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All of you guys that have these in your cars what did you do about the flat spots on the spring perch and bearing? I was reading the PDF write up and it said you have to grint those flst spots into the new bearings unless you get the zx-2 spring perches. Is there any other way to go about this or what worked best for you guys?

I suppose that you could dremel out the perch instead to make it fit the bearing, but I think that the flat spots hold it in place so they would work better. I put Ground Controls on my Zx-2 S/R's though so I don't have the old upper perch.

Ok another question I have then is can you get the spring perches from a standard escort or does it have to be the zx-2?

That would be a question for someone else to answer with certainty, but I don't think that the thrust bearings for a Zx-2 S/R strut will fit a regular escort perch. This is because IIRC the escort upper perches are just like the mx-3's...meant to handle a 20mm shaft, while the Zx-2 S/R's are 22mm. It shouldn't be too much work for you to modify what you have though. I think that all you would need is a dremel.

dremel and about 15mins of grinding and test fitting and your ready to go. Litterally that easy just grind a little and test fit. The first one took me twice as long as the second. I was scared of grinding too much on the first one and kept test fitting over and over. The second was much quicker since I knew it took a good amout of grinding the first time.
Grind them till they fit snug but not too tight and not too loose. Should press in somewhat hard by hand but shouln't need to hammer in.
Combo'ed mine with H&R springs and I love em. Amazing for the money
good luck

hey quick question...instead of goin dremmel, coudl you just buy a 22mm drill bit and drill it out? THeres a huge machine shop in my school, and i'm doin the conversion this week (back thursday, front friday/sat, then helpin 94-4banger) . Woudl it be better or easier?

It might be hard to center since the hole is not round to start with...but if you can clamp it down securely enough It might work. Just Go Very Slow, don't use much pressure and be carefull because if the bit grabs it could really hurt you. I would say use a dremel if you have one. It shouldn't take that long. Plus, who has a 22mm drill bit.

Perches can be used from ANY 1997+ Escort or 1998+ ZX2. They all use the same thrust bearing.

ccreech wrote: ... Plus, who has a 22mm drill bit.

What do you mean I have a silver and deming drill set in my tools box. And a couple more sets out in the shop. You should be using a drill press that you can adjust the chuck speed under 200rpm and a mill vise to hold the piece when working with a drill this size. The length of the bit can also be a bit of a problem this is were I prefer to use a rotabroch.

yeah well theres a machine shop at school and theres everything i'd ever need (including a low rmp drill, and a 22mm bit..)

BUT i decided to dremel, because the shop was closed friday, and i didnt' want to wait lol...it worked out pretty well. Didn't take long. Just kept test fitting, dremel, test fit...

to make sure i knew how much i was remouving i took a white out pen and made a line of whiteout around the whole (about 2 mm or so) worked well. And it rides so nice hah...

Maybe a little out of topic, but I'm going to order ZX2's from oemfordparts and was just wondering if I should order the "metal strut bearing" part: "F8CZ-18198-AAA" while I'm at it?
And I was thinking og ground controls, but should I order for the MX-3 or the Escort?

Thanks