2000 FORD ZX2 pics and process ... finally.

This is my 406 Customs Ford ZX2.
It is a 2000 and is the second highest trim level.
It has very rare blue factory cloth interior. ( i dont know how rare though).
I bought in "super rice" mode.
It has changed quite a bit since then.



EXTERIOR:
Invader rear valance
Invader side skirts
Custom 18's
15mm spacers
Fogged tails
2" suspension drop
15000k HID headlamps
Debadging
15% tint

ENGINE:
2.0 DOHC Ford Zetec
ZXTUNER escort s/r replica intake
8 gauge 7 cable Grounding kit
Optima deep cycle yellow top battery
MSD Ignition cables
2" Borla exhaust
3/4" Helix Power Tower throttle body spacer

INTERIOR:
Rare Factory Blue Interior
Painted and dyed extreme white and blue themed
Engine start button
4 cockpit auxilary switches
Hand sewn shift boot
Hand Made fiberglass pillar pod
Hand Made fiberglass rear speaker deck
Glowshift gauges
Custom steering wheel setup

AUDIO:
2 6 1/2" Kicker component mids
2 1 1/2" Kicker component tweeters with custom mounting
2 6 1/2" Kicker coaxial mid to high range
4 10" Kicker comp VR subwoofers
2 Hifonics Zues 300 x 2 bass amplifiers
1 Hifonics Titan 150 x 4 speaker amplifiers
8 Farad Boss capacitor

COMING SOON:
2003 Ford Focus Zetec engine
VCT delete
B Pillar harness bar
Custom racing seats
Zex Nitrous and custom mounting
and many more!

I posted pics kind of like a time line. well, anyways, here:

That is quite the album you have there Nate.

Yeah, I guess it is a little much. I left out a bunch too. I just wanted to put it out there. haha, and I was a little bored...

I am guessing you have not gone to bed yet. Myself, I just woke up.

DoodieHead [ADMIN] wrote:

I am guessing you have not gone to bed yet. Myself, I just woke up.

you were right my friend. I woke up just now. I have a bartending job and I got off work at 1230am and didnt feel like going to bed right away. You must go to bed early, i guess unless you just dont sleep very long..

Looks good Nate! I see your fox in the background of one of the pics, invite me over one day to check her out.

91FiveOh wrote:

Looks good Nate! I see your fox in the background of one of the pics, invite me over one day to check her out.

no problem dude I am always up for "car" time at my place.

Damn that's a lot of blue and white. Car looks good, not my taste, but you did a good job with stuff. Looks a ton better than when you bought it.

Holy Crap !!! Hands down that is the most impressive auto on these forums! You're work is incredible! When you slow down let me know and I'll have you go to work on the banana.

I never realized how much work has gone into that car.. I def need to get a closer look sometime. Great job!

It's a lot cleaner than when you got it, that's for sure, but that motor kills the cleanliness of the car, in my opinion. Too much going on.

Looks great on the outside though.

I spotted me old car in one of the pics of you buildin the sub box.... miss that car! hopefully i can have another one soon! oh and every time is "car" time at nates.

ford_racer wrote:

It's a lot cleaner than when you got it, that's for sure, but that motor kills the cleanliness of the car, in my opinion. Too much going on.

wouldnt mind if this post gets deleted. not really interested in the opinions of this person anymore.

For your information, this motor isnt in my car yet, how do you know how it makes my car look? It is painted Factory Ford Engine Block Blue. Hmmm. that doesnt sound too crazy to me since I do drive a Ford. It ruins the cleanlines? What the crap does that mean?

ford_racer wrote:

Looks great on the outside though.

Thanks,.i guess.

Foot_tit wrote:

I spotted me old car in one of the pics of you buildin the sub box.... miss that car! hopefully i can have another one soon!

I feel half responsible for that. I hope you get something nice.

Foot_tit wrote:

oh and every time is "car" time at nates.

You better believe it is!

BUZBYU wrote:

Holy Crap !!! Hands down that is the most impressive auto on these forums! You're work is incredible! When you slow down let me know and I'll have you go to work on the banana.

Ha, thanks so much Buzz, you might have me mixed up with somebody else ....Wow, That is very encourageing. The Banana looks awesome, I dont know what I could do to improve it, but thanks for the kind words.

KICKERzx2 wrote:

ford_racer wrote:

It's a lot cleaner than when you got it, that's for sure, but that motor kills the cleanliness of the car, in my opinion. Too much going on.

wouldnt mind if this post gets deleted. not really interested in the opinions of this person anymore.

