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The Digital Slacker

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
1,705
Location
Lancaster, PA
I'd like some assistance going over a few of the systems on the SVT. The things that have me slightly concerned are: The BAT camber/caster plates I had installed are able to free-spin on the top of the strut towers... I don't think thats supposed to happen. I also feel like there is some ... resistance / notchyness in the shifter. I've only ever driven one other SVT (probably a decade ago) and I feel like it was much smoother. When i bought the car in 2005ish i was told there was an updated trans in it but I don't know of a way to verify / validate that. I'd like somebody else to take it for a quick spin and see if they feel the same way.
 
.... the camber plates were flimsy in the original kit .... there were some thicker top plates being sold at one stage ..... your top plates may be bowed. The top rubber bush under the top plate may be worn. ( underneath at the top of the wheel well)

There were some minor gear ratio differences depending which continent your get your transmission from (search Mondeo).... the most common upgrade was the shift tower.

If you have a Haines transmission, then you have something worth reconditioning.

Notchiness can be caused by the plastic bushings failing on the end of the shift cables, at the shift tower end,. Hard to engage gears can be syncromeshes.

Hope that's given you some keywords to search ....G.
 
Am pretty sure the BAT front C/C plates are Specialty Products No. 89675,
http://www.spcalignment.com/componen...tion&pid=89675
BAT doesn't list them in their Contour/Cougar catalog updated June 2016.

I've never been particularly impressed with the engineering in the SP Contour C/C kit, they seem to be weak and subject to bending and distortion, and there is some searchable info here about them potentially causing breakage in the top stem of certain brands of front struts, it might have been Konis.

If the car hasn't been hit, and you don't need them to correct an alignment problem, and you're not looking for extra camber and caster for racing or open tracking, you're probably better off without them, just use the stock upper strut mount components.

Gorman is right, the upper front rubber mounts which support the strut turning bearing and the front spring load have been known to collapse and allow the mount on top of the strut tower to gap away from the sheet metal. The best solution is to replace them with a part of known good quality from a supplier like BAT. Buying these parts from an online supplier like RockAuto is a crap-shoot, some of RA's low cost suppliers don't use rubber of the correct stiffness (durometer), resulting in early failure. I've parts from RA with rubber durometer all over the map in aftermarket lower rear engine roll resistors for the V6 Contour.

For the shifter, go underneath behind the driver's front wheel with a light and look up where the shift cables connect to the levers on the shift tower, the rubber bushings at the ends of the shift cables are often missing or woggled out. This will cause a lot of free-play in the shifter. Shifting notchiness is defined differently by different folks. Difficulty getting into gears can be from bad or missing shift cable bushings, or it can be internal to the trans such as worn synchro assemblies, or even using the wrong lubricant in the transaxle.
 
Gmorrell, that link looks like the plates I have. I had a shop install all of the suspension so i'm not fully sure how it all goes together and comes apart. AKA I don't think i can just remove them.

Gorman, my understanding was that he had 3rd gear grind (maybe? my memory isn't great) and ford swapped it under warranty for a 2002 cougar trans or something like that. Maybe I can call the ford dealer and see what records they have for recall work.

I'm going to try to find a few moments to jack up the car and look at the shifter from underneath but its hard with the car being lowered and my garage being small.
 
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