AustinSVT :: SVT of the Month

March 2006 - Steve's 2004 Focus

Steve puchased his SVT Focus brand new on May 12, 2004 from Northside Ford in San Antonio, TX. The car itself is an '04 Pitch Black 3 door hatchback, #323 out of 1,979. Before driving this car, his previous "driving experience" was in a 2000 Acura Integra GS-R. Steve fell in love with the SVT Focus. He enjoyed how well-balanced the car was from the factory. The interior was nicely done, and while Steve would have loved the European Appearance Package Recaro seats, the regular seat were nonetheless top notch. The car is a set factory HIDs that compliment the look of the car at night, and really light up the road. The factory 6-spoke wheels have been swapped in favor of black powdercoated 5-spoke wheels from a 2002 SVT Focus. Steve was trying to go for the stealth/combat look, and felt the black powdercoated rims helped this idea. Steve has also swapped out the factory side markers for a set of black background to match the rest of the car. Both the headlights and the foglights sport a protective layer of Lamin-X to avoid rock chip from the unforgiving San Antonio roads and highways. Because the factory headlights have a turn signal built into them, the need for the stock front upper grill with turn signals was pointless. For this reason he opted for a Euro grill which has a swivel Ford emblem to reach the hood lock behind it. To give the car a little more stiffness in the corners, the stock suspension was removed in favor of Koni adjustables and Progress Technology springs. This setup lowered the car about 1.8" and allows me to tune the suspension manually to adjust for various driving situations. By way of performance, an SCT flash from Hypnotic Illusions Automotive. The founder of the company, Wayne Foy, sent along a series of performance tunes which have really woken up the beast inside the car. All the problems that the SVT Focus was plagues with are all gone. Also installed are a Cartech short ram intake and ported the factory throttle body and also installed are a Screamin' Demon coil and set of Livewires, which increase spark in the end. In an attempt to reduce rotational mass, The stock underdrive pulley was removed and added a smaller and lightweight version from Ford Racing. To expel the exhaust gases quicker, Steve also implemented the use of a Random Tech off-road pipe, which compliments the factory header and exhaust system very well. To keep the motor from making any sudden movements, a set of all three motor mounts from VF Engineering have been installed. The driver, passenger, and rear mounts really make me feel more connected to the car. For the interior, he wanted it to hold on the sense of luxury, but still exert a sense of performance. With this in mind, Steve swapped out the stock shifter for a Ford Racing short shifter, and topped it off with a Sparco Litium shift knob. The factory sounds were sweet, but he wanted something that was a little sweeter. So, the stock radio was removed and a Pioneer DVD touch screen headunit, an iPod adapter, and XM radio all got installed. The combination gives a wide of music to choose from. Because the factory sub and amp just wouldn't cut it, opted for a single 12" MTX sub mounted in a "Sledgehammer" box from MTX. Feeding the power to the sub is Massive Audio amp give me that "little" extra bump. Also installed is a set of Autometer Ultra-lite gauges; a water temperature, oil pressure, and voltmeter help to keep tabs on the motor. Future mods include a supercharger from Jackson Racing or Powerworks, and a larger exhaust system.

Steve enjoys everytime he gets in his car and drives. In July of 2005, the Focus was stolen from a local body shop. Steve never thought that he would see it again, but almost a month to that day, he recieved a call from the police department stating they had found my car. Upon retrieving it, Steve was surprised to see that it was still in good condition. After this incident, Steve vowed to return it back to the condition that is was once in. He has reached that point, or at least about 95% of the way back. Last year, it received Best in Class - 2002-2004 Ford Focus SVT at the AustinSVT show, and Best in Class - Compact/Sport at the Northside Ford show a month after. Steve is also a member of the San Antonio Sport Car Assocation (SASCA) where he's had the opportunity to experience some of the finer point of the SVT Focus by autocrossing. In the events done so far, he has placed first in the Novice class 2 out 3 times. Eventually he'd like to get the car out to the 1/4 mile to see what numbers it would post the way the car is setup. He's not expecting extremely low numbers since Ford installed a dual-mass flywheel in the car, and that in turn makes 1/4 mile runs a little more difficult. (aiming for low 15s or high 14s, but we will see when he actually gets out there) The car has been dynoed twice, once at Dynotex in San Antonio, and another at Henderson Performance Technology outside New Braunfels. To date the best HP and TQ combination the car has produced was 160hp and 140 ft. lbs. of TQ. Not too bad for a small four-cylinder. Steve is aiming for bigger numbers, but those won't come until the supercharger is installed.

-Additional Pictures-