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SE vs SVT engine question

kristiyano

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Messages
84
Location
Kensington, MD
Is there visual difference between the two apart from the UIM? I know i have red somewhere in this forum about the differences (not performance wise), but I cannot find the thread. I am asking because my friends SVT has had its engine changed by the first owner and we are not sure that it is an SVT engine. We are kind of wondering because he has heathers, y-pipe and a chip and at a simple pull in second gear (no clutch, just pedal to the metal) they are the same and mine is stock.
 
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As far as I know, there are no visual differences. Some non svt engines had grey valve covers which is different than the svt black valve covers. However, 95-97 non svt motors were black as well so that rules that possibility out.

Honestly though, the only real difference between the blocks are the higher compression pistons (9.7:1 vs 10:1 or 10.25:1 depending on year) and hand picked crankshaft. The majority of the hp is gotten between the intake and exhaust system.

Does he have any aftermarket wheels? My brothers is slighty modded and mine is bone stock but mine is slighty faster. I think its because he has heavier aftermarket 17" wheels.

The kind of chip he has can make a difference too. Some chips have actually been shown to decrease hp and tq because the tunes suck. I personally would only get a chip from Nautilus Performace.
 
No aftermarket wheels. His is 98 with E1 wheels that he put on like 6 moths ago. We tried it even without the chip and it is the same thing, which is kinda odd because we would assume that the chip was doing something, I guess not. His chip is "Superchip", but it has not been tuned for headers and y-pipe.
 
in my case a SE with every SVT part but flywheel and pistons puts out about the same power as a SVT. however the SVT feels faster where as my SE seems to have more torque
 
Secondaries work perfectly. Not too long ago we did UIM and LIM clean and both cars run like champs, but we expected a significant gain from the headers and Y-pipe, I guess the car needs to be tuned for the new mods (headers were installed like 7-8 moths ago with y-pipe).
 
Is there a vin number on the engine? I know some cars do. Not sure about the contour. It is too dark and cold for me to look at mine right now.
 
Do you have the dyno graphs? Scan them and post them up. One of the more noticeable differences between SVT and non-SVT engines is the cam setup. If it were a non-SVT engine/cams you should be able to see the power dropping off before the SVT did.

Or wait. I think I read it wrong, you're saying a pull on the street I take it? There are too many variables. At first I thought you were referring to a dyno pull.
 
It would perform terribly worse than an SE. You would probably lose to a zetec contour.

I highly doubt a SVT without secondaries opening would lose to a zetec contour! It would probably be neck in neck with duratech SE. Both would be around 140 at the wheels and the SVT would have great power down low as usual and just top out early on power.
 
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visually speaking,the svt engine should have little blue svt stickers on the top of the tb,the lim,the injectors should be a diff. color,pull the boot and the tb should be bigget as well.
 
none of which disprove that the engine was swaped with a stock 2.5 Duratec and had the SVT uim/lim/tb replaced on to the new engine.

All of those things point to SVT intake bits and not engine bits.
 
Yes, everything is SVT stuff from top to bottom, but still it doesnt mean that it is SVT engine. Anyway, thanks for the info everyone. I guess the best way to find out is a dyno run.
 
Yes, everything is SVT stuff from top to bottom, but still it doesnt mean that it is SVT engine. Anyway, thanks for the info everyone. I guess the best way to find out is a dyno run.

Yea, just see where it makes the power. More low end torque and a graph that dies in the upper RPM's is an SE motor. Less torque down low and pulls strong to redline is an SVT.
 
I highly doubt a SVT without secondaries opening would lose to a zetec contour! It would probably be neck in neck with duratech SE. Both would be around 140 at the wheels and the SVT would have great power down low as usual and just top out early on power.

I dont. Ask Josh about SZ06. he had some extra weight (2 people) and we were neck and neck. no secondaries is a lot worse than just some extra weight.:laugh:
 
One way to check would be to pull one of the valve covers off. Aicougar recently purchased an SVT as a parts car only to find exactly what you are suspecting with your situation. When and SE engine is installed most shops/mechanics wouldn't bother to take the time to swap the cams over. Not cost effective for a shop to do all the extra labor when the average customer would never think to check.
 
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