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My 3L Build

Quicksight

CEG'er
Joined
Mar 11, 2014
Messages
219
Location
Ripley, WV
Hey guys! Well im just posting my 3L build on here so people an see what I'm doing! First off: I have a 1998.5 CSVT. I love the car, it's silver and has 148,xxx miles on it. It looks brand new and the interior is almost perfect. 3 years ago I installed a new clutch and purchased new tires for it. Also installed new rear bearing and rear struts. I felt like I had a new car and then I started hearing a ticking sound...lol. I showed one of my friends and he said "park this car and don't drive it". So I did that. Before I could get home the tick turned into a soft knock and QUICKLY got worse and worse. At the time I didn't know what this was. However after having my mechanic look at it I found out the motor was shot. So the car has been parked for almost 3 years now.
 
So you all know what this story is leading up to: A 3L SWAP!!! needless to say I'm SUPER excited about doing this swap. Today is Sunday, friday I drove to Athens Ohio to pick up a 2005 Taurus DOHC VIN S motor with 100,000 miles on it. I got it for 250$. After picking up the motor I am VERY pleased with the condition of the motor. Funny too because my initials are now on the motor which is kinda cool to me. I was going to use my friends garage in a few weeks from now to do the swap, however my brother and I COULD NOT wait to start :) So Saturday I got started around 1:00 PM
 
After about 40 hours of research ive decided I am going to do the full 3L and port match my SVT intake manifolds. The reason I chose this route is because it seemed to be the cheapest and easiest. Also there is no where near me (WV) to get a tune. So Saturday I tore down my 2.5, taking out the battery and battery holder, removed all the intake components and disconnected the two fuel lines going into the intake/fuel runners. Unplugged all vacuum lines and the two EGR bolts. Also removed all the coolant lines that go into the driver side of the motor. I went ahead and removed the coolant resivour (spelling??lol) and got it out of the way. Also the coil pack, and the IMRC box. The car is jacked up and the front wheels are off now. More to come!
 
The 3L motor is on my engine lift in my shed. I tore off the plastic intake manifolds and removed all the wires. Tonight my goal is to continue removing my 2.5L so I can put the 2.5 on an engine lift and start switching things over. I'll keep you guys updated!
 
Sounds like you're off to a great start. Good luck. Lots of good info on here and a lot of experienced folks read this section almost daily. We're here to help if you get stuck.

Just so us old folks are not confused. Of the 3 different 3L options, we call your build type a 'port-matched 3L'. The 'full 3L' would use the stock plastic 3L intake manifolds. The 3rd, and least common, built type we call a 'hybrid 3L' and that is the 2.5L heads on the 3L block.
 
Sounds like you're off to a great start. Good luck. Lots of good info on here and a lot of experienced folks read this section almost daily. We're here to help if you get stuck.

Just so us old folks are not confused. Of the 3 different 3L options, we call your build type a 'port-matched 3L'. The 'full 3L' would use the stock plastic 3L intake manifolds. The 3rd, and least common, built type we call a 'hybrid 3L' and that is the 2.5L heads on the 3L block.

This was in the stickies with pics to help explain/show the difference. http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?p=505477

Edit: I see that you've already been in there lol. :crazy: Are you using the 3L cams and timing equipment tho? That's what I'm assuming you meant when you said full 3L. If you are using the SVT intakes, whether you are using the SVT timing components or the 3L, it is called a port-matched as mentioned above because you are grinding and matching the ports of the 3L head to the SVT LIM.
 
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This was in the stickies with pics to help explain/show the difference. http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?p=505477

Edit: I see that you've already been in there lol. :crazy: Are you using the 3L cams and timing equipment tho? That's what I'm assuming you meant when you said full 3L. If you are using the SVT intakes, whether you are using the SVT timing components or the 3L, it is called a port-matched as mentioned above because you are grinding and matching the ports of the 3L head to the SVT LIM.
W

Yea sorry guys. As soon as I typed "full 3L" I knew I would cause confusion. I'm doing a port match 3L swap. Not a full 3L swap. What I did mean was I am using the 3L long block (3L block and head) and the 3l cams. Yea that sticky that explains what the different swaps are called was very helpful. Although I guess I didn't apply my learned knowledge LOL cause I said full 3L lol. Sorry guys.

Well today I'm going to Pittsburg to meet with my wife's surgeon. She's getting surgery April 28th. So I will not be working on my car for at least 4 days. I hope to start again Thursday. More updates to come! Have a great day :)
 
Well guys I got back from Pittsburg around 6:45 and at 6:50 I started wrenchin on my contour :)
BasicAlly tonight I removed my exhaust (the y pipe and the cat back to the next connection). I also got the axles out. So far that's been the most difficult thing. The driver side didn't come out easy but we got it. I removed the rubber bushings and trans supports (they prevent the motor from turning forward and back, I forget the name of them) also did some other odds and ends. I'm basically ready to hook up the motor lift. I have blocks and wood underneath my motor and the only motor mount still hooked up is the one on the drivers side.

