My '05 Ford Escape

[Half Assed]

I had a '99 Maxima SE 3.0 5 speed manual with leather. Awesome car if it wasn't for the rust and terrible gas mileage (20-22mpg with premium)

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Sold it to some cuban dude and picked up this '05 Escape 2.3 5 speed manual base model for $1800.

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I had a long 3 month road trip planned, so I bought this to camp out of. It was a last minute decision (I almost drove my truck lol) and I barely had one tank of gas through it before I left.

I found a better rear bumper cover for it, removed the bars, had the windows tinted, installed the nav stereo out of the maxima, added a bugdeflector to cover a dent and ventshades so I could roll the windows down a little at night. Then started building a platform to sleep on.

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[Half Assed]

It had about 141,000 miles on it when I started. I ended with about 160,000.

Got about 27 mpg doing it.

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Big Bend National Park, Texas

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I noticed that it was burning oil badly on the highway. About a quart every 100 to 300 miles. I thought it was the PCV valve and hose so I replaced it at my grandparent's house in Phoenix, AZ; but that didn't solve the problem. Mazda put it under the intake manifold which needs to be removed to get to it.

I kept trekking along with 3 gallons of oil to see how far I'd get.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

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Got the front wheel drive stuck in the sand in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona. Took me 9 hours to dig it out by myself.

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near Flagstaff, Arizona

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[Half Assed]

Goosenecks State Park, Utah

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I bumped my oil pan on a rock in Death Valley National Park, California. Oops! RTV to the rescue!

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Sequoia National Park, California

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Near Lake Tahoe in California

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[Half Assed]

I had the tierods replaced in Visalia, CA and by the time I made it to Seattle the front tires were fried. I had to buy new tires and an alignment in Port Orchard, Washington.

Got it stuck again in Montana just outside Glacier National Park. This time it was in the dark and I backed into a hole looking for a level spot to sleep. After 2 hours I couldn't dig myself out of this one so I begged for a tow from a local.

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Near Great Basin National Park, Nevada

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Ophir Pass in SW Colorado. Barely made it too the top!

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Coolant hose started leaking, it's a dealer only item... I fixed it with RTV and an extra hose clamp.

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Riding ATVs in Hibbing, Minnesota with my uncle

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Waterpump took a dump in Sylva, North Carolina. Fixed it in a walmart parking lot.

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The whole trip:

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33 national parks, 17 national monuments, and 4 state parks
19000 miles, 29 states, and 94 days

Slept in my car in national forests and walmarts and spent about $5000 on the trip.

Best thing I ever did.

 

[Half Assed]

Started working on the car a little after I got back. I wanted a sorta military look to it so I painted it a tan color.

Using a satin enamel house paint and a roller...

This was about a week ago. Still waiting for it to fully cure to see if it was a genius idea or a royal f-up.

Also working on a steel bumper for it. 3/16 steel. My welder won't weld it and I didn't want to bug my friend anymore so I ordered an Eastwood 135.

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Something like this:

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Installed a trailer hitch and lights

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[Half Assed]

And today.

I also bought some fog lights and tinted them yellow.

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Still have to paint the roof rack and wheels, but I might buy some steelies for the wheels.

I tried to get a sticker at each park I went to on my trip if it wasn't one of the black and white abbreviation type stickers.

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[RetroC10Sport]

Awesome trip, looks like it took you near my current town of Austin and through my hometown of Dayton, Ohio.

Escapes and Tributes are notorious for needing an engine between 100,000 and 150,000 miles no matter how well they were taken care of.

I'd love to go camping like that too, looking for an Aztek myself with the factory tent.

 

[Half Assed]

I haven't had good luck with fords in the past, but I figured with a mazda engine it wouldn't be too bad. I wouldn't dare buy one with a 3.0 or an automatic. Turned out the mazda engine isn't that good.

It's still burning oil. I haven't gotten around to removing the intake again and reengineering the pcv system. But I do have to give it credit, it still runs great and the catalytic converter hasn't plugged up yet even though it burned at least 15-20 gallons of oil in it during the trip.

If I could do it again with a whatever I wanted, it would be a 4x4 truck with a slide in camper. Tenting sucks to put up and take down and really limits you on where you can stop for the night. I camped a lot in the national forests off access roads. Campgrounds are a waste of money when you don't get any amenities like water or a shower.