BITCH ASS: A Build of Average Proportions and Modest Income

[cobrawannabe]

Here are some shots of this winter's wheel/tire setup as captured by my new Instagram account.

[cobrawannabe]

Balance shaft is gone. I can't believe the difference it made. Throttle response is even better than I expected, rev hang is greatly improved (though I still need to get the car tuned to totally eradicate it), and rev matching has become an extremely positive experience. Next is to get going on this year's summer setups. The Centerlines need to be polished and two tiny cracks need to be welded. Once I find two more RT-615s for them, I'll be ready for auto-x.

Now for the tough part. A deal has been all but struck with Ted (mopman93) and it looks as though the Fittipaldis are going away. In their stead I will be running the Borbet Type Ts with 20mm spaces to bring them to the same exact dimensions as the Fittipaldis, just an inch larger. The Fittipaldis won't be going far, though, so keep an eye out and you may see them pop onto my car from time to time. I will also be repolishing the lips and repainting the centers of the Type Ts, so the car will be looking minty fresh.

This year's to-do list:
-Trade Fittipaldis for spacers, tires, and studs for the Type Ts.
-Build new 2.5" stainless exhaust with HFC.
-Install mystery body piece
-Paint headlight housings satin silver
-Finally flock and install new center console
-Buy euro ST badge and decide on the rest of them
-New heat shield with ITG filter for intake
-Rejuvenate underside of car with undercoat and new paint
-New bushings for at least the rear suspension
-New brake pads and new paint for rotors and calipers
-Figure out power steering cooler situation

[cobrawannabe]

Work has begun! These are getting matte silver housings, and maybe a bit of a surprise (spoiler, NOT a retrofit).





Also, these came in today; 20mm spacers for the Type Ts. I'll test fit one side of the car with them and order the other pair accordingly.

[cobrawannabe]

In case anyone cares, I finally got around to painting my headlights after letting them sit around for 2.5 years. The only stuff left to do with them is clean/seal the lenses to the housings and restore the lenses. I'm so excited to put these in!!!

Pulled apart with the turn signal chambers masked and the chrome scuffed.


Here's where I got into some details. The burs on the edges of the housings have always bothered me, so I took about ten minutes and a hobby knife to get rid of them all before paint. I'm very pleased with the results of this step.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Here's a housing after the first coat of Rustoleum Satin Silver Metallic


And three coats


Both housings


Here are the painted housings along with the masked and painted hi/lo chambers. I decided to paint the bottom edge of the chambers, which are fluted to match the bottoms of the housings. I don't see this creating any sort of noticeable output issues as this is not a functioning part of the chamber.


Here are the Frenched turn signal chambers after masking and paint. I'm converting these to driving lights (thinking LED 3157s or going all out with H1 conversions) with a turn signal function, just like Ataru's famous fog light mod.
[IMG][/IMG]

Here are the finished products all painted and mocked up! They'll be sealed by my friend Bruce while I'm at Justin's (NHFocus) house this weekend. When I get back on Monday, we'll be restoring the lenses and installing them!

[exs]

nice.. what kind of paint did you use on the reflectors ?

[cobrawannabe]

nice.. what kind of paint did you use on the reflectors ?

Thanks! I used Duplicolor MetalCast yellow.

[cobrawannabe]

Might as well let the cat out of the bag. Trading some custom headlight work for this bad boy. Can't believe I finally have my hands on one after over four years, whether or not it's a reproduction.

She told me to come over, so I made that trip.
And that's when she pulled out my FocusSport lip.



How it will look on the car (mine will be about 2" closer to the ground)

[cobrawannabe]

The car is currently sitting on all four stockers now after a very close call with the Nittos that were on the Merkur wheels. It is tucking on helluva lot of tire, and I think I'm going to lower it another inch or so some time before or after the snow comes through this weekend. Hopefully I can go that lower and still turn lock-to-lock. One way to find out, I guess.

[cobrawannabe]

Lowered the car another inch yesterday. Winter will not hold me back any longer. Hoping to have the headlights in this week and have the lip finished and ready for paint within the next two weeks.

[HooWybrow]

I didn't even realize you had done that to the headlights, I really, really like those.

[cobrawannabe]

I didn't even realize you had done that to the headlights, I really, really like those.

Thanks, dude! I can't wait to get them in the car!

[cobrawannabe]

Is it spring yet?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjjvaW6szKo"]Ford Focus ST Snow Plow - YouTube[/ame]

[rice4life]

Not exactly a good snow plow, but that thing sounds amazing

[cobrawannabe]

Not exactly a good snow plow, but that thing sounds amazing

It's a pretty garbage snow plow on these WASTED Blizzaks (four long, abusive winters on them), but I do appreciate the kindness about my exhaust note. This is probably the last video of the car before I build the new system, though.

[rice4life]

o: new system you say?

There is a crazy riced out focus near me, and it sounds nothing like yours, yours screams at high rpm's, the focuses I see usually rasp and rattle. Seeing a nice focus is cool for a change.

I have never driven in snow, so I don't know what its like hahaha.