[JWR-NoRice]

Pardon me while I step onto my soapbox...

You´ve got questions?

FORD´s got answers.

I´m new to this group, and quite new to playing with Escorts/Tracers, but I´ve got over 20 years of playing with cars behind me, with no formal car tech training. But I read a lot of questions here in the forum that can be quickly answered by simply pulling out the manual for your car. I´ve got a Hayes manual for all 91-2000 Escorts/Tracers, and a Ford Service CD for 1992-2000 Escorts. When I don´t know, they are where I go. The book was about $15. The CD was $10, delivered, on eBay.

Don´t waste your time with bad guesses

or busted knuckles

. Read it, then do it, and you´ll be a happier owner

and your car will show it.

Not everything us old folks say is crap, kids.

Speech over...go about yer bizness...

_________________
John Rosa

and the Slammin´ Escort-SVT project...

[ Edited by JWR-NoRice On Date 11-26-2002 ]

[ Edited by JWR-NoRice On Date 11-26-2002 ]

 

[Arakele]

That would be the RTFM comment i used to tell people when i worked in the computer industry, needless to say not everyone got it

 

[chadgore]

although i see were you are coming from, thats what this message board is for. its so we can help our fellow escort owners with anny questions that they have. although there are some crazzy questions asked so often, if every one reached for the book, what would be the use of this board? what would people like me do? id be board, i come here to answer peoples questions mostly. plus belive it or not alot of people dont have time or money to buy a book or cd. seriously it happens. i know i hit some tight spots like that some times. but i do think peole should read past posts before asking questions. well i hope i havent affended anny one.

 

[91scortgtboy]

I got the chilton manual for every car I own and hae owned, and yes they are helpful. But they are not always the best way to get the job done. It is always good to have someone to ask a question to that migh thave had the problem before and can give you some advice that that manual don´t offer. I would rather talk to someone that did it before than read a book to be honest. But I iwll say it again that book is pretty damn helpful ,ost of the time.
By the way welcome aboard and thats a damn sweet looking scort you go there.

 

[FlaminScort]

yeah most of the time the book never really gives you a clear cut answer, or in the troubleshooting they never really give you the real problem....

most of us use this board, as a way of getting info/tech from guys/gals who have had the same problem, and how they fixed it......

sure the book is great when tearing down and rebuilding.....but most problems aren´t always so easy

 

[Mibz]

What´s the parental advisory sticker on your car say?

 

[TheBlade]

Welcome to the site, nice scort. I have both, I recommend the Chiltons, its more complete, but costs a few bucks more.
If you´re looking for the other though, its Haynes, not Hayes. Both of mine are my bibles...well the Chilton has been missing for awhile, but the Haynes is on my nightstand and I think the only book I´ve actually finished reading post H.S.

Open yourself up to the boards a little more. I´m hoping more people are like me and can read the manual 4 or 5 times and not find stuff in front of their faces....but if you post a question up I can unlock the vault in my head for random specific stuff like cylinder bore of 3.2679" and stroke of 3.35"

I think I should just send a resume to Ford. "I´ve memorized all the useless information your technicians B.S. about ´knowing´, please employ me"

Just Kiddin´

 

[Zeemax]

In my case, I had the first release of the Haynes manual for the 2nd generation Escorts. In the brake section for the GT´s rear calipers, all the illustrations were backwards. For the less-technically minded, they´d have been thrown for a loop when paper didn´t match reality. I know the manual writers are competent, but mistakes do happen. And that´s why the board is here, as a sort of insurance against arsing up a project by getting knowledge from those who´ve done it, rather than relying solely on a paper guide. And JWR, nice car by the way. What color paint is that? Looks either black or possibly charcoal.

 

[JWR-NoRice]

Thanks to all for the input. I hadn´t intended to sound like the boards were filled with junk questions and therefore useless. I meant that much of what is read there is easily answered in the manuals. I´ll agree that some.even many...questions need to be answered via a group like this, especially where non-stock/custom work is involved. And the few boo-boos found in manuals can throw you off, but they are few enough that the manuals are still a vital tool.

And to all that commented on my car, well, the pic is a photo-edit I did, showing what I hope to have my car look like by April. Right now, it´s a basic ´91 LX needing lots of work. See it´s current state in the car showcase...and don´t laugh.

 

[James92Scort]

Oh oh, do it Blade!!! yeah.. that way I go through you and I can buy a Radiator overflow tank (plastic) CAP and not get charged $10.29 for it like Ford wants. That´ll be the day...deals from Ford hehe

 

[JWR-NoRice]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%>[TR][TD]Quote:

[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]

On 2002-11-27 02:46, Mibz wrote:
What´s the parental advisory sticker on your car say?

