[festivaphil]

I have a question. My escort (a 1992 4dr sefi 4spd automatic), has plenty of acceleration of the line...that is, it sure seams torqy enough, but it only goes about 95 mph (I've swapped the guage for a 120mph guage), whats up with this??? My festiva is a mere 63HP, and it goes ~104mph, and its an automatic too (although no overdrive, so its geared for a little more power in its top gear), so why? I mean the festiva is only 1800lbs sure, but the escort isnt that much more i wouldnt think, and it has a considerably larger engine, are mazda engines really that much better, or is it because it has a 4spd automatic with an overdrive, or is there something wrong?? it puzzles me

 

[LOWETGT]

I am not doubting your speed calculation abilities, but are you going off a swapped speedo? I would run with another car with an accurate speedo and go from there. Cell phones work great for this! Or maybe that is all the 1.9L can do, I run a GT and have gone 125mph even using cruise!!!

 

[festivaphil]

Its from the 93 escort, they both have pretty much identical dashes except one has a 90mph speedo and one has 120mph one, no, i've tested, the speedo is acurate at least up to 50, and it should be off by at least 5 by then if its off by much. Heres my research:

63 hp @ 5000 rpm 1598 lbs / 63 hp = 25.37 lbs / hp
73 ftlb @ 3000 rpm 1598 lbs / 73 ftlb = 28.90 lbs / ftlb

88hp @ 4400 rpm 2491 lbs / 88 hp = 28.31 lbs / hp
108ftlb @ 3800 rpm 2491 lbs / 108 ftlbs = 23.06 lbs / ftlb

The festiva has no overdrive meaning its geared at ~1:1 ratio while the escort is at lets say ~.8 (i dont know what escorts overdrive is), I would guess that due to my weight to HP ratio is lower, thats why i get the extra 10 mph, plus power stearing and cruise is super rare on the festy...and i have neither she definately wins on acceleration from zero tho....and the math backs that up

 

[silverton]

I'd say something is wrong, I took both my 95 LX's over 100mph all the time.

 

[festivaphil]

but dont the 95s have a bigger MAF sensor that somehow makes it faster? and were they ATX or MTX?

 

[madmatt2024]

Escorts also have a speed limiter at around 104. If your gauge is off at higher speeds you could be at that limiter. Why would you be driving that fast in an auto Escort anyway? I went flat out with a 93 auto wagon once and the shift into 4th at 85 was brutal. It would shift into 4th and then right back into 3rd sometimes. It seemed to stop accelerating at about 95-100 but then it did have the 85 MPH speedo.

 

[silverton]

one was manual, one was auto, neither had issues with 100+ speeds. the manual (wagon) I got up to 110 on semi-flat freeway, the auto (sedan) I got to 120 downhill with a tail wind

 

[scort965spd]

Its from the 93 escort, they both have pretty much identical dashes except one has a 90mph speedo and one has 120mph one, no, i've tested, the speedo is acurate at least up to 50, and it should be off by at least 5 by then if its off by much. Heres my research:

63 hp @ 5000 rpm 1598 lbs / 63 hp = 25.37 lbs / hp
73 ftlb @ 3000 rpm 1598 lbs / 73 ftlb = 28.90 lbs / ftlb

88hp @ 4400 rpm 2491 lbs / 88 hp = 28.31 lbs / hp
108ftlb @ 3800 rpm 2491 lbs / 108 ftlbs = 23.06 lbs / ftlb

The festiva has no overdrive meaning its geared at ~1:1 ratio while the escort is at lets say ~.8 (i dont know what escorts overdrive is), I would guess that due to my weight to HP ratio is lower, thats why i get the extra 10 mph, plus power stearing and cruise is super rare on the festy...and i have neither she definately wins on acceleration from zero tho....and the math backs that up

You forgot drive train loss, which accounts for a significant horsepower loss in these cars. The 1.9 is rated at 88hp flywheel horsepower only, not 88hp to the wheels. Conservative estimates are around 63-68hp to the wheels for an auto, 72-78hp to the wheels for a manual for stock 1.9 2nd gens.

I would expect a good running, 17 year old 2nd gen to only be able to do 95mph if it was equipped with an automatic transmission. You can check the dyno result threads on here because even a stock GT, which is rated at 120hp, often turns out 90-100hp after a dyno run.

 

[silverton]

127...

 

[festivaphil]

127...

huh?

You forgot drive train loss, which accounts for a significant horsepower loss in these cars. The 1.9 is rated at 88hp flywheel horsepower only, not 88hp to the wheels. Conservative estimates are around 63-68hp to the wheels for an auto, 72-78hp to the wheels for a manual for stock 1.9 2nd gens.

