2001 Ford Focus ZX3 Rallycross project

Hi Guys, I'm really thankful to have found this forum. I've been breezing through the posts and there is an amazing amount of expertise here. Thanks in advance for your help.

My name is Mike and I have been away from racing for about 15 years having done some SCCA road racing around New England. I have always been a great fan of rally but just couldn't seem to put anything together back then. With a little more time on my hands now and the desire to get out and have some fun I am interested in getting into Rallycross with the intention of moving to stage rally. Rallycross looks like a blast and can certainly help to teach me how to drive sideways .

Anyway I just picked up a 2001 ZX3, from its mechanic owner, that's in terrific shape with 139K on the clock. I know that technically I could just drive it to the Jan 11th event at Stafford Springs, as is, and have fun but I would prefer to do a little suspension work and wheel and tire prep (or anything else you can suggest) before my first event. Here are my questions:

Should I swap in the Ford Racing M-3000-ZX3 Handling Pack SVT upgrade? For $300 it seems to have all the bits to freshen up the suspension.

If not, is there a better suspension improvement you could suggest? Maybe just springs and shocks?

What tires should I use? I have the stock 15" alloys the car came with. Should I use the Firestone Winterforce? What size would you recommend?

I am looking for any suggestions to get the car ready for Rallycross and what is worthwhile to do. I'm hoping to do improvements to the car that will eventually lead me to stage rally.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to help me out.

Depending in your courses, the SVT kit may be a good upgrade. It will lower your car an inch though, so be cautious with that. The exhaust and oil pan on those cars is right out in the open, so some protection may be needed, this will also help with keeping the front bumper intact as well. Also, the lower radiator support is made of wet paper and will bend if you look at it wrong. So yeah, make a good skid plate if your courses are rough.

My old zx3 with 15in winterforces on stock suspension (no front bar) was awesome!

Mike I'm doing the same thing you are- rallyx with long term plans for stage rally.

Except my Focus is a 2004 with the 2.3 Duratec.

I had never driven fwd in dirt till this season,all my sideways action had been rwd with a little ill-handling 4wd truck action thrown in.

Pretty happy with my first season results..although to be honest.. a small class,other people breaking or not showing up for some races helped me out in the championship.

I'm still learning, and far from good.

But.... we got 1st place in the championship for prepared 2wd for the scca cal-club region.

There is also the CRS(California rally series) championship.
They don't recognize the prepared class so I'm open class there-

We got 2nd place out of 21 cars.

And they also do an overall- irrespective of class 2wd/4wd/open or stock.

We got 3rd overall out of 40 cars.

So the car can do it if you can.

Stock or svt springs(I went with svt) work well.
A stock focus is "lifted 4x4 height".

A Focus on svt springs is just "stock 4x4 height"

So ground clearance is fine with either set up.

use your stock 15's-I went all bling on my wheels (braids) but certainly didn't need them now..but later..hopefully.

Here's my rig's link from Focaljet showing my year with the focus at rallyx,but it's not updated with my final race.

http://forums.focaljet.com/team-rigz/673048-my-zx3-drop-tint-hell-no-lift-snows-yep-56k-nope.html



If you are interested in my svt/front spacer set-up-it's for sale cheap and it worked well.
I changed it due to occasional bottoming issues when it got really rutted on course but it worked well for me.

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If you plan to run the NER series be sure build up a fair amount of underbody protection. you will want a skid plate and maybe the HDP sheets on the floors and over the tank. i remember a lot if course had many hidden baby sized rocks. no need to worry about the suspension just yet as you will likely not exceed 40 MPH. i would suggest a nice seat with bolsters and a belt that will hold you in that seat, nothing worse than trying to drive and trying to stay in the seat. 15" rally tires are common enough, call a few places to see if you can score some take offs, of check NER.org. good luck!

Thanks guys for the replies and info. Mike I really enjoyed going through your Focaljet. looks like you had a ball last season. I hope to follow in your foot steps.

Since I am a rally car newbie I have a few questions. Everyone mentioned skid plates. Are they available through some source or are they all custom made? Brian mentioned HDP sheets. Can anyone suggest a source for those? Also does anyone have a photo of the underside of their car so I can get an idea of how to rig them?

Brian, you mentioned replacing the seat. I agree. The seat in the Focus is pretty soft. Do you know if there are any specific seat requirements for stage rally? I'm trying to avoid buying them twice.

Can anyone make a suggestion about springs? Mike, I know you converted the fronts on your focus to custom made units. If my ultimate goal is to go stage rally would I be better off to get springs better suited to stage rally rather that go with the SVT setup?

Lastly, at least for today, you all mention disconnecting the front sway bar and adding a rear sway bar. Any specific product recommendations for that?

Thanks again guys for helping me out. Once I start working on the car I will be sure to post photos so you can let me know if I'm heading in the right direction.