For your information, this motor isnt in my car yet, how do you know how it makes my car look? It is painted Factory Ford Engine Block Blue. Hmmm. that doesnt sound too crazy to me since I do drive a Ford. It ruins the cleanlines? What the crap does that mean?

ford_racer wrote:

Looks great on the outside though.

Thanks,.i guess.

Yikes dude. Learn to take constructive criticism and not be so hostile.

Cleanliness is when the car flows together, and not one part of the car distracts from everything else. While the inside of your car is bright, the white and blue go together great and compliment each other.

An example of a mod that takes away from the the clean look of the car is that front bumper you bought it with. Taking it off really helped clean up the look of it.

With your engine being ALL blue, nothing stands out. I mean you painted the cam gears. I've NEVER seen that done because it most always doesn't look good. I"ve seen them powder coated and they've looked good, but never painted.

Perhaps had you just painted the block blue, or the block and the heads, or left something unpainted to leave a little contrast, it would look a lot better, but your does not.

I'm sorry you can't take criticism. I could have worded everything a lot worse, but I didn't. If you can't take differing opinions of your car, perhaps you shouldn't mod it, because you're not going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

I have never been a big fan of zx2's! That front bumper and wing that you started with I definitely don't care for! But man it looks good now! Love the clean and low look you have going on the outside and the wild custom work inside now. Love those wheels too! With those spacers and drop it has a perfect stance! BTW man, dont sweat the criticism

+1 on that. The stance is great.

i had a 98 zx2 when i was 17 or so, i had alot of fun in that car! i had the car repainted gloss black and had a carbon fiber hood and some 17's...it wasnt super quick but it looked good!! i think i ran mid 16s or so!

ford_racer wrote:

KICKERzx2 wrote:

ford_racer wrote:

It's a lot cleaner than when you got it, that's for sure, but that motor kills the cleanliness of the car, in my opinion. Too much going on.

wouldnt mind if this post gets deleted. not really interested in the opinions of this person anymore.

For your information, this motor isnt in my car yet, how do you know how it makes my car look? It is painted Factory Ford Engine Block Blue. Hmmm. that doesnt sound too crazy to me since I do drive a Ford. It ruins the cleanlines? What the crap does that mean?

ford_racer wrote:

Looks great on the outside though.

Thanks,.i guess.

With your engine being ALL blue, nothing stands out. I mean you painted the cam gears. I've NEVER seen that done because it most always doesn't look good. I"ve seen them powder coated and they've looked good, but never painted.

Perhaps had you just painted the block blue, or the block and the heads, or left something unpainted to leave a little contrast, it would look a lot better, but your does not.

I'm sorry you can't take criticism. I could have worded everything a lot worse, but I didn't. If you can't take differing opinions of your car, perhaps you shouldn't mod it, because you're not going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

all of this is unecessary. Please stop posting in my thread.

jdmsolutions wrote:

i had a 98 zx2 when i was 17 or so, i had alot of fun in that car! i had the car repainted gloss black and had a carbon fiber hood and some 17's...it wasnt super quick but it looked good!! i think i ran mid 16s or so!

Cool, its good to hear that someone else thought the zx2 was cool enough to do something with. A guy on my ford forum said "if you hate the zx2s, then you've never driven one". Thats the truth. I have had several mustangs, and I loved em, but this is by far the most fun i've had with a car!

smd wrote:

BTW man, dont sweat the criticism

Thank you, you are right.. Noted.

KICKERzx2 wrote:

jdmsolutions wrote:

i had a 98 zx2 when i was 17 or so, i had alot of fun in that car! i had the car repainted gloss black and had a carbon fiber hood and some 17's...it wasnt super quick but it looked good!! i think i ran mid 16s or so!

Cool, its good to hear that someone else thought the zx2 was cool enough to do something with. A guy on my ford forum said "if you hate the zx2s, then you've never driven one". Thats the truth. I have had several mustangs, and I loved em, but this is by far the most fun i've had with a car!

yeah for sure, it was a great car! it definitely changed my mind about four cylinder motors, im pretty sure that car had more abuse than it should have handled and it kept coming back for more! only problem i ever had was i broke a tab off the gear selector in the transmission, and when i put it back together i think i put the syncro's backwards on 5th gear! so it would pop out of 5th gear all the time when i had it back together.

yeah what the heck is with all the critisism! i thinks its awesome! Great Job man i'm loving it!!

when i first saw your car, i was thinking "wtf was he thinking putting all that into a car like that" but after looking at it over and over again..it has grown on me, haha. i like it man, keep it up

very nice work with the fiberglass! I'm planning on throwing in a sub on the vette. I could use some tips on customizing a box (wood used/glue) .. again nice work- car looks clean

KICKERzx2 wrote:

ford_racer wrote:

KICKERzx2 wrote:

ford_racer wrote:

It's a lot cleaner than when you got it, that's for sure, but that motor kills the cleanliness of the car, in my opinion. Too much going on.

wouldnt mind if this post gets deleted. not really interested in the opinions of this person anymore.

