New ZX2 owner

Hey all, I bought a 2000 zx2 yesterday 5/18/04 kind of on a whim.
I looked at it cause it had a lower price tag for one lol. I have a baby on the way in about 5 months and need back seats.(I traded my 93 ranger, god I loved that truck. Got 3k in trade for it) with taxes and all that good shit it was 7,500 bucks.
Anyway, it is a 5-spd, 50k miles ,black ,6disk cd. no power anything lol damnit.
I been creepin on this forum for a couple hours but it wouldn't let me use the search button...? :-\ What is the little scort like? power, dependability, gas milage, performance parts?, things to look out for?

130hp 128tq, very dependable(its NOT the focus motor) (3 recalls in the whole 98-03 run, 2 were for mis-pinted info)
typicly about 32mpg some have gotten closer to 40

performance parts: www.zxtuner.com

I like this little car more and more,theres not too much I don't like. no power anything is fine with me, less shit to replace and less costly. The CD skips over some bumps but oh well, that happens with 600$ dash players. What I am kind of not liking is the gas gauge... I will look down and be like "nice, great milage.. I like that a lot" and then look down a minute later and have gone down an 1/8 of a tank... then it'll rise a little a minute later. :eek7: I'm guessing the tank is not preasurized, gets on my nerves a little, but it's the second day driving it so I think I will get used to it..

What kind of miles do you guys/girls average on a tank ?

I like this little car more and more,theres not too much I don't like. no power anything is fine with me, less shit to replace and less costly. The CD skips over some bumps but oh well, that happens with 600$ dash players. What I am kind of not liking is the gas gauge... I will look down and be like "nice, great milage.. I like that a lot" and then look down a minute later and have gone down an 1/8 of a tank... then it'll rise a little a minute later. :eek7: I'm guessing the tank is not preasurized, gets on my nerves a little, but it's the second day driving it so I think I will get used to it..

What kind of miles do you guys/girls average on a tank ?

I got my 2000 zx2 about 1.5 years ago and I still like it. When pushing my car hard I get a little over 300 mpg. If i take it easy, (notice I said if) I can get anywhere from 350 to 375 mpg. I have added a new exhaust so that might affect it just a little.

i think you mean either 300mp TANK or 30mpg not 300mpg lol

i think you mean either 300mp TANK or 30mpg not 300mpg lol

lol! your right i did mean mp tank.

I like this little car more and more,theres not too much I don't like. no power anything is fine with me, less shit to replace and less costly. The CD skips over some bumps but oh well, that happens with 600$ dash players. What I am kind of not liking is the gas gauge... I will look down and be like "nice, great milage.. I like that a lot" and then look down a minute later and have gone down an 1/8 of a tank... then it'll rise a little a minute later. :eek7: I'm guessing the tank is not preasurized, gets on my nerves a little, but it's the second day driving it so I think I will get used to it..

What kind of miles do you guys/girls average on a tank ?

You posted this a few months ago but decided to reply anyway. Your right about the gas guage it acts kinda funny at times. If you fill up with the car on after the tank is filled it is still going to stay on empty until you turn the car off then on again. Or youy can just wait like 5 min. it goes up. But as for gas mileage recently ive been getting about 28 mpg. during summer which means the a/c is on high and with my driving being around 80% highway 20% city.

I have a stock and it gets between 28 and 34 per gallon on road and 32-36 on freeway. Its a nice little car but the back seats are indeed kinda small. BTW I have a stick which gets more per gallon then auto (If I remember well)

yea i went from auto to a stick and got a nice mpg bump, and the s/r makes more power then the auto did

I have a stock and it gets between 28 and 34 per gallon on road and 32-36 on freeway. Its a nice little car but the back seats are indeed kinda small. BTW I have a stick which gets more per gallon then auto (If I remember well)

Try a K&N air filter. A friend let me try his before I bought it from him. I put it on and instantly my gas mileage was anywhere from 34 and better. I can get 40 if I drive with cruise control about 65-68 and don't accelerate hard. For putting on 50K miles per year driving it paid for itself quickly. That and boosted performance.

Now if I can just remove the speed limiting part of the thing. It jumps to 105 and even 110 before it kicks in to limit me. I'm sure it would easily go faster as it and me have been craving to.

Michael

not smart on a auto or a car with criuse, it screws things up.

get an s/r pcm if you have a manual. if not, i would get a chip and that will eliminate it.

matt

not smart on a auto or a car with criuse, it screws things up.

They had only found a wire underneath the cup holder and spliced in a switch inline to disable it is all.

Michael

Matt,

Got a web site or some information on those somewhere. I heard those terms thrown around here and there. Just depends on how much they are. I'm thinking instead of going to the connector itself. You should be able to release the pin for the wire that handles that. At least that way you're not cutting wires, etc. Of course it won't matter much as the warranty is going out in a couple of weeks. But at least it's easier to do and a lot less destructive and cheaper.

Michael

Have any of you bought the Accel HP coil? I'm thinking about it?

