Manual swapping a Focus MK3

Turning your daily into a project is always a good idea, right?

Picked up a totaled Focus today. Gonna use it as a donor to manual swap the daily.

The dual clutch auto that comes in these is faulty by design, so I've been living on borrowed time. That's my totally valid justification and I definitely don't just want a small car with a 5 speed again...

I kind of hate working on the Focus, though, so we'll see how much I regret this.

 

Finally got going in earnest. Phase 1 is done, which was pulling everything needed off of the donor. Now I can inventory, order consumables, and otherwise get my ducks in a row before I rip into the daily (which is still my daily).

The LBJs were a bit of a headache to get disconnected, and so was getting the shift linkages pulled through an incredibly tight space. But aside from that it all went pretty smoothly.

I harvested the main wiring harness while I was in there just in case, but may end up frankensteining the one from the daily to avoid having to rip so much apart.



Axles pulled



Harness pulled, space made for accessing top of trans




Makeshift trans jack prepped




Trans came out without too much faff. Worked solo and didn’t drop it on my face, so that was a win




Engine is supported by the trans on one end, so I rigged up some sketchy supports that’ll hopefully survive until the car makes it to the wrecker




Pulling out the interior bits. Also needed both pedal assembles. Found some free chapstick, deodorant, and yoga pants.




And the final haul.


Back to the internet for more research, then hopefully onto the real swap over the holidays.

 

I remember the time Ford tried their hand at a PDK. It was the only car I ever lemon law’d.

 

Yep, I’m working with the infamous powershift. Good call getting rid of yours, based on all the reports.

Truth be told my particular unit hasn’t given me toooo much trouble.

Had it at the dealer a couple times for the typical shudder back when it was my wife’s car, and they of course just flashed the TCM/did a relearn and didn’t solve the underlying mechanical (design) issue. And occasionally it doesn’t shift into reverse on the first try.

But if you learn to give it throttle like it’s a manual and anticipate the shifting mine doesn’t shudder, and I actually rather like how it drives. I’m sure I’ll miss it in traffic.

 

Well there's no turning back. Flywheel showed up from Germany [1] this week so I started digging in to what was my daily driver after work tonight.

Got the auto harness mostly out, which requires pulling the battery box, intake, and airbox, and undoing a bajillion fiddly plastic wiring and hose connectors. Only broke a few plastic hose connections that I think I managed to preserve on the donor during the previous parts harvesting effort, so no harm no foul, I'll go pull those off the junker in the morning.

Need to order a new weatherproof computer housing because a bolt was seized into a nut-sert, spinning it in the plastic, wound up needing to chop up the box to get it out.

Finagled her into my single car garage sideways on some dollies, because the Tacoma is too much of a garage queen to sit in the driveway for however long this project is gonna take me (I keep saying "weekend", but lets be real). Plenty of room...




Tomorrow it continues.

[1] I know nobody on this forum cares about specifics, but in case this shows up on Google, Sachs dual-mass flywheel 6366000057 appears to be an OEM source for Ford part number BM5Z6477B, fitting a MK3 Focus SE with the 2.0 Duratec / MTX75 manual trans. Found this by Googling part numbers stamped into my take-off. Cost me ~$400 shipped from Germany while Ford dealers want $800-$1000 for a flywheel: https://www.sachsperformance.com/en/clutch-kit-sachs/flywheel-ford-sachs-6366000057 Couldn't find a US source. Also comes with flywheel bolts that Ford will try and sell to you for $34 each.

 

Dear journal

Day 2, got the auto harness all the way out. Gonna be fun figuring out how to route the manual one (not).

Got the center console pulled apart and the auto shifter out, and the shift linkage pulled out through the tiny firewall hole into the engine bay. Lots of contortions involved there getting these two bastard nuts with barely enough clearance under the heater core enclosure, and unclipping the shift cable from a bracket that you can’t see without using a mirror. Fun times.

Everything is disconnected from the auto trans and I should be ready to drop it with the help of a friend tomorrow.

Got the manual trans cleaned up with new axle seals and a new slave cylinder. Only one tool run today, to buy a slide hammer for pulling the seals. Not bad.

Then I ran out of steam at about 8:30pm.

 

I changed shift cables in a Hyundai last year, the 2 nuts up behind the heater core enclosure sucked as there was just no good angle to reach them.

 

Long day today.

