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Do You Think It's Worth It To Mod An SE ATX?

absolutely, however, power mods might be a waste of your time, but stuff like a nice suspension, going with the SVT body kit (which I have for sale mind you), some nice wheels, exhaust, intake, you can make the car sound and look and drive/handle super nice.

but any serious power gaining mods probably are a bad idea with the Auto trans, I would suggest upgrading your stock transmission cooler to something a little better to keep the trans from running too hot.
 
NO!

NO!

Nice car, good gas mileage, but long in the tooth. Leave it alone. You want speed and cool get a motorcycle. Good gas mileage, faster than snot, lots of fun.

Just this old farts opinion.
 
absolutely, however, power mods might be a waste of your time, but stuff like a nice suspension, going with the SVT body kit (which I have for sale mind you), some nice wheels, exhaust, intake, you can make the car sound and look and drive/handle super nice.

but any serious power gaining mods probably are a bad idea with the Auto trans, I would suggest upgrading your stock transmission cooler to something a little better to keep the trans from running too hot.

That was what exactly I had in mind actually. And with beefing up the trans, I read that somewhere on some site. Explain more if you can about it being a "bad idea".

Also, how much for the whole kit? haha

Edit:
Nevermind, I saw your post.
 
That was what exactly I had in mind actually. And with beefing up the trans, I read that somewhere on some site. Explain more if you can about it being a "bad idea".

Also, how much for the whole kit? haha

Edit:
Nevermind, I saw your post.

the auto trans on the contour is notorious for being... well garbage, they fail quite often due to overheating issues, a lot of people have helped this issue by adding an aftermarket B&M (I think?) trans cooler, which will allow for the trans fluid to cool much more efficiently, It also helps to flush your coolant system within the service period, and change your trans fluid using the drain and fill method.

what im saying is, putting lots of extra power through the trans gives you higher potential for tranny failure earlier on; things like intake, exhaust, headers, really aren't going to hurt anything, but when you are talking about forced induction then you are asking for a lot from the auto trans.
 
Haha, turbo is a no go for me. One, too expensive, and two, it'll be quite ridiculous on that car. But yes, I'm looking to do every bolt on as I can. And if I cant get an SVT from there, well..I'll stop anyways haha. But yeah, I just want to enjoy the car a little more untill I do get an SVT
 
Haha, turbo is a no go for me. One, too expensive, and two, it'll be quite ridiculous on that car. But yes, I'm looking to do every bolt on as I can. And if I cant get an SVT from there, well..I'll stop anyways haha. But yeah, I just want to enjoy the car a little more untill I do get an SVT

Get some koni struts and eibach pro springs to lower it nice and low, then get some nice wheels.

I actually have a set of Konis for sale right now.
 
I'll look into them, but right now, I'm in a bit of a money jam. Lame. But what I am going for would be in this order. Suspension, Rims, SVT exhaust with an SVT rear bumper (I think it looks weird with the SE bumper), finish off the SVT front and side skirts, and then other smaller misc pieces to go
 
Modding an ATX SE is about as stupid as modding a Zetec, but not as stupid as modding an ATX Zetec.... Just for frame of reference.

Keep it as a DD and buy a real car.
 
It depends. Do you really enjoy driving an ATX? Is there a reason you can't drive an MTX or is it just that you don't know how?

If you're really into automatic transmissions, them mod away. But don't waste your time or money modding an ATX simply because that's what you happen to have.
 
Well, it's really due to the fact that I dont own an SVT at the moment, I guess you could name as reason. So making the ATX SE a little more fun with a little more "piz-az" would help liven up the car. Nothing TOO drastic, just a little juicin' up, so to say.
 
I would say with the coin you want to put in this car, and what you really want is an svt, save that money and just buy an svt. To me it seems that it would suit you much better as it already has alot of what you wanna ad to your car!
 
Modding an ATX SE is about as stupid as modding a Zetec, but not as stupid as modding an ATX Zetec.... Just for frame of reference.

Keep it as a DD and buy a real car.
Hey no contour needs to be stock, not even an automatic zetec! lol...

As said before don't worry about power mods, only SVT's with good shells are really worth the money and time of 3L swaps, FI, etc. Other then that I'm in the same boat as you. Do what makes the car enjoyable. For example I just picked up some rims and tires off here, 15inch rim to a 16 and a 205/60 tire to a 225/50 for $250! With suspension, a good sounding exhaust, and some TLC it may become your favorite car.
 
save your money and get an svt. much more satisfying. i can understand u wana start "rolling in style asap". truth is u have to exercise a little patience. if u start spending money on ur atx se, it only pushes further the day u get an svt or anything else. bottom line is the svt is a better platform than the base models to mod.
 
Mod away and start with an ATX cooler. Yes the tranny can fail, but so do all trannys so don't get crazy. Since you mentioned adding an SVT exhaust yours must be a V6..... There are a lot of ATX's out there that are driven everyday. I'd say most Mystiques have the ATX. Perhaps even most Contours. You find more MTX's here since that's what came in the SVT's so a lot of folks have them. With that said you don't want to abuse it, that is kinda like power shifting a stock differential in a MTX with a 3L. Your asking for the big bang.....lol

You can make it perform more efficiently and better than stock, and look good. BTW where is a pic of your car? I like that comment that the svt is a better platform to mod.... I pose this: any MTX is a good platform to mod. My friend just put a 3L in his 95 MTX SE. That replaced his svt 2.5 he had in it. That is the best part of these cars other than the front end looks they are the same from 95 - 00 both contours and mystiques. You can swap parts interior, or exterior. Want and early mystique dash and console put it in. Add an svt front or rear swaybar, wheels, lower it a bit, svt intake, uim, lim, cams, exhaust, don't bother gutting the pre cats. IMHO a 96 SE MTX with all the options, some improved suspension and a 3L is the best Tour you could have. It would have the most options available, and a Mystique would even have more.

But start with the cooler, and tell us what options your car has now. Oh ya and put the clock back in, and if you have fog lights do the mod so you can have them on with just the parking lights. Do all the cheap stuff most of it is easy. Then work your way to more difficult things as you learn about the car. Get the Ford CD from Todras.

my 2 cents,
AF
 
You should just save your money and look for an SVT. Then the SE can just be your DD. Take your time, don't be in a hurry, and save for an SVT. You won't regret it.
 
So, I guess my decision as of now, is to have a bit more patience towards buying an SVT.

But this question came up when I've heard from friends of mine, after finding out I was selling the car, "Man, why? It's the cleanest Contour I've seen around. Ever" and stuff like that. Hearing that stuff makes me want to keep the car and keep that cred, you know? But also, getting that SVT would make a much bigger leap towards maitaining and also having that much better of a car.

But yeah, I guess my decision is to wait to save up for an SVT. I mean, shoot, I've been seeing some nice ones on here going for like, around 3 to 4000. Not that bad, haha
 
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