ZX2 Squared

The sky's the limit!

I vote Lincoln Continental FWD V8/transaxle stuffed in the back.

I vote vin plate and boost.

I vote Lincoln Ls V8 and transaxle from a v6 duratec in the back. I dont know if they bolt up, though.

slowbird said:

The sky's the limit!

I vote Lincoln Continental FWD V8/transaxle stuffed in the back.

But you don't even like Ford?

In reply to Bent-Valve :

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? 

RossD said:

I vote Lincoln Ls V8 and transaxle from a v6 duratec in the back. I dont know if they bolt up, though.

I have tossed around the idea of making a rwd this way. I think I would keep a matching motor / transaxle pair, the rest of the engineering would be bad enough.

slowbird said:

In reply to Bent-Valve :

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? 

Sarcasm, I mean really  how many do you have / want? What was it you just got, A Ford Escort LX-E?  And don't think I didn't notice how quick that Probe was on the autox course, you were faster than I was. AND you drove it there and home!  LOL.

In reply to Bent-Valve :

hehehe...I figured. Real talk, I think I need a warehouse filled with about 25 cars before I'll be happy...and they'll all be E36 M3boxes! 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

I vote vin plate and boost.

I have looked, longingly, at the ebay turbo kits, around $500 to $700.

There is a clean 2002 for $400, "bad motor". I will have to tow it 150 miles though. It may be there when I get back from Louisiana and I may get it, lower budget hit to start with and can be registered. The turbo and rebuild kit for the "bad engine" would be about $1200. So then I have $400 to finish out a nice build that I could drive down.

Bent-Valve said:

RossD said:

I vote Lincoln Ls V8 and transaxle from a v6 duratec in the back. I dont know if they bolt up, though.

I have tossed around the idea of making a rwd this way. I think I would keep a matching motor / transaxle pair, the rest of the engineering would be bad enough.

I would basically do it like this:

Bent-Valve said:

Since it is kind of cool out, 39 degrees, I decided to catch up the spreadsheet, fmv word document and work on the book.

Special notes, I decided to keep the new battery in it for the Challenge, if I need it there is $121 I can use by swapping the core battery in. I dropped the poly grease but need to add the regular grease I am putting on the bushings. I also haven't used a can of spray paint, or finished off the can of black paint / chip brush I have listed, but plan to use those for touch ups etc. Other than those its up to date.

Friendly advice -- IF YOU HAVEN'T STARTED YOUR BOOK, YOU SHOULD! It takes more time than you think!

$982.00 (I just noticed its even money! lol)

Currently the ZX2 is sitting where it was parked after the Challenge, minus the new battery, it has an old battery in it. I moved my MS Office copy to my new computer and so I don't have have a copy of the spreadsheet.

Question 1 -- Is this where I would start if I did another Challenge build with this car? Minus the $139 battery listed since its not in it.

Question 2 -- Also the magazine article says I put new R888's on it, I didn't they were used and came with the car. Or do you get a new set of tires (budget neutral) with the next Challenge?

If all that is correct the vague plan that came together last night:

I may have a body with a title right on my doorstep. I emailed and got contact. May have been to slow. BUT! If this happens the plan is to have a titled entry that I can drive down, with the extra money in the budget (~$1000) maybe even a turbo zx2. Then if I don't blow it up, drive home.

Got the Zx2. Black, bashed, does NOT run. Clean clear title.

It was free. So zero on recoup. I guess I have to read the new rules now.

Will post photos later. We at at Mexican restaurant eating a late dinner since this car was kind of unexpected.

Tomorrow I'm going to DMV. After that I'll decide on the build.

Recovery photos,

Basic story line, car dies, tree dies, limb is cut up, car is moved. Blah blah blah. Photos....

Inside was full of junk and spare tires, just as flat as the front tires. Ran when parked, trans was bad. Put a battery in it, and all the fuses back in. Bolted the seat down, it was just thrown in. He said he had nice seats in it and pulled those out.

Put some spare tire I had on it, broke the shifter to get it into neutral, the battery didn't power anything, and wouldn't release the shifter. Got it into the street so I could take the front end off to attach the tow bar.

And ready to roll. Mind you there was trip home to get jack, battery, etc. so this didn't happen as quick as it seems here.

