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Rally Spec Focus Build (56k beware)

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#301 ·
Good luck integrating that with all it's electronic whiz-bangery.

It's not a real AWD system anyway.

I'm still curious about the system from the Xtype Jag.
 
#302 · (Edited by Moderator)
P-51 said:
Good luck integrating that with all it's electronic whiz-bangery.

It's not a real AWD system anyway.

I'm still curious about the system from the Xtype Jag.
Click to expand...
It has the same basic set up as the EVO front biased all wheel drive untill hard driving then it goes to 50/50... The MAzdaspeed 6 has a fine system. It also has 3 settings..

normal where most of the torque is fwd but not entirely (the evo has 100/0 under normal conditions)
sport..engages up to 50/50 TQ split
snow..where ALL wheels are randomly engaged at various levels of traction.

You could engage snow mode for rallying.

its a perfect set up. you just need the wiring and all that junk

Mod EDIT: We don't use "lulz" in this forum.
 
Discussion starter · #303 · (Edited)
Just to nip this conversation in the bud, I will not be swapping to an AWD system in the focus. If I decide I want to run an AWD car I will sell the focus and buy a suby or a mitsu. I do not have the budget or engineering ability to create or transplant a AWD system from another car just to say I have have an AWD Focus.Plus those modifications are not allowed in Rally Spec Focus so could we bench race them in another thread.

In Rally Car news:
- I got to spend some time in the garage. I got the "new" rear suspension disassembled. 2 of the bolts where seized in their bushings so they had to be cut out. I pressed the bushings out of the links, and I will be grinding out the captive nuts next. Does anyone know If I can buy new rubber bushings from Ford or I have to buy the whole link?
 
Discussion starter · #305 ·
Ok, Update time, I did not get a whole lot done with the NFL playoffs going on this weekend. I have some pictures but they are on my home computer. I will try and post them this evening.

I got the follow done this weekend:
- Engine Oil changed
- Drained Trans ( I am waiting until I put the new axle in this evening to refill it.
- Recharged K&N Air filter.
- Checked the plugs. They are looking a little rough, so I am going to replace those as well.
- Got the axel nut loose for the drivers axel. This process claimed an 3/4" cheater and my 3/4" breaker bar. They were harbor freight specials so maybe I will replace them with Sears products.
- I also disassembled the front DMS so I could service them. I need to get new dust seals and I can put one of them back together. The broken one should get to DMS today so hopefully in a week or I should see the part.
 
#306 ·
Sounds extremely productive for a playoff weekend...I went to bed Sunday night ashamed for how little I got done this weekend. :(
 
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Discussion starter · #307 ·
Ok another update. I still do not have pictures as I have totally lazy about uploading pictures.

- Got the engine cleaned up a bit. At least on the top side.
- Installed the new drivers side axle
- refilled the transmission
- removed the rear suspension and brakes on the drivers side, luckily I did not break any fasteners.
- I ordered an SVT airbox / snorkle from a fellow FJ member.

So while looking at brake pads I found that I still have a lot of life left in the OEM '05 pads that I still have on the car. So that means I have 5 races on these pads and I am pretty sure I can get at least 2-3 more out them. Especially with Sand Blast coming up next being really easy on brakes.
 
Discussion starter · #308 ·
Hello Everyone,

Well I finally got around to uploading pictures from my camera to the internet. I also got some work done on the car this evening. I have taken about almost the full rear suspension and no bolts had to be cut out. Which is a lot better than the one I got out of the junk yard. Ok, enough yapping here are the pictures.

