zx2 problems and questions, PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone. im new to this so bear with me. i wanted to get rid of my truck and get a sport compact car, i found a 98 zx2, blue, tan interior, 5speed, all options but moonroof, cd player, and cruise. 56k miles, for 4995$. went over, test drove, loved it, bought it. drove it home, and took bro and sis for a ride, hit the gas, 1-2 shift at about 5500 rpm, and bang! loud noise, engine dies. tow car back to dealer, the do some checks for like a week, cant figure out. so, they send to a ford dealership. bunch of bullshit goes down, bottom line, needs new engine, so people who sold car to me replace engine with an attarco engine out of a 98 escort with 40k or less miles on it. get car back one month later. runs good, take right home and change oil to mobil one. have some fun, go street race a little bit, smoke some ricers. never go above about 6700 rpm, (rev limiter @7000 if i remember) i drive hard, normal shifting is around 3500-4000. anyway, in the first week i have car back, brakes make horrible "rubber on metal" noise at low speed. change pads to ceramic, problem solved. week two, blow passenger cv axle, fix it. week three, remove intake restrictions, sweet. week four. day before me and my fam leave for hawaii. im crusin out to go find a race or two. going about 40, 4th gear, tachin about 2500, suddenly engine loses power, downshift 3rd, engine still dyin, check engine light, I shut engine off, coast into parking lot. wait a minute, try to start, cranks, but it sounds like no spark plugs in engine, cranks really fast. camshaft IS turning. so, get car towed home, put in garage for two weeks while in hawaii. then tow car to people who installed engine per attarco warrenty requirements. well, shop owner gets sick, and car sat for one week. yesterday 8/29/05 he got to diagnostic. compression is 25lbs in all cylenders, very low. gets spark, gets fuel. timing belt seems to be a little too tight. maybe it skipped a tooth? any ideas? is my car cursed? or do zx2's allways have these problems? btw, it is the zetec vct engine with the white valve cover. on the side of all this, what changes were made to the zx2 each year from 98-03? or where could i find this info? whats the engine code for the engine in the zx2? (supra is a 2jz-gte)please email, [email protected], or call my cell anytime (916) 496-0355 nick. thanks a lot guys

Hey there well I have owned my 98 zx2 for 7 years the problem that you might be having is you have a loose conection on your battery or bad alternator, or starter, I just had that problem, fixed all four, new battery, starter, alternator, and cables, if you still having problems check your spark plug wires, also check out my web site

www.escortzx2hawaii.zoomshare.com and take a look at my zx2 and tell me what you think I did all the work on the engine inside and body and paint myself. Hope you find out the problem with your car they are really great cars.

Here is a very helpful web site when it comes to the ZX2 TEAMZX2 (http://www.teamzx2.com)
I've had mine for about 4 months and nothing like that has happened.