Koda's Zx2.

I've been looking for a commuter car/possible Ranger replacer for a while, and a car finally caught my eye. It's a black 2000 Ford Escort Zx2, with an auto tranny and of course the 2.0 liter 4cylinder engine. I nabbed a loan for 2500 and snatched up this beauty as quick as I could. I'll be making about 80 dollars a month in payments on the loan, plus my insurance premium which for full coverage is around 197 right now, it might shoot up in a few weeks because they haven't slapped that surcharge on me from my accident with the Ranger.

Normally I take alot of pictures, but it's cold and snowy out.

Here it is. Fills up my Rangers spot nicely.


I love the interior, minus the dog hair. I'll be cleaning that out (or trying to) pretty soon.


Then there's this.. mostrosity. WHAT WAS FORD THINKING! I'll be purchasing a new stereo in a month or so and a converter plate so I can put it in. Crutchfield gives a 50% discount on them if you buy a new stereo that is 170+ or something. The one I want isn't on there, or 170 dollars. But if I can get a better stereo and the converter plate for the same price as the average stereo and the plate, then I'll go with the better one every time.


Engine bay could also use a good cleaning. Looks like it went on alot of backroads. I also have plans to dress it up nicely with red wires and whatnot.


And the best part.. it's a Ford!


More pics to come later.

Here's what she needs that I know of.
1-> Passengers side wheel bearing. I'm figuring 150+parts at Sidney tire.
2-> Muffler. I have a idea on a red glasspack style. Dunno how that will sound though.
3-> Clearcoat on the spoiler.
5-> Wires. It has the origional ones on it. After about 10 years they should be changed IMO. Going with Red ones.
5-> Tires. I'll be getting those ASAP. It will be about 400 dollars for them to be mounted and whatnot.

I got a ZX2 for parts, Its got a different type of plate around the radio and a pioneer CD player/head unit in it already. Thats a wierd looking combo you got there.

1badexplorer said:

I got a ZX2 for parts, Its got a different type of plate around the radio and a pioneer CD player/head unit in it already. Thats a wierd looking combo you got there.

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Yours has been converted already. Since it's for parts, would you be willing to sell the radio plate or no? I might be interested depending on the style, they make a couple different ones.

Come-on Koda you don't rock out to cassettes anymore?

flyingbrick said:

Come-on Koda you don't rock out to cassettes anymore?

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Oh, I have plenty. I also have a auto reverse cassette, basically a cassette with a cord that can plug into any headphone jack to play music from mp3 players, portable cd players, etc. I just want a new stereo that has either a USB from the back that I can run to my glove box, or one on the front. That way my 5.4 gigs of music that I have on my computer can go with me anywhere. I'll only keep maybe half that on the jump drive though.

koda6966 said:

Yours has been converted already. Since it's for parts, would you be willing to sell the radio plate or no? I might be interested depending on the style, they make a couple different ones.

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Yea sure you can have it for the cost of shipping.

hey not to hijack the thread or anything, but just out of curiosity, are they good cars? hows fuel economy and reliablity? do they atleast have some balls?

zukirider21 said:

hey not to hijack the thread or anything, but just out of curiosity, are they good cars? hows fuel economy and reliablity? do they atleast have some balls?

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Yes, they are good cars. My city MPG was in the 20's. I mentioned earlier about the issues mine had, but overall it's very reliable. I know 3 other people that have owned one and have only done routine maintenance. I know a girl who bought a '98 brand new, still drives it, and has had ZERO problems with it. Balls? Nope. But it's semi-quick once the revs get up to 4-5K. IIRC, peak torque isn't made until close to redline, which is 6000 rpm.

1badexplorer said:

Yea sure you can have it for the cost of shipping.

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Thanks! Find out how much shipping is going to be on it and I'll definately buy it. Is there any way that you can send me a picture (either through a pm, email, or text) so that I can see which style it is?

zukirider21 said:

hey not to hijack the thread or anything, but just out of curiosity, are they good cars? hows fuel economy and reliablity? do they atleast have some balls?

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It's one hell of alot more ballsy than my Ranger. And I'm expecting between 25 and 30 for my mpg, I'll update this thread with my averages.

Jay FX4 said:

Yes, they are good cars. My city MPG was in the 20's. I mentioned earlier about the issues mine had, but overall it's very reliable. I know 3 other people that have owned one and have only done routine maintenance. I know a girl who bought a '98 brand new, still drives it, and has had ZERO problems with it. Balls? Nope. But it's semi-quick once the revs get up to 4-5K. IIRC, peak torque isn't made until close to redline, which is 6000 rpm.

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Wheel bearings seems to be the common issue. The front drivers side has been replaced on mine and I'll be sending it in to have the passengers side done (once I confirm that it's the location where the grinding noise/feeling is coming from.)

Sweet ride koda...

That radio set up looks retarded lol, why do they do that to us?

I have no idea why they did it. I guess they thought it looked cool, and it did at the time. I remember my mother having a purple wagon back in the day when they were just a few years old and I was WOAH COOL when I looked at the radio. Now it's more of a "what the hell am I going to do about this?"

Here's that spoiler that needs to be sanded and painted. Not sure when I'll get around to it. It's a tad cold today. If it gets above 60 I might try. This is what happens when you don't wax your car regularly.


And then here's the exhaust that needs to be replaced.


I will be replacing it with this. Or at least I plan to. Just have to take some measurements.


With one of these slapped on the end.


Here's the first modification that I made. Well, sort of. I noticed that it had a rubber section on the windows that was cracking and peeling off. I was just going to trim the peeling part and paint the rest. Then my mother comes out and tells me to just cut it all off, since it must be stainless or aluminum (no rust or blemishes on it) and it doesn't need to be painted. It ended up looking alot better shiny than black too.

Before & After.



Right now I'm just cleaning up the engine bay and the interior. Lots of dog hair on the inside and dirt on the outside.

If the muffler looks like that i would be looking into new piping too cause its probably getting to that point. Nice job on the trim too.

I always thought a super turbo muffler would sound good on a car, not loud but still got a bit of rumble to it.

Woops. I posted linkes instead of images.

I'll check the pipe, I haven't gotten around to checking everything.

Cleaned up the engine. Once I get photoshop I'll post up one of my ideas for it.

Here's a before and after.



I also drained the windshield fluid the slow way, and replaced it with my RainX fluid. Whoot. Rain used to bead up and fly off my windshield on the Ranger with it, I wonder what the Escorts will do.