91-96 2dr Ford escort GT good auto-x car?

[jrg5066]

Theres this 91 escort gt 2door with about 93k miles. I can probably get it for $800. I did some research and it comes with a 1.8L DOHC 127hp motor and weights 2355Lb. It is a manual. One of our guys has a totally gutted CRX with a stock motor and he does pretty good in our events. I was thinking about doing the same thing but with this escort but I would have to keep it street legal since I dont have any way to tow this car to events.

Any questions comments or concerns would be appreciated. Thanks.

[thad]

run the IS300 in DS.

[jrg5066]

run the IS300 in DS.

Oh I've been working on making it auto-x worthy, mostly getting everything up to stock reliability but I've got larger "bling" wheels that would move me out of Dstock. Running it for fun would be good but I want to win something dang it! Having the escort I could even go to california city more often and do those rally-x's

[miatacrosser]

I've got a 91 Escort GT sitting in my garage that I used to autocross in OSP about ten years ago. I'm willing to sell parts from it or you can buy the whole thing for a parts car(it's not complete but has many items that you may want to make yours go fast)including a rare Millen rear sway bar, Mazdaspeed factory limited slip Diff., headers, metal chassis bushings, Delrin chassis bushings, custom struts, fuel cell, lightened doors, rear hatch, lexan windows. Really to much to list here. Let me know if your interested or want to see any of this.

[jrg5066]

How did you do throughout? Did you start out stock and build on up? What color is it? I Was thinking about a miata but these lil cars are still expensive and I read that they dont make a very good rally-x car because of the short wheel base and not enough room for suspension travel.

[bgriggs]

The dollar:fun factor is hard to beat on this one, in my opinion. They are plentiful in junk yards for any parts that you may need to find and light weight never goes out of style in this crowd. If memory serves correctly, that engine was shared with the Mazda 323, which is 99% Miata motor. Escort is obviously a bit heavier though, which sounds like you'll be addressing by stripping it down.

I'd go for it if I were you...

[miatacrosser]

How did you do throughout? Did you start out stock and build on up? What color is it? I Was thinking about a miata but these lil cars are still expensive and I read that they dont make a very good rally-x car because of the short wheel base and not enough room for suspension travel.

It started out in OSP as I had a 92 base model Escort that I ran in DSP and had to put back on the road. I swapped suspensions in one afternoon as everything from the 1.9L Escort bolted right up to the GT and visa versa. The only thing that is Ford on the GT is the body. Chassis, Suspension, and Engine/Drivetrain is all Mazda from the 90-94 Protege which also share a lot of suspension and chassis with the 323. I bought the GT and decided to run OSP as it was classified in CSP at the time and no way was it going to be competitive with the CRX's. Now it's an FSP car and would do quite well in that class regionally. Like Brandon says they are light(I got mine down to 1900lbs)and have a good engine that likes to rev. They also have a wonderful drop throttle oversteer that works well either on or off road. My car won OSP locally in 1997 & 1998 and also won two San Francisco regionals and was a consistent top three runner regionally for at least three years.

The car is white. I thought I had some pics of it in my computer but alas I don't. There may be some in the gallery on this site.

Good luck with it if you get it and if you do get it feel free to ask me anything or if you need any parts don't hestitate to ask, if I have it I'll make you a great deal.

[jrg5066]

The guy is being a little fishy about smoging. I asked him that I'd take care of the smog if he agreed to buy it back if it didn't pass. He declined. I told him I'd pay $100 extra if he got it done and he declined. For the price I wouldn't mind if it failed but wonder how expensive it could be to get a fully stock car to pass emissions.

[bgriggs]

The guy is being a little fishy about smoging. I asked him that I'd take care of the smog if he agreed to buy it back if it didn't pass. He declined. I told him I'd pay $100 extra if he got it done and he declined. For the price I wouldn't mind if it failed but wonder how expensive it could be to get a fully stock car to pass emissions.

It's his responsibility to smog it anyways....

[mkiisupra]

It's his responsibility to smog it anyways....

True, unless part of the 'deal' is to have new owner smog.

EGT's are very interchangeable with the Mazdas of similar build, like Steve points out. As Brandon says, the money/fun factor is very favorable.

As for smogging stock car, just make sure EGR, cat, intake, and vacuum lines are in good shape, you should be able to skim through with a 'chemical' treatment like CRC's 'Guaranteed to pass' type stuff. Besides, you could get a temp decal for the events you want to run, all 'legal' without the smog stuff.

Jose, another 350Z is still available...

Eric G

[miatacrosser]

The guy is being a little fishy about smoging. I asked him that I'd take care of the smog if he agreed to buy it back if it didn't pass. He declined. I told him I'd pay $100 extra if he got it done and he declined. For the price I wouldn't mind if it failed but wonder how expensive it could be to get a fully stock car to pass emissions.

Sounds like this guy did something to the car to insure that it won't pass smog. They're rather quite sparse when it comes to smog equipment so lord only knows what's wrong. If you want to get the car and need any equipment I've got all the stock stuff like the cat. and O2 There isn't much more than that. No EGR to worry about. You can always go to the ref and try and get it deferred.

[jrg5066]

Jose, another 350Z is still available...

Eric G
Any chance its near $700?

Went all the way up to Atwater. Checked the car over. Everthing looked good until I got to the electrics. The turn signals did not work and it looked like it needed a new alternator. Also the guy had the car for about 2 years and never registered it under his name. He still has some other guys' name on the backed up dmv fee letter and title(still filled out in ink waiting to be submitted by this "owner") I'm passing on this one but will keep an eye on that craigslist. Thanks for all the input.