Minnesota Focus Owners Club

Well my car is now rounding out week two and will be headed into week three at Apple Valley Ford. I brought it there for some warranty work and apparently my cold-start ticking turned out to be a problem with the tappets and needs quite a bit of labor from what I've been told. The dealership has actually been really accommodating but I miss my car!

Besides being nice outside, I have some new parts sitting in their boxes in the garage. I went to visit Steve a couple times and so far I have SVT suspension, black EAPs, and some random bits to replace the damage from last winter's Focus vs. snowbank match (-10* snowbank won).

I'm interested to see how the black wheels will look on my black/black car. I had my reservations about going "blacked out" but after careful consideration and hearing the opinions of Steve and Patalrob (I think it was you), I decided to go for it.

Eventually when it comes back to me I'll get busy and post some pics up!

can't go wrong black on black...

Nice meeting you.

Nice meeting you too man! Sorry I didn't properly introduce myself; I had wheels on the brain

MNiceGuy wrote:Nice meeting you too man! Sorry I didn't properly introduce myself; I had wheels on the brain

That alright my mind was foggy also

Progress! I have now switched loaners! I've given back the Kia Rondo (which I affectionately called "Big Rondo") and now have a new'ish Fusion from the dealership. I also had my new EAPs wrapped in Yokohama so now I'll I need is a car to put them on...

In the meantime I'll give you a sneak peek:



Nearly brand-new! Just look at that paint shine!

It sounds like I will have my car back Monday! That day happens to be exactly one month since I originally brought it in because of the odd ticking.

In the meantime I decided to work on my other vehicle: my dad's old Chevy Pickup. It's been having some problems with the calipers sticking so I went out, bought some new ones, and headed to my parent's house in Belle Plaine to replace them. When it was all said and done the calipers were installed and then it became painfully obvious the master cylinder has been at fault this whole time. My dad was nice enough to give me a ride back home though

Next week it's back to the Focus when the SVT suspension and the EAPs will be going on. I've even convinced my girlfriend to let me swap rear suspension crossmembers so I can have factory bar mounts

Here's a pic. It's a 1977 C10 5.0L with 3-speed manual column shift.

That truck is mint!

Isn't three on the tree a blast to drive

It is and it isn't depending on how you look at it. At least on this truck, the gearing is fairly short so it's 1-2-3 is probably only slightly taller than the respective 1-2-3 on our cars. The 2-3 shift during normal driving comes between 30-35mph and third gear is responsible for everything from there up to top speed. To put it in perspective imagine someone blocking out 4th and 5th on a Focus! At 65-70mph the engine is runs pretty fast and gas mileage really takes a hit. This truck needs a tune badly but gets about 11mpg in its current condition (keeping in mind it's only a low-output 2BBL 305ci).

On the upside, as Patalrob suggested, it truly is fun to drive. The 305 has enough low end torque that you can simply drive around in 3rd gear unless you dip below 20-25mph. The shift mechanism is simple and rugged so making an accidental downshift is uncommon. There's also a cool factor when people see it in action that have either forgotten about the 'three on the tree' or have never seen one before

As for the truck, it's been in the family since it was new. My dad special ordered it so that he could get the powertrain/color combination that you see here. It spend the early part of its life as a commuter and also was called upon for some farming tasks. Once a year, it would be outfitted with camping gear and driven north of Thunder Bay, Ontario for a week's fishing.

Just over ten years ago the body had come to the point that rust had taken over pretty much everywhere. My dad's sentiments for it persuaded him to have it restored instead of salvaged. Most of the body sheet metal was replaced including the doors, rockers, and quarters. The color was matched to the original "Sea Foam Green". Coincidentally one of the late Toyota Avalons were offered with a very similar color option.

The engine and interior are original. The odometer reads just over 170,000 today and even so the engine does not use oil and runs great. After sitting for over a year, it started after only a handful of cranks.

3 on the tree FTW! my hornet has that. it's different and fun. someone should bring it back. nice truck.

Well today I was finally supposed to get my car back. The dealership said that they got the parts they needed but they were for a 2.3L and wouldn't work on my 2.0L. Soooo...looks like tomorrow or Wednesday is the day.