[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]

[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]

Mibz,

It says ´PARENTAL ADVISORY: EXPLICIT CONTENT´, just like all those crappy CDs that wouldn´t sell without it.

 

[rascal]

When did an Escort come with a five lug wheel? Looks like Photoshop...

. Nice Scort though.

 

[James92Scort]

Yeah he said it was photo shop of what he would like it to look like by next spring. looks pretty cool...I wanna get an SVT badge and put it on the back of my car

That´d make people stop and think hehehe

 

[PTMD]

I would like to state that nearly every time I do a job with the manual I get about halfway through and I see something that would´ve saved me over half the time had I used my own experience as opposed to the book.I will agree the books are excellent guides however Bibles they are not.I don´t even mind the simple questions because it gives me a chance to draw from my experience and stay sharp on those things I have learned in the past.There´s nothing quite like buying a car from an auction and finding a box of parts and clips and connectors and knowing where everything goes.I also think that some of those simple questions may save one of these guys alot of frustration and possibly keep them on board because they know ther is help if they get stuck.

 

[egtdude]

I´d also suggest the helms factory manuals. someone sent me one on CD (still need to thank them for that). It is awesome. has a troubleshooting section. it lists EVERYTHING darn near BOLT by BOLT.

My past experience with Chiltons etc is that they usually left me halfway through a project frustrated enough that I would figure out a better way to do it on my own and leave the manual alone.

 

[Kenny]

yea its true some manuals have mistakes. especially that damn car speaker manual in the crutchfield magazine. that is the worst thing i´ve ever seen. for a ´91 EGT they have the speaker sizes at something like 6 3/4" all the way around. and for the BMW Z3 they have it as only having front speakers in the kick panels, when there´s speakers in the doors as well as behind the seats. its sad that they could be that far off when that´s their whole business.

 

[Pimp_scort_89_GT]

I am both For and Against the RTFM method of mentoring. I am For it because those manuals are full of all kinds of good information. I bought the actual Ford Factory repair manual for my car and the Ford EVTM (electrical diagram). I don´t trust Haynes and Chilton that much. Especially when it comes to the electrical diagrams. I am against it because you can read and read all day about what an engine miss feels like and what may case it, but by asking people with more experience and seeing what they have done you can learn a lot more than any book can tell you. Hell the book may say to replace the engine computer, but some one who has had that problem before may say just change the coolant temp sensor, it helped me.

 

[2redscorts]

Checked out your 91 scort, as is, and the Tracers too. Hey, no fair, you got 3 cars for less than I paid for one!

I admire your ability to see the potential of that scort. I was just wondering, will you keep the 1.9L, and if so what will you do to it for more power?

Also, is it any problem to go to 4 wheel discs (ala GT) on an LX?

Keep us all posted on how the car´s coming along!

 

[JWR-NoRice]

Thanks, 2-´scorts.

To be fair, the parts car ´91 Tracer cost me $1000 2 years ago. We got daily-use out of it until last month when the tranny went, then I planned to fix it with a used tranny. That´s where the ´95 came in...but it was too nice to tear up, so the ´91 lost. The ´91 ´scort was found online during a parts search...and only 11 miles away! The ´93 ´scort was 1/2 mile from my job at a gas station...$200 with a bad tranny. It all just came together at random. I hadn´t intended to start collecting these damn things, but so many were available, so cheap, it seemed a good platform to play with. Lots of potential, with litle investment.

Now, my engine mods? That´s actually the last of my concerns at this time. To be honest, I originally had planned this car to be a JOKE, which is why I went with a rice-rocket look for it. With no intent to make it BE fast, I planned to just make it LOOK fast. But the more I tried to make the car funnier, the more I started to like it- despite the silly rice-type doo-dads. But if the looks come together, and I continue to enjoy the thing, perhaps some underhood mods of SUBSTANCE may creep in after all.

As for 4-discs, that´s a Q for another thread! I´d be no help there, anyway (but that could change soon, too).

Thanks to all for the interest so far. I´m going to start a new thread just for this project and hopefully this discussion will migrate there. Look for it under General Discussions as ´PROJECT: Escort SVT´.

Hey..did anyone notice the tie-in between the ´SVT´ markings and the lightning graphics? SVT Lightning....get it?

_________________
John Rosa

and the Slammin´ Escort-SVT project...

[ Edited by JWR-NoRice On Date 11-29-2002 ]