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Follow the build of one of the most extreme Ford Focus RS's

If you're going through hell, keep going - Winston Churchill I might be over reacting a little here, but yeh, limits are...
02/09/2026

If you're going through hell, keep going - Winston Churchill

I might be over reacting a little here, but yeh, limits are there to be pushed? Either that I'm just to stupid to realise iv failed and im still going šŸ¤£

Gearbox's... The bain of my motorsport chapter! I dont know what it is but im just not very happy having to play about with them!

But, times ticking, willingness to learn, and armed with a youtube video i was ready to give it a go!

Job was simple in theory, hard in pratice, Fit the gripper L*D to the box. Bit of prep work i had new seals, new diff bearings and going by the guy on youtube it should be probably the easiest job to carry out gearbox wise... So off i went!

And to be fair i got on all right, had to look at the youtube video mainly when things didnt " fall apart " and i was scared i was pulling on something i shouldnt or had forgotten to undo.

But other than having to find a very think round bit of metal to press one of the new diff bearings on it went pretty smooth!

Hands were covered in oil for most of it so actually only took one photo prior to putting the new diff in!

Gave everything a check and other than reveser gear looking a little sad with a trip to turkey for some new teeth not being a bad shout, the box was actually in pretty good nick with all the synchros looking pointy still!

Early days, but it went back together just as easy and i can select all the gears so thats got to be a good start!

So even though the chassis work had to stop there was plenty to get on with.With the car on the higher end of the mileag...
28/08/2026

So even though the chassis work had to stop there was plenty to get on with.

With the car on the higher end of the mileage scale, i thought it would be a good time to give the engine a bit of TLC.

So major service was due, timing belt, water pump and tensioner all to be fitted. Whipped the covers off and yup, belt was starting to crack, not the worst iv seen but this is why I'm doing it, so was actually nice to see i wasn't wasting my time!

Talking of time, i noticed the engine was ever so slightly out of timing, belt stretch/lack of tension was my first guess, didnt get to caught up in it, but again another reason to do this.

All new parts fitted and timed up correctly, spun over twice and re check timing and its pap on so jobs good!

Then while i was on a roll i got the Ford AC delete kit fitted up and new alternator bolted on, Nothing wrong with the old one but I'm at the point with the car now iv so much time and money invested I'm replacing as much as i can practically afford to!

Gave the mounts a clean and blast, timing cover a once over with APC and bolted it all back up. Clutch to fit then its ready to go back in once the other works completed!

This weekend off as im on best man duties my good friends wedding and everyone knows operating the grinder while drunk is a bad idea šŸ¤£

Cheers!

Flat out before the stage even started! The weekends job was the front ends turn for its upgrade / refurb Plan was simpl...
24/08/2026

Flat out before the stage even started!

The weekends job was the front ends turn for its upgrade / refurb

Plan was simple, engine out, all suspension stripped off, clean up the subframe as its the only part staying, clean, treat and coat the inner arches and tiny bit of floor i didnt get done.

Started well, front end came off pretty trouble free, got the rad removed, aircon rad off and the crash bar prepped for a bit of paint.
Then it was onto the engine and box to remove, luckily these are very similar to the Fiesta ST's that iv dabbled with, but even simpler as theres no intercooler pipe work or oil feeds ect ect. Few coolant hoses and a mountain of plugs and the engine was ready to come out - Flying!
Subrame next and this is where all momentum ended.... Captive nuts.... I seen the front leg bolts through the leg and knew they didnt look smart. Fact that it was a E bit as well the fear had started to set in. So decent soak with plus gas, left them a hour and then it was time to get the bar on them see if i could get them out - Short answer is nope... Both front subframe captive nuts broke there welds... what should of been a easy unbolting of the subframe now turned into a hassle of cutting into the legs to get the old bolts out! Honestly ruined my progress but hey it is a 15 year old fordy at the end of the day!
Drilled a little hole with the hopes i might be able to reweld the nut but when i got in there the mess made me realise that wasnt going to work, so cut a bit more to then find ford for some reason put a cage over the top of the nut?? Why i have no idea but that had to get cut as well!

Progress stumped but not deterred!

Gave the arches a buff down and a spray with the rust converter, then used every chemical i had for cleaning cars and got the heat shields cleaned up so at least everything isnt covered in oil/mud now!

Onwards we go!
Cheers!

Suspension! Struggled with this one, Propper Billys/Reigers coming in at silly money (like the whole budget of my rally ...
18/08/2026

Suspension!

