Cody's White 95 Escort 5door

[CODY004WD]

Well, I've been tracking this vehicle for quite some time now. A White 94-95 Escort LX 5 door hatch that is. I would have preferred a 94 because I like that Dash more than the 95-96 one, but that is something that can be swapped at a later date if I choose too. Point is, I found one and bought it. The last time I saw one on craigslist was three years ago... And it sold for $300 within 45 mins of being posted. So when I found this one I jumped on it.

At the price of $760 I finally have the one I've been craving for a daily forever.

Here's the sellers photo:

[CODY004WD]

Since my experience with my Miata, and all the crap you go through with insurance when someone else wipes out your vehicle, I want to track the $$ that goes into this project (or that I get back from it.)

So for all intents and purposes, here it is. This post will be updated anytime I spend $$$ on the car.

Mileage at time of purchase:141,974

Total spent on Purchase, Modifications, & General reconditioning-
----Purchase Price:-----$760
----Found various change under seats:-----($1.82)
----Touch up paint/bedliner:------$37.74
----Touch up paint-2 rattle-cans:-----$14.98
----GT Front Bumper:-----$42.99
----GT side skirts:-----$26.76
----Rear disk brake and swaybar upgrade:----$125
----JPM front tower bar:----$250
----JPM Rear tower bar:----$280
----3rd Gen Tracer complete leather rear seat:----$100
----KSport Road Racing coilovers:----$1400
----Full KL Swap
---------02 Millenia KLDE $500
---------K8 Transmission $200
---------Fidanza Flywheel $200
---------Ebay Headers $150
---------Custom intake w/ K&N Filter $75
---------HEI module and External Coil $100
---------K8 Mounts, Radiator, Axles, Linkage, wiring, ECU etc $400
---------Corksport Shifter $100
---------Custom built 2.5" Stainless exhaust W/Borla S/R muffler $400
---------AWR front mount $100
---------Ferdi's Delrin x-member bushings $50
---------Total: ----$2245
----E36 Projector Morettes blended with Tracer headlights: ----$400
----Bugeye Foglight grille blended with Tracer Grille: ----$200
----Full 5Lug Swap with all new parts: ----$950
---------will add individual parts at later date
----MX3 LCA's with FE3-323 Spherical bushings: ----$425




Total spent on hard goods to date:


Modifications installed since purchase, that were already owned and stashed before purchase of vehicle, and approximate value-
----MX3 Leather Front seats ~ $400
----Pioneer CD/MP3 Deck ~ $100
----Plywood spare tire cover ~ $8
----9 month old Battery from the Probe ~ $80

----6000k HID, and various matching interior and exterior lighting ~ $100

Approx Vehicle value based on hard costs, Plus previously owned parts:
-------------$7,943.65

[CODY004WD]

The plan for this vehicle:

Daily Driver, harnessing plenty of power, braking, and handling, with a clean understated look. No wild Exterior mods, mostly OEM LX and GT parts with some laser bits thrown in. Low stance with flush wheel fitment. Plenty of suspension and interior upgrades. Quiet and Comfortable Interior, with A/C and Power steering, as well as good sound. White LED Lighting for the cluster and dome/maps. And an overall hassle free demeanor.

I will be funding most of this with the insurance check and partout of my Miata, and by selling some various pieces I have just sitting around with no car to belong to.

I don't want to spend a super ton on this one, but I kind of have a checklist of stuff I want to accomplish:

-Legitimate Wheels, Not Knock-offs, something that compliments the style of the car, with aggressive fitment but not overly stretched.
-Ksport Coilovers, for comfortable low stance and good handling
-Engine Swap (smooth, quiet, and somewhat powerful) Either built and bolted N/A KL or Moderately boosted BP4W. (low 14 - high 13 second 1/4 ET's @ 5800' elevation)
-5speed swap to compliment whichever motor is chosen. Trans will probably be built with the longest ratios I can find easily, with the goal of lower cruising RPM's and better mileage.
-Quiet Exhaust with a nice tone.
-Wire tucked like a mother****er.
-Chassis bracing of any and all types (except cage/bar since its a clean daily sleeper type build)
-tons of black interior goodies
-Manual belts
-rear disk swap
-Good blank rotors, good pads, and braided brake lines
-Swaybar upgrades F&R
-Bushing upgrades all around. Probably Jim's arms in the rear, and Ryans bushings up front, with heim joints or sphericals anywhere they can be fitted.
-Roof Rack for Summer/Winter Activities, and a removable pod or basket for camping gear.
-Clear corners with Orange film (for a lighter/brighter than stock look)
-Red tinted Tails and upper reflector.
-Possibly (but probably not) an upper Hatch spoiler, not like the solar shade bullcrap, something clean. If the Millen one were more subtle, I would be interested in tracking one down.
-Probably Escort GT bumpers and skirts, maybe Laser rear bumper and rear garnish/lights.
-probably will install the BOSE system from my Miata.


