'94 Escort, pretty much everything swap, starting off with KL-DE

[MX2GS]

Be careful what you say when your sentence begins with: "If someone just gave it to me I'd...."

What I started with:


Not long after, I found out about some of the engines that could swap into the Escort, namely the BP variants and the KL variants. After one failed attempt at getting a BP(boring story, lets not bother with it), I was chatting with some of my brother's friends and fellow car nuts in a parking lot one night. Before the conversation got completely derailed by a GT40 that pulled in to hang out(yeah we didn't believe it either lol), me and a guy who drove a rather mysteriously built Probe were on the subject of what I might do to the Escort. I suggested that if someone just had one to give me, I'd drop a KL in it and have a blast. He says "I've got one you can have, if you don't mind hauling the car off too." And thus our little saga begins.

Tonight, after days of making parts temporarily fit, scouring the city for some manner of wheels to roll it on, dragging the car via 2ft come-along, transporting it some 150 miles on a rented truck and trailer(and escaping the evils of mileage fees through strangely good fortune), and dismantling a seriously abused front body, the Probe GT sits in my dad's garage ready to be picked clean of what's left and have the useful stuff rammed in a much smaller car.


This is what I've got to work with, and if all goes well it'll be on a stand by Monday:


Once the engine's out, I'll be parting out what's left, and making room for the next donor on the list, a '93 MX3 GS. There's a few more pics on my Photobucket, but nothing very impressive until I get it out of the car.

[DeeAOne]

Good start. You picked the right engine.

[MX2GS]

"Can't argue with free" is generally my motto. I may also be getting free headers for it, same guy had some spares, with any luck they're Pacesetters. I really gotta get it out of that Probe though, all the extra crap from the auto tranny, power steering, A/C, etc... is kinda distracting me from the more important stuff. Oh, and because I forgot, here's a pic of the Probe's custom suspension I fabricated to get it rolling(ish):

[bogaut]

diggin the 2-lug swap lol

[MX2GS]

lol, hard to see them, but all 5 are actually there. Actually the fact that those rotors are MUCH better than what's on my Escort right now makes me curious about whether I can make the Probe spindles and such fit. I'll be swapping to MX-3 subframes, LCA's and TTL's, so if nothing else I'll get rear disks and new fronts soon enough either way.

[bogaut]

oh didnt realize the rusty ones blend in so well heh, front can be swapped with some tinkering, but rear no so much

[MX2GS]

So quoting the "2-lug swap" for my sig, and I've read threads that would lead me to believe the 1st gen probe/MX6 setup could be done, but nothing solid on the 2nd gen like what I've got.

[MX2GS]

Well, I didn't get the engine out today as planned, time constraints and the lack of an extra set of hands to speed the process caused me to call it quits with only the tranny bolts and mount bolts between me and a free-hanging engine. Pretty much anything else that could get in the way has been removed, and I pulled the intake manifold and firewall-side valve cover to ensure that those cams were in the same condition as the other two.

After that, I went inside the Probe, and after much removal of the pile of random interior plastics, seats, doors, etc... I found that both front seatbelts were there, and in great shape. Halfway through the process of swapping these into my Escort now. I'll have more progress up when I go back to the garage next weekend to hopefully finish pulling the motor.

Things I noticed that I'll need to get pics of next time...

My intake manifold has these plastic parts(vacuum reservoirs for VRIS?) that are melted.

When draining the oil, a small metal sleeve(I'll figure out what it came from when I get the engine apart) fell out of the oilpan.

After draining the oil, and even jacking up the passenger side of the car to ensure all oil drained out, I screwed back in the oil plug and began removing the A/C and such. when I got started on the tranny bolts, I noticed that it was leaking oil from somewhere around the firewall side of the engine, near where the tranny bolts up. I'm so confused as to how a car can develop an oil leak after it's been drained and otherwise not moved. No hoses, piping or etc.. that transfers oil to any other component had been removed at the time. Strange...

I'll have pics of the belt swap up in a day or two, which I'll probably write up as a how-to for us Escort guys who're always looking for cheaper ways to ditch the auto-belts. For those who can't wait, look up the how-to's for the Canadian Escort manual belts, and this is almost an identical swap, just with a donor car you can find in the US.

[scort4life]

Good luck on the build. It looks like you have a great start and a good donor car to boot!

[MX2GS]

I ran into one serious snag recently...

Every time I try to brainstorm and plan about what I want to do with my Escort, I mentally picture an MX-3 instead. I've already admitted that I really don't like the body style of Escorts, and I more or less need to buy an MX-3 for a parts car anyway... So I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't just repair the Escort and leave it as is, and build the MX-3 with the KL. This would all but negate the need for me to buy a second running vehicle while my project's in progress. Still debating it, but just fair warning that this project may take a huge turn soon.

[mx-3_4evr]

MX-3s are the ****z!

[MX2GS]

I'm really leaning towards it, even if it is a few hundred pounds heavier than my Escort(according to wiki, I blame that massive glass hatch), I think I can fix a good deal of the weight difference. Not to mention it's just a more economical option for me, It takes an entire extra car out of the equation, and drastically reduces the amount of stuff I'd need to buy and swap onto my Escort.

[atomicEGT]

Escort wagon > MX3 > other Escorts

[Mazda_Powered]

looking good!

[IMACHU2]

The V6 swap is a huge job. You really have to be in love with Escort's to attempt it. If you prefer MX-3's you should stop your current project. Putting a 2.5L in a V6 MX-3 is very easy, it is a straight swap for the 1.8lL V6. A 323/Protege or Escort V6 (if done properly) will be mechanically a MX-3 which is a big commitment considering your not in love with Escort's.