redo your timing belt being very meticulous and be sure to rotate engine manually twice like in the manual and recheck timing

 

Rotate the engine twice after I have the timing belt installed? Or rotate the cam and crankshaft separately? And just to make sure I am doing it correctly I line up both of the notches on the cam and crank straight up correct?

 

I hope you didn't use the FelPro head gasket. They don't fit properly. Get the Mahle one.

 

I sure did use the felpro one, I thought that was a good company, I guess not? Being that it did run with that gasket in there do you think that could be my issue currently? Thank you

 

yes after you have the belt installed rotate twice clockwise then recheck timing. you are installing the belt clockwise on sprockets keeping slack out of belt on the left side then loosening tensioner to tighten?

 

rotate by hand

 

I did install the belt clockwise on the sprockets because it was easier that direction without the tensioner is set up, is there a reason why I should install it that way other than it just made more sense? And I remember rotating the engine around One Time by hand and the timing marks were both facing straight up when I got back to the top, it is my understanding that these engines are not interference or do you think something could have got to damage when it slipped some teeth on the timing and shut off while test driving? How's the car sits right now both timing marks are in line with each other is there still any reason to take off the belt and reset it on there, thank you for your responses it is greatly appreciated

I have rebuilt several 2nd gen escorts. With three of them I had the block out to get the cylinders honed for installing new rings on the original pistons, had the machine shop mill the top of the block down about .006", to give me a really flat surface, and got a head that had been rebuilt. Then bolted it back together, with new head bolts of course, and with a new timing belt and tensioner. Its still running well, 16 years later and about 80,000 miles. Also new bearings and main seals, and replaced all five of the freeze plugs in the block.

Do you think having the block shaved down was crucial as far as making a tight seal between the head and block or do you think it would have been able to seal without shaving? I shaved the original head down by hand and used a 4 ft level in my smallest feeler gauge to check for flatness, that head was so out of whack took me about 15 hours if you get it shaved flat, I also lapped the valves and ported and polished the intake and combustion Chambers, but when I went to the valves back in I noticed all four of the valve guides on the exhaust side had cracks or chunks missing from the part that sticks past the head I wasn't sure how critical that was so I decided not to use it it just took a different head from the junkyard, this car only has 80,000 miles on it so I'm thinking the pistons and rings and bottom end should be in good enough shape, attempted to just to the old head back together and maybe see if I can trim down the valve guides that have the cracks, what do you think? Once again thank you for the replies

 

I have rebuilt several 2nd gen escorts. With three of them I had the block out to get the cylinders honed for installing new rings on the original pistons, had the machine shop mill the top of the block down about .006", to give me a really flat surface, and got a head that had been rebuilt. Then bolted it back together, with new head bolts of course, and with a new timing belt and tensioner. Its still running well, 16 years later and about 80,000 miles. Also new bearings and main seals, and replaced all five of the freeze plugs in the block.

 

I have used felpro head gaskets without issues. The reason I got the block 'decked' was due to darkened areas on the side toward the exhaust valve and signs of rust (reddish) on the drivers side front corner of the block, around that corner head bolt. On a couple of my rebuilds this head bolt broke off during removal of the head, and even though I put a thread cutting tap down into the head bolt holes, seeing the signs of corrosion on multiple engine blocks, and enough corrosion to cause that corer headbolt to seize into the head, was why I wanted to ensure a flat shiny surface. My machinist recommended it to me the first time, or I might not hwve thought of it mself.

 

Yesterday I took extra time and make sure I set the timing and the timing belt correctly, I thought I had found the problem when I thought my timing marks were off, turns out they were not so still scratching my head as to why the engine is making such low compression. Right now I'm leaning towards the valves because when I rotate the engine by hand I cannot find a single spot that will hold air when I blow into each cylinder through the spark plug hole. Yesterday walking through one of the local wrecking yards I found a 2002 escort with the SPI engine I didn't know that they used that motor that late. It looked to be in decent shape and right now it is half off weekend at pick and pull, should that head bolt right up to my engine being that they are about 5 years apart? I would imagine that the newer head would be a slightly improved design, the only thing I could see different was the design of the timing belt, but I don't think it is different enough to not work.

 

I think all years Escort SPI cylinder heads are interchangeable, however there is a different Focus SPI head, the difference being the intake manifold bolt pattern and possibly a motor mount connection.

Edit: From Engine Builder magazine:

"1997-’02 Escort – The original split-port head (c/n F7CE-AA) that came out in ’97 was used for the Escort until it was finally discontinued in 2002."

 

Do y

Do you know if the cam specs are the same for both heads? I'm thinking I'm just going to put the old head back together with whatever new gaskets and seals came with my head gasket kit. Thank you

 

escort and focus heads are not interchangeable, you would need the entire intake system as well, and it would poke out of the hood about 2 inches. it is completely different. cam specs should be in the manual.

 

According to the Engine Builder magazine, cams are the same.