Has anyone found and bought a capacitive discharge ignition and where it can be found? I had one on a car I used to own and it helped quite a bit. The engine ran smoother, stronger spark, and improved gas mileage a little.

Michael

They had only found a wire underneath the cup holder and spliced in a switch inline to disable it is all.

Michael


i know that but it screws up teh auto's shifting and sometimes makes the car stop acceling at 80mph, it also screws up the milage odometer some how on many auto's

Have any of you bought the Accel HP coil? I'm thinking about it?

Has anyone found and bought a capacitive discharge ignition and where it can be found? I had one on a car I used to own and it helped quite a bit. The engine ran smoother, stronger spark, and improved gas mileage a little.

Michael
i have theories that a ZX2 will neva idle good because of the crappy balancing job put on our crank by ford. i plan on getting my whole bottom end balanced in the near future by a professional. and for $300 i could get alot of shit better than that.

the s/r pcm is the upgraded pcm from the s/r. it has an eliminated speed governor, advanced timing and it learns your mods very well. for anyone w/ a manual i recomend this. for anyone w/ an ATX i recomend a chip from superchips. you can find them all over the place. the only downside to a chip is every time you get a mod... you gotta get your chip reprogramed for that mod. the pcm just learns that you have it and after a certain amount of run time it operates to better that mod... its smart as hell and i love mine. but eventually ill probably have to chip mine once i get to a certain whp... i think its like 145 whp or something.

matt

i have theories that a ZX2 will neva idle good because of the crappy balancing job put on our crank by ford. i plan on getting my whole bottom end balanced in the near future by a professional. and for $300 i could get alot of shit better than that.

matt

This car is new to me, and not one that I have any real familiarity with yet, but the idle seemed to me to be charactaristic of 4 cylinder engines that are set to idle very lean. The earlier Honda and Toyota four's would idle like that, and get more annoying as time went on, to the point that some drivers would take 'em outta gear (auto) when sitting at a light with the A/C on, because the idle harmonics were just too brutal.

But drilling out the cap on the throttle body and fattening them up just a little would make them idle smooth as glass (for a 4 cylinder, anyway)

I don't drive this car much, so it hasn't irritated me enough to take a look and see if there is any provision to adjust it on this one ('98)

But if that is the case, I would think that any mods that increase breathing might even aggravate this condition at idle.

Does this engine have a counterbalancer? I'm guessing not.

BTW, the wife said the SES light was on, so I did a visual check, and didn't see any reason for it. I thought the idle seemed a little harsh, but thought it might be me, 'cause I hadn't driven it for a while. But she said it seemed a bit more vibey at idle than normal since the light came on.

I took it out, and drove it like I stole it for about 20 minutes, and the light went out, and the idle returned to what I consider normal for this car.

Anybody else experience this?

I have a '97 Chevy Lumina that pops the SES every couple of months, with no other symptoms. The first time it happened, the light was on for almost 6 months, when I happened to be driving about 90 mph for several miles, and the light went out.

Now, every time it comes on (every 60 days or so), I just take it out on a Sunday morning, hit 90+ for a few miles, and it goes away, just like the first time. I guess I should pull the code and see what it thinks, but I'm lazy.:grinyes:

Besides, this gives me a semi-legitimate reason to go burn up some highway (honest, officer!) on a Sunday morning.:lol:

i have never heared of the zx2 not being balanced cuz the block is the same as the focus, contour and cougar, just a different head. if you want to help the idle get FR wires they help a lot.

never said it wasn't balanced... the just didn't do a good job of balancing it. pistons and rods being to dissimilar in weight could cause a bad idle as well as none to tight tolerances being held to the bearings on the crank. i know the crank is balanced to a certain degree (ford specs) but not to the degree you need it for a race engine. ask johnp how his car runs w/ a blueprinted bottom end.

as for FR wires... got 'em. my bad idle comes from a shitload of breather mods and ES motor mount inserts... that combined w/ the a/c kicking on all the damn time and you can imagine i get quite the jolt every day while sitting at stop lights. but... upside is my car pulls like a mudafukka. but then again ive done alot of custom work to it. i am the one putting on the FS: stock bored throttle bodies on teamzx2. just bored my manifold too... good mod... good mod.

matt

dude you cant compair anything to JohnP's car lol the way his set up its like 2 different cars lol. Ive ben meaning to ask him to to a PnP head and intake for me lol

shit ill do the intake for you for cheaper. haven't experienced much w/ headwork though. he does have a kick ass setup, but thats the kind of shit im talkin about. in order to push the kind of #'s he does you gotta pay attention to all the little details. you can't expect your stock engine and internals to tolerate a 8500 rpm rev as much as a blueprinted bottom end and ported head w/ new valve springs and titanium retainers.... aint gonna happen. its the little shit that makes it go fast... attention to detail and close tolerances as well as how deep it can breathe w/o takin a piston w/ it.

matt

Well you have to think. The guy did help design the car. lol
but im going to get a FR mani and get it ported when I can afford one.
I've still never seen a 1/4 or dyno number from him though.

id love to see that too. don't think it'll happen though cuz he's got better things to do... like make money. LOL

matt