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Upgrade to SVT

giganto

CEG'er
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
78
I have just purchased my first SVT to add to my fleet of first generation Mystiques and Contours. My local body shops wanted over $5k to "refresh" the dings and paint on any of my older cars, plus their main wiring harnesses, not the ones covered by the recall (which I've already replaced), were starting to fray. They're still "runners" so they will still be my daily drivers and tow vehicles and catch any stray shopping carts at Walmart. The SVT is intended to be my road trip machine, or grand tourer. I thought I'd jot down a few initial impressions from someone who had never even seen an SVT in person for anyone else considering the upgrade, or to an SVT owner who may be having some trouble and need to downgrade for a while.

Positive Impressions:
Tropic Green is gorgeous, especially in this example which has been garaged most of its life. Now I need to buy a carport to keep it looking good.
The second generation headlamps are much better. I don't need to go through the HID conversion like I did to the older cars.
The bolstered seats are much more comfortable to me. They pinched my ribs in the old SE.
The stance with the body kit is a head turner. I deleted the side skirts on my SE because they just looked tacked-on.
This car likes to "rev;" and it reminds me of older european cars with heavier clutch pedals and temperamental gearboxes with little tolerance for sloppy shifting.
The car is quieter than I expected. The insulation on the firewall was deleted, but most extra noise seems to come from the dual exhaust.

Trade Offs:
This is my first car which prefers 91 octane fuel for the best performance. Does it really matter unless you like to lurk around the redline?
The short shifter with "cables" feels a little sloppy compared to my old "tall" rod shifters. Could be worn cable ends or Ford Europe cost-cutting.
No tire plate on the door frame. I still haven't found inflation pressure information for the 215/50 r16. The shop manual suggests 31psi for < 3 passengers and 34psi fully laden.
Those tires are hard to find, so be prepared to stay somewhere for a couple of days if you get a blowout far from home, though the other tires seem a bit uncommon as well.
No clock! This was the top of the line, I thought. May need to fill that oval; is the harness in place for an oval clock? Maybe a Mondeo trip computer upgrade since I bought the 3 shop manuals.
All of the other decontenting. I work the night shift and like the courtesy lamps in the doors, door pockets, keyholes, glove compartment and driver's vanity mirror. Side mirror defrosters, too
No towing! My V6 Mystique loves to haul my utility trailer around, but the SVT's body kit that makes it look good results in poor approach and departure angles.
Different Speedometer. I found myself speeding along until I realized the top of the speedo is now 80 instead of 60 MPH.
 
lets see

- Early SEs had larger bolsters than the SVT seats
- The car likes to rev because of the cams and the flywheel is 2# lighter than the SE
- yes run 91, imho. Some have run 87, but that was more from day one. Always held that in that case it was ok. The timing and cams where setup for 91+, I would just use it.
- Yes the cables don't have the same feel. Maybe the cable ends, a good short shifter goes along way to improve the feel.
- there should be a tire plate, must have been removed. I want to say that the sticker says 34 psi.
- a clock or Mondeo trip computer can be added, has been done for years now.
- Earlier SVTs came with 205/55R16 so that is an option. Some run 225s on the stock wheels also.
- Why would you want to tow with a SVT anyway? Yes it can be done.
 
I started reading some of the manuals, and the EVTM says the clock was deleted because it was on the CD and/or cassette player. Haven't fiddled with it much since my new head unit arrived yesterday, but the track playing seems to override the "clock" function.

I don't know which type of fuel is in there now, so I guess I'll let it run low before filling with 91. Is there a cheap additive to boost the octane? It would have to be really cheap to cost less than 91 over 8, but maybe you would just need to add a little. The previous owner had done oil analysis and the results don't look like a 240k car at all. The manual supplement indicates
it should run fine with 87, but may not reach the pinnacle of "performance" the SVT is capable of. I need new tires before I try that.

The SVT "supplement" to the owners manual says that it comes with a short shifter as standard. I've never seen a MTX second generation non-SVT Contour, so I don't know if it is true or hype. I did buy a Contour short shifter off e-bay just to cut it apart and use it tor replace the crumbly reverse pull-up ring.

Why wouldn't you want to tow with your most powerful car with the best brakes and a manual gearbox? Insurance is $36/yr for my little utility trailer, and tell me that's not a better deal than a truck I would use every few months.

I'm headed to the JY after I hit "send" because apparently I need the clock with the blinky alarm light. Thank you all for your consideration.
 
BrApple is right ....... SVT's need higher octane fuel because they have lower engine cubic capacity and higher compression ratios.