For your information, this motor isnt in my car yet, how do you know how it makes my car look? It is painted Factory Ford Engine Block Blue. Hmmm. that doesnt sound too crazy to me since I do drive a Ford. It ruins the cleanlines? What the crap does that mean?

ford_racer wrote:

Looks great on the outside though.

Thanks,.i guess.

With your engine being ALL blue, nothing stands out. I mean you painted the cam gears. I've NEVER seen that done because it most always doesn't look good. I"ve seen them powder coated and they've looked good, but never painted.

Perhaps had you just painted the block blue, or the block and the heads, or left something unpainted to leave a little contrast, it would look a lot better, but your does not.

I'm sorry you can't take criticism. I could have worded everything a lot worse, but I didn't. If you can't take differing opinions of your car, perhaps you shouldn't mod it, because you're not going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

all of this is unecessary. Please stop posting in my thread.

Just because he had a differing opinion about the motor than you doesn't mean he was being an ass. You need to lighten up, man. He DID compliment the car as well.

Let me throw down an explaination here. 2 years ago I, along with my good friend Nate Sanders, formed a group of guys that really were focused on the love of building cars, no matter what you have. At first we called ourselves 406 Customs as a joke, but we just kept getting better and better at what we do and it stuck. So now, we are 406 Customs. We work together on everything. We talk about everything. And we criticise eachother on everything. Point being, I CAN take criticism. I LOVE criticism. I NEED criticism. I post pics on this forum to build myself up and join friends in encouragement, just like everyone else. Negative criticism is not welcome here and neither is negative sarcasm or anything else meant to put down another person. If you really don't like something that I have done, I am sorry about that. I really would love to be friends with every person on this forum and never have any disagreement, but some do not understand the purpose of the time we all put in to our cars our friends our families and even the time we use up just surfing this forum. Sorry if you don't like my car, sorry if you think I wasted money building an escort, sorry if you don't like my positive attitude. Truth is, it doesn't matter if you are Chip Foose or the kid who thinks it's cool to put a dragon carving on the hood of an expensive corvette, as long as you have the love for building, anything is cool. Nuf said

i think the thought of building an escort is awesome, i mean, how many do you see as sick as yours?

KICKERzx2 wrote:

Let me throw down an explaination here. 2 years ago I, along with my good friend Nate Sanders, formed a group of guys that really were focused on the love of building cars, no matter what you have. At first we called ourselves 406 Customs as a joke, but we just kept getting better and better at what we do and it stuck. So now, we are 406 Customs. We work together on everything. We talk about everything. And we criticise eachother on everything. Point being, I CAN take criticism. I LOVE criticism. I NEED criticism. I post pics on this forum to build myself up and join friends in encouragement, just like everyone else. Negative criticism is not welcome here and neither is negative sarcasm or anything else meant to put down another person. If you really don't like something that I have done, I am sorry about that. I really would love to be friends with every person on this forum and never have any disagreement, but some do not understand the purpose of the time we all put in to our cars our friends our families and even the time we use up just surfing this forum. Sorry if you don't like my car, sorry if you think I wasted money building an escort, sorry if you don't like my positive attitude. Truth is, it doesn't matter if you are Chip Foose or the kid who thinks it's cool to put a dragon carving on the hood of an expensive corvette, as long as you have the love for building, anything is cool. Nuf said

Now allow me "throw down" an explanation here.

Nobody commented on your craftsmanship or anything of that sort. Nobody commented on your car choice. Nobody had any NEGATIVE comments about any part of your car. I merely commented on what I thought of one point of your work, and that was how you spray painted the engine.

All I said is that how you did left a little to be desired. If you love and need criticism as much as you just said you did, you would have taken this comment for what it was, a suggestion embedded within an opinion. I never said it was shitty.

My opinion is that because of the rest of the craftsmanship you displayed on the car, that the engine could have received a little more attention as far as details. The detail you displayed on your wheels, interior, and stereo system was impressive. That I'm definitely not disputing. However, I think had you maybe not sprayed EVERYTHING on the engine blue (or whatever color, Ford Blue would have been my preference as well), it would look better.

I'm sorry if you took my comments as negative towards your car choice, your color choice, your style, or anything else, but I merely commented on the engine. I'm not here to make enemies or trouble, but I think this forum and the people on it should be open to ANY type of criticism or suggestion without getting upset because it may not be what they want to hear.

