SteelSolutions William Timmins Junior Moderator Location: Redmond WA Join Date: 02/26/2008 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 648 Rally Car: 3 xr4ti/74 capri/02 bug eye |
RWD Focus:
Why; 1 They are very plentiful there are over 2,000,000 in the us alone! From 2000 to now they have not changed suspension framing, With a few minor changes like in 05 they moved to ears for there front brakes. 2000 to 2004 are showing up in our local inexpensive junk yards, where spare rack and pinions and components are cheap and in huge numbers. 2 The cars are only falling more in price I have seen running 2000 focus's for under 1000 and almost free if they have motor issues. Also now on CL there is two 2005 with 2.0 duratecs for 3500 obo. 3 The Duratec! a very versatile and good power plant that picking up a huge after market fallowing thanks to open wheel and custom swaps in the UK and states. The ford harness is flashable and easy to adapt and swap. In the states any mazda turbo 2.3 steel crank will fit the 2.3, and they go for $300. 4 The swap parts are easy to find, such as ford explorer rear diff and t5 transmission. The explorer diff has a limited slip factory but can be upgraded with a carbon Kevlar clutch pack and forged housing for under $300 and can have custom preload for little extra, along with about any gear choice needed for street or rally. 5 The front and rear frame will have to be replaced and thats what I will be building and selling The goal for the frame's cost will be $1200 for front and rear frame. There are quite a bit more parts that it will require but this to get to a point where the focus can be the best RWD for the buck. 6 Cost. I want to set people up with the options to have a rwd car that with have a near perfect formula, Close ratio gear box good limited slip and with plenty of power NA or turbo. If the budget is tight there are several stock ford transmissions like ranger or miata 6 speed. and stock gear ratios and limited slips are not that far off from pretty damn good. 7 Repairs and spares. With the cost of diffs and t5s and duratecs people can afford to have spares. Going home with blown motors or a dead box's would be a thing of the past for the entry level racer. 8 Other cars This swap kit will not be just for focus it will cross in too the mazda 3, volvo s40 60 80 and c30. It will also work with for the UK focus market. The build I am using the ford explorer rear IRS from 2002 to present, there spline count is 31 and 29 outer. They are rather large but made of aluminum and can withstand huge hp numbers. I will retain the stock explorer cv and outer flange and bearing, the cv is overkill but cheap and plentiful. The diff will be mounted with similar geometry as the stock focus, the was the diff is made allows for mounts that will make the diff pull out from the bottom making changing them in to 8 bolts, 4 for the drive line and 4 for the diff on a 06 plus and 3 for a 2002 to 05. I will be making a fabricated rear knuckle and use the focus trailing mount its tucked up and in which is great for protection. The knuckle with be shaped with a void at the bottom so when you unbolt the hub you can pull the hub brake and cv at once. With this you can change a cv in 3 or 4 minutes. The back of the car has quite a bit of room but will require a small tower to be installed for a coil over shock, My goal is 12" of travel with the set up. The rest will be bolt on. in the front I will retain the stock power steering and build a new direct bolt on frame and move the rack forward and bolt in from the bottom. with this there will be the second peace of fabricating, of installing a small preformed tranny tunnel that would be best welded in. motor mount will have to be fabricated but should require little to no welding on the car, due to the existing mounts on the passengers side and fabricated ones on the drivers side. front suspension will not be changed unless wanted I do plan on making long travel parts, with fabricated arms but this would be icing on the cake. The bolt pattern will be changed to 5 on 4.5 and the mazda 3 knuckles already have this in the front and swap over. for brakes I will make a large brake kit but again thats more parts that are outside of the RWD swap. Thanks for reading This is what I hope to make my niche for years to come. |
SteelSolutions William Timmins Junior Moderator Location: Redmond WA Join Date: 02/26/2008 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 648 Rally Car: 3 xr4ti/74 capri/02 bug eye |
So today I go a full back half of a 2006 explorer frame for $150
that limited slip and cvs an all the other junk it comes with very interesting that the focus looks like explorer's little brother. The links are all the same positioning and seem to have the same off set of the short front link. I would say the shorter front lower link provides more toe in on drupe to keep the car stable when lifting off the ground. this is the hub the flange is a re drilled stock explorer and stock bearing. allen head bolts will stick right in there and allow a farther off set for more material around the bearing. Now that I have the diff in hand i can draw up an compleet idea of the frame and rear diff with arms. |
phlat65 Sean Medcroft Junior Moderator Location: Edmonds, Washington Join Date: 02/12/2009 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,802 Rally Car: Building a Merkur |
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Rallymech Robert Gobright Junior Moderator Location: White Center Seattle Join Date: 04/27/2008 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,292 Rally Car: 91 VW GTI 8V |
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Andrew_Frick Andrew Frick Mod Moderator Location: Greenville, SC Join Date: 05/18/2007 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 684 Rally Car: Rally Spec Ford Focus |
Have you seen the Kugel Komponents swap kit that already exists for making a Focus RWD? It is a well engineered kit that I believe was designed with Ford's help since it came out just weeks after the focus came to the US.
