Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle Shift cables for my swap

For my MTX75 swap into a Taurus I have a set of 98 'tour cables. I have cut the obligatory hole and run them from the shifter to under the the hood. IF they fit once the driveline is in place they will be VERY tight...

The dealer shows two different part numbers before and after a mid 98 build date. Does anyone know if either of the two sets is longer or know of another car that uses the same cable ends and retainers that might be longer? I checked and the Cougar uses the same part nubmer as the 'tour as suspected.

Maybe does someone have a cable set from a 99 or newer that they could measure? My local dealers have none in stock so I couldn't even compare there.

Thanks,

Scott Krietemeyer
"Project Rowboat"
http://www.venom.org/shofiles/project_rowboat/DSCN3201.JPG

There are really two cables. And now, there is only one. Ford has discontinued all but the Cougar cable. They are both the same length and as an assembly are interchangable. They accept different cable ends and although the assemblies are interchangable, the cable ends will not interchange.

The Focus uses a similar cable with still different cable ends. The Focus cable is about 2" shorter. The Focus cable ends will work on the early cables, but the Focus shift tower uses a ball end where the cable end connects instead of a straight pin end.

If you use the Focus shift tower you will either need the Focus cable ends on the early cables or you will need to find a way to change the ball ends of the shift tower to the streight ends so that you can use either of the Contour/Cougar cables.

That is probably more than you wanted to know, but basically I don't know of a longer cable unless there is something from europe on still another application using the MTX75 trans that is unknown in the US.

Really the tranny side cable ends are threaded onto the end of the cables I have. So the real question is what else might FoMoCo be using the shifter assembly in the 'tours in (provided the cable retainer to the bracket is the same).

Well I guess if it doesn't make the length, I may have to pony up some big $ for some custom cables. I'm sure the marine industry can help in a pinch as similar stuff is used for boat throttle cables.

The marine cable idea sounds pomoising.

If you would like to see some pictures of the cable ends go here:

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=tranny&Number=964621&Forum=All_Forums&Words=150&Match=Username&Searchpage=2&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=945479&Search=true#Post964621