i was just wondering what some of you would consider the best mods you've done? I just bought a 98 contour 2.5L sport and wanted to know which mods would get me the most gain and hurt my wallet the least. I have looked at the cheap and basic mod threads and I'm not really seeing what mods i should start out with to really get a solid gain in power and performance. thanks for any help.
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best bang for your buck performance mods
- Thread starter tonyr570
- Start date
ukravit
CEG'er
If its a 5 speed then the SVT computer is one of the best mods. my second best mod was the Y pipe.
Smokinjoe
Hard-core CEG'er
Y-pipe, headers, SVT engine bits.
mrspindlelegs
CEG'er
Well, there are mods to improve performance and there are mods that prevent catastrophic failure due to Ford's corner cutting on the 1998 and later Contours and Mystiques. The mods you should consider for maintaining performance are:
1. If you have a 5-speed, pull the shift tower assembly and send it to Terry Haines at HMS to do what is called the "keyed" mod. The towers are notorious for breaking a bolt inside the shift tower. The head of the bolt drops into the interior of the transmission and often gets caught between the gears and the transmission case. This results in destruction of the case and requires replacement of the transmission. I won't quote the price of this since that is Terry's business.
2. Modify how hard you try and take off in the car to avoid wheel hop. Ford cheapened the differential inside the transaxle in 1998 making it ~ 20% weaker than the 1995 - 1997 transaxles. As a result, numerous owners have destroyed their transaxles due to the spider gears fracturing and blowing out the transaxle case. This modification costs you nothing.
You can do mods to the roll resistor mounts on the front and rear of the engine which will help lower wheel hop. Not expensive to do.
3. Still pertaining to the 5-speed, it's OK to romp on it once in a while when it comes to shifting quickly. However, if you plan on driving it hard (slamming shifts) often while performing modifications #1 and #2, the synchronizers won't hold up very well and you will end up with grinding gears during shifts (time to rebuild the transaxle). This modification costs you nothing.
Basically, the MTX-75 transaxle is just not very durable; especially ones made in 1998 and later.
Other preventive mods:
4. Put some sort of an oil catch can into the PCV system to significantly reduce / stop build-up of oily carbon residue in the intake manifold assembly. The Duratec V6 is notorious for building-up nasty deposits in the manifold which restrict airflow and can cause the throttlebody and secondaries to get stuck closed (moreso on the secondaries). Many owners will make their own filters but you can also buy filters that are normally used in air compressor systems to capture oil mist. Grainger is one place to buy these online. This can cost as much as $75 depending on the contruction of the filter housing (polycarbonate vs. steel). The biggest headache is where do you mount the filter in such a congested engine compartment.
5. You may need to pull your waterpump and see what kind of impeller it has. The earliest Contours used a black plastic impeller which was prone to fracturing resulting in the engine getting destroyed from overheating faster than the driver can react to shut it down and cool it off. Ford did change to a beige-colored plastic impeller which fixed the problem. I do not recall the exact year this change was implemented. My 1999 SVT had the beige plastic impeller. You can also buy a waterpump that has a metal impeller to total eliminate the worry about any plastic impeller breaking (pretty cheap mod).
And then there is the spun connecting rod bearing problem on 1998 and newer Duratec V6s (more common on the SVTs)....
Are you sure you have deep enough pockets to play the mod game? The general rule in speed is not how fast you want to go, it's how much you want to spend. In the case of 1998 and later Contours & Mystiques, the cost to go faster can escalate more rapidly than a lot of other cars because the drivetrain is just not very robust.
By giving you all these warnings, I'm trying to get across the principle of "Do the mods that make it last before you do the mods that make it fast." You will likely suffer much less frustration in the long run that way.
1. If you have a 5-speed, pull the shift tower assembly and send it to Terry Haines at HMS to do what is called the "keyed" mod. The towers are notorious for breaking a bolt inside the shift tower. The head of the bolt drops into the interior of the transmission and often gets caught between the gears and the transmission case. This results in destruction of the case and requires replacement of the transmission. I won't quote the price of this since that is Terry's business.
