# 98 Ford Escort Conversion



## ronin4sale (Jan 29, 2008)

Charge admission  Don't show up to your house unless they bring lunch or beer! haha


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## Twilly (Jan 22, 2008)

I'm almost done with a 95 Ford Contour, So our projects will be similar...

What Voltage are you going with? I went with 144v, using 12 - 12 v batteries. I think 24 - 6 volts will be too much weight for the car.

I used a Warp9 motor and Curtis controller ( order your controller soon or you will be waiting, 1 month lead time )


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## electric85 (Apr 10, 2008)

hey, you could probably go with a 108 volt system, or a 120 volt system and with that car you would get what you need from it. check out US batteries too, they are cheaper then trojan, i know NAPA can get them for ya. my girlfriends dad has a store and hooked up an ev jeep owner with some. we are working on a fiero right now but we are planning on making out next ev an escort wagon he has in his napa fleet. 

i'm still planing lion batts...fingers crossed


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## grose (Apr 30, 2008)

Welcome.

Just an FYI for you: I drive a 98 Ford Escort ZX2 using a 96V system. I can say that 60-65 mph is attainable. However, acceleration is slow. I would recommend going with 120V at least. I'm looking at increasing mine in the future.

Also, if you are looing for a 50 mile range you'll need a lot of amp-hours. Either really big batteries or use 6V batts in parallel. Watch your GVWR though. You may make 50 miles, but probably not at highway speeds.

Good luck!


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## autodealer (Aug 31, 2010)

Slim1950 said:


> Well, it's time to commit. My donor car is a 1998 Ford Escort Parts. The body is in near perfect condition. It is going to a mechanic who wants the motor this weekend. Then, next weekend, a gang of us will begin to slowly plan and build our conversion.
> 
> My requirements:
> 
> ...



Looks like those cars where used in the previous wrc rallies! When is the time period that they used this particular model before using the Ford Focus?


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

you might want to read through my conversion online (below) or the build thread here: http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21177&page=18

Since I did a '98 Escort zx2, they will be very similar - different engine though, but you're not really dealing with that. It's a pretty decent car to begin with. I second the comment about US Battery (same as Interstate); they're what I used. I can tell you from experience that 50miles is going to be a stretch with 8v. You'll have to use high Ah 6v and that will put you over your gvwr. I upgraded springs through www.coilsprings.com . Anyway, I'll certainly watch your build.

POST PICS!!!


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## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

Actually, the wagon may have a greater gvwr than the coupe. I would think so, even though they weigh almost the same at curb. The gvwr should be posted on the inside driver's door jam. Please post what the numbers on that, I'm curious. As you can see from my pics, you can easily fit 8 LA batts in the motor bay and the wagon will easily get 12 in the cargo area. I could have done 12 in back, but that would have put me far over my gvwr and I wanted my trunk to be fully usable when finished - including being able to fold down rear seats for carrying capacity. None of that should be a problem with the wagon.


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