Alot of what you are looking for has been covered in depth on this site, there is truly a vast amount of information to be had:
you will most likely be building the skid plate for it, thread on skid plate mounting:
http://www.rallyanarchy.com/phorum/read.php?5,88315

You will want to read into the rules of seats and what is required per the sanctioning body you wish to compete in, i bet you could find some vehicle specific seat mounts for a Focus.

Like i said before, you will not have to worry about the suspension just yet as you will be under 40 MPH on any given course. save the cash for a proper set up later down the road. i threw all kinds of money into a home brew set up, it worked however i should have held off longer and bought a better set up.

a 4x8 sheet of plastic should cover most of the bottom of the car. run two sheets tucked under the skid plate back on the floors under the seats to the rear. you will need to get a bit creative to cut the pieces for the rear subframe to tank and under the rear control arms, add some rally armor mud flaps.
http://www.rallyanarchy.com/phorum/read.php?5,86549,86594



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2013 02:24PM by BJosephD.

Quote
Seawitchskipper
Thanks guys for the replies and info. Mike I really enjoyed going through your Focaljet. looks like you had a ball last season. I hope to follow in your foot steps.

Since I am a rally car newbie I have a few questions. Everyone mentioned skid plates. Are they available through some source or are they all custom made? Brian mentioned HDP sheets. Can anyone suggest a source for those? Also does anyone have a photo of the underside of their car so I can get an idea of how to rig them?

Brian, you mentioned replacing the seat. I agree. The seat in the Focus is pretty soft. Do you know if there are any specific seat requirements for stage rally? I'm trying to avoid buying them twice.

Can anyone make a suggestion about springs? Mike, I know you converted the fronts on your focus to custom made units. If my ultimate goal is to go stage rally would I be better off to get springs better suited to stage rally rather that go with the SVT setup?

Lastly, at least for today, you all mention disconnecting the front sway bar and adding a rear sway bar. Any specific product recommendations for that?

Thanks again guys for helping me out. Once I start working on the car I will be sure to post photos so you can let me know if I'm heading in the right direction.

Here's a couple threads to get you started thinking about skid plates:

http://www.rallyanarchy.com/phorum/read.php?5,62038,page=1

http://forums.focaljet.com/focus-rallying-rallycross/671841-skid-plates.html

Depending on your rallyx courses you may be able to delay worrying about them till you are getting on stage.
I don't have skidplates yet,but better safe than sorry.....couple times I crawled under looking for possible damage..lucky so far.

Our courses out here can get pretty rough,so a skid plate is on my list of needs....

Interesting about the max 40mph on course comment....pretty sure on our back stretches 50-60 is more common for faster guys,but I'm too busy to look at any gauges when I'm on course.

After the run I sure look at my temp gauge though!


If you are on stock Focus springs, and your dampers are functioning,don't bother with changing out the suspension.

First get familiar driving the car....stock Focus driven well can beat many at rallyx.

Save that $ in the piggy bank for when its time to hit the stages and get some inverted JVABs for the car.

I went with the svt springs because I was on roadrace springs before and didn't have stock springs any more.

Either stock or svt should be fine to start.

Disconnecting the front sway(and tying it up)but leaving the rear connected makes the car more tail-happy, which is what you want to a point on a fwd.

And also the front suspension will be more independent,which helps with traction,especially when things get rutted.

And especially when you have no limited slip diff.

Yeah I went to a bigger rear bar(24mm H&R),but try the free stuff first(leaving the stock suspension on,disconnecting front sway/leaving connected the rear sway(some even like rear disconnected too-especially on stage).

As far as tires,many will say at your first rallyx to just drive on street tires and get used to the car.
Not really bad advice if you are not sure you'll like rallyx,but if you want to actually be competitive you will need better tires.

In my area, stock class and above can run snow tires,so like most of my competitors I run Winterforces.

They are cheap and available.

Some organizations don't allow this,so check your local rules.

I run them tubeless at 40 psi and never debeaded all year.
Some run tubes with less pressure..I may try that too.

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................................................. .....................

Support your Local North American Rally Forum!!

While they are still around-and get the hell off Farsebook!!

We still have Specialstage & RallyAnarchy.

Post up Here:

https://rallyanarchy.com/phorum/posting.php

and here:

https://www.specialstage.com/forums/forum.php

Winterforce tires work well in NE, Hakkas are the other popular choice but are more expensive.

They tend to not let the course get too rutted before moving it so ground clearance isn't a huge issue, but several events do have rocks so a skid plate is a must. I wouldn't bother with plastic under the body.

Events are pretty slow, Stafford is the fastest, if I remember correctly especially when the ground is frozen like concrete. But rally-x is still pretty slow. First or 2nd gear stuff, a softer suspension is usually better.

The ner.org forums is a good place to ask specific questions about the NE events and what the terrain is like at each place.

Tim.