TURBO, the magazine

[ScOrTGtC]

your right about finding all the parts for the hondas... dont get me wrong i lover the EG. i was sooo close of getting one.. but only reason why i fell inlove with the escort is because of its uniqueness, second they come in Forged internal from the factory.. fourth is oem bolt ons.. i mean at first i hated the cars for lacking performance parts and such an eye sore hearing and saying who would ever fix a ford escort .. its a POS grandma car ..... but the more i strive to look for the parts the more i learn about it ... its history its backround etc etc.. if i had the EG i probably wouldve been in ebay buying a bunch of stuff for it without even researching. and might end up doing more damage to the motor...ex.... that 7 hp resistor..hehehehhehee or the mini electronic turbo.... yes i do admit i was a ricer before.. and i bet my EG wouldve been the worse ricer ever ..heheh.. but all in all.... i love this car for eing underdog... its just theyre faces are always priceless when you zoom past them saying...WTF is that a civic??? but ive never seen that type of civic in my life.....its priceless..

[91ProtegeLX]

underdog or not.....there is PLENTY of aftermarket support for BG chassis vehicles and the BP engine. Not as many as a honda or nissan, but the same stuff nonetheless. Stroker kit? Toda. Intakes, exhausts, suspension, turbo's, nitrous etc etc etc etc...the only thing I havent been able to find readily available for a BG vehicle is a supercharger kit. And Ive only looked into that option once.

Some people just like the security of being able to walk into a bookstore and get any import magazine and flip through the 100+pages of available parts for "mainstream" cars.

Others, like the people in this community like a bit more of a challenge, or coming up with parts themselves.

IMHO, Turbo magazine lost all my business, because they say its not a worthy platform to start with. ANY car is a worthy platform if your willing to put the effort into it. They should have re-worded it with is not a worthy platform if you dont want an ocean full of parts EVERYWHERE, or something of the sorts. But alas.....like most others in the Tuner world...if it aint honda it aint right...ghey

[Lex]

You can do a hack job of an Escort as well as a Civic. It doesn't matter that you can find parts for the Civic more readily and need to do more fabbing for the BG. Doing your own work is not a hack, it is a learning experience and can have a good (as well as a bad) outcome. It all depends on the person and what they are willing to put into it.

[neuspeedescort]

no matter the car its always going to be "that" car. no matter the person "that" car will still be "that" car. its what that person does to "that" car that makes or breaks the social surroundings and network of friends respect it and you. no matter the car if you build it correctally you will get respect with it. be it from high power numbers or styling that is show worthy. i prefer both! LOL its all in time and money. knowing people and things is a good way to gut cost. then your stuck with time!

spenone that is a very tasteful and adult way to approach that article!


NEUMAN

[1967cutlass]

I added my .02$ on the turbo forum.

[1st Gen]

When I went to look just now, I was the only registered user online. I went to count the number of members and there is only 36

[Kreator]

underdog or not.....there is PLENTY of aftermarket support for BG chassis vehicles and the BP engine. Not as many as a honda or nissan, but the same stuff nonetheless. Stroker kit? Toda. Intakes, exhausts, suspension, turbo's, nitrous etc etc etc etc...the only thing I havent been able to find readily available for a BG vehicle is a supercharger kit. And Ive only looked into that option once.

wrong. the stuff you are listing is only available to us because of the miata. And even then - there is no direct fit manifold other then for the stock bpt turbo because miata is rwd.

i dont want to go into discussion, but here are a few things that pop into my brain when i think "lack of parts":

lsd
coilovers (real, not struts/gc combos)
turbo kits
axles
rollcage

hell. there are only 2 exhaust versions for the car. and for the ricer folks - only craptastic body kit knockoffs and not even a single headlight swap. lol. not even a pillar pod.

respect? screw that. I bought my car to build it into a race car. I was wrong to choose the escort. . And if thats the question TURBO mag was attempting to answer - i totally agree with their opinion. Although the poser letter they decided to put as teh headline for the article is pretty lame. they had a catchy ending to it though, thats probably why they picked it.

all in all, if you want a challenge - shoot. People build geo metros too.

If you want to build something serious, practical and not waste lots of money/time into hacking your way through - step away.

[Lex]

I don't know man, but I don't think you can get much better bang for buck in power and handling than you can get in an Escort.

