Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting SVT engine replacement options?

My E0 spun a bearing last week: the engine is hosed.
What to do... large amounts of un-budgeted-for funds to be spent soon, so I figured why not let everybody in on the fun? Swaps/rebuilds/salvages (oh my!); what works well within the following parameters? And perhaps most importantly some good service referrals (especially in the LA area) - so have at it guys! Who the hell knows what you'll come up with?

Here's my parameters:
1. The kids & I are walking now: I need to handle this soon.

2. This IS my only vehicle, reliability is paramount (downtime is NOT playtime).

3. Gotta be professionally installed. That means all three: proper tools, experienced, AND fair (by that definition, the Dealer does NOT qualify: they want ~$5800 to swap a rebuilt long block - cha ching! - OR, they could give me $3.5-4K for it as a trade in (!!!) Hmmm... laugh, cry, or break out the Molotovs? :rolleyes: ).

4. It must pass CA emissions without surgery or bribery.

Note: My ride's a keeper, for this kind of coin I'm eyeing SHOShop's 3L... ooh, and an Accusump, and an electric water pump, and that upcoming Ford y-pipe, and a Quaife, and DAMMIT do those kids have to eat EVERY DAY???

Hopefully this thread will become a very useful resource for those who, like myself, need the ever-present option for a fantastic driving experience while enduring those long, slow, leisurely rush hour commutes.

I have costs on crank etc,will pm you re our chat Regards Terry Haines,HMS Inc

Yep, dealer's about right on. My EO has 42k miles, great shape, appraises for around $9-10k where I live (still looking around as always). So, yes, depending on your miles it's only worth around 4-5 grand rt unrepaired. Sorry to hear about your engine. If it was me, and I needed a ride fast, I'd demand 5k on a trade and call it a day (after writing many nice letters). Otherwise, sorry to say you'll be in rentals (eeew) for several days at least, but it might be worth having a '0 mile' engine if you can put up with it. What's the warranty for all that cash, I wonder? I'd look into that before deciding anything.

Gee, I feel stupid asking, but how'd you spin a bearing? Low oil, racing, outta the blue? Just curious.

Some history: I'm the original owner, the vehicle is driven like a street CSVT (it's my family sedan/can 'o whoop-*ss waiting to happen :p ), nice condition & properly maintained, 60K, oil changes ~ every 3300 miles, it's all original equipment except for the drop-in K&N air filter... and the new water pump (the usual black-impeller-catastropic-failure DID cause an overheat 14 mos. ago, thanks Ford ).

Death of an Engine: It started lightly knocking about a month ago (like a tank of bad gas), and recently I noticed a slight loss of power. Just mindin' my biz one afternoon last week (pulling into the garage at home) it became a loud knock, so within 15 minutes I had it at my local mechanic. Hood up you could tell the knock was at the top, but with a listening tube at the bottom he said "I think your rod bearing is going, and we don't have good luck rebuilding these things: get thee to the dealer." Luckily, the SVT dealership was only 5 miles away, so off I went and none too soon. As I was turning into the Service dept. driveway I heard and felt the engine start tearing itself apart... (believe me, an unmistakably ugly and very expensive sound)

Same thing happened to me at 140 MPH, out of the blue I swear! LOL!

Spinning a bearing isn't a fun sound to experience, hopefully it's just a rod bearing. If it is a rod bearing, chances are you could have hurt the crank as Terry mentioned. Doesn't sound good at all for the kiddies. Good luck!

well, if it was me in the situation i would find a hoopede for a 200 bucks drive it until i could find a good deal on some repair work.

the hoop might be a POS, but it gets me were i need to go..

i drive a hoopdy regularly hehe

What kind of money does the SHO shop want for the 3.0 conversion? That is certainly what I would strongly consider if I needed an engine.

dito