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What did you do to your Contour today?

Well today I had to move the SVT finally, i needed heating oil and it's parked infront of the pipe where they deliver.. so i jumped it, unlocked it..pushed it forward 10feet, marveled at how good shape its in..cried a bit. :( someday i'll fix that diff... someday..lol
 
pulled it out of storage. ran it today and all is well. I store it with fresh oil in the fall so i'm going to run it again this week and drain and fill with Mobil 1 EP. after that doing the front brakes. EBC rotors and pads. Mustang comes out of the garage next :)
 
Why dump the oil with basically zero miles on it? Moisture concerns? I've wondered about this, and I've decided to simply change the oil every 2,500 or 3,000 miles, regardless of the time elapsed.
 
Why dump the oil with basically zero miles on it? Moisture concerns? I've wondered about this, and I've decided to simply change the oil every 2,500 or 3,000 miles, regardless of the time elapsed.

I use motorcraft synthetic in the fall just before storage rather than the old oil i ran during the spring/summer. After it comes out of its slumber I have fresh new oil ready to deal with any moisture and residue from sitting. after a few drives of an hour or so it get the motor really warm and the dirt and crap suspended in the new oil that has a fresher additive pack I then drain the oil hot. I then use the new Mobil oil for the spring/summer again and repeat. .............mileage doesn't apply since i use it about 1,500 to 2,500 per year. I find a fall and spring o/c to work and it would do more harm to leave the older oil in during storage and really for changing oil twice a year it doesn't cost much for the insurance. Do the same in the mustang.
 
Finished Phase IV of V of my stereo upgrade.


​Phase I: (many years ago) replaced factory speakers with Pioneer coaxials - huge improvement

​Phase II: (a few years ago) added tweeters to the A pillars - filled out the missing high end nicely

Phase III: sound deadened and acoustically sealed the doors - minor improvement with stock head unit

Phase IV: replaced head unit with Sony receiver (https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158G3150UP/Sony-CDX-G3150UP.html​) and bypassed and removed the factory amp. Cannot beat the price for $69! Doesn't have all the bells and whistles of some units, but is light years ahead of the factory unit in features, looks and sound.

​Phase V: (to be completed within the next few weeks) Install Alpine 500W mono amp under passenger seat and connect to a shallow mount 8" mini Pioneer subwoofer. I may check with the vendor for a possible swap for a larger 10 or 12" model depending on how it sounds. At age 62, I am more concerned with clean, full sound than with thumping down the street trying to impress.
 
I've done quite a bit to my Contour over the past few weeks to get ready for the track days this year, starting with VIR at Spring Zing next weekend.

Front strut tower brace installed
Subframe connectors installed
Four new StopTech slotted rotors installed
Four sets of new brake pads
Four new Dunlop Direzza ZII tires put on
Coolant flush and fill
Brake fluid flush and fill
Changed the oil

Let the fun begin!
 
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Hooked up my amp and test fired my sub. Worked first time! No smoke or nuttin'. As expected, the mini-sub made for a nice fill on the low end - nothing overpowering. Sounds great for my needs.

​Next, I obviously have to dress all the wires and mount the amp under my passenger seat and add the bass control - probably just through the plastic underneath the radio. I would prefer a sheet metal mount though.

I am just going to put the sub on the rear passenger floor. It is low and downward facing with short, wide legs, so I don't expect much movement. I doubt it has enough output to be heard/felt properly from the trunk, but it has enough oomph to fill the cabin from inside.
 

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​Providing your old rotors and pads weren't toast, did you notice improved stopping power?

Just installed them so I'm still breaking them in. This setup does have a proven record on here and the "feel" is much better than the centric set up I just had that sucked bad ( they where still new when i pulled them). I have used powerslots with friction master pads and brembo blanks with hawk hps bads ( none which are still available other than the hawk pads)and all where much better than stock and even the centrics . stock pads don't like a lot of repeated hard stops. remember tires effect braking also so i good set of performance tires with their grippy tread compounds aids in bite during braking. Sorry for the long answer but yes so far i really like them and are much better than some of the crap now offered for our platform.
 
Hooked up my amp and test fired my sub. Worked first time! No smoke or nuttin'. As expected, the mini-sub made for a nice fill on the low end - nothing overpowering. Sounds great for my needs.

​Next, I obviously have to dress all the wires and mount the amp under my passenger seat and add the bass control - probably just through the plastic underneath the radio. I would prefer a sheet metal mount though.

I am just going to put the sub on the rear passenger floor. It is low and downward facing with short, wide legs, so I don't expect much movement. I doubt it has enough output to be heard/felt properly from the trunk, but it has enough oomph to fill the cabin from inside.

​OMG! Next time I am going to hire a small child to help. Imagine a 200 pound senior man with 50" wide shoulders crawling under the driver & passenger side upside down trying to dress the wires without doing permanent neck & back damage or dislocating a shoulder and then getting out again without calling for assistance like a turtle flipped on its back.

​Someone should have warned me!
 
I bought some relatively cheap LED headlights for the low beam projectors that I retrofit last year. They are 6000k, and seem to throw a good amount of light compared to the halogen light bulbs that were in there. Much more even distribution, the halogen H1 bulb has a centered hot spot. Here are 2 pics to show the comparison:

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Finished my stereo install and put everything back together yesterday. The wires are all nicely tie-wrapped, tucked and hidden; and the amp is securely mounted under the passenger seat. The the subwoofer fits nicely on the floor behind the passenger seat. It is not secured, yet does not slide around at all. With tinted windows and dark carpeting, it is impossible to see from the outside. (Will get some photos up later.) The bass boost knob under the head unit looks like it belongs there.

I am really happy with the look and the sound. The Sony unit sounds great and the Pioneer sub-woofer is subtle, but fills out the lows that were missing without being obnoxious.
 
I wanted Bilstein B4 struts,looks like that's a no go. One place ( A Bilstein us dealer ) told me maybe 8wks but they would need to call me back after calling bilstein to confirm. I called Eric at B.A.T and he said doubtful on ever getting them, he hasn't had any in stock for very long time. i'm just going with the bat struts.
 
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Started painting my wheels last week
 

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I got my moog mounts from rock auto yesterday and my b.a.t. struts in today from fedex. Any one know who makes the struts for them ? kinda look like rebranded sachs. hope they work better than they look. Packaging left a little to be desired also.
 
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