Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance Internal differances between 98SVT and 96 2.5?

Ok, I just bought a nice 96 Sport with a v6 auto.I found after I got it that the headgasket is blown. This blows my mind with just 58,000 miles on it!

I have an SVT motor and wondered if there was any internal differences that would cause the motor to be non or not very interchangable.

I just want to get it together and sell it as I bought it for the wife and never expected this.

If anyone is looking for a cool cheap project , I would sell it with the SVT motor extra to anyone willing to get the thing in the cleveland area.

Oh yeah, i would be putting it together without the SVT intake. Just looking to use the long block from the SVT.

The SVT long block has hotter cams, larger injectors, slightly more compression (10.0:1 instead of 9.8:1), & extrude honed secondary intake ports.

You should be able to use the SVT long block, but you would be much better off using the SVT intakes and throttle body.

To start with, don't use the SVT injectors. You will need to do some additional tuning to get them to work with the 96 PCM. If you try to use the SVT PCM you will have many complications, including the PATS key system.

Since the SVT cams are very expensive, I don't know of anyone that has tried to use them on an older car, so I don't know for sure what you will run into, but they arn't all that much hotter so I would think the 96 PCM would mostly adapt to them.

Many have fitted the SVT intakes and throttle body to non SVT engines with very little dificulty. The one thing that you may have a problem with is if the 96 has traction control. No matter what, you will need an SVT throttle cable. The 96 traction control is not compatable with how the throttle cable hooks up. Many have abandoned the traction control when installing the larger SVT throttle body.

Any other opinions are welcome.