DexterZX2

Hello all. I'm new to this site, and wanted to introduce myself. The name's Tim and I'm from Pennsylvania, USA. I have a 2000 Ford Escort ZX2, that I've turned into a show car over the past few years. I'm currently in the process of a re-build which includes turbo charging my Escort. Here's what my ZX2 looked like before the beginning of this project.



This started off as being a repair that turned into another overhaul of my ZX2. In 2007 I had some electrical issues with the car. After talking to members of TeamZX2, I've decided that I should replace the wiring harness in the engine bay. I got a complete harness from a parts car that GotMILF had. After removing the engine wiring, I decided to install some other parts I had lying around the garage.

I ran into an oppertunity I couldn't pass up while I was removing parts from my car. A local tuner that had a ZX2 was looking for a header and he had a big brake upgrade that he couldn't use. I worked out a deal with him for the brake kit. I traded him a $300 header for a $1,200 brake kit. I think I made out on that deal. With the upgrade to the front brakes figured out, I thought it was a good time to install my Rear Disc Brake set-up. I found a set-up at a local junkyard and had the whole cross member pulled. A little cleaning up and a caliper repair kit, and my RDB swap would be complete.



I was going to have some problems getting the car to run wihtout a header. It was at this point that I made the ultimate decision, Trubo! I've put a lot of thought into turbocharging my ZX2 over the years. I was debating if I wanted to spend a lot of money on a full kit, or part one together myself. Then GotMILF made me an offer on an incomplete Gude kit that I couldn't pass up. It came with an intercooler, piping, injectors, MAF sensor, couplers, oil lines, an oil cooler, oil filter relocation kit and he threw in an 8-point roll cage just for the hell of it. I spent roughly $700 for everything listed above.



Since the car was half torn apart, I decided to pull the motor and do some clean up and detail work. I wanted to paint the motor and trans to make everything stand out. A wire tuck and shaved engine bay will be the finishing touches to draw all the attention to the turbo'd motor.






I decided it was time to send my intake manifold to JohnP for a port job. We don't have many options when it comes to intake manifold for our car. Ford Racing makes one but it's expensive and needs some slight modifications it fit right. So I asked JohnP to port matched my stock manifold to my Gude throttle body. Being a show car he also did me the favor of removing all unnecessary tabs on the manifod and painted it to give it a nice finish.




With the motor out I noticed some other things that needed my attention. I figured this would be a good time to install my Energy Suspension urethane motor mount insterts. I didn't want to just do the motor mounts, so I got he whole Hyperflex master set to replace all the rubber bushings. I also have the option of making solid urethane mounts for the rest of the motor and trans mounts that don't have inserts made for them.



One night while browsing through the TeamZX2 forums, I came across a new post in the for sale section. CJW was selling a Roush / Turbonetics turbo and mainfold. This set-up was origionally a part of a kit for the Ford Focus that's been discontinued. The best thing about the manifold is that it bolts right up to the ZX2 head. I quickly responded and we set up a time and day to make the exchange. I've also accquired a greddy Type RS blow off valve from a member of the Tri-state Tuners forum. While at Brad's ZX2 meet in Ohio, I acquired a piece of piping that had the BOV flange cast into it. Then I found a turbonetics Deltagate Wastegate that fits perfectly to my manifold, sold to me from Alwayssideways. My turbo kit is finally coming together, with just a few more parts needed.





My project would be put on hold for a bit while I was in the process of moving.

December 2009

I finally have some time to get back onto this project. There is a lot to be done still before I can put everything back together in my car. The next step is to get the engine bay stripped and ready for a new coat of paint. To do this everything has to come out. I've also decided to delete my a/c system and switch out my power steering for a manual steering rack. This will free up some pulleys as well as some space in the bay. Doing this also removes a lot of weight from my car. The next item to remove was the k-member and the front suspension. Other items that were removed include the wiper cowel and wiper motor, brake lines, evap canister and the lower cross member. Now I have an almost empty engine bay.






I'll take some time to discuss some of the work being done to the interior. While I was out at the Ohio meet this past summer, I accuired a new gauge cluster from the rare ZX2 S/R. The main difference in the cluster is the 150 mph speedo, silver colored bezel and the red colored needles. The regular cluster only goes up to 120 mph. The main reason I got this cluster was because it came with a carbon fiber bezel overlay that has been out of production for a few years now. I've also decided to further modify the cluster. Instead of going the easy route and buying gauge face overlays, I've decided to swap out the bulbs for blue LED's. This will change the color of the gauge while keeping them stock looking with the black faces.




This is what my gauges will look like after I install the blue LED's, thanks to 1981gMachine's write-up and picture.



Since I've removed the a/c system from my car, I figured that I should at least cut the a/c lines that come in from the the engine bay behind my dash. To do so, the dash would have to be removed. This was an easy task, with the removal of just 11 nuts. With the dash out of the way, I can fix some of the wiring mess inside the car. A while back I had a Spal door poppers kit installed so I could have the door handles shaved. The guy that wired everything up didn't do a very good job hiding the wires. Since then I've relocated the control box and ran the wires correctly. I also removed the antenna wire from the car since it's no longer needed.




Here's my dash out of the car.



Since my car is set-up for showing, everything has to be clean and have a nice finish. That being the case, I've decided to go the extra step and repaint the under carrage of my car. I settled on a gloss black finish for under the car. I plan on added at least two coats, applied by hand brush. So far I have one coat on the passenger side, and it already make a big difference. I'll also be adding the gloss black to the wheel wells to finish them off right. I'm going to keep the engine bay the factory red for now. That might change some day when I decide to repaint my car a different color.

Before:


After:


1/9/10

Just a quick update. I was in the garage this past weekend to do some more cleaning work to the engine bay. I've been using Brakleen to remove any damage caused by the battery acid. I've been able to remove a lot of the damage. I also removed the wheel knuckles and started cleaning them off. Once done, they will get a fresh coat of paint. The header panel has been removed from the front of the car for easier access.





Header Panel Removed.



Steering Knuckle Removed.



Thanks for viewing and stayed tuned.

jonny s2

iTrader: (12)

how different the escort is in the USA

DexterZX2

Yea we really don't get all the goodies you guys have across the ocean. What I wouldn't give to have a Cosworth or at least the motor from one.

cossiejsy

hello and welcome to pf
completely different to our escorts

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

welcome to pf. I like the look of that.

DexterZX2

Thanks for the welcomes and comments. I've just finalized my plans for this rebuild, and I'll have a lot of work ahead of me in the next few months. I plan to have it back together and running by May. Keep checking back to see how things are going.

tezmanian devil

iTrader: (8)

welcome to PF dude
cant beleive how different the u.s escort look's compaired to our's over here!!
look's aright though, keep up the good work

-beefy-

iTrader: (6)

looking good dexter ,

wat motor does the zx come with as factory , is it the 1.9 tall block with the 8 v head ,

DexterZX2

The ZX2 like mine comes with the 2.0 16 valve DOHC Zetec. The 4 door 3rd Gen Escorts have the 1.9 SPI motor in them.