Tonight’s post is just a quick one, to accompany the latest video over on our YouTube channel. For those who noticed that my Focus sometimes has no keyhole on the driver’s door, this is to answer your questions and share how to do it if you wish to remove your Focus’ as well.

I actually originally got this idea from the BMW E9x community as they use a very similar method to cover up their keyholes. I had the idea in the back of my mind for a little while but it wasn’t until I was pulling apart Ketchup earlier this year that I decided to finally try it out and see if it’d work. The keyhole delete is actually just one of the blank pieces found on the other door handles – I removed one and happily found out that it did indeed fit with the driver’s door handle and kept everything functional (keyhole aside, obviously). This was one of those times where I was 99.9% sure it would work as hoped but still wanted to test it for confirmation. I then set one of the blanks aside for myself and had it colour-matched to the sedan, so that I’d have one additional little change for use at shows.

In this post today I’m going to quickly discuss how to fit the delete, but a full explanation can be found in the video linked at the bottom.

What you see above is all you’ll need for this – a T-20 Torx bit on a screwdriver, a trim removal tool (or something with a thin edge to pop a plastic cover off, ideally soft enough to avoid marking your paint), and the delete. For those of you with more common paint colours you may be able to find these at a junkyard or from a part-out of another Focus. Given the relative rarity of Yellow Blaze, I had to get mine painted as mentioned above.

Open the driver’s door and remove the black plastic plug you see here – this is where the trim removal tool is called into action. It can be stubborn, and chances are it’ll go flying when it does release, so be prepared!

Hidden behind it is a screw – grab your Torx and start loosening it. This slides a retainer out of the way, freeing the keyhole and allowing it to be removed from the door.

With the keyhole removed simply slide the delete into place, tighten the retainer down again, and replace the plastic cover. Job done! It really doesn’t get much easier or faster than this.

Of course however, the keyhole is there for a reason so make sure your battery is in good shape if you want to run without it! As I stress in the video below this is absolutely not the most practical modification out there, but it’s perfect if you’re looking for a quick and easy change to add that one extra detail to your car. As I mention, I only use this for shows (and am very happy with the look) as for daily use I prefer having the actual keyhole in – just in case. With it being such a quick swap though, it barely adds any time to my show prep so it’s not an issue to keep switching the parts out.

-Bill