


I did plenty of measuring to get them straight and at the right distance. Ive not put adjustable sliders in at the moment as i wanted to sit as low as possible (my personal preference), im quite fussy with that kind of setup, but i can add them should i need to.


I thought a little about the positions of the seats, firstly the passenger side, being 6ft 1, not many people are going to be in the car that are taller than me so i set it up so that my feet are touching the the back of the footwell under the dash, so that should any harsh braking be done, eg on track, then the passenger has a good position for support when stopping forward momentum. Not much of a feature but its all about details!


As for the driver side, a little further back than the passenger, 2 inches perhaps due to the pedals etc, not 100% happy, could do with titling it back a touch and going forward a cm or two. but thats for another day!


Not ever going to run harnesses as its a daily driver so no need to worry about that. Standard seat belts actually fit well over the seats, thought they'd be rubbish!


Anyway, OMP frames bolted right in no problems, had to drill my own holes for the side mounts because the standard ones are just way tooo far forward, youd have to be 5ft to use them!


Onto the pics:


543505_10151581562590176_718905175_24194594_895227043_n.jpg



522546_10151581563105176_718905175_24194598_406017680_n.jpg



556129_10151581563465176_718905175_24194602_2083699212_n.jpg



578772_10151581563965176_718905175_24194606_1822384614_n.jpg



As for the driving, much improved, lower, lighter, can let the seat do the work which means you can relax into driving rather than gripping the tightly to hold on! The standard seats are soooooo heavy and very high, always hated them! They'l be saved come sale car sale time.


Next up for my interior upgrades are some retriming of some of the a/b/c pillars. But thats not before the clutch is changed and the HnR the springs go on.


Only downer this week was the screen cracking after rolling through a pot hole in the works car park! gutted! luckliy i have it covered.


Cheers for looking


Sean
 
  Hondata'd EP3 Type R
That looks awesome.

My mates annoys me, the stock seast hit the headlining when you fold them forward! #designfail!
 
  Focus RS Mk1
i know what you mean, design fault which is pretty obvious too!

part of the reason i went for a fixed bucket seat is because in the 4 months ive had this car, not once have i used the rear seats!

Liking the idea of a rear half cage too!
 
Can I just ask where you've attached the seatbelt? I got an OMP subframe for my 6 from KamRacing and there aren't any mounting points... ended up attaching it to the sidemount temporarily, so I'm going to have to get a harness now ffs - really didn't want to!
 
  Focus RS Mk1
as long as u have a good sized bolt nice and tight then it'l be fine. Invest in some sharp drill bits!
 

Marky_

ClioSport Club Member
  182
This got me looking on autotrader yesterday and even buyers guides! They seem to be very affordable these days.
 
  Insignia SRi
Fitted my scanguage tonight, an absolute must for me. Feel much better knowing I can keep an eye on everything. How much boost are you running Sean?
 
  Focus RS Mk1
18-22psi depending on what gear your in, 4th gear it'l peak the most.

Scangauge is good, well worth having.

just had my clutch and HnR springs fitted today, will get some pic posted up tomorrow after a clean
 
  M135i and the shed
as long as u have a good sized bolt nice and tight then it'l be fine. Invest in some sharp drill bits!

Please tell me you're joking? Drilling an un-reinforced hole to mount a seat belt in a mount which hasn't been designed to take those type of loads? Suicidal much?!

The way you've done it has big risks of the bolt being pulled through the mount or the mount itself failing under the loads. Please for the love of god change it so I can sleep at night! ;) :D
 
  Focus RS Mk1
considering i used the same bolt that is used in the original seat and through a 5mm thick side mount, i think it'l be safe.
 
  M135i and the shed
considering i used the same bolt that is used in the original seat and through a 5mm thick side mount, i think it'l be safe.

No offence (and clearly it's your car/life so is ultimately up to you) but the bolt size isn't the issue, neither is whether the mount is 5mm thick or not. If the hole isn't re-inforced and isn't designed to take those loads then you're just left hoping and praying that you won't end up eating your dashboard in a crash. Personally it's not an area i'd take chances on but clearly it's up to you.
 
  Insignia SRi
Im running 15 psi as im on the standard actuator at the moment, went out for a blast last night and I had an Evo driver pull up to tell me how much he liked the RS lol
 
  Focus RS Mk1
couple of snaps of the HnR springs fitted. only a 25mm drop its not 'in the weeds' but its a nice subtle drop.


For example, before:


377525_10151138305570176_718905175_22668679_731755745_n.jpg



After:


558563_10151685537535176_718905175_24307362_1786911656_n.jpg



548387_10151685537910176_718905175_24307363_1194049052_n.jpg



As for the ride quality, very very nice! same stiffness as standard, takes the harsh bumps better, not so crashy, less roll in the corners, 10/10 for me.
 


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