Project Vortech Cougar

[99Mystique ATX]

It's been a while since I made any kind of update on the car's progress so here's where I am...

The Contour is back up and running and I'll either keep driving it, let the gf drive it or sell it. It runs very well and has the trans from the Cougar and stock SVT engine from a troll's old car. Overall it seems to be running well and aside from a P1518 code on the first drive for a bad IMRC it's been good so far.



Tires are now mounted and balanced on the centerlines...


Motor prep work is coming along well. Several parts are out now to be cleaned and prepped to reinstall probably this upcoming weekend. Resurfaced flywheel and new clutch installed as well as bolted up my HMS trans.



MSDS Vortech-spec header installed... Man that bolt was a nightmare to get tightened up...


All in all it's coming along well it's just been a slow process with me working out of town and not being able to do much if anything during the week. I'm hoping to have the motor ready to go back in by the end of this weekend though and hopefully be driving it by the end of August. Just in time to drive it for a month and it to go into storage...

[99Mystique ATX]

Ok so as an update, the motor/trans is back in the car and we should be up and running next weekend. I was shooting for this weekend but ran into a snag. I went to install the radiator and found that there's a large gap between the fan assembly mounts and the radiator mounts. Take a look at these pics:





I'm wondering if 01-02 Cougars had a different fan assembly? I know others have installed SVT radiators on non-svt's and I've never heard of anyone needing to swap the fan assembly as well. Any thoughts?

BTW, more pics to come later on...

[Pole120]

SVTs have specific fan shrouds with shorter sides to accommodate for the additional thickness of the rad core.

[99Mystique ATX]

That's what I was thinking based on what I've got here. I was just surprised by in considering I don't think I've ever heard of anyone swapping both the radiator and fan assembly on non-svt. It could be made to fit but it would not be pretty and with the Vortech you need as much clearance as you can possibly get.

[Pole120]

That's what I was thinking based on what I've got here. I was just surprised by in considering I don't think I've ever heard of anyone swapping both the radiator and fan assembly on non-svt. It could be made to fit but it would not be pretty and with the Vortech you need as much clearance as you can possibly get.

I only know about it because I had a really low mileage fan assembly I wanted to throw into one of my projects and discovered the fitment issue on my own. I've got those measurement on the spacers you were looking for too. PMing you back on NECO.

Just a note regarding my install. I will not be spacing the rad out on the track car. I've decided instead to install aftermarket pusher fans to the front side of the rad because I don't have AC etc.

[csvtjohnga]

Lookin' great man!

[99Mystique ATX]

I only know about it because I had a really low mileage fan assembly I wanted to throw into one of my projects and discovered the fitment issue on my own. I've got those measurement on the spacers you were looking for too. PMing you back on NECO.

Just a note regarding my install. I will not be spacing the rad out on the track car. I've decided instead to install aftermarket pusher fans to the front side of the rad because I don't have AC etc.

Thanks for sending me the dimensions of those spacers, I'll have to model them in cad and have my local machine shop make a couple up for me. If I was ditching the A/C system, I'd go that route as well for the fans. At this point I've sourced an 'svt' fan unit and it should be here for next weekend.

Lookin' great man!

Thanks man! It's been a long and drawn out project but I'll be getting it going soon. Spoke with my tuner yesterday and he's looking forward to seeing what kind of power we can get out of it!

Made a good bit of progress this weekend but didn't get it running due to the fan/radiator issue. There's not a whole lot left to do so hopefully I can at least get it started and running next weekend. We'll see, I've been saying that for a couple weeks now!

Here's a pic of where it sits right now...

[csvtjohnga]

Im going to work on my dump to get it running this winter, no blower though. Don't have the time or money to throw at it. I need to stop putting miles on the Lightning. Get those centerlines thrown on! Thems is sexys!

[99Mystique ATX]

I agree, for now it's going to have the ugly stock wheels. I want to put some miles on it to make sure it proves to be fairly reliable and doesn't need any more work and then I'll box in the rear subframe, upgrade the swaybar and get it aligned. I probably will throw the centerlines on for some pics if I have time though...

[CSVT1214]

Can't wait to see this done! Very jealous. I haven't even finished repairing mine and running in stock form.