FocusCanada Forums

Hey I have a Upper Strut bar installed but I ran into a problem. With the Cold Air intake I chose I cannot get the bar any lower... And with the Bar sitting where it is it has a slight bit of a problem closing the hood. The hood closes like 90% but I cannot get the strut bar any lower as its already closer to my MAF sensor then I would like it to be.

Im thinking one of two things here... Ive started cutting the under shroud of the hood across where the bar sits. This will allow the proper room for it to sit.... Or after market hood, From what I have seen Carbon Fibre hoods dont have that mesh design on the under site.

Any other Ideas ( Other then replacing Parts which Im not going to do sense I like the intake and the strut bar already)
And yes Im totally into a carbon fibre hood but its gonna cost alot.

Mason,Jun 5 2005, 11:39 AM Wrote:Hey I have a Upper Strut bar installed but I ran into a problem. With the Cold Air intake I chose I cannot get the bar any lower... And with the Bar sitting where it is it has a slight bit of a problem closing the hood. The hood closes like 90% but I cannot get the strut bar any lower as its already closer to my MAF sensor then I would like it to be.

Im thinking one of two things here... Ive started cutting the under shroud of the hood across where the bar sits. This will allow the proper room for it to sit.... Or after market hood, From what I have seen Carbon Fibre hoods dont have that mesh design on the under site.

Any other Ideas ( Other then replacing Parts which Im not going to do sense I like the intake and the strut bar already)
And yes Im totally into a carbon fibre hood but its gonna cost alot.


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That 'mesh design' you refer to is there to stabilize the hood...I imagine if you cut it, at a certian point the hood may not keeps its shape..

I dunno for sure, but its just my 2 cents

p.s.

THAT ENGINE BAY IS DISGUSTINGLY FILTHY...CLEAN IT A.S.A.P.!!!!

LOL ow I know. Its an allday job to clean in there and I just havnt had time. It will be clean before the burlington thing. Its just an allday job and im gonna do it in the same day I finish with the hood.

I understand that mesh is there to keep the hood in shape but it wont hurt it to cut it where Im going to. ( Keeping in mind I dont give 2 shits about a hood as I can get a new one same as this for cheap.)
Now I already cut off part of it at a test and it hasnt changed shape or done damage ( aside from the dent I put in the hood ) its fine.

DON'T CUT THE HOOD!!!!

And what make is that strut bar?
Don't say OBX :D :lol: :D

Already cut part of the hood ( Like I said dont care if I gotta replace it later )
But no. My friend got me the bar and all it said on it was 02 Ford Focus Sedan.
I know its the right one as Ive looked at others and its the same. But with the Intake where it is I cannot get it any lower then where it is.

Cutting the hood wont be a super bad thing as its up near the top of the hood where there isnt to much stress on it anyway.

Unless anyone has a better Idea about how to make it fit with out keeping my hood open on the pass side just a little bit ill love to hear it.
But as it stands cutting a small amount of that support mesh there off is it.

After I cut it ill clean it up and file it smooth.

That bar isn't designed to fit with your AEM short ram........

I had the same bar on with my Ractive short ram and had no problems, BUT the short ram wasn't a straight tube it was angled.

If i were you i'd just take the bar off, since it's basically just for show. Or buy a Focus Sport or Focus Central which are designed to fit the contours of our engine bays + ALOT cheaper than buying a new or aftermarket hood

Its possible. Ive already cut a small part of the hood but I can allways sand that little bit off. I figure if I dam this hood up I can get another at the the junkers in the same colour in the same shape. for like 150$ bux.

I know its just for looks but I really liked how it looked lol.

Well after consideration it just make's more sence to remove it and repair the little bit of the hood that got hit. Microbunny is right being the smart person he is.

:EVIL GRIN: Any one wanna buy a strut bar lol If any one has an intake that they can use this with then by all means 20$ is yours lol

you shoulda gone with the focus sport upper strut sway bar. I put that on mine and have never had any problems, except 4factor sold me one that had a small bend where the threading for the strut nuts go, i quickly fixed it with the help of tdot-zx3, microbunny, and raine. No problems ever since.

Well this one would fit fine but the intake is in theway. And I dont wanna lose that intake as I like the sound it makes lol.

Ill just remove the bar and clean up the small area under the hood when I cut the mesh away. Shouldnt be to hard.
Just thinking of what I can use to file the metal down that I cut away. Im thinking Ill just get a good set of tin-snips and cut it smooth. Sand it and bend it down abit <_< It wont ever look right but I dont overly care what the bottem of my hood look's like lol

Ill probibly clean the engine tonight and I wanted to do some painting at some point, But yea deff gonna remove the strut bar and start cleaning the engine tonight.

As for painting components of the engine bay has anyone done that. If so I would love some help with that one day.

Here's a thought... get rid of the strut bar.

With the strut towers being so close to the firewall, there is already plenty rigidity built in to the design. All the strut bar does is increase the underhood bling factor. With the condition of the cleanliness of the engine compartment it not helping there either. To start cutting into the hood webbing or modifing your intake is a mistake IMHO.

.... <_<
I think thats what the post above your post said I was going to do.

I already cut the hood when I first installed it but at this point I think Microbunny is right. Ill just remove the strut bar and ill cut the hood mesh a little more and file/send it down so I can clean up the little bit of a mess I made in there a couple months ago. Think Ill clean my engine bay this week to.....

This post is done. Everyone who jumped on was a great help in my choice to remove it for the better good of the car lol :P

Post can be deleted at this point.

Mason,Jun 5 2005, 12:47 PM Wrote:...Microbunny is right being the smart person he is...
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Mason,Jun 5 2005, 04:31 PM Wrote:...but at this point I think Microbunny is right. ...
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I like these posts...keep fattening my ego!!! :) :) :)

Lol Well Im starting a new post in a few min regarding some engine bay painting.

shave the inside of the mounting holes on the bar mounts. use a drill to widen , then sand and repaint .then mount.
should fit nicely :D

seeing that strut bars are usless and zero performance to the car... just grind out the bar until it fits.

lol Bah Ill just take it off.. I totally liked how it looked but its not worth it. To much work.

ANTHONYD,Jun 6 2005, 01:51 PM Wrote:seeing that strut bars are usless and zero performance to the car... just grind out the bar until it fits.
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I disagree, I added a upper front strut sway bar onto my car, well I put a Focus Sport bar instead of those universal ones, cus it has a bend where my air box and fuse box, so it fits properly, and myself as well as others have noticed a huge improvement in handling and stability.