Started the morning by getting the gas/brake pedal assembly out, gotta swap it just to change from a large to small brake pedal. Changed the master cylinder on the donor clutch pedal assembly, then tossed that back onto the pile of interior bits waiting to be reinstalled. Wanted to do more interesting things with my Sunday.

Axles came out pretty easy, thanks to investing in a front end service set after struggling with disconnecting the donor’s ball joints. Should come in handy on the truck as well (manual hub swap? ).

The auto trans likewise came out pretty easy. Despite being larger than the manual, the shape of the thing is more friendly to dropping it past the control arm mounts on the subframe.

Then I did my first clutch job. Pretty easy to figure out, only hitch was needing to needing to rig my cheap flywheel turner into a flywheel holder by capturing it with a bolt, so I could properly torque the flywheel. If lifting weights didn’t bore me so much this might not have been necessary, but there was no way I was left-arming the holder and right-arming the final torque down.

Mating the manual back up, on the other hand, was not so easy. With my ghetto rigged trans jack’s lack of angle adjustment and the lack of aforementioned subframe clearance, it was a real slog trying to hammer wood scrap under the thing and manhandle it around to try and get the index pins to align. Eventually I just had to sit cross legged under it with the ratchet strap loosened up, nice and sketchy like, and heave it onto the splines. Finally laying on my back and using my legs I was able to shove closed the two cases together. Definitely regretted not picking up a shop crane after that experience.

Case and mounts torqued to spec by about 12:30am, and now I’m sore in a dozen muscles I never knew I had. But I’m glad the big stuff is out of the way now, I can pick at the rest after work this week. End of next weekend is looking like a reasonable goal for having her buttoned.

You know my pain! Front wheel drive things. Not looking forward to the reinstallation

 

Day whatever,

Got the shift linkages fed back through with minimal pain this time, and put the interior mostly together. It’s starting to look like a manual now.

And got the axles back in and the front end put back together. Fought the LBJs one side while the other slid right together. Classic “should be easy” time waster. Had to get inventive to hold the brakes so I could torque the axle nuts solo. 80 Nm then 90 degrees, used the big ol’ impact to get the final 90. 1/2” tools are just too satisfying.

Not a ton left at this point. Some minimal wiring for the clutch pedal switches, toss the tires back on, fill er with lube, bleed the clutch, and flash the BCM to make the computer know it’s a manual. That’s all gonna have to wait until the weekend unfortunately, obligations breaking the momentum

 

Day 69,

She's done! At least as far as the manual swap goes.

Got all the mechanical odds and ends sorted yesterday. Addressed some subframe rust, installed the computer behind the fender liner, filled everything with oil, then coaxed my dad over with garage beers to help put the hood on, buddy bleed the clutch, and shove the car back around the 90 degree angle of my garage.

Had too many garage beers to figure out the wiring that same evening, so that was all today. Got the clutch pedal limit switches fished through the hood release firewall grommet and spliced into the harness, which was my one shortcut on this project. I really wasn't feeling pulling the whole dash and heater core on both cars to swap the cabin harness for two additional wires. But other than that, there's no way you could tell it wasn't a factory manual.

Programming took a long time, partially because of how janky the USB diagnostic interface clone is. I paid Ford their $150 for 2 days worth of the official software but had to install some sketchy drivers to make the USB thing work. My shop computer now feels tainted. But once it was running, the process itself went fairly smoothy-- changing programmed VINs to match my chassis, reprogramming the keys, resetting ABS, etc. Chased my tail at the end, though, after my first test drive which was full of surging idle and stalling at red lights. Thought I messed something up programming wise, but 45 mins later ended up finding a loose vacuum line I forgot to plug back in.

2nd test drive was butter. Super stoked. Car drives real nice, super easy to drive with the 1000lb dual mass flywheel (expected and desired for a commuter). It ain't no bimmer, but it's certainly now a less boring version of a 160HP economy car.

Still gotta do an engine mount and some other random maint (including an interior detail, don't judge me ), but I'm happy to have my daily back. 10/10, would recommend.

 

Awesome to hear!

 

150 miles in, running great. No more interior rattles with the engine mount, feels like a new car.

Told myself I was done dumping money into the beater, but you can't put a price on not dying at night, right?

Picked up some projectors out of a Focus EV, swapped the 25W ballasts for 35W ones out of a Yukon, and put in new 4400K Osram bulbs. Needed to add 2 extra ground pins to the harness connector, man is it nice having a parts donor for random little bits.



World of difference over the halogens. I think I just convinced myself to retrofit the truck.

Ok, now I'm done spending money