Joining The Focus Ranks - and a couple of questions

Riksta · 11-10-2010, 12:18 AM

Hi all, a week or so ago I made a post where I was thinking of buying a Focus.

Well, the deals gone through, I've had it for just over 48 hours, and all I can say at this stage is I love it!

Its a 2005 LS Black Zetec, 5sp manual, and it seems better at putting power to the ground quickly than the AU ever was!

I have a couple of questions though, I keep seeing various things on ebay for the LS Focus referring to "Mk1" and "Mk2", can somebody tell me when the crossover was or how to tell the difference. Mine's an Oct 2005 build, I know it was the crossover between LR & LS so I'm guessing its probably a Mk1 but would like to know for sure!

I've also seen some pretty cool LED tail lights to fit on ebay, now I know in the AU section people used to say they would put LED tail lights in, and due to there being a lot less resistance to the normal brake light, cruise control wouldn't work properly? Now I've never had CC before, but now I have it I am growing to love it, I love the look of the LED tail lights but if they're going to mess with my Cruise Control system I will just leave the stock ones in.

I've also seen aftermarket headlights, projector style, with angel eyes on them. Was just wondering if anybody has these and can vouch for the quality of them, both build quality & lighting quality on the road. I think they look great in the pictures I've seen but just because it looks good doesn't mean it works, or was built, well.

The last question I have (for now at least!) is that being a sporty little number, I wouldn't mind a sporty little dash - those of you with these would know they just have a normal green-lit cluster with red needles. What I'm wondering is how hard is it to replace the bulbs that light the dials with something maybe blueish, and are the needles lit with separate bulbs to the rest of the dash? In the AU I replaced a few of the dash bulbs with blue LED's, they worked well except the blue light was lost in the needles. If the needles in the Focus have their own globes I can leave them, but change the ones that light the rest of the cluster (if that makes sense!).

Here's to what will hopefully be a great time posting and reading the Focus section of AFF!

And don't worry - pics to come ;) I've been flat out working, haven't had a day off since I picked it up Friday night, but hopefully Tuesday I can get some, if not, I have Friday & Saturday off too.

**DJM83** · 11-10-2010, 08:06 AM

You have a MKII

Velociraptor82 · 11-10-2010, 01:37 PM

Yep. it would be a MK2. The Mk1 was the LR and they made the switch from LR to LS in 2004.

The rear tail lights are just plug in replacements and will have no effect on the cruise control. I had the chrome lexus style ones for a while there but I had to switch back to the stocks. The brake lights needed an extension cable to reach the different position of the socket but sadly that extension cable failed on me. I haven't been able to replace it yet.

I know of 2 people on here who have the Angle Eyes: Mr Lon & another who has since sold his Focus. They do look great in daytime tho I haven't seen them at night. I do understand however that they require a bit of wiring and soldering work.

I know that BlackLS and some others have changed the leds in their clusters so it can be done but you'll need to speak to him for more info on whats involved.

**DJM83** · 11-10-2010, 02:28 PM

Rik if your after some good mod ideas click the XR5OC link in my sig, i know you havnt an XR5 but a lot of visual mods are compatible

leakey · 11-10-2010, 03:17 PM

Rik, welcome mate. Gongrats on the Focus. Aren't they a great little machine?!

One thing I will say is check Ebay UK for Focus parts. The little stuff costs stuff all to send back here, the bigger stuff, well, is still pretty good price wise as we dont get that much stuff here for Focii.

Regards the dash, there are two really good threads on it. Remember one reaaaaalllyy important thing though. Key+Dash+ECU is one part. Stuff your dash and you're up for a quid or two. If you can hang tight for a bit, I'm about to get a quote from a dealer to change my dash to XR5 style. I tried to do it myself, but then found out about coding to my key and ECU and also updating the Kms to match my current ones.

I got that dash for 99p! They seem to go from that up to about GBP40. You should be able to get that posted using R.Mail small packets for under GBP15, but you must ask for it.

Mate this is a great site, and most prople are good types, offering a wealth of knowledge. Some great cars on here.