Twenty

Painted door trim: Fresh paint is oh-so-nice, isn't it? Yesterday I picked up my door trim from the body shop. I left them with just the parts and paint code, and they managed to get a really close match to the tri-coat paint. I guess that's good news for if/when I need body parts painted. You may notice the dirt on the black side skirt, I got caught in a massive downpour when I picked these up last night. It's getting a bath tonight before a car meet. The car's dirty, I'm sorry! Anyway, there they are. There isn't too much to say aside from that I'm happy to finally have these colour matched and not covered in vinyl.

Oops. I actually didn't see that outcome coming. I figured it may flip over to the other side.

Grab one while you can! Only ~1300 hatches exist.

I could see that intentionally being done for fun, as a joke.

MS3 mount and T1R antenna: Yesterday after work the Focus went up in the air again to have the MS3 mount installed. The photos from the install are from my phone, so I apoligize for the quality. The install is very simple, it's a total of 5 bolts (after you remove the tray under the engine) and fits perfectly. The new MS3 mount and bolt, and a comparison of it next to the stock Focus piece. The purpose of this is to improve the feel of the shifter, the MS3 mount is stronger and provides a better feel when changing gears. Two bolts hold in the mount, and the last three hold in the 'bracket' that connects to it. All removed, it looks like this (Left and right of picture are rear and front, respectively): Installation is just the reverse of removal, with the mount going in first and then the bracket following it. The mount is at the top of this picture, though it's mostly hidden from view (Top and bottom of picture are rear and front, respectively). Really, as long as you can figure out how to remove the stock piece you can put the new one in. It's very simple. While the Focus was in the air I also grabbed a quick shot to better show the mounting of the front lip. You can see the bolts, which use the OEM clip mounting locations. With the MS3 mount in place the change is immediately noticeable. Shifting feels much more precise, and the 1-2 shift is the one that really improved. I highly recommend this upgrade. The second part of today's post deals with a part I picked up on Wednesday; a T1R stubby antenna. A fellow member of a local forum had one for sale so I messaged him and picked it up. It is much shorter than the stock piece but there has been no change in reception yet to speak of. There is a difference in finishes however, the antenna being glossy and the base being more satin. I may need to see what I can do about that. Regardless, it's time the rest of the exterior saw some more changes, since the nose has received almost all of them. I have also finally gotten around to getting the front door trim painted. Gone is the yellow vinyl, and after a quick experiment with a teal shade I dropped them off for a permanent coat of colour. Next week I hope to pick them up.

This one.

Clean is good.

More winter prep: Today as planned, I brought the Focus with me to work so that a couple of coworkers and I could wrap some more of it in 3M to protect it over the coming months. Bouncing ideas back and forth with my manager and coworkers, we ultimately did more than just the lip. I was also wanting to get the door handle cups and possibly headlights done, but the final list was much bigger: Original 3M: -Front bumper -Partial hood -Partial fenders -Partial mirrors New 3M: -Downforce lip -Door handle cups -Headlights -Front Ford emblem -Front license plate recess -A pillars -Leading edge of roof -Full mirrors, replacing original 3M I showed up at 9 this morning, and left at 4:30. It was a long, productive day. Thanks to my coworkers Mike and Ryan, who were the trained installers doing most of the work. I was in more of a support role for the day. Start of the day: I washed the lip again (the car was washed Wednesday so it was pretty clean overall) and drove it downstairs. This was the old 3M on the mirror, only covering the front face and not the top. You'll see in the finished picture that the whole painted cap is now covered. Everything but the lip was done downstairs. Due to the low height, I brought the Focus upstairs to Mike's bay and put it on his hoist so he could raise it up. Amazingly, he did the whole lip in ONE PIECE of 3M, for an almost seamless install. The only relief cuts were at the very ends of the lip, by the wheels. Here's the new mirror cap wrap, now the only uncovered portion is the inside (facing the door) but that's out of the line of fire. The first rock chip I picked up from driving was on the roof, directly above my head. Now the leading edge is protected, as are the A-pillars. The fragile emblem is covered. All four door handle cups are safe from fingernails now. I was cleaning a Shelby last week when I noticed it had these, and I knew I had to get them too. For some reason it never occurred to me before. That wraps up the 3M, but that's not all for today. I also picked up my Mazdaspeed 3 rear motor mount and bolt on my way home, as it arrived today. The install will have to wait until I can spend a lunch hour at work and borrow a bay.

