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I have a question for the general population of Contour performance enthusiasts. My '96 SE ATX seems to be a bit quicker, even in stock trim, than at least two other newer 2.5 ATX Contours I have ran against. My best friend currently has a 2000 SE and had a 1997 SE, both ATX's. On more than one occasion, in a heads up side by side 1/8 mile pass I consistently have beaten his rides by about 1 1/2 car lenghths. We both put the cars into drive and simply floorboarded our throttles. He even weighs about 40-50 pounds less than I do. Again, none of these cars had any modifications at the time.

What might possibly be different between the cars? Was there an equipment or component change in the 1996 to 1997 and up models that would explain this? The only thing I can come up with is the fact that I had 195/65-14 tires at that time (I've since gone to 225/50-15's, the same O.D. as the 14's) while he had 215/60-15 tires. Do you think this could be the entire difference? I have had my car since new and have always driven the dog snot out of it, while my buddy bought both of his with 30-40K on them each. The old addage used to be that if you want a car to run hard, break it in hard. I don't believe this is as significant as it used to be, what with the improved dimensional QC in the new cars built in the last few years.

I'm looking for empirical feedback on this as opposed to pure conjecture, but educated guesses are welcome!


'96 SE 2.5 V6 ATX, Willow Frost Metallic 10-hole '84 Mustang 15x7 wheels w/ Dunlop 225/50-15's CSVT air intake components with K&N cone filter Optimized TB Gutted Pre-cats w/MIL eliminators
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I wholeheartedly believe in breaking a car in hard if you want it to run strong it's whole life. Ive done so to both the 2.5L when I bought the car new, and the 3L and both have run very strong.

But it could be a number of reasons. How well maintained is a key factor. I would say if his intake manifolds are gunked up, and yours have been cleaned recently, then that could be a big factor. Other than that, maybe you're just a better ATX driver?

Mark


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Maybe his motor was built on a monday or a friday, or the day before or after a customary drinking occasion,i.e Xmas, New Years, the night before Thanksgiving etc!


2000 SVT Turbo 295hp/269ftlb@12psi #1 for Bendix Brakes Kits! Knuckles rebuilt w/new bearings $55 AUSSIE ENDLINKS $70 Gutted pre-cats $80/set A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine!
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or how about you have 14" steel wheels and they have 15" alloys. that will be worth some difference for sure

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Originally posted by Y2KSVT:
I wholeheartedly believe in breaking a car in hard if you want it to run strong it's whole life. Ive done so to both the 2.5L when I bought the car new, and the 3L and both have run very strong.

Mark




And just how long was the life of that 2.5? You gave me that same advice when I was breaking in my 3L hybrid. "Just take it out and beat the pi$$ out of it".


99 Black SVT -3L Hybrid w/.5mm overbore, Spec clutch/flywheel, MSDS, BAT intake, K&N open, 17'Konig Tantrums, DMD, Opt. TB & Y, Powerslots, Bassani w/ magnaflow res. 96 SE MTX- "The War Wagon" "I'm in love with my car..." -Queen
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Originally posted by CLASSVT:
Originally posted by Y2KSVT:
I wholeheartedly believe in breaking a car in hard if you want it to run strong it's whole life. Ive done so to both the 2.5L when I bought the car new, and the 3L and both have run very strong.

Mark




And just how long was the life of that 2.5? You gave me that same advice when I was breaking in my 3L hybrid. "Just take it out and beat the pi$$ out of it".




I have 159,000 miles on my '96 now, and I have driven the dog snot out of it since it had about 100 miles on it. It still burns no oil (it does, however, leak about 1/2 quart over a 3000 mile change interval). I have ALWAYS changed the oil at 3000 miles. The first 117K miles were on 5W-30 standard motorcraft oil, I then used 5W-30 synthetic for two change cycles (this is when the oil leak developed, it was about a quart over 3K miles), I have since switched to 5W-30 Castrol semi-synthetic and the leak has decrased significantly.

As far as maintenance, I didn't know about the gunking issue until about 100K, and I just started doing all of the tips from the CEG site in the last 20K, having cleaned the upper/lower intake and doing the optimizing and gutting. Maybe I'm just lucky, that is if you believe in luck. I think you make your own luck.


'96 SE 2.5 V6 ATX, Willow Frost Metallic 10-hole '84 Mustang 15x7 wheels w/ Dunlop 225/50-15's CSVT air intake components with K&N cone filter Optimized TB Gutted Pre-cats w/MIL eliminators
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I put all this information into F.O.S., the Friendly Online Supercomputer and after 3 days, 6 hours, and 27 minutes the response:

Number of plausible explainations - 1.
1) Your friends EACH have 1.5 dead bodies in their trunks..They therefore are each not only involved with the murder BUT they conspired to cut one of the bodies in two! F.O.S. has already alerted the local law authorities. Exersise EXTREME caution around these individulas until the police arrive. Have a nice day..


1999 Amazon Green SVT Contour (#554/2760) "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." -Soren Kierkegaard (as posted by Jato)
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Originally posted by Dan Nixon:
I put all this information into F.O.S., the Friendly Online Supercomputer and after 3 days, 6 hours, and 27 minutes the response:

Number of plausible explainations - 1.
1) Your friends EACH have 1.5 dead bodies in their trunks..They therefore are each not only involved with the murder BUT they conspired to cut one of the bodies in two! F.O.S. has already alerted the local law authorities. Exersise EXTREME caution around these individulas until the police arrive. Have a nice day..




That was the stranges post I have ever read.


99 Black SVT -3L Hybrid w/.5mm overbore, Spec clutch/flywheel, MSDS, BAT intake, K&N open, 17'Konig Tantrums, DMD, Opt. TB & Y, Powerslots, Bassani w/ magnaflow res. 96 SE MTX- "The War Wagon" "I'm in love with my car..." -Queen
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With dead bodies in my trunk I only run high 13's. It is quite upsetting.

Because of this I bought a life time membership to the local dump so I could runs low 13's whenever I emptied my trunk. I find that much better. Plus I don't have to chop up the bodies myself.


2000 SVT #674 13.47 @ 102 - All Motor! It was not broke; Yet I fixed it anyway.
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Originally posted by Dan Nixon:
I put all this information into F.O.S., the Friendly Online Supercomputer and after 3 days, 6 hours, and 27 minutes the response:

Number of plausible explainations - 1.
1) Your friends EACH have 1.5 dead bodies in their trunks..They therefore are each not only involved with the murder BUT they conspired to cut one of the bodies in two! F.O.S. has already alerted the local law authorities. Exersise EXTREME caution around these individulas until the police arrive. Have a nice day..





Nice. I liked that.


Green 96 mystique gs 4cyl mtx 16.9 in the 1/4 mile @102500 miles 95SE in Midnight Red MTX MSDS headers and y-pipe SVT exhaust SVT UIM Optimized se TB. Full pre 98 SVT body kit 15.741 @ 87.73mph :)
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