I also want to get through the winter on the 1.9, before I do anything swap related... but it needs power, so I think I'll slap a DSM turbo on it by fabbing my own manifold out of misc exhaust manifolds I have lying around. I want to see what the 1.9, and Auto trans can take as far as punishment... because I like breaking **** before I swap new stuff in!

[CODY004WD]

The very first thing I did to this was remove the peeling crap from the window trim, and hit it with a scotch-brite pad. I will probably tag them with some black plastidip eventually.

Then I installed the Pioneer Deck from my Probe since the stock deck was FUBAR'd.

I have also swapped in my minty Leather MX3 Front seats, and the black cloth rear bench with headrests from my wagon. (the grey rear bits will go into the wagon until I can dye them black)

Pics of Exterior since removing peels from trim: (interior will have to wait until tomorrow when there is light.)

[bogaut]

nice find on the 1.82 found under the seats! gonna be watchin this thread for sure. you never disappoint

[CODY004WD]

Thanks Bo, I'll finally be happy when I pull this one off! I love my wagon, but it just isn't overly clean or comfortable. It's raw fun for sure, but I hate the lack of a/c and rough ride for a daily driver. This will be a suitable replacement for the miata, until I have more expendable income. Then I'll probably just pick up an FD or NSX or something and swap something blasphemous into that, and keep the hatch for winter duty!

[atomicEGT]

Cody, I have an EXP manifold taking up space in my garage, IIRC a couple of the IHI jams will fit it- VJ14 or 11, can't remember which. I have both lying around, if you're interested we can work out a package deal...

[Turpro]

Subd

[Mazda_Powered]

love it! What about converting to the 5 bolt and running some updated Mazda wheels on it since you're already rear drum?

I'm curious to see how the rear dyed seats turned out too btw, so feel free to snag some pics lol

[CODY004WD]

Welcome Everyone! Thanks for following!

Matt, I am excited about this build, and as a result I don't want to spend any money on temporary mods. Things get too far off course when I start doing that. I've learned a few lessons on my last four or five builds, and I want to do this one right. I have everything needed to boost the 1.9 except some simple fabrication. I want to build an over the top, long tube, above transmission mounted manifold for this setup just for LOL's... Because that **** for a dinky DSM turbo would piss off the Honda guys something fierce. They seem to take their fancy manifolds all too seriously IMHO. I am sure I have enough tube and bends to pull it off.

Jack, 5 Lug would be great, because I could attempt to fit Mazdaspeed MS02 wheels. But I believe they are 17x9, so I dunno how well that would work. I really want some nice 15" or 16" wheels. MS03's in white or gold would look killer on this Hatch, but that means keeping 4-lug, which I am okay with. I think I would rather 5 lug swap the wagon, and just slap my 16x7.5 Mustang GT wheels on it and sell the Rota's.

Other 4 lug Ideas for the hatch:
-MemoryFab M Technica Turbo wheels in black/gold 16x8.5+15 4x100 (would require stretched tires)
-Ronal Turbos Powdercoated White 15x7+38 (Probably need 5mm spacers for this)
-Volk RE30 In bronze or hyper black 16x7+33
-Enkei RCG4 in White 15x6.5+30 (10mm spacers)

Feel free to add Ideas.

[CODY004WD]

I think I have decided to use the BP motor from my Miata for this project. I'll probably pick up a bunch of GTR bits for that build. I'll just Leave the KL in the wagon until it blows under boost... Then I'll mess with the F2T and a Holset.


And for Jack: (seats need a good cleaning, but you get the idea)

[Mazda_Powered]

hmm...did you pull the skins off to dye them? I wonder how my blue seats would take to black dye lol...also what dye did you use? Looks really consistant and simple though, I like it! Planning on dying the door fabrics?

[KaleoXtreme]

Sub'n! Can't wait to see this!

[bogaut]

i think some white 15x7 regamasters would look real nice on the escort, or some te37's, just because they look good on everything

[CODY004WD]

I can't do te37's or RPF1s... Too close to AWDXavier... I don't mind mimicking or complementing his sedan, but totally ripping it off wouldn't be cool.

Sad thing is that I've had this same basic vision for about 4 years now. He beat me to it! And did a Damn good job too!