I've been driving a 98 Contour for the past 6 or 7 months while attempting to finish the V8 conversion in my Ranger. Now, the car is officially mine, and soon, when the Ranger is running, I will begin doing some work on my new toy.
Here's how the car stands as of now. 1998 GL, Auto, very, very plain. We came across the car as a trade for some work that was done on a mid 50's Ford pickup. When it first came in, the engine was shot. It received a donor motor from a 2000 Contour. The CEL has been on since. But I just read in another post on this board that said the later model Zetecs had VTC to eliminate the EGR. When we had the codes read, the tech told us there was "something going on with the cam." So, perhaps that's where the light's coming from.
I've found a lot of helpful info on here so far. Although I'm getting the impression that the ATX isn't that great, and it appears that there isn't a huge performance market for the Zetec.
Here are my plans (over the long run) for the car, let me know what you think:
1) BAT "Euro" handling kit/Rear STB, and possibly new swaybar
2) New/larger front brakes
3) Rear disc conversion
3a) Wheels/tires, the steelies are boring.
4) Mild exhaust, probably a CAI too.
5) DiabloChip (I've had bad luck with superchips.)
6) Stereo (of course)
7) I've been reading around, I may look at the 3.0 Duratec conversion, and a manual tranny to replace the auto.
So, that's that. Glad to know that there is support out there.
