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Duratec 35 - Is it a possible upgrade?

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Hammy1105

CEG'er
Joined
Dec 7, 2005
Messages
172
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
Does anyone know if the new Duratec 35 engine will fit in the Contours? Sounds promising, might do that instead of the AER engine upgrade in the future.

That would be so much cleaner.
 

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Hammy1105 said:
Does anyone know if the new Duratec 35 engine will fit in the Contours? Sounds promising, might do that instead of the AER engine upgrade in the future.

That would be so much cleaner.
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if you had the kind of money it would take to install something like that, then what the hell are you doing driving a Contour,,SVT or otherwise
 
To the best of our knowledge, no one has tried it yet. The engine is of different design, so it is not a drop fit.

If you try it, you would be a pioneer. You know, the guy with arrows in his back. A couple of volleys have already been launched here.

Until someone tries it, no one knows, but you would have to fabricate mounts, possibly modify the oil pan, and come up with a way to use the PCM with wiring from a car that came with a 3.5.

If you try it, let us know how it went. That's what happened with the 3.0 conversion. At first there were a lot of nay-sayers, but eventually it became a popluar conversion.
 
The 3.5L is suppose to be slightly longer which means it probably won't fit. We don't have much room as it is between the pulleys and the fender well.
 
just because it's longer doesn't technically mean the transmission has to move since you're doing custom motor mounts most likely anyway.

Just depends on how much longer it is.
 
Barge said:
just because it's longer doesn't technically mean the transmission has to move since you're doing custom motor mounts most likely anyway.

Just depends on how much longer it is.
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It is longer, taller, and the crank centerline is different. Everything would have to change to have a chance at fitting it into a contour.

Possible? Yes. Worth the effort? No.

The 3.5L is a fine engine, but seeing as how the 3L has proven to be capable of putting out more hp than the contour chassis can effectively deal with leads me to believe that its not really worth the trouble for the 3.5L. And if one were to go to all that trouble and expense, why limit yourself to a 3.5L ??
 
Barge said:
just because it's longer doesn't technically mean the transmission has to move since you're doing custom motor mounts most likely anyway.

Just depends on how much longer it is.
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/Well, I don't know about you, but my engine has about 3/8" in front of the damper. If it is moved any more over than that, i t will require me to cut up the inside of my Wheel Well for extra room. So assuming the dif. between the 2 engine is more than 1/2", the tranny would be shifted which would require new axles.

I don't know all the differences. I'm just saying is a lot more complex swap than the one we already have available which is basically remove, disassemble, reassemble replace. his one would require a lot of fabication. Thats 1 of the reasons why this swap will never replace the current 3L swap.
 
posthuman63t said:
/Well, I don't know about you, but my engine has about 3/8" in front of the damper. If it is moved any more over than that, i t will require me to cut up the inside of my Wheel Well for extra room. So assuming the dif. between the 2 engine is more than 1/2", the tranny would be shifted which would require new axles.

I don't know all the differences. I'm just saying is a lot more complex swap than the one we already have available which is basically remove, disassemble, reassemble replace. his one would require a lot of fabication. Thats 1 of the reasons why this swap will never replace the current 3L swap.
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You are probably right, but if hot rodding had this attitude in early days we would have never seen a Chevy V8 powered Ford model A or Buick V8 engines in Studebakers. Never is a very long time.

I once predected that the 49 to 51 Ford would nearly replace the Model A as the chasis of choice for hot rodders. I was wrong.
 
At a certain point the contour starts to have diminishing returns to scale.. IE. that the more money you dump into it, the less power you get. Your still going to end up with an old car that drives the wrong wheels. Just my .02
 
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