Alright br/o/s. I'm selling off my car and I'm lookin for a used hothatch in the 5k price range...

Let me help.
fswerks.com/collections/focus-2005-2007-2008-2009-2010-2011

thank you senpai

i daily one of these and i aprove the shit out of it. civic si hatch is best civic

If you have the SVT be sure and read up a lot of the car. It has a lot of quarks.

At the time of it's release pretty much all reviewers put it at the top of the hot hatch class. But it came at a really odd time. Right around that time most car companies stop producing the sporty 4 cylinders for a few years. (picked back up again recently).

So while the SVTF was very well received it wasn't well known. Plus it's very low production numbers.

2003 and saw only 3,985 3 doors produced. Total SVTF produced 3/5 door was only 14,003, 02-04.

It's spoonfeeding, but can you offer some examples of the quarks I should be watching out for?

If you buy one you want to do the timing belt right away or as quickly as you can. Every 60k miles if 02, 100k miles if 03-04. (interference engine)

Check the thermostat housing for any leaks or some kind of bonding over it. The factory one likes to crack if it gets too hot. Just a bad design, Several companies have packages of replacements you can use if you want a kit (CFM is one) Or you can hunt down the 00 contour housing, it fits and fixes the problem.

Ball joints like to go out around 80-100k will cause the car to pull and push during cornering (loose steering).

Main motor mount is hydraulic based and will cause bad engine shifting (clunking noise), you'll want to order either official ford, or poly mount from CFM/FSWerks/Steeda for all 3.

The flywheel is dualmass, if you hear ticking or clicking noise when you start the car, push the clutch in, if it goes away its the DMF. It won't die for a while, but is a very obvious sign. There are other offerings in places of the factory style. A single mass steel one that weights close to factory at 20lbs and a light single at 12lbs.

Check the coilpack for any cracks, Factory one will crack and let water in, it's a common enough problem, Massive sells a bundle with new colored plug wires and an MSD coilpack for pretty damn cheap.

Spark plugs, After a shit load of debate, the best two spark plugs seem to be either the motorcraft factory, or Denso. There is a massive forum post about what plugs are actually bad for the car, So you'll have to order plugs instead of pick them up in store. To save you a bit of trouble, you want them gapped at .50(factory) up to .60 if you want. Don't be surprised if when you change the plugs the old ones are as bad in the high .7x. Most people forget to change them and it makes a good bit of difference.

ITV20 is factory, you can run a 22 no problem. (Iridium)

Thanks for all the info!

Is it at least a manual?

of course, I hate automatics

keep it. You're better off. The Duratec engine has so much more aftermarket support.

>I'm surprisingly comfortable in it even though I'm a 6'2" spaghetti monster

First thing people always say when they get in my car is the amount of room it has. Even big ass friends who get in the back seat say its comfy as fuck.

It's gonna cost over a grand to fix the problems it has right now, but I'll keep that in thought.

This.

I'm the guy who posted the SVT info, The 2.3 is a much better engine than the 2.0 Zetec in the SVT. It's not a bad engine but you won't gain much unless you custom order parts for a high price, or boost it. And even then you are pushing your luck. I think the best I've seen for the supercharger is about 290hp. Turbo is about the same except for some crazy high boost instances. So if you feel like risking it you can about what the ST puts out. (470lbs lighter though)

Which one has the 2.3? My 07 only has a 2.0

2003 for are the first year I believe to get them. 2004 had optional. I believe they are nicknamed the MK1.5

And was standard in 05-07 ST models.

The Focus ST had the 2.3L. It's just the 2.0L with a longer stroke crankshaft. Just about anything for the 2.3L, works on the 2.0L

ah, thanks. sorry, I'm retarded

Also, Just so you know, the base model Focus 02-04 Can fit the SVT Ford racing focus suspension. And it's not really that expensive, between 300-500 pending on if it's on sale.

wow, that's really cheap for a suspension

For clarity, this one of the other cars I'm looking at, kinda worried about the supercharger on it though, worried the dude installed something wrong or didn't upgrade the suspension at all.

seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/5587466018.html

meh. There are better performing suspensions for similar prices.
As said above, the only thing the Focus SVT have over your Focus is rear disc brakes.
The SVT rear brakes are a bolt on upgrade if you can track down an entire setup. Ford Racing used to offer the entire conversion on their site, but they stopped offering it years ago.
If you don't want to find a used kit, SSBC offers a rear disc conversion kit, though it is expensive.
ssbrakes.com/i-10092693-disc-brake-kit-rear-1-single-piston-12-2-inch-rotors-a161-1.html

I don't know of anyone else that offers a rear disc conversion kit so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

don't touch that thing. Let the ricers drool over it.

Rule of thumb, never buy someone elses project. Ever.

Buy something that was hardly touched.

powernationtv.com/episode/XO2015-05/automatic-to-manual

>12:44

Massive Speed makes a conversion kit.

massivespeedsystem.com/_massive-speed-system_/massive-brake-system-components/mabk3503/i-2120672.aspx

Much cheaper and uses factory components.

I found this video by accident a while back looking at rally conversions. Whole video is HocusFocus series of videos is pretty good actually.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm gonna think on all of it before I make a decision but this has been very insightful

Thanks for all that. Didn't know about Massive Speed before!

Good, the MTX-75 is breddy gud and actually geared better for acceleration than the Getrag in the SVT.

Zetecs have just as large an aftermarket if not bigger than the Duratec.

What is wrong exactly?

'03 was the first year, '03-'04 2.3L was in green states only as a PZEV option, the ST was the only one to get it from '05-'07. The MK1.5 is the '08-'11 body style because it's a reworked version of the 1st gen chassis.

The 2.3L has a taller deck height too.

>meh. There are better performing suspensions for similar prices.
Like what? He'll also be missing the larger front sway bar and most likely doesn't even have a rear sway bar.

My power steering pump is shot, somethings wrong with the thermostat sensor, some underbody damage from running over a raccoon (no major damage just cosmetic), reverse lights don't work and it's not the bulbs or fuse so must be that part that rests on the transmission

Is it a ZX3? They have a problem with the hatch wiring making shit ground out. Also the thermostat isn't too hard on these.

I'm not sure what zx it is or se, it doesn't have the badge showing it, it's the 4 door hatch, or 5 door as people call it

So it's a ZX5.

thanks

Former '04 SVT Focus owner here, wanted to add a note about drivability, on the stock engine tune the 2.0 Zetec engine lacks some low end torque, it's biased more towards the higher rev range; it would bog a bit on launch, moreso if I was running the A/C. Apparently there are aftermarket tunes that fix it, but I only looked at those briefly before I traded it in back in 2013.

That engine also has a variable length intake manifold (VLIM) that switches over a shorter low-rpm setting to a higher flow setting at 3300, and the power difference was noticable - when under full throttle I could feel the extra push when it kicked in. I assume it's similar to what Honda drivers with VTEC engines experience when the higher RPM cam profile engages..

One last note: if you live in an area where it snows, get proper winter/snow tires. Low profile 'all-weather' performance tires have dick all for grip on snow/ice. I learned this the hard way.