Cleaning it netted $0.75 plus a Japanese coin, new oil filter, 2 quarts of auto trans fluid, a game, a video, some drugs, lots of glass, a birth certificate, (we returned it) radio face, more shattered glass, a few tools, triple a batteries, owners manual, another type of drug ....... you get the idea.

Oh and there was platform bolted into the passenger side floor board area. Tommorrow I'm off to the DMV to see about the title.

1) Checked on the title, need a State Trooper to come by the house and do a form because the title is out of state. No biggie.

2) It runs! The main fuse was blown and the wipers wont turn off, but heck it was free! So I have a running 140k mile ZX2 with a bad auto transmission.  -- Sorry for the crappy video, I was in a hurry.

3) A junkyard auto is ~$350, A turbo kit is ~675 on ebay. Clean it, tires and brakes, oh and fix the wipers? (Instead of swapping everything?) Hmmm.

And since I have a sore throat I'm off to bed, no its not the Corona Virus, oddly a Corona sounds good, that was a great misspelling!

Woo! Cheap hoonmobile!

Nice score!

Ive looked at those eBay kits, pondered a home brew kit, but it's hard to find good pics of peoples setups since all the escort forums are dead.

I believe you'll have to run a Honda radiator for turbo clearance. Might be enough room where the cat is since it hugs the block. If you have to eliminate the downstream o2 it'll still run fine. 

Pretty sure you'll have to get a SCT tuner or something to the likes. If memory serves from reading, the return less fuel system can be troublesome. I think, but I'm moron.

If anything else comes to mind I'll chime back. Good luck!

Yeah, turbo ford escort doesn't return many search results. Gears and Gasoline on YouTube has a nice looking blue one he breaks regularly.

From researching I will have be concerned with piston breakage and forged piston break the budget. The rods can be shot peaned for improved durability.

So a turbo setup will have to be on the low side of boost.

My one bright side is Mazda has a good following so maybe those parts will interchange.

The absolute cheapest is to swap all the good stuff from the yellow one and just run it.

Maybe a 50 shot?  I really hesitate on that idea.

There's a guy on the Focus forums who does a lot of turbo tunes for the Focus. Since the ZX2 engine is similar he might be someone to reach out to. https://focus-power.com/our-company/ It may not be budget-friendly but just throwing ideas out there.

In reply to slowbird :

Thanks!

So after a frustrating experience to get an appointment with the doc he says, "Yup, you got a sore throat,if it aint better in 10 days come back" wouldn't even test me for strep, lectured me how its only people with diabetes, cancer, (I had / have both) etc that should worry. And I pay for this.

But I digress.....

So to work off my frustration, and yes Pyro is going to disapprove, I messed with the ZX2 Squared since I am home for the day.

Squirted the engine off, its free so what can I hurt? Used the leave blower to remove the leaves ans sticks, then did a quick hose and scrub with a green scrubby!

4 bolts, 2 screws, 3 slices and ~4 shattered fasteners and the back seats and carpet were out. It stunk so I didn't try to save it. Vacuumed out the rest of the glass and bombed it with Lysol.  It's sitting open to air out, I got a shower and I'm done for the day.

Oh yeah, It moves under its own power, transmission may not be great but it not only runs, it moves!

Still say "rebody" the yellow car.....

But youre local and in charge. Seems solid and well gotten for the price!

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Your wish shall be granted! Major RNR about to commence.

I'm coming to the 2020 Challenge!

Starting Budget stands at: $843

Calculation is $982 total from 2019 - $139 because I pulled the good battery I was using.

Edit: T minus 226 days

Drug the black body to an inspection station for id form so I can title it this afternoon.

Once I have the title I will start the deconstruction and reconstruction.

I would start a thread call ZX2^2 (squared) but I think  I am going to keep it all here.

In reply to Bent-Valve :

If you ask nicely an admin can change the title ;) 

 T minus 204 days

Got more done on the barn. I was going to do something different for tool organization but I had this pegboard already. The 2x4's are repurposed from the shop walls into the barn walls. The wiring took longer to remove than I thought. The 220 for the welder was difficult in a "this should work, why doesn't it" kind of way.

Part of the reason for cleaning and organizing is so I can work efficiently. Tomorrow I plan to get things arranged so I can start on the disassembly of the yellow body. I hope to start that on the 4th or 5th but it depends on how much I get done.