Cheap fuel will induce 'knock' and/or 'piinging'.

What you save on cheap fuel, you will spend on maintenance and servicing later .....G.
 
I started reading some of the manuals, and the EVTM says the clock was deleted because it was on the CD and/or cassette player. Haven't fiddled with it much since my new head unit arrived yesterday, but the track playing seems to override the "clock" function.

I don't know which type of fuel is in there now, so I guess I'll let it run low before filling with 91. Is there a cheap additive to boost the octane? It would have to be really cheap to cost less than 91 over 8, but maybe you would just need to add a little. The previous owner had done oil analysis and the results don't look like a 240k car at all. The manual supplement indicates
it should run fine with 87, but may not reach the pinnacle of "performance" the SVT is capable of. I need new tires before I try that.

The SVT "supplement" to the owners manual says that it comes with a short shifter as standard. I've never seen a MTX second generation non-SVT Contour, so I don't know if it is true or hype. I did buy a Contour short shifter off e-bay just to cut it apart and use it tor replace the crumbly reverse pull-up ring.

Yes the clock was moved to the radio. One memory button was removed when that change was made.

Don't worry about running the fuel low, just fill it with what you want and go from there.

I will have to look at the SVT "supplement" again but I do not recall anything about a short shifter. IIRC, its exactly the same was the factory one from an SE.
 
yea it does say factory short shifter...Lmfao wish I could take a pic of it!

ALL svt's should be ran on quote "PREMIUM FUEL ONLY" 91 and up, that's what my manual says, that's what the dash says.
 
I only noticed the "PREMIUM FUEL ONLY" on the fuel gauge two days ago, since many cars just put a sticker on the fuel door. I just filled it up yesterday but had to hold the fueling nozzle at the 8 o'clock position to prevent it from shutting itself off. The previous owner had a fueling neck problem that he described in the forum, but I don't know if that's peculiar to the SVT. I've also noticed the parking brake lever only goes up a little bit. It seems to be engaged, but it also reminds me of the rusted-up cables I had to replace on my Chicago Mystique. Is that also something peculiar to the SVT to improve "drifting," or just something I need to examine closely when I start fixing rust spots underneath the car?
 
No, it may be frozen, simple way to check.. sit on a hill. pull hand brake.. see if it holds by letting off your normal brakes..if so then it's fine, and working correctly.

Your car has a common refueling issue, look up like Slow fill gas tank contour..or something like that.
I can't remember exactly what it is, but it is immensely annoying, especially if anyone is in a hurry. It took my 30+mins to fill my little 2.0 zetec a year or so ago at a gas pump.. :( I had to fill it literally 5cents at a time waiting like 5-10secs between.. UGH!!!!

I find setting the fuel nozzle all the way into the gas line, then pulling it out slightly say 3 inches or so.. helps alot, you may not be able to run it wide open yet but it helps speed the process up. try different angles.

Be careful of course..

Don't be ripping your ebrake cable in these cars trying to slide the rear around, I speak from experience, you will snap cables so fast your head will spin.

In the case that you feel it is to tight, as long as it is not dragging along the rotor (you would hear/feel/smell this) AND working correctly, then it is good to go. A few of my other tour/tiques had all sorts of varying degree's of working cables.. Want a pro hint?? pssst.. pull cables off a ATX car.. people NEVER use a parking brake in a ATX car.. one of my 1st true little mods.. :p l

My SVT has to go up maybe 2inches and it grabs perfectly and tightly.
 
The slow refueling issue has to do with a flapper valve at the base of the fuel filler pipe (to prevent fuel splash-back up the filler pipe) that was the wrong material and tended to swell and stick in fuels with added methanol (alcohol). There was a TSB and an owner notification program to install a new flapper under warranty, but I think the time limit to have that work done at the dealership is long past.
 
The slow refueling issue has to do with a flapper valve at the base of the fuel filler pipe (to prevent fuel splash-back up the filler pipe) that was the wrong material and tended to swell and stick in fuels with added methanol (alcohol). There was a TSB and an owner notification program to install a new flapper under warranty, but I think the time limit to have that work done at the dealership is long past.

Just to note that if someone has a returnless fuel system car and gets the upgraded fuel pump kit from Ford it will have a new flapper valve in it.
 
I just remembered that the car had been side-swiped on the driver's side and I confirmed that the doors were replaced. Not only does this explain the missing "tire" plate, but It also explains why there's rust on the bottoms of the passenger side doors but not the driver's side doors. The previous owner didn't have problems with slow filling, but mu Walmart station has some pumps which are fussy. I'll try another pump in a couple of weeks.
 
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