http://www.kugelkomponents.com/focus/focus.html Looks like an interesting project. The biggest issue I see is getting the steering to work right since the knuckles that are on the car and the ones that are you looking to use are both designed for the rack to be behind the wheels. Are you going to swap the knuckles side to side? If you are going that far why not use a RWD knuckle like the one off a miata or mustang so you do not have to deal with the FWD wheel bearings. Good luck. |
SteelSolutions William Timmins Junior Moderator Location: Redmond WA Join Date: 02/26/2008 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 648 Rally Car: 3 xr4ti/74 capri/02 bug eye |
I have, not to be rude but WTF! solid 8.8 and the rear, shocks hang way below the axle and bolt on to a little bar under the car. This kit was not meant for more than 5 inches of travel. We know how to make a very affective solid axle car, and its with 24" plus 4 link. But due to this car is just the now no v8 no solid axle looks to me they just wanted a nascar that could parallel park Then to have to buy custom steering rack, have you seen how much they gouge you? they say 20000 to put a car together! with my parts 20000 would be fire breathing top level group 2 car like the rest of the world. I have stared endlessly at there parts I have not seen one interesting or useful part that looks applicable to a real world multi purpose car. the focus is a light car by todays standards but a v8 and a beam axle Its just old tech hefty and not needed. the other little thing is the stock focus and mazda 3 have a sump on the wrong side well turns out that will be to an advantage due to the cross member mounted back. that means we can run stock sump and just shift the new frame around till the fit and maybe make some sort of new connection for the steering. the front wheel drive wheel bearing is great. just put a bolt threw with the right washers and tighten it up. The other reason the more i keep the same the less people I will scare away, with the price and work. I want to make it a point that I have the cheapest parts as well like a re-drilled ford hub well I can get them for 20 bucks. and toss in some new holes and a little fat trimming and ill sell hub and bearing for about 70 dollars. the best thing about there v8 kit is they can make money on them! It's my turn. Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2011 12:19PM by SteelSolutions. |
SteelSolutions William Timmins Junior Moderator Location: Redmond WA Join Date: 02/26/2008 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 648 Rally Car: 3 xr4ti/74 capri/02 bug eye |
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fiasco Andrew Steere Senior Moderator Location: South Central Nude Hamster Join Date: 12/29/2005 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 2,008 Rally Car: too rich for my blood, share a LeMons car |
What about refining what's already been done with these Foci and Fiesters (think O'Neil's Focus and Block's Fiesta). Mock up the tail end of a Escort Cosworth WRC (or Group A...not as nice, but the square beam already exists) and Supra-izing the rear end?
That Exploder stuff is big, ugly, and heavy, and the only real troubles my friend has had with his 2003 Exploder are with the rear wheel bearings (done twice in 150k miles) and the rear diff howling (think it's been replaced three times, maybe just twice). Just thinking out loud...not gonna be insulted if you think I'm a moe-ron. |
phlat65 Sean Medcroft Junior Moderator Location: Edmonds, Washington Join Date: 02/12/2009 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,802 Rally Car: Building a Merkur |
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SteelSolutions William Timmins Junior Moderator Location: Redmond WA Join Date: 02/26/2008 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 648 Rally Car: 3 xr4ti/74 capri/02 bug eye |
Well OK fiestas rear suspension looks like a golf and has no similarities.
I love the supra diff but they will run out and there older, explorers are still coming out they howl because they leek if never taken care of and the bearing style they use is just not beefy enough for a 6000 lbs truck they might be ok in a 2500 car. the beam swing arms are not and option at all the car dose no have the room its needs to be just like the explorer and focus they are the same style it must work really well if theres millions of cars with this varying of geometry. the beam is a cool idea but the way the floor is set up it would take some serous cutting and welding to get the beam up in to the car. The bmw diff is nice too but thats more parts to make for the cvs and other stuff like that and they are out of production and change quite a bit. and a big part of it is its ford sounds corny and im not a person that cares how Frankenstein my car is but I think in the long run of sales ford on ford would prevail. not to mention theres no hunting needed for these parts. big and ugly no they are smart! the diff threads from the back and pins form the bottom it can come out of the car in seconds its large but its aluminum and saving a few lbs o dear. |
tmachnik Tom Machnik Infallible Moderator Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Join Date: 01/31/2008 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 78 Rally Car: 1985 VW GTI |
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SteelSolutions William Timmins Junior Moderator Location: Redmond WA Join Date: 02/26/2008 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 648 Rally Car: 3 xr4ti/74 capri/02 bug eye |
True if it dose get pumped up maybe the rules can be bent or revised. Rally will be the smallest buying community, street cars will be the main target. UM ya chevy truck t5 with dog kit and a milled transfer case would make a bitchin AWD just like a bunch of hill climb cars and hmm the car is already has front drive wheels. I will make awd for it latter. theres lots of nice little truck front axles that can be adapted would be funny though to have this in open class for a lot less that a subaru with dog box and 3 diffs and full suspension. Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2011 04:48PM by SteelSolutions. |
wvonkessler Wilson von Kessler Professional Moderator Location: Lookout Mountain, GA Join Date: 02/28/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,127 Rally Car: Colts are in Finland; now '87 325i, '89 325i |
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SteelSolutions William Timmins Junior Moderator Location: Redmond WA Join Date: 02/26/2008 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 648 Rally Car: 3 xr4ti/74 capri/02 bug eye |
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fliz Chad Eixenberger Professional Moderator Location: Grafton, WI Join Date: 02/01/2007 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 484 Rally Car: 1988 VW Golf #687 |
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