You know, several people out there make a V8 RWD conversion for the bastard love child of our great car, the Focus. Now I’ve had a V8 RWD before, but now I just want a I4 RWD, and I want it to be a ZX2 by God. We should look in to this, it could be fun.
I would want to go with a V6 or I6 turbo before I go with a V8. If I had the money to do that kind of conversion, I would try for AWD.
Always a great idea, so who’s got the extra cash and know how?
I always thought it’d work out by using a Miata engine/tranny/drivetrain, but our car may be too long for that to work out properly. But that has always been my thought.
- Darron
Custom Driveshaft would fix that. They aren’t hard to make.
Pip is right though, a driveshaft is fairly simple to construct, pretty much chop and weld or add an extension if needed.
I wouldn’t recommend “chopping and welding.” You are going to be putting alot of stress on that shaft and that weld would be the weakest point. Pay the extra money to get a custom one made. This way it’s a full one peice.
They do it all the time in off-road racing and rock crawling. They even have speical designs like using a square shaft for different gains in performance for off-roading. They hold if you do it correctly.
actually off road racing uses a regular custom made shaft not just chopped and welded same with off road that shit has to be balanced and everything else and i wouldnt trust a homemade one at speed
i think that the rear end would be the hardest part. i bet the cradle for the v8 focus could be made to work with the zetec, but i think the hardest part would be from there back
Well I believe they do have custom ones made but if those break, they don’t have extras, they just custom fab it from the broken one. Thats what I’m going off of, if you got the cash get one made, if not it’s an option, just the welds have to be strong.
From wht I was reading in Focus something or other, the ATI Cobra Focus was a fairly straightforward swap (well, as straightforward as that mess can be), but the real pain in the ass was the wiring. That being said, the Focus uses the C-170 chassis… the Escort uses the C-120, (or BG in Mazdaspeak)… so good luck with the suspension, etc… If you want to do this…
Sell a kindey.
http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/0404scc_focus/
That one?
I also think it’s a cool idea, just make sure you have tons of time and extras to cover mistakes along the way.
It doesn’t matter which one, sean hyland has one, as well as a few other people out there.
No shit theres a few, Ford even has one! LOL
yeah, i’ve seen the Ford Racing kit on a focus before. if i had the money to do it up, i’d actually buy a focus…it’d still be ugly as homemade sin, but it’d be fast, i could deal with it then.
I’m not a fan of the focus maybe it’s just me.
I’m not fan of the Focus either; especially the Zx3.
I don’t mind the focus. I was actually considering getting a zx3 for awhile but it would of had to been a SVT. I do definetly like my zx2 a lot better though.
-Miranda
Ive only seen 1 focus that I wouldnt mind having. It was tastefully done and I think that even you others that dont like it, wouldnt mind it.