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My 3L Project

E

EnoSonic

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 28, 2002
Messages
57
I just finished removing the 2.5L and swapped all the accessories. Thanks to 3lduratec.com for the engine. Tomorrow is the day to drop this in. My mechanic is kind enough to let an inexperienced mechanic like me help. It has been eye opening. Gives me a greater appreciation to all those who have done the swap themselves.

I do have one concern. We didn't drop the subframe nor remove the transmission before pulling the motor out. My mechanic seemed frustrated and started to seriously tug and wedge on it before I could stop him he had pulled the wires completely out of the Crank Position Sensor plug. The sensor is fine, and I assume I can just rewire the plug to work again.

I guess I have two concerns. When we start to put this back in, I really want to make sure that I don't muck up the alignment of the input shaft and such for the clutch. My mechanic ended up removing the transmission mount connections so he could slide it back while we dropped it in. I should have taken the advice of the local contour guys and done this with one of them. My mechanic...soon to be ex-mechanic...absolutely hates fords now. This is scary because when you hate something you dont pay enough attention to the small details.

Someone should do a play-by-play on the swap. I know that would be a ton of work, but a true lover of the Tour would be willing to do it. Any takers? I am too far past the time to start the duratecumentary.

I will let everyone know how it goes. I may need more help once this swap is done. I worry that my mechanic wont know how to troubleshoot if he cant get this running.

Story of my life, "trust no one even if they say they know how to do something unless you heard it from 3 or more people".

Signing off, frustrated Tour owner...Neal
 
BTW...I have the following parts going in:
1) MSDS Headers and Y
2) Spec Stage 2 Clutch
3) Stock Flywheel
4) Optimized TB
5) Spark Stuff

Nothing too impressive...just thought I would add it to my thread...
 
I'm actually surprised he got the engine out while leaving the transmission in there. Normally you leave them attached and pull them out the top or drop the entire subframe and lift the car off the engine and transmission.

BTW it seems to be common to have broken injector plugs on the returnless cars so make sure they click down or zip tie them down so they don't come up and stop the injectors from firing.
 
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Yeah, I was surprised too! It came out pretty easily. Turns out it went it decent too! I ended up taking the cv joints out and left the transmission in without connections to the transmission mount and tipped the tranmission up to mate the engine. I suggested to my mechanic that we remove the transmission and he was staunch against it. Oh well.

I finally got the engine back in and hooked up all the connections. I was able to jimmy the crankshaft speed sensor plug by stealing the metal connectors out of another plug. I will be going by the junk yard for the plug and will splice it later.

After plugging in everything, I did a few quick pulse starts to get the oil pressure up before I started it. It took two tries to get it started. The first acted like it wanted to start, then the second it fired up. It was rough! tickin' and tockin' and I was seriously sweating! I turned it off quickly in fear. I then started it again and left it running. It fluctuated(sp?) rpms and roughness and then seemed to level out. I guess the engine mngmt needed to reprogram. The ticking still is happening. The Tour used to click often when it was low on oil. I will check that tommorrow. Any other suggestions?

It also turns out that the power steering pump is bad, leaking from the backside bottom of the pump. This, and oily hands on the exhaust, is the main contributing factor for the smoke. All other fluids remained in their appropriate areas and looks good. Tommorrow I will be replacing the power steering pump and towing it to a local shop so they can run it through their system and verify the whole thing is kosher (hopefully they have a priest).

I do have one serious concern. I installed the MSDS headers and the MSDS Y-pipe and I love their sound. That isn't the issue. I am concerned that these are causing issues with the engine mngmt system throwing a check engine light. Is there a bypass that I need to buy? I had to do something like that in my mustang when I went cat-less...

Should I also move over my stock cams off my 2.5l Tour to the 3.0l? Are there power gains to be had?

Thanks for you input...and suggestions.
 
Well, it is the MIL eliminator that I need to make or buy. I will probably just spend $40 on a pair from dallasmustang.com. That is where I bought them from for my mustang a while ago. Unless I have someone willing to fabricate a set for me for some cash. I would rather give money to my fellow CEG'ers.

Also, I was thinking about sending my Tour to stage6 here in Jacksonville. They are pretty good tuners. I will let you know how that goes. I am going to probably get the XCAL2 tuning type. Stay tuned...

I still haven't seen anything on the svt cams on a 3.0l head...anyone have ideas?
 
Can I put them in the 3.0l heads? I have them from my old 2.5l. I am not sure the gains or what to be aware of if I swap them out. It just makes me nervous.
 
Well, I figured out the tick...only 5 quarts of oil were present. I added another quart and whalla its as quite as a mouse.

I took the contour over to unleashedtuning.com to get tuned with the XCAL2, I will let everyone know how it goes. I toured their shop yesterday and they share the bays with Stage6 (a well known turbo & blower shop). Pretty schnazie!

I will probably rock with the cams soon...I want to see how the 3.0l cams run with my setup. Stay tuned...
 
I have the SVT cams in my 3.0L. They are supposed to be better in the top end while the 3.0L cams are for mid range.

If I do a rolling start in 1st gear at about 10mph I floor it. When the RPM gets to 4000 the wheels start loosing traction. Going staight with my Torsen LSD. I should pay warmonger for a tune, but I am out of work right now.

Did you keep the secondary butterflies or go with the 3.0L intake?
If you do not get the IMRC completely worked out on the tune you should rig up some sort of spring on the cable and leave the IMRC plugged in somewhere. If the cable does not have a return spring it will throw a CEL.
 
Good to hear you got it running and figured out your noise issue. I'd skip the SVT cams at this point now that the engine is in. It is a pain to try to get different cams in there now. You need to strip it all down, drop the alternator, pull the timing cover, pull the timing equipment, pull the cames and then reverse. It isn't an easy job. It's almost easier to pull the engine out to do it.
 
LOL! I wont do the cams any time soon. Thanks for everyones help on this.

One last question...My MAF is bad and is causing a rough idle. Do I need to buy the replacement 2.5L MAF or can I buy the one for a 3.0L? What is the diameter of the MAF?
 
I would get the 2.5 one since it will be configured to your pcm.

I have no idea if the 3L one would require anything for it to work or not...I'll let someone chime in on this
 
That is what I assumed, and did. I am headed out of town next week so the tune shop has all week to figure this out.

I changed my plugs today to the bosch4 plugs and noticed that cylinder #5 plugs were covered in oil. Is this something to worry about? How do i fix this? The car runs and seems to be fine, but I need to make sure that nothing is going to come back and get me later...any ideas?
 
I still have a rough idle, could the plugs be the reason? I will put the autolites back in. When I changed the plugs I found that cyl5 plug was covered in oil. How do I fix that?

I am searching now for the other idle fixes. Any help would be great...
 
Plus I only got 185hp and 174tq on the dyno, that seems low...I am pretty sad with this now...
 
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