Interesting Focus facts...

[CFM Focus]

Below are some interesting Focus facts I found on another forum:

It's Zetec not ZTEC or some other b****** child variation of Honda's VTEC.

If you get 17" wheels with offset of 40-42mm, set the front and rear toe to ZERO, otherwise you'll get consistent cupping on the inner edge of your tire due to poor geometry.

If you drop your car any reasonable amount, it's always a good idea to think about a rear camber bolt kit, or you'll have that stupid leaning in wheel look on the back.

There are three manual transmission and one automatic transmission. If you have a Zetec you have an MTX-75 5-speed, if you have an SVT you have a Getrag 6 speed, and if you have an SPI engine you have an IB-5 5 speed. The automatic transmission is an 4F27E. It is a 4-speed automatic tranny that can only hold about 150ft-lbs of torque at the wheels, more than that and you can count the days till it croaks. The Duratec models have a slightly stronger version due to the increased horsepower.

Your car takes 4.5 qts of oil with the filter on. Ford calls for 5W-20 but you can run 5W-30 or 0W-30 and equivalents, the 5W-20 is just for fuel mileage numbers.

If you have a lot of dust in your car, you probably don't have the cabin air filter, the car is built to have one, but Ford was too cheap to install them in all cars.

Your car is FWD (unless you've done a conversion)

There are about 100 reasons why your MIL(or CEL check engine light) might come on...chances are it's your DPFE no matter what though.

SPI stands for Split Port Induction

ZTS stands for Zetec Touring Sedan, your car isn't a ZTS if it doesn't have the Zetec.

SVT springs will lower your car about 3/4"

It would cost more money to adapt an SVT head to your Zetec block than it would to just buy the dang SVT engine fully assembled brand new.

The SVT exhaust is not a simple direct bolt-on, Ford Racing makes a special one that adapts to the Zetec though.

The Focus has a poorly grounded electrical system, and any flickering headlights is due to that fact. Ground wire kits are simple to install and can get rid of that problem.

Your headlights are H4 55W/60W bulbs, anything more powerful may melt the harnesses, or the lens casing and could catch fire.

2000-2001 model Focuses had a hood liner, Ford got rid of them in 2002 because some of them had caught fire and because they didn't do anything anyways.

The reverse lockout feature can easily be removed if you take the shifter out and remove the tab.

Converting to SVT brakes is not as simple as bolting on the rotors. You need the calipers, the spindle and the hub, as well as the steering knuckle.

The smallest size wheel you can run with SVT brakes are 16".

If you convert the rear of a stock focus to SVT discs, make sure you get the brake bias valve, otherwise you'll be locking up the rear tires left and right.

The SVT transmission is not a simple replacement for the stock MTX-75.

UDP's have been known to break the crank, use at your own risk.

A lightweight flywheel is loud as h*** on the Focus.

A "catback" exhaust is not really a "catback" on the Focus, there is a flexpipe between the cat and the exhaust. So it's really a "flexback" exhaust.

Exchanging gauges from one Focus to another does not keep the same mileage. Your car will have the mileage that the gauge cluster has (however, your ECU will still show the correct mileage, so fraud is easily detected).

You cannot start your car with a non-PATS key, but you can open your doors with it.

http://focus.noegruts.com/vin/vin.htm This is a VIN number decoder, it doesn't include SVT stuff, but otherwise it's pretty good, it also doesn't include some of the newer engines (ie 2.0L and 2.3L Duratec engines)

The SVT has the stiffest dampers and shortest springs (Stock), the next stiffest dampers are the S2 dampers, then the Street Edition, then everything else is the same old squish fest.

For all you 2004 and up Focus owners your engine is different. You've got one of three choices. A 2.3L PZEV Duratec engine, a 2.0L PZEV Duratec high output engine or a 2.0L PZEV Duratec engine. The lowest powered engine is about the same power as the Zetec engines, they also have better torque numbers. Not much to look at though.

The MTX-75 is infamous for the third gear synchro going bad.

The Refrigerant for the AC is 134A.

If you hold the lock and unlock buttons on the keyless entry remote for about 10-15 seconds you can make the car unlock all the doors with one key press or go back to stock set-up (1 press unlocks just the driver, 2 the whole car). The car will blink at you when it has switched.

If you have an SPI or Duratec engine and you buy an aftermarket tach, you need a tach driver, if you have a Zetec you can connect to the PCM pin 48 for a clean tach signal.

If you install an A/F gauge on an SVT you'll notice it moves constantly back and forth. That's normal (at least OE normal) an aftermarket chip will stop it from happening.

The front driver side wiper is 22", the front passenger side wiper is 19" and the rear wiper on hatches is 11".

The stock filters for the Zetec and the SVT though being different numbers, are the same filters. The SVT and the Zetec use an identical block. The difference is the head.

In the MTX-75 the fluid is neither a gear lube nor an ATF, it is some cross-breed of the two, you can buy it from Ford for about $15/ quart, you'd need about 2.5 quarts to fill the tranny, the part number from Ford is Motorcraft XT-M5-QS.

RS wheels are 18"x8" and won't fit on your standard ZX3, if you want to use these wheels you'd need the fenders from the RS which can be bought from Ford Racing.

The valve cover on a Zetec sucks, and the dang thing will leak no matter what you try to do. It's just one of those things.

