[97escort]

just picked up a mint 97 ford escort gray with gray interior, 5 speed, 140k, 2.0 sfi 2000 runs mint, will get some pictures up tm after i go to the dmv(dreading this process) always had neons since a few months before my license haha, but this seems like a much smoother and quiet ride. the thing is the timing belt hasnt been done so i plan on doing that soon, first off id like to ask what i should do to give it a little extra kick, im thinking cai, and muffler for starters, any ideas on good cheap mods to start off with, or easy things to replace. thank you and i hope to contribute to the forums as to i work at a shop so im planning on taking this car apart and just seeing how everything is set up.

 

[silverton]

140k on the original timing belt? Are you sure?

 

[escortrestorer]

I have seen one with 180k on an original belt.

Exhaust is a good place to start for engine performance and that is where most of your horsepower gain will be found on a tight budget.

If you really want an improvement in the car to give yourself a sportier ride, start with suspension/handling. Urethane bushings, lowering springs, sport valved struts, bigger wheels with low profile tires, and brakes. Improvements there will show much better and give you more bang for your buck till as long as you are on a tight budget. You dont have to increase horsepower to make your car faster, all horsepower will do for your car is make it go in a straight line faster.

 

[97escort]

im pretty sure its the origional timing belt the guy i got it from said he didnt change it unless someone before him did

 

[madmatt2024]

Exhaust is a good place to start for performance but just a muffler won't do much if anything if the stock tubing is left in place. The stock system (if its like mine was) will shrink down to 1 3/4" in places. Replace the whole with 2" or 2 1/4" tubing, then add your performance muffler and you will see some gain.

If the timing belt is that old then you are on borrowed time. Change it as soon as possible.

 

[97escort]

im praying it was changed, im not gonna be able to check until i go back to work on the 4th

 

[97escort]

checked the timing belt it was replaced, another thing, where is the best place to get the piping/manifold, i wanna def do at least 2"

 

[madmatt2024]

If you want to do bigger than stock then your only option is to have a shop make it. The stock manifold and cat are 2".

 

[97escort]

i work at a shop so maybe it wont be a big of a deal, how does ur car handle, i was thinking bout an intake and short shifter, where did u get the udp at?? i wanted to get the 50% one tho

 

[97escort]

and what exactly is are ho tb

 

[madmatt2024]

My car handles pretty good with the bigger rear sway bar and strut bars. I got the UDP from www.escortfocus.com. They are currently out of stock though. The HO throttle body is one from an 86-90 Escort GT, its 6mm bigger than the stock one. The one from a 3.8L Ford V6 is the same but is lacking an emissions hookup.

 

[97escort]

nice did u notice any difference in performance from the tb, anywhere else i can get the udp from?? maybe a jy or something? not sure if i wanna just throw a mufffler on it without the piping, but i might just do that, i read the how to on the intake, with just getting a highflow filter, i took the silencer off thee intake, dont really wanna cut the intake housing, it seems likke thjere is not much you can really do with the 2.0 spi engine other then the universla stuff u can do to any engine, ie intake and stuff like that, dont really wanna, or have the money to turbo it, and it seems like a shit load of work, how did u do your intake, i like the wagon btw

 

[madmatt2024]

I noticed a big difference from the TB but I already had 2 1/4" exhaust at the time. An engine is like an air pump, it can only flow as much as the most restrictive part so if you put on a big throttle body but keep the stock exhaust you won't see much gain.

Escortfocus is the sole supplier of UDP's for this motor. Some times a used one will pop up on ebay or in the forsale section on the forum though.

Just removing the silencer should give you more than enough flow, no need to cut it. My intake is one angle from a ZX2 intake I got on ebay, a chopped factory intake tube, MAF adapter, cone filter, and some misc hoses.

 

[97escort]

yeah i hear you, around how much did the whole exhaust set up cost you for the 2 1/4" piping, what exactly would i need for that, so far what i got planned is just the high flow air filter, and i really wanna get the udp sometime soon hopefully ill find one, i really wanna do the 2 1/4" piping but idk what i would need to get or how to go about doing it

 

[madmatt2024]

$7 at the junkyard and an afternoon with my welder. :twisted:

 

[97escort]

ha niice, my boss at the garage is a great welder im sure he could do that for me, so baisically i would just need the pipes?? how would i attach them to the exhaust manifold, and wouldtn i need a new cat?

 

[madmatt2024]

I take it you haven't even looked at the stock setup yet. This is the kind of thing where you look at what you have and do the work accordingly.

 

[97escort]

i did look at it but not too much, at work we have a 03 corvette zo6 and it has the 3.8tb, today was the first day we started it, and when my boss was revin it, the sound of the air getting sucked in was incredible kind of a high pitched squeek, almost turbo like pretty sweet i must say

 

[madmatt2024]

A Z06 would not have the 3.8 tb, its to small.

 

[97escort]

yeah it has the 4.7 engine but when i measured the tb it was around 4" i guess 3.8 dosnt mean size inches wise , the engine is huge on that thing, im gonna try to make a vid or take a pic at least tm