Today marks just over one year with my Focus (53 weeks to be exact) and it won't be long now before it has to go into winter mode. With that in mind, I thought I'd head back to a photo location I know of for a little shoot, to capture it in summer mode and see how it's changed over the past year and a bit. September 23rd 2011: September 30th, 2012:

Funny part is, this swap became so popular that it's now a factory option for 2013 SEs. Thank you! I feel like it's really coming together now. Good...good.

Reminds me of that current-gen Firebird conversion with the lights that dip like that.

Focus is almost backed into twice.... and suffers a couple of black eyes. It's been an interesting day. The black eyes are the good news though. Yesterday while at work I asked my friend in parts if the price on Titanium headlights had changed at all. I figured that since they're now going to be more common with SEs gaining the 'Black Pack' option, perhaps there was a chance the price had changed? Long shot but worth a try. It was a good thing I asked. To cut the story short I was able to order a set of new OEM Titanium lights for less than the $600 I was previously quoted, so I gave the go ahead and picked them up this morning. At home, unwrapped and almost ready to go in. They came with all bulbs already in place, which was nice. One last shot with the original lights: I removed the chrome lights, swapped the stealth marker bulbs over to the Ti pieces, and then put them in place. I have wanted these lights since I bought the Focus, and now I finally have them. On to the pictures!

The reverse lights get some attention too: I'm still waiting to get a chance to swap out the mirrors' amber bulbs, but in the meantime I have received and installed another set of lights. After a friend told me about these I looked into them and ordered a set for the Focus - projector LEDs. Old bulbs out, the LEDs slotted in and worked great. Below is a comparison between the original bulb (left) and new LED (right). There's a slight difference in brightness. One more small lighting update done.

Proper colour.

Holy.

I like amber for its visibility, it stands out a little more.

Stealth bulbs, part II: This update came a little faster than I expected it would, but that's because I found out I was kind of wrong...more on that in a bit. The rear turn signals really show off the amber bulbs, so it would be a welcome change to get rid of them. As stated in the owner's manual the bulbs are 3757s, but I could only find stealth 3157 bulbs. Reading that the two are interchangeable and that '12 hatch owners had already used the latter, I ordered a pair and when I went to install them yesterday they didn't fit. As I looked closer I noticed that there were differences in a pair of small tabs, one on either side of the light's base. Because of that, they wouldn't slot in. Frustrated, I put the amber bulb back and assumed I'd have to try and find new pieces. I was really confused when it was confirmed that hatches were using 3157 bulbs...I dug around more and found a VERY simple solution that many people had used before for various cars; remove the tabs. D'oh. A few seconds with a small pair of cutters and a hobby knife later, the tabs were gone and the bulbs then fit perfectly. Problem solved. And with that, there's only the mirrors' lights left to swap.

The fun part is later though, smashing stuff.

This guy's back at home again.

Stealth bulbs, part I: Earlier this week a small number of new bulbs I had ordered arrived. I decided to get around to removing the amber from a few lights so I ordered some stealth bulbs from Bimmian for the rear turn signals, mirror turn signals, and marker lights in the headlights. Unfortunately the bulbs for the rear turn signals don't fit. Of course, those are the most noticeable amber bulbs, but they'll have to stay for now until I can order another pair in the correct size. With yesterday being my birthday I didn't have time to swap out the mirrors' bulbs before friends came over, but I was able to at least get to the headlights. Goodbye amber. As those who have swapped these bulbs have noted, the headlights have to come out but that's just two small bolts each and some careful handling of the lights. With the new marker lights in place, the update is more apparent than I expected. Definitely tidys up the headlights' appearance. If you haven't noticed, the last couple of pictures were taken with a different lens. Part way through this I was called inside to unwrap my present. My parents knew I wanted a fisheye lens for my camera so they surprised me with one! I left it on my camera the whole day and had lots of fun with it.

Happy 3, angry Focus, and the Celica and Fit are just indifferent.

As of late I've been focusing most of my free time on studying, the new year of university has started off with a heavy workload for a couple of weeks. Last night I did find the time though to head out to the weekly meet at a local mall, our usual hangout. After everyone headed home a few of us had a quick late-night photoshoot and I had a chance tonight to go through the few I had taken. I'm hoping to spend a few minutes working on the Focus this weekend however, Saturday is my birthday and I fully intend to take the day off from studies and do what I want for a change. A minor update should come then.

Because W-Body.

Isn't that what Search and Restore is now?