2. Modify how hard you try and take off in the car to avoid wheel hop. Ford cheapened the differential inside the transaxle in 1998 making it ~ 20% weaker than the 1995 - 1997 transaxles. As a result, numerous owners have destroyed their transaxles due to the spider gears fracturing and blowing out the transaxle case. This modification costs you nothing.
You can do mods to the roll resistor mounts on the front and rear of the engine which will help lower wheel hop. Not expensive to do.
3. Still pertaining to the 5-speed, it's OK to romp on it once in a while when it comes to shifting quickly. However, if you plan on driving it hard (slamming shifts) often while performing modifications #1 and #2, the synchronizers won't hold up very well and you will end up with grinding gears during shifts (time to rebuild the transaxle). This modification costs you nothing.
Basically, the MTX-75 transaxle is just not very durable; especially ones made in 1998 and later.
Other preventive mods:
4. Put some sort of an oil catch can into the PCV system to significantly reduce / stop build-up of oily carbon residue in the intake manifold assembly. The Duratec V6 is notorious for building-up nasty deposits in the manifold which restrict airflow and can cause the throttlebody and secondaries to get stuck closed (moreso on the secondaries). Many owners will make their own filters but you can also buy filters that are normally used in air compressor systems to capture oil mist. Grainger is one place to buy these online. This can cost as much as $75 depending on the contruction of the filter housing (polycarbonate vs. steel). The biggest headache is where do you mount the filter in such a congested engine compartment.
5. You may need to pull your waterpump and see what kind of impeller it has. The earliest Contours used a black plastic impeller which was prone to fracturing resulting in the engine getting destroyed from overheating faster than the driver can react to shut it down and cool it off. Ford did change to a beige-colored plastic impeller which fixed the problem. I do not recall the exact year this change was implemented. My 1999 SVT had the beige plastic impeller. You can also buy a waterpump that has a metal impeller to total eliminate the worry about any plastic impeller breaking (pretty cheap mod).
And then there is the spun connecting rod bearing problem on 1998 and newer Duratec V6s (more common on the SVTs)....
Are you sure you have deep enough pockets to play the mod game? The general rule in speed is not how fast you want to go, it's how much you want to spend. In the case of 1998 and later Contours & Mystiques, the cost to go faster can escalate more rapidly than a lot of other cars because the drivetrain is just not very robust.
By giving you all these warnings, I'm trying to get across the principle of "Do the mods that make it last before you do the mods that make it fast." You will likely suffer much less frustration in the long run that way.
SICILIANSVT82
Hard-core CEG'er
^^^
couldn't be more right! connecting rod bearings are a problem with the svt and contours and mystiques! my first svt contour suffered that flaw! i replaced mine (in my current car) at 101k! a very good investment! ive own 2 svts and both had the rod bearing problem. i wouldn't worry about fast just yet. with the age and history of these cars, you never know who beat the heck out of your car in the past! my rod bearings weren't too bad, but they started PITTING and making noise at 2-3k rpm. also the waterpump is a good idea as well! the stock plastic ones can shatter, after that you'll have big problems! also i don't know if many others have had an issue with their collets. the shift connectors at the end of the shift cables, but in both my cars, they both broke or just completely ripped out. very easy to check. Mrspindlelegs last phrase "do the mods that make it last before you do the mods that make it fast" is something to take highly into consideration before you spend money on power adders. if you do much searchin, and enough reading, you will find answers to every little question you can ask. i've learned sooo much about these cars and the platform just by reading on this forum....trust me you could spend weeks here!
RAD Merc SVT
CEG'er
When it comes to the MTX-75 this...
all of the planetary gears are supposed to look like the top one. Also, I didn't drive my car really hard and there are pictures with much worse damage to the differential. So be careful, do the mods you want to do for performance just watch how you drive it
all of the planetary gears are supposed to look like the top one. Also, I didn't drive my car really hard and there are pictures with much worse damage to the differential. So be careful, do the mods you want to do for performance just watch how you drive it
ilovesvt
Veteran CEG'er
About the transmission,its so true ive had a svt tranny go out on me back in 2006 because i tried burning out and chirping tires in between shifts and it wasnt cheap to get another in,And also if its a early 98 inspect the engine main harness,mine was thrashed and i was wondering why it would go fast lol.....what he said should be a sticky lol