I would expect a good running, 17 year old 2nd gen to only be able to do 95mph if it was equipped with an automatic transmission. You can check the dyno result threads on here because even a stock GT, which is rated at 120hp, often turns out 90-100hp after a dyno run.

I see, that would explain it indeed than, because it tops out at about 95, and i was mad that i couldnt hit 100 with it to scare the pants off my gf like i do in the stiva :evil: . interesting tho.

 

[madmatt2024]

127...

huh?

The GT has 127 HP, not 120.

 

[acolley]

I wouldnt doubt them. Doing a straight pipe before I got pulled over and a gutted intake my friends bmw clocked me at 130 in 4th they got some speed to them just with a little altering get rid of the junk under the intake box and cut the plastic outa the bottomb if you can you will notice allot. and im running a 93 1.9 with 508,000 miles on it

 

[denisond3]

acolley: I understand it would run a little faster if you take off the intake ducting that is hidden in the fender and with the bottom splash shields off?

Ive never tried an all-out run. I was goinig down a slight grade on a section of I-10 near Alpine TX where the speed limit is 80. I took the opportunity to see what it would be like at 90 - but thats when the speedo needle began going nuts, swinging back and forth over neat to the 'zero'. Anyway, it wasnt speeding up much.

 

[acolley]

Something is up in your speedo. Mine is steady all the way to the stop on the speedo that was annother run with just my ex roomate in my car. And no at that time that was my hatch back that I moved out and couldnt affter to put it back together so I sold it and got my 5 door but he said the bmw said 130 and I was pullin away with mine pointing straight down. the bmw got the speedo calibrated afterwars it was 5 mph off but these thins can haul. And it was a flat hill run. The one I have now I just got new exhaust valves intake gasket bosch platnium 4's hollow cat cheep muffler from checkers accel blacktop and a spectree intake in it and since the engine rebuild I can finnally put it in 5th and the car will pick up on the highway got it off the numbers but stopped cause of cops. Before I hade to keep it in 4th to hold 80. My next project is a complete exhaust system headers put in a high flow cat cause of the talk of bringing emissions back. Ima cheat and use a fresh air cat so it will read a bit lower. and a bigger alternator before my amp kills the one I have. Got a deep cycle battery in it so it does not help cushin much. Then after that im going to sit down and do a proper intake monifold getting it ready for a turbo going to do a 1.9l ho head swap on a fresh block reverse dome top pistons for the boost sleeve it lightened flysheel and allot stronger clutch looking at a stage 5 or 4 the 4 is more street freindly Im looking for a 70% reducer for the crank and overdrive to go on the alt but the alt will be no prob cause there all about the same adjustable timeing geer and a camp stainless valves. Ima go all out to have fun with hondas and stuff when I want. I love this car. I kept up witha crx the kid said everything was upgraded but getting a turbo in. I do not have carpet and some trim pannels are out cause they broke though. Im also looking at a possie I seen made for the 5 speed trannys in these its like 600$ but as it stands not even poping the clutch a nice smooth take off up hill in the rain and it just spins my passanger tire that is 5 months old

 

[acolley]

Here if you wanna see. I don't have my intake the same routing as ford did I have it running down below the radiator shroud so it picks up colder air underneath the car. I do have a radiator line pressing up against it but until I remote mount the battery it will do. I only have a 160 degree thermostat in so it never get very hot unless I'm sitting in traffic. And I know its not a false reading cause the coiling system except the hoses have all been put in new this year.
I also have an Accel black top coil new wire but I want spiral core ones and Bosch platinum 4 plugs in A hollow cat and a 40$ checkers muffler. Had to torch the old one off to get the gas tank out and the new one in. and I didn't want to grind allot to get the old one to fit.

Its kinda a crappy low light pic I didn't get out there soon enough to get a good one but I will soon I need to get some pics up so I can show progress in the car.

 

[UncleDewey]

I have a hand held gps that I use in my 71 Lemans to tell me how fast I'm going and it's spot on right to the tenth of a mph. I have 4.11 gears in that car so the speedo is WAYYYYY off.

 

[denisond3]

I also have a GPS unit (Garmin Street Pilot III) that reads to the tenth of an MPH. My Escorts all have the stock gearing, but even so the accuracy and linearity of the Escort speedometers varies a fair amount from car to car. I suppose they have lost some accuracy over the years.

 

[acolley]

I got it on the gps in my phone XD Gotta love the google phones they do everything

 

[94escortmodsman]

acolley, where did you get your strut tower brace? send me a pm or reply back to this. I"m looking at doing some suspension work on mine. Thanks