BITCH ASS: A Build of Average Proportions and Modest Income

[cobrawannabe]

If you're on Facebook/InstaGram, you've probably had about enough of these shots, and I'm sorry, but I'm thrilled with how they came out.

[cobrawannabe]

An update from last week...




Well, I had a touch of bad luck on Friday evening and broke two front right wheel studs off on the highway. Since this coincided with the severe vibration that I was only having while the car was coasting, my guess is that the vibration was not the CV axle as I had suspected, and was actually the two adjacent lug nuts slowly working themselves loose. Both odd circumstance and stupidity on my part for not checking them. I just figured the clicking that the axle was making when it was cold had gotten worse until the vibration developed.

Bad luck? Sure. Also my bad? Definitely.

Long story short, I pulled over before the wheel fell off, no damage beyond the studs. We had the car towed to Bruce's house, replaced all four studs and lug nuts on the right front hub, regreased and rebooted the outer CV, and the car is driving like brand new with not a peep from the axle for the time being.

Here's a shot of the car sitting on the shoulder waiting for the flat bed...


And one of the tailpipe. I wish I had gotten shots of the whole system while we had the car in the air. Not to toot our own horn, but the exhaust looks like it was built yesterday, and it's tucked up so far there's not a scratch on it. I'm very proud of it.


And now the fun part! I got four big fog lights, a pair of Hella Supertones, and new rear sway bar bushings for Christmas!

Here's the car with the rack reinstalled waiting for us to test fit the lights.


And now the goodies, which I hope to install by the time New Year rolls around!

Tinting the lenses on the lights yellow...


The lights:


The sway bar bushings:


The horns! 118 deciBels of awesome:



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rice4life]

I always miss your updates
I know they've probably already been mounted, but where will you mount those new horns? Behind the grille like the Impereza guys?

Glad the wheel didn't fall off or it would have been like what happened to Del Slo.

[cobrawannabe]

Oh hey! Someone cares!

I have not actually gotten to mount or wire any of that garbage yet The horns will be going behind the grill, and as much as I despise Subaru kids, I love that look too much on the mk1.5 Focus to not do it.

[rice4life]

Yeah, I see what you mean. It will look great behind the grill.


I thought I subscribed to this thread, but updates seem to never pop up and I miss them /:
At least this isn't 3 pages of nothing getting done to the car

I know this may sound strange, but have you thought about a diffuser for the rear?

[DjGreggieP]

Loving the look of the focus man!

[cobrawannabe]

Yeah, I see what you mean. It will look great behind the grill.


I thought I subscribed to this thread, but updates seem to never pop up and I miss them /:
At least this isn't 3 pages of nothing getting done to the car

I know this may sound strange, but have you thought about a diffuser for the rear?

Thanks so much, bud. Because of my limited budget, I don't really get to update the thread all that often; and frankly, I don't keep up on this one as much as I do my main build thread on FocalJet, since I've never gotten the impression that anyone cared all too much

Re: The diffuser, I actually have tossed some ideas around in my head and on paper, but for this car, I'm keeping the overall appearance pretty restrained. The car will be widebody by the time my plans are finished, but I will be using all OEM parts from a MK1 RS to widen it. It'll be rare that anyone not versed in Focuses will even notice the work. I'm trying to keep it all subtle so that I can take the liberty of having six velocity stacks poking through the hood once my engine swap is complete.

Loving the look of the focus man!

Thank you! It does alright for a daily driver with a *very* rough life.

[rice4life]

I don't mean to clutter your thread, but the 1st gen focus RS was only available in europe as a hatch right? Have you thought of cutting USDM hatch rear quarter panels off and making overfenders out of them since they have a similar look to the RS rear quarterpanels? Then plastic welding the bottom half of the RS rear bumper to the stock bumper? Just a thought, I am not sure too much about the focus, and what's different between the RS and the regular one.

