West of Scotland RSOC

thinking about getting focus rs,any specific things that i should look out for and common problems with these cars?
cheers stuart

Mostly rust and stonechip Stuart I've painted about 15 for all the same things

Wings , Arches , under the bumper , under wing mirrors , round the number plate light panel and bottom of tailgate all rust / rot

Charge cooler pumps are bad for packing in (check for jet at reservoir on bulkhead)

Great cars and at a good price just now but theres all of ruff abused examples out there now

Yip as said mainly rust and stone chips and the heater mateix hoses are realy common for bursting and the little metal coolant pipe behind th drivers wheel arch is prone to rusting through and as said the chargecooler pump is a comon problem aswell and if you are after a modified 1 make sure the engine map is done by a recognised tuning company as ive read a few storys about pistons melting with dodgy maps and as with all cars look for good history with the car but they are great cars and are alot of fun but if you are planning on long drives in them they realy aint the comfiest on a long drive lol

Theres a really good buying guide on the main RSOC site in the Mk1 Focus section

If you do get one make sure you buy a Scanguage for it (if it hasnt got one already) as they dont have tempature gauges & its a handy bit of kit to keep an eye on things esp when the charchecooler pump can be so tempramental at times! It also reads engine fault codes too, mines been a godsend!

cheers guys,they seem reasonable to insure aswell(maybe im just really old now ).heard of an engine melting a piston today,another lakes tour casualty.

zetec engines are very good if well looked after, decent oil and cambelt /tensioner changes

engines melt because people run them too warm if the chargecooler pump fails, but if you have a scanguage you can monitor the intake temps, water temps , volts etc...... and save the engine before it detenates and melts a piston.Better still if the car has an air to air intercooler, reduces the risk, ( mines runs this and runs very cool, )

These cars are now 10 years old, and water hoses can deteriote and fail, check the spider hose at the water pump to make sure its not rubbed against the power steering pump pulley and worn part through. Also the hoses going to the heater matrix can get soft and fail

As said they can be prone to rust on the front wings, and rear arches,

Parts are still easy to get with plenty cars being broken , wether standard or modified ( I bought plenty upgraded parts for mine second hand)

But they are a drivers car, and amazing to drive on the limit, keep you on your toes, and Im looking forward to driving mine over the course of teh year

Haydens car melted the piston with an A2A fitted mate for the mk1 A2A in my opinion they realy need to be custom made as the PRO alloy and the airtec 1s are way to big for road use they would be cracking on highly modified track cars like yours dalsy mate but for road use the chargecooler is the better option in my opinion as they are capeable of coping with well over 300bhp and with these cars it realy doesnt take alot to make 300bhp and at that power they are fun to say the least

any other running gremlins that could cost a bit to fix?boy i know brother has 1 and it cuts out now and again when coming to a stop,dont think theyve got to the root of the problem yet

Was Hayden's running big boost and was he using Ron 98 fuel and above

Things fail and the boost spikes but if the cars detonating and your still driving hard then your asking for bother

Running wise I think they can be prone to air leaks with hoses splitting for breather etc again I've updated mine to a breather catch tank from pro alloy and rerouted pipe work and had custom hoses made

Same with any car they have some faults but They're brilliant cars

If the mk2 focus RS goes next year I'll replace it with a low miles mk1 focus RS

anybody know the 1 thats on gumtree glasgow?

I don't know the car doesn't ring any bells

If you get the build number from the guy we can maybe trace some of the history through a website set up by the Rsoc focus RS registrar

not sure gibby,i`ll ask

Hayden's car was mapped at sitech same as Iain's from Dundee

And both done the same thing melted a piston

Another good reference for them

my car was mapped by Russ Paton at HQ Garage, and Im delighted with it soo far

be going back soon for some more mapping now that Ive done the manifold, and done some little changes to the car

there doesnt seem to be many come up for sale in scotland

You're best bet would be to go south for your car, you will always get a better car and more to choose from. cAnt beat a road trip.

looks like it when i get the time