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#49's new powerplant has arrived, let the build begin

The 3.56 final drive is great for any 3L, it will for sure help with the power you are going to have. I don't know where yours is coming from but Steve at Tousley was easily able to get the shaft and ring gear. The price was pretty good too.
 
I would also like to know the purpose of swapping back to the older shift tower. When I had my 02 trans fully built at HMS he didn't mention anything about that, just the keyed tower mod. And any more info on the twin blocked third gear? BTW you will love the 3.5 FDR, good choice.

*Edit*
I was told by Terry that the 01-02/focus shift tower very rarely has the bolt head break off, and thats why he offers the keyed tower mod to prevent that from happening.
 
will the will the 08 focus FDR fit in a 99 cougar trans? I believe it's the kind with the pinion gear as part of the shaft rather than pressed on.

I have the trans out of my coug to build while I finish destroying the one from the contour...
 
Blackcoog said:
What's Terry have to say that is so bad about the focus tower, which everyone else upgrades to?
Click to expand...

Yea I know as I 'upgraded' to it as well. One of the first things I did actually. However according to Terry the welds on the Focus tower can break under heavy load and the older version is more robust. His key mod takes out the pin issue, which is the common problem with the older version, which the Focus tower does not really have (even though there has been some instances of it).
 
RFcsvt said:
The 3.56 final drive is great for any 3L, it will for sure help with the power you are going to have. I don't know where yours is coming from but Steve at Tousley was easily able to get the shaft and ring gear. The price was pretty good too.
Click to expand...

Yup that is where I am buying it from

8S7Z-7061-A (output shaft) - $83.91
8S4Z-7F343-B (ring gear) - $86.11
Bringing the total to $170.02


aboythatskates said:
how do u change the final drive? iv been thinking about it
Click to expand...

You need a later model transmission 01-02 Cougar transmission, and the matching ring gear and output shaft mentioned above.

KAOS_3.0 said:
will the will the 08 focus FDR fit in a 99 cougar trans? I believe it's the kind with the pinion gear as part of the shaft rather than pressed on.

I have the trans out of my coug to build while I finish destroying the one from the contour...
Click to expand...

No. You need a 01-02 trans as mentioned above, as it has the updated shafts.
 
some of the earlier transmissions (mostly in 00 but possible some 99s) did get the later shafts. the only way to now for sure though is to look and see. IIRC there is/was a thread on FCO somewhere where Terry shows pictures of how to identify the output shaft from looking through the top where the shift tower goes.
 
Yeah fco has a very detailed thread about the fd changes and what parts are out there. I think it's in the "ask terry" section or something like that.
 
I've read it, I believe the "beater" trans I have in the car now is the later type from when I had it open, but I'm certainly not an expert...
 
Not much of an update, but thanks to CrazyTalkSVT, I got my dash cross brace blasted clean of all the rust that was on it. I painted it over the last couple of days...
Sad this is this is the only thing that has been painted. Shooting for next weekend now. As this weekend is shot.

dashbrace2.jpg

dashbrace1.jpg
 
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