A built car is never going to be practical anyways, but I don't like the idea that if you build something yourself it's a hack. Why are all the off-the-shelf things that much better? Some are some aren't (like autochrome) but in the end you can build yourself something decent and it is not a hack. Whether you do it to a Honda or an Escort is up to you - but it's rather discouraging to see people think of the Escort as something that should be completely disregarded when compared to another (dare I say) econobox.

[neuspeedescort]

kreator why don't you step away. im tired of yrou fence riding additude. one day escorts are great the next you hate them. if you are in such dislike go into another platform and quit bitching.

lsd's - quaffe makes them but are spendy.
manifolds - edt out of canad maks one just for the bp series motor.
true coil-overs - are some thing you need to out source from other contries.
axels - call CS they have a company in oregon that makes custom axles for any car.
rollcages - a few companies make cages for mx3's which will fit in escorts of proeges with ease.

this is stuff i know off the top of my head i could find links if you want me too.

just because you built something yourself doesn't make it hack. its when you use the wrong parts and do things half assed its hack. jsut cause there isn't honda, nissan, or toyota numbers worth of aftermarket doesn't mean its not worth working on. that is why we do what we do. cause we are the underdogs. for 2500 bucks you can have a turbo'd reliable stock style escort. for 2500 bucks you can get and n/a honda b16a and do a few bolt on's and me just about as fast. but then you need ot go to the extent of all the turbo stuff to gain more. where we can just turn the boost up! we are still stock reliable and the honda is no longer.

if you didn't wat discussion you should have left your mouth shut.

NEUMAN

[Kreator]

kreator why don't you step away. im tired of yrou fence riding additude. one day escorts are great the next you hate them. if you are in such dislike go into another platform and quit bitching.

show me a single post ive made about escorts being "oh so great" or "better then other cars"? I haven't liked escorts for the past year or so with no change in mind. Before i thought i could get away with custom ****, now after 2 years of wasting my time trying to find **** to make it work, i'm fed up and realizing that all this time and money could be spent much more efficiently on a different platform. Should've bought a golf like i planned :-/ damn peer pressure.

lsd's - quaffe makes them but are spendy.
manifolds - edt out of canad maks one just for the bp series motor.
true coil-overs - are some thing you need to out source from other contries.
axels - call CS they have a company in oregon that makes custom axles for any car.
rollcages - a few companies make cages for mx3's which will fit in escorts of proeges with ease.

lsds - quaffe makes lsds for a DIFFERENT car, not the escort. Hacking it to fit the escort is a job, and a pretty damn expensive one at that.
manifolds - you read my post? edt makes manifolds for miata, just like autochrome. they dont fit the escort without removing the radiator - thats not a direct fit.
true coil-overs - yeah outsource from where? after 2 years of searching i found only one SERIOUS brand coilover that is made for mx-3 that "supposedly" fits the escort judging by dimensions and mounting holes. But honestly, im not about to spend 2.5K to find out, not to mention get improper valving due to heavier mx-3 engine. No thanks. I want a proper coilover for MY car.
axels - and whats the price tag? f*ck custom. You can get anything custom. I want an aftermarket part available from the shelf, pre-built and shipped to me on the day of my purchase.
rollcages - yes, there is one built for the protege. not escort. those dont fit. and mx-3 rollcages i dont know about, i've not seen anyone run them yet. But even then again - this is built for a DIFFERENT car. not the escort.

if you didn't wat discussion you should have left your mouth shut.

NEUMAN

i didnt want the discussion on the amount of available parts for the escort. because after 2 years of searching, i KNOW how really few parts there are out there. i have a $4K car that i cant get where i want without spending additional 10K on it. alternatively i could have a 1g dsm or a 1-2g golf there for less then $9K. and both of those would still have a better setup. id dump the escort, but the 4 grand already there are making it hard to do.

You guys got on the editors asses. I voiced my opinion in support of their article, because i actually believe its true. So how about you follow your own advice, huh? After all the plans you choose for your car are more fitting in the letter to superstreet, not the turbo (or grassroots, or any other serious performance) magazine.