Lets start with the carnage from the last race. The wheels are compomotives I borrow from another Focus racer. Notice the fender gap is a little small in the back.
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And my camber may need an adjustment. I wonder if I can get some shims or something.
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Jack the car up and you get like 10* of positive camber.
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And here is where the fun begins you can see the failure of the strut right above the steering knuckle.
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Here is a closeup.
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Broke the tie rod in half.
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And took the axle out. If you look close you can see one of the bearings still in the tripod mount. I actually just put the axle shaft without the bearing back into the tripod to get the car off the trailer.
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Here is the strut insert after I took it apart. I actually had to use a shop press to "straighten" it enough to get it out of the old housing.
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And here is the new housing and the passenger side housing
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When I took the skid plate off I fonud a small problem with the oil pan. Look on the far corner.
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Here is a close up. After looking at the skid plate I think what happened is a large rock got on top of the skid plate and then was pushed into the pan by the plate. I am not sure what rally this happened on since I have not taken the plate off since before BRS. But I did find a rock onto of the skid plate after that rally.
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Here is the fully disassembled rear suspension I picked up at a junk yard.
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Here is the passenger rear suspension on the car. I need to paint some of the stuff that got hit with rock blast before the plastic sheeting.
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And the drivers side
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Here is a picture of why I am doing this. You can see the bend in the passenger side part. It was much worse before the last rally but I had to use a C clamp to get it this straight. Good news is I can straighten it alot easier now that it is off the car so I will have some good spares.
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Here is the rear DMS shocks. I had to remove one of the bottom bearingings since the seals had failed and it was not moving very well any more. I will be cleaning these up and painting them. It turns out the DMS blue is very similar to Ford Engine blue you can get at any parts store.
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And I found this crack in the bearing when I took it out. This may have contributed to the bad seals and the banging noise that corner was making from time to time.
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And I will finish up with my new summer ride. I picked it up just in time for winter. It is a pretty clean 1985 GSL-SE. It does make the garage a little cramped for working on the focus but I have been able to manage. Plus it forces me to clean up after myself more often which is not really a bad thing.
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Now I just need to resist putting cool race parts on the Mazda as well.
Image
 
#310 ·
Wow! That thing exploded! No wonder DMS isn't a sponsor for this season.

So is the RX7 your daily driver?
 
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Discussion starter · #311 ·
The RX7 will be a daily driver. I bought an Audi 90 to drive this winter and I will switch in the spring time.

Rally Car update:

- I finished cleaning and painting the new suspension pieces
- Put some fresh paint on the DMS ( Ford Engine Blue is perfect match for DMS Blue)
- Starting installing the rear suspension
- Put in new spark plugs
- Installed an SVT airbox and snorkel.

The rear wheel bearings / hubs are off getting painted and welded. I had a problem with studs backing out so I am getting them tack welded into the hubs. I will post more updates as they happen. I will also try and take some pictures this evening.
 
#312 ·
Silonius said:
Wow! That thing exploded! No wonder DMS isn't a sponsor for this season.

So is the RX7 your daily driver?
Click to expand...
We have come to learn that the Standard Focus Suspension Set up is not correct for Certain Aftermarket Suspension Applications other than stock locations and heights. There have been issuses with both Road and Offroad racer's, very similar Damage to the Struts. 06' and newer Focus's have the correct Suspenion components to hopefully eliminate this issue . We will find out this coming season. Good Luck At SandBlast Andrew. Hopefully we can make it out East for at least one race this year.
 
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#313 ·
Lovin this thread. The first pic of the broken strut, I thought that the knuckle itself had popped. Then the closeup just had me saying "holy damn." :eek:
 
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#314 ·
Plan B Racing said:
We have come to learn that the Standard Focus Suspension Set up is not correct for Certain Aftermarket Suspension Applications other than stock locations and heights. There have been issuses with both Road and Offroad racer's, very similar Damage to the Struts. 06' and newer Focus's have the correct Suspenion components to hopefully eliminate this issue .
Click to expand...
What did they change?

I love Drummond Motor Sports but probably will wait and put their parts on a WRX or EVO and not my '04 Focus.
 
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Discussion starter · #315 ·
The issue is caused by using a 50mm inverted strut in a 45mm opening, the opening on the '99-'05 knuckle is 45mm. There are not a lot of good ways to solve that problem. DMS chose to machine down the strut bottom in a way that makes the joint weak. You can blame Ford for making a small opening or you can blame DMS for making weak machined part.

