If you’ve been following this blog you’ll remember that we recently worked on a Focus for Alexander which I have been using as a local runabout :
https://v2xs.com/ford-focus/
The intention is that he will take over this car as soon as Laurena passes her test but with lockdowns and other things getting in the way, this may be some time. However, having some four wheeled transport did make it easier for me to get around and try to find another car. I had a long debate with myself about the type of vehicle to go for and was very tempted by the idea of a van. The justification for this was that a van would make it easier to do the summer shade sail deliveries and provide better motorbike transport. But I had to admit that for the rest of the time I just don’t need the space – so the alternative was to go for a smaller car plus a trailer. In the end there were two factors that swayed the decision in favour of the small car :
- The times when I need the load capacity are actually quite limited – once per week during the summer for shade sails (I actually take some most days but the big factory delivery of customs arrives once per week) – and a few times a year for various motorbike events. In total maybe 20 times per year – not a huge amount of use…
- The clincher was (perhaps surprisingly) driving Alexander’s Focus and realising how much fun a small and responsive car can be in everyday driving. The roads around here are like English B roads and max speed rarely gets above 50 mph, but the Focus has such a nice feel to the chassis and responsiveness to the steering that I really quite like it. I was so surpirsed that I looked up some contemporary road tests and every one of them praised the ride and handling of the car. As a comparison, not long ago I had a Mini Cooper JCW with 250 bhp which was hugely fast but the steering feel and response of the controls was not as good as the Focus.
Decision made I started looking for a small, fun car… and then another Focus came along… The story with this one was remarkably similar to Alexander’s car – English couple came over to France with their Focus, switched it over to French registration, used it for a few years and then bought a French car, the Focus then relegated to a local runabout until expensive repairs and Controle Technique (French MOT) loom and make it uneconomic to keep it.
Alexander’s Focus is a 2003 Mark 1, the new one is a 2008 Mark 2 facelift (also known as a Mark 2.5). The car was 2.5 hours away in the Gers and from speaking to the owner on the ‘phone the main issue seemed to be that it needed a new catalyst. Having done that job on Alexander’s car I wasn’t too worried and went to see the car… This was just before our second lockdown and I agreed to buy the car but couldn’t come back to collect it until just before Christmas.
I couldn’t have picked a worse time of year to be (mostly) outside crawling around underneath a car… Once it was all jacked up I was able to look at the catalyst issue. What I hadn’t realised is that the Mark 2 Focus is actually a different car to the Mark 1 and although both have 1.8 litre petrol engines they are different platforms – the Mark 2 is quite a bit bigger and more refined but it still retains the same suspension design. The engine is different and mounted the other way round which meant that the catalyst was between the engine and bulkhead and harder to access. On the plus side the Mazda designed engine doesn’t have a cam belt so that was one job crossed off the list. A bit of research and I understood the previoius owner’s problem and willingness to sell the car cheap (and it was cheap) – the catalyst is part of a one piece assembly that comprises the exhaust manifold, catalyst and flexible coupling to connect to the rest of the exhaust. A replacement is about 800 Euros and garage fitting might well double that cost. I found a cheaper option and would (of course) be doing it myself but was concerned about being able to successfully remove the exhaust manifold – snapping off a stud in the cylinder head would be a massive job to fix. It did occur to me that the failure (you could hear the exhaust blowing) was probably in the flexible coupling and the manifold and catalyst may be OK. Very difficult to be sure but some grovelling under the car and limb contorsion seemed to confirm the flexible was broken. A bit more research and I managed to find a supplier offering the flexible as a repair section – no need to replace the manifold and cat – I placed my order…
In terms of cost (£70) this was a great solution, but required cutting the pipe between the flexible and the catalyst and that section of pipe is virtually impossible to access. Removing the manifold would make it much easier but carries more risks. I decided to try the cutting route with the fall back of taking the whole thing out. It took two days…
The image above shows the problem. The pipe had to be cut after the catalyst and before the oxygen sensor – I have put a black tie-wrap around the pipe (which you can just make out) marking the cutting location. Impossible to access from above…
Access from below was much improved once I had cut off the rest of the exhaust system (it also needed replacing) – but even so there was just enough room to squeeze in with a Dremel and gradually cut small sections of the pipe. I lost count of the number of cutting discs I got through…
Now just need to wait for the bits and refit the complete exhaust system…
The next big job on the list was painting the underside of the car.. It seems that every car that spends a few winters in the UK becomes a rust farm underneath – mostly the chassis/suspension components but a few bits of bodywork too. To stop this getting any worse I rubbed down everything I could get to and then painted it with good old Finnigan’s Hammerite. It was a horrible, dirty, uncomfortable and thankless task – we did the same on Alexander’s Focus – well when I say we that was Alexander’s main contribution to the work..
For the new exhaust I ordered the centre and rear silencer, but only discovered when they arrived that the rear silencer does not include a short length of pipe from the exit of the silencer to the rear of the car – Doh ! To speed things up I ordered this missing pipe from a local supplier on a “click and collect” basis – went to collect and it wasn’t there – they had lost the package! At this stage I was under pressure to get the job finished as I was planning to drive down to Portugal, but then they started another lock down so the pressure was off. Ordered the pipe from my normal supplier and it arrived 3 days later – all correct.
Other items were more straighforward – a routine service, two new tyres, replace split intake hose and general clean and tidy up. Put the car in for the CT and it passed first time. There were a couple of advisories on tracking and rear brake balance which I’ll need to look at…
In terms of driving the car feels like exactly what it is – a larger and more refined version of Alexander’s car. It’s quieter, more comfortable but also a bit bigger/heavier and not quite so responsive. For running around the local lanes I think I prefer the feel of the older model, but not for any longer journeys.