I have a few questions that have come to mind: the motor I bought does not have the rear exhaust manifold. Will my 2.5 ones work on the 3.0? Also does the passenger side motor mount slide out from underneath the heads, or do the heads have to come off to remove it? Other than that everything is going really smoothly. I could figure out the answers to my questions just by proceeding with stuff but it'll clear my head If y'all give me the answers :)

Well im off to bed. Hopefully (if I have a short day or work tomorrow) I can have the motor out tomorrow around 7:00 and start the fun stuff :) Y'ALL HAVE A GREAT EVENING!!!!
 
You HAVE to use the 2.5L exhaust manifolds for it to bolt on to the stock exhaust.

The metal motor mount between the heads, yes, one of the heads has to be pulled.
 
You HAVE to use the 2.5L exhaust manifolds for it to bolt on to the stock exhaust.

The metal motor mount between the heads, yes, one of the heads has to be pulled.

What about installing the motor mounts on the 3L. Does the head have To come off? Thanks :)
 
There is a picture floating around with the areas required to be ground down/off so that you can wiggle it between the 3L heads.
 
I got my plates in today and man do they look sweet. I'm convened about porting the entire size of the plates. I don't wanna make the head too thin. Do I port all the way to the plate and is this safe to do so?
 
Correct, pull your 2.5L motor mount out from between the heads by removing a head. To use the 2.5L mount on the 3L, do not remove your 3L heads. You will grind/modify the mount to slide between them.


34044d1214973203-3l-port-matching-mount-ground.jpg

34045d1214973203-3l-port-matching-mount-ground-2.jpg

34046d1214973203-3l-port-matching-mount-ground-3.jpg

34047d1214973203-3l-port-matching-mount-ground-4.jpg

34048d1214973203-3l-port-matching-mount-ground-5.jpg




blu_fuz said:
I just wanted to comment on the grinding of the mount to fit between the mounted heads on the 3L. I didn't have to grind as much as shown earlier to get it to slide in with no problems.

I started with an '01 cougar mount and my motor is a '05.

The big chunk out of the power steering pump side is necessary as well as the firewall side the PSP face of the mount being almost ground down to the hole where the bolt goes in. Also the "fin" that rides up the mount on the curve needs to be cut down flush to the mount but only like half way up the mount. The "fin" is all you can really see in the bottom pic :blackeye:

The other angled grinding marks on the bolt locations is not necessary, at least for my situation.
The two holes at the bottom of the first pic I didn't have to grind at all nor the side of the mount between the right bottom most hole and the right top hole.

All the bolt-head flush surfaces of the mount were complete and untouched accept the upper most right hole area that you have to almost cut in half.

I should have took pics of mine, but didn't.

****Also, don't try to slide the mount straight in from the timing cover side. Go a couple inches higher and tip the mount into postition at a little angle. I tried going straight in and there was just too much material to remove from the mount to be feasable.
34048d1214973203-3l-port-matching-mount-ground-5.jpg



I just want you all to save as much time as possible, so like aircougar stated, grind a little and check, grind some more and check again.
Hope this helps anyone

This is the only pic I have right now:
3Lbuild087.jpg
 
Man those pictures are gonna be super helpful! Thankyou!

Well guys just a quick update: I luckily got my motor (along with trans) out today. The engine lift I got is a really good one however; I did not extend the top part of the jack so it will give me more height. LOL I BARELY got the motor to slide over the front section of my car, I did not have a jack on hand so I couldn't lower thr car some which would have saved me big time. Instead I man handles the tranny to pursued the motor to slide across the front of my car (with a piece of wood protecting it of course ;)

So my motor and trans are both out on my driveway. I was following some of the engine removal guides over on newcougar.com and one guy said to remove you AC compressor. I started to do that and the last bolt head stripped out : / so I just left it in and pulled the motor any way and it went well. I did forget to mention:

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COIL PACK SCREWS IN YOUR READ VALVE COVER WHILE REMOVING THE ENGINE, it put a crack in my plastic piece up by the wipers. So far that and the ac is all the problems I've had. I started porting out my 3.0 heads and man is that gonna take a while! I'm gonna have to find a quicker route just to save me some time.

I got my plates in today, I ordered all new gaskets for the 3.0 (timing cover kit, valve cover kit, front/rear main seals, oil pa gasket and UIM LIM gaskets)
Tomorrow I'll start the fun parts. However I don't think the porting is gonna be fun cause it's gonna take so long. Goodnight guys!
 
All the way. It's alot of porting, worst part of a portmatched 3L by far...

You will want to be judicious with the creation of the 'injector valley in the 3L head. That's really the only spot you could go too thin.

What are you using to port the heads? If you are using a pneumatic die grinder, you can start out with a pretty aggressive carbide bit. I think I ended up spending about 45mins to an hour per port. Yeah, it was time consuming, but went in three stages from rough grind to polish.

second3l007ks1.jpg
 
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