In addition to your normal checks, (Does it stop, start, and leak?) also make sure that the car has the same brakes all the way around.
Couldn't figure out last night why the new caliper wouldn't fit over the new rotor on the passenger front on the Escort. The caliper was exactly the same as the old one that was pulled off, the caliper bolted on to the knuckle just fine. The rotor fit on the hub. It was in fact an Escort GT caliper, and an Escort GT rotor...
(scratch head)
Checked the rotor size against what was on the driver's side, and they were the same, and the driver's side fit with no issues.
Hrmmmm....
Check the new rotor against the old rotor from that corner.
SON OF A....
The car had obviously been hit at some point, as evidenced by the junkyard markings on the passenger front control arm. Seems some hackjob put it back together using 91-92 Escort LX parts, which has a smaller rotor, and the knuckle is different. Super.
That might explain why it felt a little weird under braking, huh? So, the car had 3 corners with the bigger Escort GT brakes, and one corner with the small Escort LX brake. Arg.
Anyone got a 93+ Escort passenger front hub+knuckle assembly?
No, but I've got a nose-mask/bra I'd make you a helluva deal on. 
Ben, your luck never ceases.
petegossett wrote:
No, but I've got a nose-mask/bra I'd make you a helluva deal on.
Heh, pics? I'll see if the GF is interested. After all, this is her project. As in "I want this, will you do that for me?" 
John Brown wrote:
Ben, your luck never ceases.
Yep. Seems for every great deal i get (Celica), i have to get at least 3 bad deals afterwards.
In light of this, i got completely and utterly ripped off on this Escort. The MX6, i don't consider a loss yet, but it's been a battle the entire time i've had it.
I can't believe i paid $700 for this damn thing.
Oh well. It SHOULD be a completely new car when this is all done. Here's what's being installed at the moment:
New passenger rear caliper
New passenger front caliper
New rotors all around
New pads all around
Energy Suspension bushings all around
Pacesetter adjustable short shifter with custom delrin bushings (WIN!)
MX3 GS rear tie bar
Pierce Motorsports 4 point front tie brace
Stainless steel braided brake lines
Filled engine mounts all around
Custom Delrin endlinks all around
Inner and outer tie rods
lower balljoints
Well, and now the new hub/knuckle assembly.
This thing was in worse shape than i thought. I can't believe it drove as good as it did. Scary thing is, we've put almost 13k miles on it the way it was with no real issues. (Other than a shredded timing belt because PO left a couple bolts rattling around in the timing cover. Oh, and the control arm and transmission i replaced the week i got it.)
I knew you shoulda bought the swift.
Bobzilla wrote:
I knew you shoulda bought the swift.
Dave and i scratched our heads for awhile on this one... Then we really couldn't do anything but laugh.
Just sucks, because between the ball joints, two calipers, and brake hardware kit extra that i wasn't PLANNING on needing (dumb, i know), i'm now pretty much flat busted and i gotta find this knuckle and the car has to be driving by middle of next week so i have time to get it aligned on Friday before it gets driven out to Pennsylvania.
I once looked at a 99' Cougar for a friend of mine and couldn't find any big problems with the car.
A few nights later he gives me a call because the headlights have gone out and he can't tell where he is going. After plenty of throwing money at parts that weren't bad it was a wire grounding out for the head lights.
The only upside was that he ruined the rest of the car by the time the headlight problem was solved anyway.