Struggled with this one, Propper Billys/Reigers coming in at silly money (like the whole budget of my rally project silly!!) I had to be realistic, but also know the importance of decent suspension! So wasnt going to be junk going on it!

Call to long time Strathdee madness supporter Paul at Part-box.com and after a bit of advice, specs of said fiesta and planned usage, set of custom GAZ Gold coilovers were specced. Drop will be minimum, with keeping travel/droop in mind.

Took a bit of time for them to get made but they were worth the wait! The fronts will go on when the front end refresh takes place, but i couldnt help myself but get the backs installed and delighted with how they look! Cant wait to play about with the damping!

Just call me Mario! With the underside drying, it was a good time to start plumbing the inside.Fuel lines ran in -6 brai...
16/08/2026

Just call me Mario!

With the underside drying, it was a good time to start plumbing the inside.
Fuel lines ran in -6 braided PTFE hose, brake lines done in copper pipe, Sounds easy right?!
A sucker for detail, and having near zero in brake line making bar the odd repair part i had to get my thinking cap on.
ABS-Bypass was needed, but after a bit of digging its not a simple case of chucking it in the bin. Due to being tied into the cars CANBUS system, you need to keep it in the loop. So all lines removed from it but leave it plugged in was the answer to that.
Issue is with the ABS "pump" removed, you also loose your brake bias, hence why pulling the fuse doesn't have the best results... Having done some research combined with my previous hot hatch knowledge, i knew i was going to have to fit a brake bias valve.
Reading up, since you need to lower the rear bias so much, people fit two "cheap" bias valves to lower the rear brake pressure, or apparently 1 high quality bias valve can have the same effect.
For neatness and 2 less leak points, i had to splash the cash and bought a AP Racing bias valve - Not a cheap day out but brakes is something iv always though you should never cheap out on....

So with the ABS bypassed it was onto sifting through all the different fittings i was going to need to hook it all up, M10, 3/8's, 7/16's and M12, feel like iv got them all!
Then the horrible job of bending the pipe so it looks likes its semi supposed to be there! Bit of planning and what felt like a million pipe clamps later lines were all ran!

Onto the fuel lines next, The fiesta runs a "returnless" system, but also has a v***r breather, So a few adapters letting me plumb into the stock hardware off the pump/fuelrail/breather i had the simple task of running 2 lines with my newly designed hose clamps keeping it all neat and tidy!

Now the fun part of trying the bleed the brakes šŸ¤£

With the temperature still in my favour it would be a waste not to get cracking with the underside! Something i said i w...
14/08/2026

With the temperature still in my favour it would be a waste not to get cracking with the underside!

Something i said i was never doing again after doing the focus but here we are!

So the underside was typical 16 year old ford, crusty, very crusty, Its had some repairs to the sills at some point in the normal areas but much to my surprise it was actually very solid, and the sill lips havnt been destroyed and flattened over!

This will be a 2 part job, doing the rear up to the front subframe first, and then doing the front subframe "outer sills part" when the engine comes out. No point in making it hard for myself, or a mess of the engine with overspray!

So nearly everything on the back will be binned, bar the fuel tank.
Everything removed it was onto the job of buffing all the underside to remove the loose rust!

Then all rust areas were treated with 2 coats of Dinitrol RC900 rust converter, very nice product that you spray on and not brush on (the bilt hamber stuff i last used destroyed my garage floor paint :( )
Then whole lot sprayed with Upol Gravitex. Looking back it might of been worth painting a finish ontop of that, but how that would last im not sure with rallying. Feel like underside painting is something you will do more than once on a rally car! haha!

With that all drying, it was time to make a kevlar tank gaurd. Could i of bought one, yes, but for the same money i was able to make one, and i now have a vaccum pump for more carbon kevlar making things! So a bit of a ruff meathod of making it, i just wrapped the tank in clingfilm as tape wouldnt stick to it at all! Then used tape to soften the edges and "mould" the strap areas to stop the kevlar locking onto the tank. Cover in kevlar, wet out, pull vaccum and let dry! One tank gaurd made!

Then it was onto building it all back up, ST rear axle, powerflex bushs and the exhaust back on!

Yes iv been non stop! haha!

Little mid week update!Itā€™s all about the details.Now I donā€™t pretend to have the best eye in the business, but I can te...
13/08/2026

Little mid week update!

Itā€™s all about the details.