[cobrawannabe]

I don't mean to clutter your thread, but the 1st gen focus RS was only available in europe as a hatch right? Have you thought of cutting USDM hatch rear quarter panels off and making overfenders out of them since they have a similar look to the RS rear quarterpanels? Then plastic welding the bottom half of the RS rear bumper to the stock bumper? Just a thought, I am not sure too much about the focus, and what's different between the RS and the regular one.

This is definitely not cluttering the thread, it's great conversation!

The US hatchback fenders are no different in width than mine. What I ill be doing is ordering RS quarter panels and fenders from a Ford dealer, then cutting them and the car to come together. It will flare the car about 35mm on each side, though I will have to pull some trickery with the rear doors. To my knowledge, I'll be the first true, metal "RS sedan".

[cobrawannabe]

Small update: I still don't have my summer wheels and tires, since I'm waiting on some money to ship everything. I have added a new lip, though. I'm pretty sure it's off of an Escalade, but I'm not certain; it was found in a snow bank.

Since I installed it on Sunday, it has been torn off twice.


Also, I finally made the bracket for my Hella Super Tones, here's what I came up with. I'll be cleaning and clearcoating the bracket as well as wiring in the horns on Monday.

[rice4life]

Why do you update this on strange days?

Get some horn clips up, I haven't heard a good sound clip of them, most are too close, or have distorted sound.

[cobrawannabe]

Why do you update this on strange days?

Get some horn clips up, I haven't heard a good sound clip of them, most are too close, or have distorted sound.

Haha, I dunno, I just sort of do. I'll get some clips up once I get around to it. You can rest assured that they are extremely loud.

Here is the last update (as of last week) and today's update combined...


In case you've ever wondered why my car has taken so long to progress... Aside from the budget issues (which are now behind me due to a new job), this is the first time I've gotten to work on my car since the last update. I'm lucky if I get to wrench on it once a month.

Anyway, this weekend was mildly productive. I got rid of the DipS**t on my fender and replaced it with vinyl stripes. This time, they do not have K|Bdev. cut out of them, since the car is already branded in two other places. I also touched up the yellow lettering on the tires, straightened out the driver's side fender a bit, painted the horn bracket, and finally wired in the horns.

I'm not 100% pleased with the wiring. As usual, it was a rush job, so while we did solder every connection and heatshrink everything, I didn't have the time to clean stuff up as I'd have liked to. I'll be fidgeting with it over the next week or so to perfect it and hide the wires as much as possible.

New stripes:


Install complete:




For good measure, here are a couple of shots I liked of the car from this weekend.




Next update: Wheels, new fenders, and the start of my new intake (just kidding, it's a bike and a rack attachment. All that stuff comes next, I promise). The only thing between me and autocross is tire size, and it's driving me crazy.

Well, I started getting the crackhead itches to go riding, so I made a purchase today to replace my last two-wheels love which was sadly lost in my apartment fire over the winter.

2014 Kona Fire Mountain along with a Thule Side Arm to put it up on the roof of my car. I texted a friend as soon as I got home and tracked down a pair of Kona floor mats, and also have a lead on some Kona rub strips. If you know anyone with some Kona strips that they are willing to part with, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! My lead is not a 100% guarantee and I've got a really go idea stuck in my head.

Oh yeah, and the Borbets will be dropped off to me on the seller's way to Carlisle! As soon as they arrive, I'll be stripping them down and refinishing them.

Pics:






Here are the floor mats in question: They are out of a 2000 Kona Edition Focus.


And the rub strips from the same car:

[rice4life]

Hurry and get them new wheeeeels.

Nice bike, must be fun.

[cobrawannabe]

Hurry and get them new wheeeeels.

Nice bike, must be fun.

Trust me man, I can't wait to have them! Thanks for the kindness, I can't wait to go riding. It started pouring before I even got it home tonight.

[rice4life]

You're so lucky. California is sooooo dry.

Plus, riding in mud makes it that much more fun.