The other solutions are to use a traditional strut with a smaller mm housing like Hotbits, off set the strut from the knuckle like Proflex does, or use the '06+ Focus knuckles which have a larger, 50mm, strut opening this way there would be less machining on the DMS and thus a stronger piece.

You can make any strut for a Subaru / Mitsu stronger than a Focus strut because they use more common ears and bolts method for attaching the struts to the knuckles and if you need more strength you just make the ears thicker and ultimately the cast knuckle will bend before the strut breaks.
 
Discussion starter · #316 ·
Alright time for another update. I have been working a lot in the garage but I could not find the camera. Then when we went to get fill up the wife's car I open the glove box to get out the log that we keep of all the fill ups and maintenance low and behold I find the camera. So times things end up in the strangest places. I swear I think spend half my life looking for things I just had in my hand.

Sandblast is just under 2 weeks away and the rally car to do list has been reduced to the following:

- Put rally tires on rims
- Put tires on car
- Set ride height
- Clean car
- Bolt on Skid plate
- Get alignment
- Go dodge trees

Since that list is less than a hour or two of work I super excited. I should be able to get it aligned in the next couple of days and drive it around over the weekend to make sure there are not any problems.

So to re-cap what I have been working on, Here is the freshly reassembled drivers corner. Notice that fender its practically showroom new. :lol:
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And the front suspension. I am borrowing this DMS strut from another rally Foci racer since DMS north america does not look like they are going to get my suspension fixed in time for Sandblast.
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Here is the engine all buttoned up. The following things were replaced in the last week Timing belt, tensioner, timing belt idler, upper radiator hose, coolant, and brake fluid. The plugs, wires, engine oil, filter, and trans fluid were also replaced since the last race.
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Here is shot of the new SVT airbox. This is the first go faster part that I have installed on the drive train since it has become a rally car.
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Here is the newly painted and assembled rear suspension. I painted all of the links the shocks and the springs since they were mostly with out paint from when I was running without the plastic sheeting last year. I also installed the rear brake hose holders that you see in the shot.
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Since the bolts where seized in the knuckle that I got from the junk yard. I had to switch to through bolts for the LCA
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And here with the front toe link. you can see the nice blue shock compare that to the rusty mess in the previous set of pictures.
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Now I have had a question about the skid plate so I thought I would post some pics detailing the mounting for those that are interested. The plate started as a product of Davenport racing but while it was supper strong and probably would have cleared an SVT header I decided to go with a lower profile design so I could gain some ground clearance. Here is the front feet.
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Here is the back of the plate where the big change was made. The round bars used to go all way back to the ends of the flat stock. But I had them shortened and replaced with the flat stock so they would clear the front edge of the lower subframe, while sitting closer to the under side of the car.
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And here is close up of those changes.
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Here is the front mounting point. Using davenport's design we cut a small hole in the bumper support and then welded a plate with a captive nut in into the hole.
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Here is the sub frame. You can see the hole closest to the camera right behind the front bushing for the LCA has another plate welded in it with a captive nut hole already exists on the stock focus it was a good place to mount it.
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Well I hope some of you can make it out for Sandblast. There are going to be at least 4 Foci there and 3 other Fords at this event. I think Ford will be the largest manufacture present at the event.

Cheers,
Andrew
 
#319 ·
Its good to see you are keeping your racing going even with all the labor of replacing parts etc.

Maybe its just me, but DMS should've caught that design flaw or tested that strut before selling it.
 
#320 ·
COSitsWORTHit said:
Its good to see you are keeping your racing going even with all the labor of replacing parts etc.

Maybe its just me, but DMS should've caught that design flaw or tested that strut before selling it.
Click to expand...
Lets just say that Ford has known for a while that there is some issue's with their suspension design and aftermarket suspension. I have come to learn this from somone who has been testing for Ford Racing for several years. Says he has had the same problem with 3 other manufactuers besides DMS. So this particular issue was known well in advance and for quite some time know. Ford has just choosing not to let the Majorty know this info. I have a feeling that this issue is going to happen with any aftermarket suspension applications as long as the pre-06 suspension components are used.
 
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