[ScOrTGtC]

*sigh* why not rather spending that money into something you can get your moneys worth, rather spending it into a car if your going to complain that you cant get your money back... i do hate my escort BUT i learned to respect it because thats the car i learned everything with.. but as i grow.. i learned that any Automobile are not the MOST great places to invest your money into.. ALSO.. all of us here who tuned the Bg HAS decided to tuned it cuz we know the fact that we are not going to get our money back, parts are ohhh sooo rare , and its just made for our own satisfaction.. you shouldve known from the start ...well you already stated .that you hated the escort from the start .. so why did you still work on it??you shouldve done a bunch of research on parts , before jumping into the BG world and complain that parts are hard to find... But imo, im investing my $$ to a house or something else..just my 2 cents

[91ProtegeLX]

Whine whine whine.....****.

I can respect what Kreator is saying, but I also loose respect for people with that attitude of "ohh theres not a sea of parts for this car, so it sucks." If everyone had that attitude there would be no aftermarket for any car period.

So what if you have to customize parts, and make your own and so forth. ****ing do it, learn something, and share it with other people/companies etc. The first honda tuners probably made the majority of their "aftermarket" parts. And they shared their knowledge with others, and the story goes on.

Honestly, if you hate your escort, sell it, and leave our community. We don't need whiners and cry babies to help pave the way for the future of our cars.

[Kreator]

umm dont get personal with me people.

i didnt post here for opinions on what i should do with my car. i can figure that out on my own.

i posted here because you all got so mad about a pretty accurate article: if you want to build a serious car for racing and you are starting from a blank page - pick something else but the escort. The guys just answered that question, and things like "respect" or "challenge" got nothing to do with it, becuase they are not related to this particular situation.

as for me and my car - you dont know my story so don't speak. After all i'm not asking you for opinion. The only reason i brought my car in is to justify my credibility in arguing on lack of parts.

[1967cutlass]

I bought my car to build it into a race car. I was wrong to choose the escort.

This statement is interesting...

If you bought the escort (or any sport compact) intending to win drag races, I'm sorry to say that the decision was retarded. Not that sport compacts can't be fast, then can, it's just that if you had bought a Chevy nova, any GM A-body car, or pretty much any F-body car, the sheer plehora of engine options and performance upgrades would eclipse any sport compact. Basically with older cars, bolt in a modded/larger motor, do some other suspension stuff, and you're in the 12's. I'm pretty sure you could build most musclecars into a street legal 9 second car for under 6,000$.
P.S. mazda 323's are lighter BG's anyway if you wanted to race...

If you bought the escort for racing on an open road course, your decision is equally ridiculous because it just won't be competitive unless you're in some kind of super restricted class.

If you bought the escort for AutoX, then you've finally started thinking! It's a great AutoX car for many reasons that most of you know, although if money was less of a concern, a miata would have probably been a better choice.

Buying an escort to make it into a hardcore race car just isn't a practical idea.
The reason, IMO, to buy one is that it's cheap, fun to drive, easy to work on, can be made quick and made to handle well, gets alright mileage, and once again is cheap.
The moment you forget the escort's nice is the moment you'll become dissapointed in it, it's not a bad car, but don't expect it to win whatever kindof racing you put it in (Except AutoX of course, which is mostly driver skill).

[ScOrTGtC]

Whine whine whine.....****.

I can respect what Kreator is saying, but I also loose respect for people with that attitude of "ohh theres not a sea of parts for this car, so it sucks." If everyone had that attitude there would be no aftermarket for any car period.

So what if you have to customize parts, and make your own and so forth. ****ing do it, learn something, and share it with other people/companies etc. The first honda tuners probably made the majority of their "aftermarket" parts. And they shared their knowledge with others, and the story goes on.

Honestly, if you hate your escort, sell it, and leave our community. We don't need whiners and cry babies to help pave the way for the future of our cars.

ouch that kinda sounds like its pointed at me .. i stated that i love yet hate the escort well hate is a ouch word.. so ill change it for dislike.. its a 80% like and 10% hate situation.... but dont worry im kewl !!no hard feeling here...heheheheh by the way i got some good news towards people who wanted to swap a BP to a 323 here in cali..ITS 10000000000000001% legal!!!!!!! talked to my friend who works as a State ref and i argued with him a bit ..he called BAR, and guess what he said yes itll pass... woot!!!!buahahhahahahahhahah well exept for turbo.. sorry for the off topic.