Buying SVT some advice please.

[jfarrell]

I am considering buy an 1998 SVT Contour for $4,250. It has 121,XXX miles, needs new sunroof motor and has a KN&N Air Filter. Other than those few things it is in good working order. If I do buy I am thinking about an Engine swap after a few thousand more miles. I am not sure. Give me opinions. Should I save a few more thousand and get a less miles one or what.

[beyondloadedSE]

Id say buy it. You can pick up SVT contours for dirt cheap these days. Im sure that motor still has some life in it, so its up to you when you wanna swap a 3.0L in there. And you can buy a brand new 04 3.0L shortblock for like $600.

[jfarrell]

An engine for $600 Dollars? With how many miles? What is the labor on those daddys? If i can get a cheap engine swap i will snatch that SVT up.

[beyondloadedSE]

Originally Posted by jfarrell

An engine for $600 Dollars? With how many miles? What is the labor on those daddys? If i can get a cheap engine swap i will snatch that SVT up.

Sorry, I quoted you wrong. The price is $526.91, not $600. That is a brand new 3.0L shortblock with 0 miles, direct from the dealership. Yet once again, contour.org to the rescue. click me for link Personally, if you have somewhat of an inclination of engines, I would do the swap yourself and save yourself on the labor costs. I swapped mine, and had never swapped an engine before in my life. Theres been about 50 others on contour.org that have done the swap before and theres tons of information and questions that have been answered on there if your looking for info. If you do the swap, I would at least add a set of msds headers to help that engine breathe. Might as well take full advantage of making some power. My friend here who has an svt is putting down 196 whp untuned on his 3.0L hybrid.

[jfarrell]

The 3.0L is an upgrade from the 2.5 SVT engine? How much horsepower does the 3.0 have? I had someone tell me the 2.5 is stronger.

[beyondloadedSE]

Originally Posted by jfarrell

The 3.0L is an upgrade from the 2.5 SVT engine? How much horsepower does the 3.0 have? I had someone tell me the 2.5 is stronger.

The 3.0L shortblock is generally used from a 99+ Taurus. Others have used it from an escape and lincoln ls. A full 3.0L swap will put out the same amount of horsepower as a 2.5L svt engine, but the 3.0L makes 200 ft.lbs of tq compared the svts 165 ft.lbs. Youll definetly feel that in the pants. If you swapped over the SVT upper and lower intakes, svt cams, and 60 mm throttle body to the full 3.0L, gains would be more.

However, what most poeple do is whats called an svt hybrid, which is where they use the 3.0L block and retain their 2.5L heads. This bumps compression up to 11.2:1 and makes significant power versus just the svt 2.5L. Youll at a minimum be making 225 hp and ive seen lightly modded svt hybrids make upward to 250 hp with simple bolt ons such as headers, intake, and a slight tune.

If your really wanting the most power, I would recommend a Taurus oval port 3.0L which gets rid of the primary and secondary split ports like we currently have on our 2.5Ls. A guy on CEG is running a full oval port 3.0L, ported and polished heads, svt cams, headers, port matched intakes, etc and is making around 280 hp.

[jfarrell]

If I took my SVT contour to a Ford Speed shop, do you think they would know what to do with the engine swap? I think I need a totally new engine because the one I am about to buy has 121,XXX. So I think when I get enough money for a new engine I will need a whole new one.

[beyondloadedSE]

Yeah, they probably would. Not to mention, theyll probably have a service manual on hand to help with the removal/installation. Expect labor costs to be $1000+.

[myconsvt]

you should buy it but rebuild it its only about $500 for a rebuild kit, and then throw a supercharger on it and you will be putting out more horses than with the 3.0 conversion. the 3.0 conversion is way over rated and pointless. i just rebuilt my 98 svt and put on a vortech supercharger and a few other goodies that i had on it before and i can spank my buddy with a 99 svt 3.0 conversion.

[beyondloadedSE]

Originally Posted by myconsvt

you should buy it but rebuild it its only about $500 for a rebuild kit, and then throw a supercharger on it and you will be putting out more horses than with the 3.0 conversion. the 3.0 conversion is way over rated and pointless. i just rebuilt my 98 svt and put on a vortech supercharger and a few other goodies that i had on it before and i can spank my buddy with a 99 svt 3.0 conversion.

Yeah, because you run a 12.5 right? Seriously, go and post somewhere else. If you knew anything about the Vortech, you would realize that its the biggest piece of junk for the car. It comes with no intercooler, you literally have to take it to redline just to make any boost, a 3.0L contour makes just as much tq as the vortech kit, and the failure rate is still at 100% because EVERYBODY that has bought one has stripped the jackshaft. A 3.0L swap is cheaper than the Vortech, more reliable, and I still havent seen a Vortech svt drop into the 13s. And they are trapping at what? Like 101-102? 3.0L svts are trapping that high.

Lets do a breakdown of the Vortech vs ADC turbo kit shall we:

No chip or tuning. $500 or more
No fuel upgrades $200-400 (injectors and pump)

Now it's $4500 vs $5000

No shaft support bearing ($300-500)

Now it's 5k vs 5k just to make the kit usable and maybe a little more reliable then it's 100% failure rate.


No intercooler. $1350+

Now it's $6350+ vs $5000

No headers. $650

Now it's 7k vs $5k

...and guess what...

Still makes substancially less power across the board.

Still out run by a NA 3L.


Vorcrap is Vorcrap regardless of now selling less kit for more money.

[myconsvt]

ok i do have more than just the supercharger, dont worry. and if you dont believe me about the times o well, maybe we will see each other on the street sometime and we can see if you still dont believe me. trust me it is my car.

[beyondloadedSE]

Originally Posted by myconsvt

ok i do have more than just the supercharger, dont worry. and if you dont believe me about the times o well, maybe we will see each other on the street sometime and we can see if you still dont believe me. trust me it is my car.

Can you please post a timeslip and list of mods. Where are you from? Im sure I could set up a race.

[zx2srdotnet]

weither way when tat sc goes(and it will) you'll be nothing but rice food

[Jason43]

What are you guys, stupid?
Why spend $500 on a proven engine swap when you can spend countless thousands on an underperforming, high failure rate supercharger. I mean, this guy says he's running a 12.4. Call me crazy, but thats proof enough for me.

[myconsvt]

i am from michigan so if you are anywere close that would be cool to set somethin up. and i will post the slip and list of mods a.s.a.p.