What can I do to make a 95 ford escort LX faster

[escortLX361]

I am a sophomore in high school and I'm looking for some stuff I can do to boost the power on my 95 escort LX. I don't have 3 thousand dollars to spend so I;m looking for something not too too expensive. no more than 300 dollars and It can't be in the shop too long. What about air intake or exhaust. any Ideas?

[MagicRat]

This is not what you want to hear, but seriously, don't do anything.

This may be tough to do as all your friends probably have rice rockets and spend money on them, But the Escort, like many cars does not have a whole lot of potential that can be brought out for not much money.

If you must do something, save your money, sell the Escort and buy something that has more potential for modification, such as a Mustang, Camaro etc. (although the insurance for you might be higher).

If you MUST do something with your car, make sure it is in really good working condition. The basics are important, good plugs wires, etc, proper ignition timing, clean fuel injectors, clean air filter etc.

A K&N air filter may help, but only if there is a restriction in the stock system. A tuned exhaust might sound better but is unlikely to make it go faster unless it includes headers and a more free flowing catalytic converter. And it would use up more than the $300 you have.

[thepolishmafia1337]

the easiest and cheapest way to make a car acelerate faster is gear reduction. you can do this a couple ways. not sure what size rims and tires ur car has but im guessing somewhere around a 185/70/r14. if so go expirement with some used tires and some junk yard rims do like a 185/50/r14 or a 175/60/r14. for like 50 bucks you can adjust your gearing and have a noticable increase in acceleration. youll loose top end speed and prolly burn more gas. but be quicker off of the line. its all about the mechanical advantage. and since your not really making any horse power you really dont have to worry about traction.

[ellinas]

I agree with most of the other answers...
I would like to add that you can make you car faster, with less fuel consumption and and better handling...
The solution costs nothing (!!!) and it's a hardcore solution...
You have to make your car lighter!!!
I have a friend who was removing day by day every not useful part of his car interior, and he was counting the weight from every part that he was removing...
After a few week he got two big boxes that I couldn't lift !!!!!!!!

After a while he got really extreme by removing even the wipers (along with the electic motor)...

He end up by doing drag racing without wearing his watch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I have to admit that he got really good results by doing that...you see that's the basic idea behind every sports car - to be lighweight...and the principle of colin chapman (founder of LOTUS)...

[454Casull]

Did he take a crap before racing too?

[escortLX361]

HAHA that's funny. I don't want to strip the shit out of my car and race in tournaments or anything. I just want a little extra power to know I have it.