mjeff87 Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 Finally got the Escort fixed this weekend, so I can now get back to the building of the MJ All I can say is that I now HATE front wheel drive cars (at least having to work on them :mad: ) Spent all day Saturday working on it only to turn the key and the engine not starting :roll: , pulled it all back apart and found that it had jumped time (I forgot to tighten the belt tensioner). Reset it, put it all back together and it still wouldn’t fire, so I called it quits until the morning because it was raining. Got up and looked at it again, noticed I put the plug wires on wrong, fixed that, and it still wouldn’t start. 2 hours later, I happened to notice that I put the 30A fuel injection fuse back into a blank slot instead of where it should have gone :loser: ……swapped it and it fired right up. Yea me… :banana: Here’s a couple pics for y’alls enjoyment: What I started with: Image Not Found old cylinder head: Image Not Found Image Not Found NEW cylinder head (ain’t she purrty?) Image Not Found about $150 in parts crap: Image Not Found the secret weapon in my toolbox :brows: : Image Not Found all fixed and running, finally: Image Not Found Image Not Found Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnaevd Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 the escorts were prone to blown headgaskets. my gf and her sister both had htem, and they both went around 200,000 KM's. i htink that is about 125,000 miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted June 26, 2006 Author Share Posted June 26, 2006 actually, it wasn't the gasket. The valve seat on the #4 intake broke off in a couple big chunks and did nasty things inside the cylinder. It still ran, but I had 0 compression on that slug :cry: I say she's quite "peppy" now with the new head on it! It's just about to turn 170K (it and my MJ have almost the same exact mileage right now) Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnaevd Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 maybe it was a canuck thing????? well congrats on getting it going, good luck with the mj toss up some more mj pics when u get a chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feerocknok Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 that 1.9 looks like a beast. wonder if there's an escort forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted June 27, 2006 Author Share Posted June 27, 2006 yeah, there is...http://www.feoa.net/modules.php?name=Forums but it's almost all "rice" talk mixed in with tech. YMMV :roll: I'm taking the old head to the scrapper this morning to see what they'd give me for it.....it's about a 40# chunk of aluminum. Going rate down here now is about .50/lb :D Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted June 27, 2006 Author Share Posted June 27, 2006 woo-hoo....got $11 for the old head at the scrapyard. 44# at .25c That'll put 1/4 tank of gas in the MJ :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlickRick421 Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 Hell yeah I am in the same boat with the FWD CV BOOTS ARE A BIZZNATCH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87manche Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 good to see Jeff. Tell me you did the water pump while you were in there! Pulling an engine mount and timing belt to do a water pump is just a dumb design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feerocknok Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 I'm taking the old head to the scrapper this morning to see what they'd give me for it.....it's about a 40# chunk of aluminum. Going rate down here now is about .50/lb :D :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted June 28, 2006 Author Share Posted June 28, 2006 good to see Jeff.Tell me you did the water pump while you were in there! Pulling an engine mount and timing belt to do a water pump is just a dumb design. should have, but didn't......I was so fed up with screwing around with the timing belt I didn't have the desire to pull the pump. You oughta see the bruises and cuts I have on both my forearms :mad: I "modified" the stoopid plastic timing belt cover a bit with a hacksaw, too..... Plus I discovered a tiny hairline crack just starting to develop in the #1 cylinder wall while I was cleaning the block surface. It's not affecting anything now, but I figure about another 30K miles or so it's gonna go :cry: Maybe I'll swap a 2.0L into it with a 5 spd then :brows: Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87manche Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 oh, so you modified the timing cover so you didn't have to take out the engine mount? You should have pulled the engine mount. Takes about 30 minutes and it's well worth it to get that damned thing outta the way. New pump would have had a new tensioner on it, it's some weirdo assembly. I had issues with the tensioner on mine, I couldn't get it to slide back far enough to allow me slack in the belt to put it back together. So I replaced the waterpump so I got a new tensioner. overall it's a gigantic PITA to work on anything on that side of the motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted June 28, 2006 Author Share Posted June 28, 2006 oh, so you modified the timing cover so you didn't have to take out the engine mount? If by modify you mean "cut the whole damn left side of it completely off so I could pry it past the engine mount and the two bolts that hold the cover on and the water pump pulley and bend it so I could angle it past the low pressure AC line without rupturing it"....then yes, I did. :ack: (I can always get another one from the junkyard if needed) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87manche Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 that would be my meaning :) The one I was working on didn't have AC. So I jusat popped the motor mount and it slipped right out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89MJComanche Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 Just get rid of the escort and pick up a cheap XJ. They get nearly the same gas mileage and the XJ is more reliable and way cooler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 and apparently WAY easier to work on FWD is weird. -nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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