Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General New Owner, few questions

Hello, name's David. Just recently acquired a 1996 Mercury Mystique 5 spd V6, and I had a few general questions.

As far as maintenance what do I need to be on the lookout for on the engine and trans? I've heard that the water pumps can become an issue?

I'm assuming the 2.5 V6 is a detuned version of the one found in the SVTC? Meaning I will be able to use the same aftermarket parts on my engine, or since mine is a 96 will I need to find different parts?

How difficult is it to pull the motor on these cars? Reason I ask is that I bought the car with an engine that skipped time on one of the cams, but it came with a replacement 2.5 that I'll have to drop in. Any advice or helpful hints would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone for the help, hope to learn a lot from you guys!

David

Hey man I just joined today too, so I'm a fellow newbie.
I have had a 1998.5 Contour Svt for about 4 years now and as far as engine and transmission go I have had no problems at all. The car has been very reliable aside from an alternator that I had to replace a couple of years ago, I also had to replace both front wheel bearings but nothing very major. I don't know as much about the pre 1998 models but I believe most of the difference was cosmetic. Looking under the hood of my car the engine compartment is pretty tight so swapping the engine might be a pain but if you know what your are doing it probably would be no worse than any other car. Check the forums for tech advice, there's tons of stuff that I've found and I've only been looking for a few hours.

Water pumps are in issue especially with the older models, your water pump will go eventually (it's made with a plastic impeller for gosh sakes) unless your lucky and someone ahead of you has replaced it with a metal impellered wp.
Make sure you replace the plugs, don't trust the 100k mark that the manufacturer suggests. Just make sure you don't use bosch, it's best to go with motorcraft ones.
There are numerous othere little issues that pop up with any older car, at least with the MTX you'll have less spendy issues with teh tranny. (ie the atx cd4e is horribly expensive to fix!!)
Swapping engines is tough as it is a horizantly opposed engine but not too tough if you know what you're doing. Have fun the mtx duratech is one of the sweetest sounding engines out there and is a blast to drive. (I do miss mine even though ti was a atx.)

I know I sound like a broken record here, but while you have the engine/trans out, might as well drop a 3.0 in there.

Welcome to the forum

WP-any wp w/a metallic impeller will suffice. Most go through NAPA, I was able to get the prestone wp, through a local midwest autostore.

Headers-MSDS, but you will need a MIL eliminator, since it will throw the check engine light at you.

For all your performance questions see the duratec performance sections. Most likely all your questions have been asked, so be sure to use the search button and the FAQs and How-to's.

Wow, three noobs in two days.

Sorry, that one of them had to be from Ann Arbor:)

Like he said if you look at the FAQ on the main page you'll find a ton of good advice and common questions/concerns answered. Im waiting for my set of MSDS headers and definitely from what I hear put them on OUTSIDE of the car! It may look tight but there is no difference in the engine bay of the cars that would affect the swap of a 3L block or SVT engine.

I would suggest getting a SVT upper intake manifold, 2000 lower intake manifold, SVT TB, cold air intake (or svt stock intake at the least), msds headers & Y-pipe mated up to a used SVT exhaust (if you want a cheap dual catback) and youll have one mean sounding tour with some added gas millage gains!

I have a lot if not all of the mods to my SE and its a killer setup!

A few things that the SVT has that you dont and probably wont want if your not concerned about big power are SVT cams, heads, computer etc.

Welcome and enjoy the car!

ps- depending on millage you may want to check the timing chains to ensure you dont have to deal with them, but you'll likely not have to worry about that.