[ZX3FROG]

I have said it more than once and I will say it again. The hardest part of this swap is gathering all the parts that are necessary to complete the swap. The easiest way to accomplish this is to find a wreck Foci that hasn’t been torn apart yet. If you are even considering doing this swap, it could be beneficial to call to all the junkyards in your area and tell them that you would like to know if they get a wrecked Focus in before they start hacking it apart. Anyone who has had experience with junkyards knows that they get the parts they want out of the car the easiest way. The easiest way is to do a slice and dice on the car. If you can not find a wrecked Focus, the junkyards are still your friends. They should have the major stuff that you will need. Anything else that you need, I recommend getting them from Steve (FORDSVTPARTS).

On with the swap……

Personally, I was doing some other engine upgrades (FR HEAD, CAT CAMS, and UDP) so I pulled the entire engine/tranny together. This is not in any way a requirement, but it definitely made the job a lot easier. I personally don’t recommend pulling the engine if you don’t have anything else that you need to do. Dropping the tranny is not difficult if you have the right tools i.e. tranny jack. Once you get the tranny out, you can begin. This write up is not in chronological order. It doesn’t matter if you start inside or outside. It doesn’t mater if you start with the shift assembly or the pedal assembly. You can do it anyway you want with the exception of the obvious things. I.E. You can not put the clutch on until you install the flywheel. You can not remove the shift cable before you remove the grommet from the floor. Of course, if you thought you could, you probably should not be touching a car.

Also, I did this write up with assumption that you have a Chilton’s, Hayes, or Ford Service Manual. I don’t think it is necessary to describe how to remove your transmission as the books are going to be a lot more detailed than I ever will be. I did add some descriptions that I found either a little confusing, or was a just a PITA!

Inside Car……………

1. Remove Handle on Shift Assembly
2. Remove Center Console.
3. Remove Heating duct (this is under the Center Console
4. Remove Lower Center Dash Panel
5. On the Heater box, remove the sides. Remove from car.
6. Unhook shift cable from shift assembly
7. Remove Shift Assembly. Including unplugging all electronics from shift assembly
8. According to Chilton’s/Hayes Manuals, they say to pull back carpet and insulation to reach the shift cable grommet. I did not see anyway to do this, so I just cut the insulation to get to the grommet.
9. Remove two screws from grommet.
10. In the engine bay, unclip shift cable from bracket.
11. Remove heat shield above the flex pipe.
12. Pull cable through the inside of the car.
13. Run New Shift Cable from inside of the car. Ensuring that the cables are the right way. The tranny side has covers over the actual wires. Also, make sure that you route the cables the same why the old cable was routed.
14. Screw the grommet back down; replace heat shield, insulation and carpet.
15. Install new Shift Assembly, attach cables.
16. Remove Brake Pedal
17. To the left of the Brake Pedal, you will see in the insulation an oblong cut out. It is serrated, so you will have to cut/rip it off. Underneath it, you will see a plastic plug. (If you had a stereo system installed, mainly if you are running amps, the installer may have routed your power cable at this location. You will need to reroute any cables that may run through this spot)
18. On the Inside of the engine bay, you will need to unscrew the bolt holding the plastic piece in to remove the piece.
19. I found it easier to bolt the Clutch Master Cylinder to the clutch pedals before installation.
20. Install Clutch Master Cylinder/Clutch/Brake pedal assembly. (Four nuts on the pedals and one metal clip for the master cylinder.
21. Reinstall all consoles and dash panels.
22. Reinstall the Heat Shield above the Flex Pipe

*I have not finished the wiring portion of the swap, so you might want to wait on reinstalling all the panels.

Inside the Engine Bay.

1. Remove Starter if not already done.
2. Replace Crank Position Sensor.
3. Replace Clutch/Brake Fluid Reservoir (ensuring that you take the necessary precautions to avoid the fluid from going everywhere. Brake Fluid is not a good thing to have floating around wherever it wants to go.
4. Hook up the line running to the Brake Master cylinder.
5. Hook up the line running to the Clutch Master cylinder. This line goes on the top.
6. Run the line from the bottom of the Clutch Master cylinder to the Slave cylinder. (You will not be able to hook up the Slave cylinder line until you put the tranny back in.
7. Replace the bracket that holds your half shaft (passenger side) to the engine block.
8. Remove Tranny fluid cooler (Behind the radiator. You will need to remove the radiator to accomplish this.
9. Remove flex plate (Also known as a pressure plate or an automatic transmission Flywheel) from engine.
10. Install New Flywheel. They say only to reuse the bolts twice, I just replaced mine altogether. It was like $8 for all the bolts from the dealership (HINT- Go Through Steve)
11. Install Clutch. The six bolts for the clutch cover were $5.06 a piece from the Dealership (HINT- GO THROUGH STEVE)
12. Install Slave cylinder in bell housing of tranny (If Needed)
13. Reinstall Tranny.
14. Do all the wiring*******I haven’t finished this part yet, so I will let you know********
15. Install New Drive shafts (There is confusion on this because Kragen/Shucks/Checkers, whatever you have around you, say that the drive shafts are the same. Ford disagrees and says they are different.)
16. Install any other part that has been removed.


And one more time, I do not have the wiring done so that is not in the write up yet. I will add it on a separate post as it may end up being a PITA!

If you see something wrong with this, please let me know. If you see something that should be more fully described, let me know. My goal is to get the information to the people that are interested in doing this swap. Believe it or not, sometimes it is just not feasible or possible to just trade the car in.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Thanks