If your brake light comes on and your emergency brake isn't engaged, you may be low on fluid, this will trigger the light. If your brake fluid is low, fill it back up and then check underneath your dash immediately behind your clutch for brake fluid, if there is brake fluid there, you need a new clutch master cylinder kit from Ford. This is common.

Your gas mileage will never be what the sticker said, either deal with it, or trade in for one of those Prius things.

The RS shift knob will only fit MTX-75 shifter assemblies, and retains the reverse lockout feature.
_________________
joe@teamfocus.us
http://www.cardomain.com/id/rpijg

[CFM Focus]

Is there a thread similar to this already on FJ?

[Housoft]

Not that I know of. These kinds of questions are asked ALL the time and people just get told to use the search.

[fiends911]

on the duratecs the automatic is a variation of the old one. it is made to withstand more power.

[CWCZX3]

There are three manual transmission and one automatic transmission. If you have a Zetec you have an MTX-75 5-speed, if you have an SVT you have a Getrag 6 speed, and if you have an SPI engine you have an IB-5 5 speed. The automatic transmission is an 4F27E.It is a 4-speed manual tranny that can only hold about 150ft-lbs of torque at the wheels, more than that and you can count the days till it croaks.

Slight typo in that sentence. Should be a sicky up in the newb welcome to focaljet section.

[Johnny_P]

Originally Posted by CFM Focus

ZTS stands for Zetec Touring Sedan, your car isn't a ZTS if it doesn't have the Zetec.

LIES! My SE Sport sedan has a 5 speed Zetec engine

[bustonit]

ZTW's we said to have Street Edition suspensions.

The 06 Focus brochure lists all Focus have a 150,000 mile air filter. Well there's a milestone gone unnoticed by everyone. What's next, the 150,000 mile oil filter?

[pitchblack23]

For all you 2004 and up Focus owners your engine is different. You've got one of three choices. A 2.3L PZEV Duratec engine, a 2.0L PZEV Duratec high output engine or a 2.0L PZEV Duratec engine. The lowest powered engine is about the same power as the Zetec engines, they also have better torque numbers. Not much to look at though.

This is all wrong. There are four Duratec variations. For '03 and '04, depending on your location, both the Zetec and the Duratec 2.3 PZEV were available. For '05 and up, the Duratec 2.3, 2.0, and 2.0 PZEV are available. There is no PZEV performance offering, it is an ultra-clean version tuned for low emissions. The 2.3 PZEV is desireable only because the more powerful non-PZEV version was never offered in hatchback trim.

Edit: And the air filter is not 150,000 miles, it's 100,000 miles. It's also not really an air filter, the 100k service includes a complete replacement of the intake tract altogether. 150k is the emissions equipment warranty period.

[bustonit]

Just passing on what is in the brochure...I guess Ford has decided to mislead prospective owners then.

[ArmyFocus]

The facts sheet says that UDPs have been known to break the crank. I have a SVTF and yesterday I ordered the FS UDP from CFM. Should I be worrying about this?

[bustonit]

Originally Posted by ArmyFocus

The facts sheet says that UDPs have been known to break the crank. I have a SVTF and yesterday I ordered the FS UDP from CFM. Should I be worrying about this?

75K on my UDP's...all's good.

[ArmyFocus]

Originally Posted by bustonit

75K on my UDP's...all's good.

After you installed your UDPs was the effect noticeable? I mean, could you tell that they did anything performance wise?

[Johnny_P]

theres a post going around the zetec engine forum about UDPs i think

[bustonit]

yes

[hEaT]

Very nice sticky. I've heard good and bad about UDP's. I believe it was Tom who doesn't use them and that's a good enough reason for me.

[paulhaskew]

I like it... made me chuckle a few times too, cause some of it I didn't know... but heck, I don't know everything either

[Dukman]

The front driver side wiper is 22", the front passenger side wiper is 19" and the rear wiper on hatches is 11"

Actually, the rear wiper is 15".

[frocus]

nice list seems like this should be stickied somewhere since it covers most newbie questions.

[Cameroon]

Hmmm. I've been on this board since '01 I'm waiting to see even one documentable failure of any kind due to an UDP.

I get 24mpg city, just like the epa rating, my gets 30mpg higher than the 27mpg rating.

[guitarseth]

A lot of those bits of trivia are pretty good, but like has been pointed out, not all of them are true.

I've never seen a documented failure of the crank from a UDP(theoretically, it could put a greater strain on the crank), or worse than listed gas mileag, either. Additionally, from what I understand, the grounding system for the Focus is actually fairly good compared to other OEM wiring.

[ax0n]

BTW Some ZTS's have Duratecs

[DisrupTer911]

The smallest size wheel you can run with SVT brakes are 16".

I would like to dispute this.

there are 15s that fit SVT brakes.

I have a buddy that's going to be running 15s over his SVT brakes on a drag car.

and I'm convinced that with properly sized spacers, you could run stock 15s over SVT brakes. it's a matter of caliper to spoke clearance, not caliper to inner diameter clearance. so spacers should provide clearance over SVT brakes in the front.

stock 15s fit just fine over SVT rears.

stock 15s are 52.5mm offset
stock 17s are 49mm offset.

i think a spacer that brings the 15s out to 49 would work.