I'm sorry if my post articulated that I thought your car was a pile of shit, horribly done, or anything else, as that was not my intention. I realize a lot of things are lost in e-translation. I'm hoping this post clears things up and that you can understand where I am and was coming from, and that I meant no harm through my words, only suggestions.

dragon on a hood of a vette why not!? ha

I don't know if you saw this or not, but he may be referencing to this:





And it's Procharged too, ha!

Lets keep the comments on the positive side please. The point of the garage is not to be torn down by everyone, it is to share what you have with everyone else. If you dont have nice things to say, please keep them to yourself. This week has been hectic enough as it is and dealing with this garbage is not necessary.

Please keep it civil.

Thanks mike for your words.

ford_racer, I went looking back through my thread and I understand what you mean about not putting detail in the engine now. I want to make it perfect. The pictures that are on this thread are of the block and head only technically. The oilpan will be aluminum color and all of the accesories that bolt on will be silver color. The only white will be the valve cover and the headers. Also, I plan on getting different fully adjustable cam gears and new belt pullys. I only painted them because I am getting rid of them anyways. If you could see how tight the engine bay is on this tiny car, then you would see that not much of the blue that I have painted will actually be seen. I really do appreciate your criticism and Im sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. Us Ford guys should stick together! I am going to build my second mustang soon and Ill need some ideas.

KICKERzx2 wrote:

Thanks mike for your words.

ford_racer, I went looking back through my thread and I understand what you mean about not putting detail in the engine now. I want to make it perfect. The pictures that are on this thread are of the block and head only technically. The oilpan will be aluminum color and all of the accesories that bolt on will be silver color. The only white will be the valve cover and the headers. Also, I plan on getting different fully adjustable cam gears and new belt pullys. I only painted them because I am getting rid of them anyways. If you could see how tight the engine bay is on this tiny car, then you would see that not much of the blue that I have painted will actually be seen. I really do appreciate your criticism and Im sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. Us Ford guys should stick together! I am going to build my second mustang soon and Ill need some ideas.

You need idea's for a mustang, Ive got wayyy too many in my head.

KICKERzx2 wrote:

Thanks mike for your words.

ford_racer, I went looking back through my thread and I understand what you mean about not putting detail in the engine now. I want to make it perfect. The pictures that are on this thread are of the block and head only technically. The oilpan will be aluminum color and all of the accesories that bolt on will be silver color. The only white will be the valve cover and the headers. Also, I plan on getting different fully adjustable cam gears and new belt pullys. I only painted them because I am getting rid of them anyways. If you could see how tight the engine bay is on this tiny car, then you would see that not much of the blue that I have painted will actually be seen. I really do appreciate your criticism and Im sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. Us Ford guys should stick together! I am going to build my second mustang soon and Ill need some ideas.

Awesome man, I'm glad we got it sorted out. Looking back, I could have been more specific in my initial post.

You do have the best Escort I've ever seen. I can't get over those white wheels. They look delicious! And what kind of stang?

91FiveOh wrote:

KICKERzx2 wrote:

Thanks mike for your words.

ford_racer, I went looking back through my thread and I understand what you mean about not putting detail in the engine now. I want to make it perfect. The pictures that are on this thread are of the block and head only technically. The oilpan will be aluminum color and all of the accesories that bolt on will be silver color. The only white will be the valve cover and the headers. Also, I plan on getting different fully adjustable cam gears and new belt pullys. I only painted them because I am getting rid of them anyways. If you could see how tight the engine bay is on this tiny car, then you would see that not much of the blue that I have painted will actually be seen. I really do appreciate your criticism and Im sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. Us Ford guys should stick together! I am going to build my second mustang soon and Ill need some ideas.

You need idea's for a mustang, Ive got wayyy too many in my head.

Me too, Nik.

Any ideas you have for your Mustang, Nate?

I like the idea of building the ZX2. I almost bought a 99 at one point to build. Just one thing I think you are forgetting. Your tranny won't like th nitrous. You need to beef up the clutch and maybe internals of the tranny so you don't get stranded. This was the biggest reason I opted not to build a ZX2. If i did do one, I would do a V8 rwd one. I also liked the rims black better. Got so much white going on a little black would help cut through it. Also is the 2003 Zetec suppose to be a better engine. I thought they all had good power potential. I'd of tried to get the tranny out of the focus, as I think they have ways to beef them up better. I got a pioture of some Zetec candy I will share, just incase you have never seen it. You will most definately druel. The best part of this car in my mind is the job you did of all the switches and stuff. Very nice looking. Is that a push start button I see.