Turbo 1998 Ford escort zx2

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

Well, it's not a focus. It's and old school focus. 1998 Ford Escort ZX2. 2.0l zetec dohc. I'm going to start from 9 years ago when I bought it. and lead up to now where i'm turboed with 247wtq. I'm not sure what this forum's rules are on thread length, but i know most forums dont like double posting so I'm going to try to fit this all in one thread.. [popcorn]

Bought it back in 2006 with 60k miles on it.

First thing to install was the intake obviously. I got the intake at around 2008 from a friend who was upgrading his intake. He introduced me into the world of what zx2's can really do

First transmission blew going about 80mph, differential blew out of the casing and melted shards of metal on the axels so i had to replace those... :/ This was my first experience actually WORKING on a car...

Then i bought my first set of rims, late 2008

and then i was introduced into car audio... and so it begun.
I got a headunit on craigslist, brand new at the time for $45

but i was too cheap for the faceplate. so i made due

and then i went for a sub, and i couldn't pick the quite amp that i wanted so i kept buying them until i did... 4 amps later there i am..

New Alpine Type R 12" sub with a ported box

gotta love christmas
Picture below is of alpine type R on the left, previous walmart 12" on the right

(don't worry that's not where i put the sub, i was secured in the trunk.

Then i could afford a faceplate!

And then i cleaned the car up.. (ew back when it was automatic.) it's funny when i look back at this picture almost nothing in it is the same.

There are a lot more pictures to upload i just dont have the time right now, but i will be adding pictures throughout the week as i ge time to do so.

an then i entered the world of autox and so begun with a 21mm rear sway bar.

and stripping out the interior

and a little intake tune up before the race

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

and then i got a parts car to begin with my MTX swap

good ol' ported throttle body

Then i found a good deal on a buddy club front and combat side body kit, my teenage impulses couldn't turn down. This was in about summer 2009. i never fully got it on because it didn't fit right, of course. I had plans on painting it after i molded it but i decided that i didn't like the rice after a couple days.

and then i found a nice little crack in my bald tires (that i should've changed months ago!)

so to add to the rice i put the stock wheels on the rear.. with the nice discolored body kit

Transmission number 2 broke in the autozone parking lot. so it was time to drive the parts car until the next summer where I had time.

On to moving the body kit over...

just a little bondo to fix up the side and i'm off to work delivering pizza.. (i know it's way too much bondo.. I was young and dumb, but i had fun

)

off to the ohio meet in my cars car. and about 200 miles in, the rear tire blows out..

after that little "experience" i decided to invest in some tires..

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

On to the MTX swap

this is the garage i had to work with, so i spend all day cleaning it out to bring the parts car in. i had to tow the blue one in.

yes, i still have the coke machine

cleaning the floors..

the tire collection keeps growing...

had to get 4 6 ton jack stands to lift the car enough to pull the trans from underneath.

and my small collection of tools

had a real fun time trying to get the axle bolt off.. 5ft breaker bar and all it did was turn the wheel with the weight of the whole car on that one wheel...

next attempt was trying to cut it off...

I finally gave in and bought some nice air tools! (5hp engine, with a 625ft/lbs impact gun) Got the bolt off first try. and a couple hours later, the transmission was out!

and now for the painstaking process of the MTX swap..

new painted trans (that ended up blowing 6 months later..no pics of my last trans swap..)

New stage 2 clutch!!

)

trans front and rear mount inserts

and i welcome the new year (2010) with pulling my new manual zx2 out of the garage!

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

as i'm looking through my pictures, i realized.. i really dont have may pictures from between 2009-2011. which is when most of the work was done...

here's a list of where i'm at now, i'll see if i can find any more pictures..

Engine Modification
MTX swap
F1 Racing stage 2 clutch
Tuned S/R PCM (SCT XCAL2)
3” Cold air Intake
Knock Mod
Big 3 upgrade
MAC Underdrive Pulley
Massive wires
AC delete
Reservoir’s hidden
Escort Sedan Transmission
TWM short shifter with SR nob and boot

Handling Modification
Corksport strut bar
21mm Rear sway bar
Energy suspension motor mount transmission inserts
Energy suspension front and rear sway bar endlinks
17” ICW spade racing rims
New Nexon n5000 tires
Front Camber Bolts
Cut springs :/

Sound Modification
12” Alpine Type R Subwoofer
Q-logic ported box
5.25 Dual door speakers
5x8 Alpine Type-R rear deck speakers with baffles
700w true rms Alpine class D monoblock
A-X305S Deck

Interior Modification
Blue speedometer Gauge
Voltmeter, Vaccum/Boost, Oil Pressure LED gauge
Charcoal interior
smoked tail lights
35% window tint all around

and i just got a wings west lip kit but i've got to paint it first

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

this is after I lowered it the "economic way" I had cut the springs... another dumb mistake of mine but I was young and dumb and having fun..

cutting springs works if you get it aligned right. I got some camber bolts for the front and it went perfect. fixed my gas mileage about 5mpg too! I drove without it aligned and it burned right through the inner edge of one of my tires.

an expensive lesson to get your car aligned!!

Then I went and bought a wings west lip kit and painted it myself. Didn't turn out too bad for my first time using HVLP..

took the hood of to paint rubberized undercoating on the inside to quiet down the sound

couldn't resist and i had to take a picture of it...

