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In August of 2006 I picked up a 1999 Ford Escort ZX2 "Sport" as a daily driver replacement for my 1993 VW Corrado VR6.

I had to get rid of the Corrado because, as with most cars of its vintage, things were beginning to need a lot of repair... in my final month of ownership the AC died, rear spoiler died, sunroof died, and the radiator sprung a leak. Anyone who knows VWs knows that these are all very costly items to fix... so up she went for sale.

Anyways... when I went shopping for a replacement. The replacement car needed to have a few criteria:

- fuel efficient
- reliable
- sharp handler
- moderately quick (ie. not slow)
- cheap on insurance
- be had for around $3000CDN

I did a little research and compiled a short-list of cars. I found the ZX2 for a cool $3000 certified and e-tested.

When I got it it had 95,000kms, fresh oil and coolant, and a new set of Michelin Harmony's on it. It had been really well taken care of as well - rust proofed, clean interior, clean body with no dents or scratches...

Weird option list though... car is equipped with AC and a sunroof but no power windows, no cruise control, no ABS, no CD player... it also has all the "Sport" group options: fog lights, 15" alloys, "Sport" badging, ZX2 embroidered seats, "bright" exhaust tip, etc...

I got the car and instantly realized I was no longer a Corrado owner. Power was down, interior was ugly (in fact the whole car is ugly... and brown!), shifter was sloppy, handling was a little soggy, radio was oval... Some see these problems as well... problems. I saw them as a project to improve.

My plan of attack at improving my car was simple - take care of everyday annoyances (having a crappy sound system was one), improve tactile feel, improve engine response using cheap or free mods, improve handling, and finally improve appearance.

So far I have:

- installed a stereo DIN plate and an Alpine MP3/WMA deck
- installed a B&M short-shift along with a suede shift boot and alloy shift knob
- installed new urethane shift bushings
- scrapped the stock 13mm rear sway bar in favor of a 21mm sway bar from an Escort GT (by far the greatest mod so far) with ES urethane end links and mounts
- "Kemanized" the intake (removed intake resonators)
- installed TrueFlow air filter
- Knock sensor mod
- installed S/R Tokico struts with MX3 H&R springs

Here are a few pictures of the car that I took soon after lowering it (the springs hadn't settled yet):




After this round of mods things that have been improved:
- sound system quality
- shifter feel and throw
- handling has improved incredibly (handles better than my Corrado ever did)
- power band has smoothed out and increased

Car was entertaining to drive now, is tossable (lift-throttle oversteer is my friend), still nets incredible fuel mileage, is cheap to fix and insure...

Needless to say, I had around $400 worth of mods into the car at this point and I was really impressed with how far my dollar had gone and how willing the chassis was after this round of mods.

My next goal was to try to make the car look a little less hideous so I went searching for a set of rims to set it off.

In my searching I found a set of old school Centerline Santa Cruz for "mini-truck" type wheels for $200 so I tried them on for a day:





As you can see, they didn't suit the car at all - in fact I hated how the car looked with them so I put them on my Golf instead...






I kept on searching and found the *PERFECT* set of rims for the ZX2. They are BSA 303s (Enkei RPF1 knockoffs) in 16x7" configuration. The wheels only weigh 13lbs. 3oz. They've got 205/45R16 tires on them:



They look like this on the car:






I love how the car feels with all of my suspension mods - it truly handles like it's on rails. I'm looking forward to competing in some local autocross events this coming season.

Since buying the wheels I have also added:

- SCT Single Burn chip in MTA5 ECU
- HotShot intake with CAI extension and K&N filter
- MSD coil with 8.5mm MSD wires

The car has really woken up with these mods... it's not as fast as the Corrado was but it's quick. I imagine low 15's aren't too far off with a little bit of weight reduction.

I also added a little bump to my trunk in the form of an 8" Bazooka bass tube as well as a couple Kicker KS68 6x8's in the rear shelf.

For a little extra go in the coming season I've purchased and in the spring I will be installing:

- Ford Racing UDP
- PaceSetter shorty header
- Borla S/R muffler
- Energy Suspension urethane motor mount inserts

The car is still ugly... I don't think much it going to change that... however, this coming year will be featuring a custom chin spoiler, modified headlights, as well as a one-off two-tone paint job.

Anyways, looking forward to scouring the classifieds here to pick up some Focus engine parts... <_<

Hope this is the right forum... if not you can move it.

Nicely done, the ZX2 never got much love when new so to see someone take the time to do one up like this after all this time is really nice to see.

NefCanuck

Well you've done a good job with that car! Ive seen a black one with 17's (I think they were BBS)and it was lowered to...looked very nice. The ZX2 uses the Zetec motor?

Welcome! When I picked up my Focus I was considering the ZX2, but never found one that I really liked. Anyway, keep us updated!

Canadian ST,Feb 9 2008, 02:34 PM Wrote:Well you've done a good job with that car! Ive seen a black one with 17's (I think they were BBS)and it was lowered to...looked very nice. The ZX2 uses the Zetec motor?
[right][snapback]257711[/snapback][/right]

i'm pretty sure it does. if i recall correctly that was the ZX2 downside, it was just too heavy for the 4cyl engine.

j3rt,Feb 9 2008, 12:08 PM Wrote:

Canadian ST,Feb 9 2008, 02:34 PM Wrote:Well you've done a good job with that car! Ive seen a black one with 17's (I think they were BBS)and it was lowered to...looked very nice. The ZX2 uses the Zetec motor?
[right][snapback]257711[/snapback][/right]

i'm pretty sure it does. if i recall correctly that was the ZX2 downside, it was just too heavy for the 4cyl engine.
[right][snapback]257713[/snapback][/right]

Yeah it uses the Zetec... I think you have the ZX2 confused with the Contour or Cougar since the ZX2 only weighs around 2300 lbs. Car is considerably quicker than a ZX3 Focus in fact it's also quicker than the outgoing Probe GT as well. The stock ZX2 ran a 15.7 quarter mile while the ZX2 S/R ran low 15's stock according to magazines who tested them when the car came out.

so are the zetec motors basically the same, what are the differences between a ZX2 and a ZX3 Zetec?

welcome! nice write up. like your wheel choice

ZX3_2NV,Feb 11 2008, 01:11 PM Wrote:so are the zetec motors basically the same, what are the differences between a ZX2 and a ZX3 Zetec?
[right][snapback]257775[/snapback][/right]

The ZX2 uses VCT (variable cam timing) on the exhaust cam, also there are some other minor differences with coil placement and things like that.