Some of the newer Escorts, including the ZX2, had the DOHC Zetec motor, which was interference. I’ve had to replace valves on one of those before. The 1.9L is great, though. Very easy to work on and non-interference.
Didn’t the Escort water pump bolt up to a flange in a tight spot behind the AC? And I seem to recall needing a special wrench to get at one of the tensioner bolts. But with the right tools the job was a “piece of cake” as they say. And personally, I liked the Escort more and more as I became accustomed to cars shrinking year by year. The Tempo seemed second rate in every aspect compared to an Escort.
The 2.0L SOHC is also non interference and I thought the 2.0L DOHC was supposed to non interference.
Fixed it, runs like before. To anyone else who attempts this repair, unleashing a string of profanities at the recalcitrant timing belt cover feels good. Save yourself some time and just cut off the little plastic tabs at the bottom of the cover and it just falls into place
Nice to know. Thank you very much for the update.