Minnesota Focus Owners Club

Hi All,

My clutch disc completely went this weekend, at least I am pretty sure it is the disc. I'll know more once I have everything disassembled. Since I'll be disassembling a significant portion of the car I am going to take this opportunity to do some maintenance. The car has just under 140,000 miles on it and serves exclusively as a fun daily driver. I am not looking for expensive parts to prep it for racing but there are some parts that need replacing and I am looking for suggestions.

• Clutch and Flywheel - The throttle response is the largest complaint I probably have about this car. Operating on stock power. Any good suggestions for a lightened flywheel?
  
  Springs and Shocks - I know little about this on these cars
  
  Brakes - rotors and pads
  
  Wheel Bearings - OEM

Also, does anyone have the special tool for pushing the lower control arm ball joint out from the wheel hub. This was such a pain last time and I didn't realize there was a specialty tool until I reviewed some other procedures in the Service Manual.

Clutch http://www.clutchcityonline.com/products/07-175.shtml

You could go aftermarket but you'll spend a lot of money that could be better spent elsewhere such as a tune, ORP or a throttle body.

To drop the ball joints out of the knuckles I use an air hammer with a chisel bit, hammer it in there and the ball joints will drop right out.

Stock brakes are more than adequate for a daily or light track use car.

Suspension? Tons of options out there.

Pickle fork and a mallet....

Budget a few extra bucks for shit that will break. I just pulled the tranny on mine with 140k and a lot of stuff was bad or too rusted to reuse.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LUK-NEW-CLUTCH- ... ceRpt=true

Kit I bought for my car, free shipping as well

instead of disconnecting at the ball joint, hammer the knuckle off of the strut and take the knuckle down with the subframe.......way easier

I tried the pickle fork thing when I attempted to replace the lower control arms last time. That was my second most frustrating experience with a car. If I take off the lower control arm at the subframe joint will I be able to press out the wheel bearings? I plan to replace the struts as well so disconnecting that is already in my plan of attack.

Do you own an air compressor?

If so make a run to Harbor Freight and pick up an air hammer kit, they usually include the three basic bits you'll need and you can pick one up for under $30.00.

An air hammer is an absolute lifesaver, it also works to drive the CV shafts out of the hub/bearing without beating the piss out of the end of the shaft.

Unfortunately I don't yet have an air compressor. I was trying to get the castle nuts off the wheels yesterday. Unfortunately my torque on the wheel was overcoming the pressure my wife was able to exert on the brake pedal. I'll have to put the wheels back on and lower it to the ground so that I can use the additional friction of the tire to hold it in place.

I ordered this to aid in jacking my miata up into the air. It works great on the focus and gives you plenty of room for the insertion of jack stands under the jacking points.

https://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php?de ... r=35-70000

Buy an air compressor and then start collecting tools.

Ha, thanks for stating the obvious Steve. I'll probably have to borrow a portable one from a friend for now. I would like to size an air compressor appropriately for doing car painting jobs. It's not currently in my budget but we'll get there. I am in the process of restoring a jeep grand wagoneer and would like the future ability to paint my own stuff. I play things fairly conservatively when it comes to finances.

I moved almost all my tools from the barn into the attached garage. I cannot explain how good it makes me feel to be under a car in a warm enclosed area and not feel the moisture of chicken poo soaking into your back.

Big Boy wrote:The moisture of chicken poo soaking into your back.

^ That's Grrrrrr-osss.

Wow, I guess those lower ball joints really can be separated using a pickle fork, provided that they haven't fused together with rust.

I pressed my wheel bearings and hubs in last night. I had some issues with the bolts on my catalytic converter. They won't be usable. Has anyone pressed out those catalitic converter bolts before? I am thinking that replacing them with bolts would allow me to insert the cat back in with the O2 sensors already installed. Those guys are a pain to get at. Any thoughts?

When I installed my ORP I had to cut off the three bolts at the front of the cat, no big deal.

Cut them off and once the cat is out you should be able to just give the bolt a whack with a hammer and knock them out, if they don't pop right out you may need to grind them flat and may even have drill them out.

Don't keep beating on them because you'll bend the flange on your cat which is a bad thing.

The rear bolts can be a pain as well, when I pulled those I used a 1/2 impact gun with an extention and spun them out but I still replaced them with bolts and nuts for the reinstall.


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The rear bolts are just fine and I'll leave them as is. Thanks for the advice on the other ones. Were you able to install the cat with the O2 sensors already installed in the cat?