Now I donā€™t pretend to have the best eye in the business, but I can tell if something looks crap.
And case in point is the running of the fuel lines inside the car.
For obvious reasons they need to be secured, but itā€™s sometimes the simple jobs that annoy you the most.
I had planned to keep it simple and use 2 P clips to hold both the hoses and then secure it to the body via 1 mounting point. But the spacing of the P clips was just too large, the hoses looked like they were miles apart rather than ā€œtogetherā€. This could have been solved by staggering the P clips along both lines but that would require double the holes and that was basically the deciding point for me not to continue with that idea.
I then looked at hose clamps (used to keep two runs of hoses together) but the only problem with that was expense and they all looked a bit to bulky, if they wernt bulky they were expensive. And given I was going to need 5/6 of them it just seemed excessive.
But then it popped into my head that I own a 3D printer! And even better I have some ASA filament! I did look on the normal print sites for a file but ended up designing my own, doing a few prototypes to check for wall thickness, ā€œpinch on hoseā€ and strength, few Tweeks and I had something that was made for the job!

The cropped first photo is the P clip idea, and the second is my designed hose clamps šŸ’ŖšŸ»

Itā€™s the little things!

Cheers

So a little longer between posts...But Father was up so i kinda wanted to surprise him without him seeing it on FB first...
10/08/2026

So a little longer between posts...But Father was up so i kinda wanted to surprise him without him seeing it on FB first!

But what a solid week its been! Loads of progress and big job items ticked off, so lets get right into it!

Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents P**s Poor Performance!
Weather, with the heat wave in scotland due to end, i had a very small window that was closing!

Craig and myself put in some mega work to get the cage done.
So with the cage done it was all over to me! Whole thing cleaned up of surface rust, etch primed and then it was the fun job of masking - i hate masking, its something that takes forever and you dont really see any progress! But with the wiring and windows all masked it was time to lay down the inside paint. I went with RAL9006 - I spent far to long trying to decide what colour i wanted. All the greys to me looked like primer glossed or battleships which i just didnt like. I wanted bright silver. So hopefully if anyone else in the same boat as me can see real life what that colour turns out like and imo its perfect!

Its 2K paint with gloss which is only my second time painting direct gloss but really happy with the finish! Only down side was getting the paint gun in to areas was tight, even with running a small paint cup!

Decided to not paint the doors/boot but im on the fence now, if i have time i might strip them all down and do it! Time will tell!

Onto the underside next!

Exhausting! Non stop fab work, so swapped the manifold onto the car, and got to work routing the exhaust! Fiesta is bles...
28/07/2026

Exhausting!
Non stop fab work, so swapped the manifold onto the car, and got to work routing the exhaust!

Fiesta is blessed with a fairly straight tunnel, into a 90 left don't cut, 90 right, over crest into cat (f**k im rally ready!šŸ¤£)
But yeh, fairly simple to mock up, and Craig was on the tig ready to weld her up.

Looking about at the Msport R2 they ran the cat just in front of the back box, no idea why? Weight further back? Heat out the engine bay, away from the driver/co driver? No real idea? Its not like i have anti lag trying to blow it to bits, but since they did it i copied it!

Tail pipe to fully weld, and run over the brackets but thats another job ticked off!

Brap!

Another day, another deep dive into the regulations šŸ¤£ Seat mounts this time! So with the cage tac'd in place, this allow...
20/07/2026

Another day, another deep dive into the regulations šŸ¤£

Seat mounts this time! So with the cage tac'd in place, this allows me to now figure out where the seats can/can't go!
Passenger side was easy, as far back and as low as practical - with a fwd pushing some weight to the rear isnt a bad idea, granted you can go to far and loose the "tip toe turn in" but with a stock fiesta being about 60/40 got a bit to play with. Plus it keeps my dad nice and snug in the middle of the cage!

So the focus kindly donated the passenger Sparco seat for allowing me and Craig to use to allow us to position it!

Craig got right to it doing all the important welding, where i fannyed about making little fill in blanks for boxing back in the stock seat rails where we had to cut to allow the seat to go as low as i wanted! Then i got too excited and gave welding the newly fabbed blank up! Then while on a high i made up and blanked the holes left from the interior heater/AC/Matrix in the firewall, but got so excited that i forgot to take a photo of probably the best welding in the world! Hate it when that happens! šŸ«£šŸ¤£

But in all seriousness buy the end of it we had 4 new regulation style seat rails mounted in the car! Looks like so little but this was hours of seat in out in out in out action!!

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