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

I then decided to make an impulse drive down to alabama for a good deal on full trubenz exhaust with borla muffler and kamikazi header.

on the way down, had to stop at this little run down antique garage

both exhausts off, featuring joshalabama

warp speed = result of kami and trubenz

new kami header, and picked up some radiator brackets.

reciepts from gas....
$150.87
41.991 gallons
1184 miles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yKGbaDbBZw

pardon the sqeeky serp belt, i still need to change the idler pulley

I will post more pictures later, this has caught me up to around early 2012. Pictures of my turbo build coming soon!

sleepyboy · Feb 19, 2013

Nice progression and end result you got. Learning while doing is a valuable experience lol

ZXthrizzle05 · Feb 19, 2013

its kind of how I did my build was learning at the same time lol

JBMCZX3 · Feb 19, 2013

Nice ride sir. I use to follow your progress over on teamzx2 when I had my S/R. Very nice looking ZX2, one of the best IMO.

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

thanks guys, I like these forums. I might stick around over here too if I have enough time to be on forums all the time

All that's posted so far is everything before I had a decent paying job. everything that I'm going to post next is after I got a decent paying job. I think you'll notice quite the difference

zx3_bmxrider · Feb 19, 2013

Nice read, lots of pics.

My dad has a 98 zx2, its the best dd ever. All my family has for dd's are escorts and focuses. We have hit so many deer, trees, cars, and havent put anything into any of them. lol My dads zx2 has dents all over it and a skull on the hood...oh and its super quick. I know it has the same motor my car does but dang....it feels so much quicker than mine.

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

Yea, i'm not sure of the weight difference between focus and zx2. but the zx2's feel so quick because they're very light (2478lbs with all options) I should be around 2400 or so with no ac and crap.

ZXthrizzle05 · Feb 19, 2013

seems un fair for the difference of focus and zx2 lol

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

finished my truck bed liner undercoating and repainted the 21mm rsb with new energy suspension endlinks

started changing the surf board spoiler, i took my trunk from my parts car and removed the spoiler, bondo'ed the holes and removed the ford decal and "sport" logo.

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

i made a sub box to give me more trunk room. stripped the trunk carpet, sprayed truck bed liner for sound dampening, then re carpeted the trunk. and i also did the forsaken wire tuck...

first off, here's the box after it was finished.. you don't want to see me building it. It was just a bunch of formula's and trigonometry trying to figure out the stupid angles.

and i have access to my spare tire well for my jumper cables. There's a plastic try i put on top to cover.

and for the wire tuck,

the problem is, there's not much to do with the fuse box. there's nowhere to put it... so i just left it here.

Energyblue98 · Feb 19, 2013

TURBO PICS!!

arrived with a little damage to the intercooler, not even sure how it happened it was packed very well. So i had to straighten those back out.

the manifold had a lot of cracks :/ cheap little obx manifold (I got a custom fabricated one later)

the turbo is in good shape, normal shaft play up and down, none in and out

fits up pretty well, notice the cutch line...

so i rewelded all the cracks, and some. then painted the manifold.

then i started getting the intercooler in

right side went in pretty good,

left side is a litte tricky, i hope it doesn't scrape the ground..

the 3" segment where i ran out of pipe...

Had to relocate the radiator to in front of the core support. This wasn't as fun as it sounds. radiator fitment took a while but i got it in pretty cleanly..

hose is a little tight on the left side..

but hey, i got my hood latch to fit!!

First time starting the car - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVEni25ATDk

got her running pretty good, had some problems with oil shooting out my dipstick under boost still working on that isse, added the oil catch can for extra protection. This run was on the semi-base tune. o2 sensor was acting funny on me so I had to fix a few loose ends before I could go back to the dyno.

pre, and post turbo dyno charts will be posted after i fix all the issues and take it back to retune

Well here it is, the turbo build is finally finished. I'm running 7psi with a manual boost controller that pushes it to 9psi for a second and then back down to 7 (you can see it on the dyno). I will be getting an 8.5psi spring to even it all out. All pulls were in 4th gear.

Enough rambling! Here's my Dyno before i installed the turbo, Full Bolt-on ZX2

Modifications:
3" Cold Air intake
Kami Header
2.5 Trubenz exhaust
Mac UDP (100mm)

The first pull hit the speed governor so i quickly cut the wire and ran the second pull.

Here's the Turbo Dyno.

First Pull is 8psi down to 7, the second pull was 9.5psi down to 7.

Modifications:
3" intake, 3" MAF
2.5 Intercooler Piping
Log Style Manifold
2.5" Downpipe
2.5" Trubenz Exhaust
Mac UDP (100mm)
Borg Warner T04b Turbo
Greddy type rs knock off bov recirculating
42lb green top injectors
SVT fuel pump
38mm Tial Wastegate with 7psi spring
Motocraft AZFS-22C Spark Plugs
93 Octane pump gas

So the turbo officially adds 88.5whp and 118Wtq

Feels great

"

Also, i have the 8.5 psi spring on it's way as well as some brand new Ground control coilovers

I was bored so i decided to make a rear tie bar. turned out pretty good! (sorry for the crappy phone pics)

2002greenzx3 · Feb 19, 2013

Nice zx2. Makes me miss my old '99. I was on teamzx2 back in like 06 and 07 before my zx2 got totaled.

Sent from my DROID using Tapatalk

bluebullet · Feb 23, 2013

Nice car
Any more plans?

Energyblue98 · Feb 23, 2013

this is only about half of my worklog so far, I havent had time to upload more pictures but when i get a chance you'll see them. I actually just picked up a built bottom end a couple days ago

FuriousFocus · Feb 23, 2013

The wire tuck looks scary but other than that-nice work! Nice to see a ZX2 on the come-up . Not over-done, I like it!

Turbo 1998 Ford escort zx2

Energyblue98

Energyblue98

Energyblue98

Energyblue98

Energyblue98

Energyblue98

sleepyboy

ZXthrizzle05

JBMCZX3

Energyblue98

zx3_bmxrider

Energyblue98

ZXthrizzle05

Energyblue98

Energyblue98

Energyblue98

2002greenzx3

bluebullet

Energyblue98

FuriousFocus

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