RTV, check!

-Lance

The only Wal-Mart I can find in Marysville is the following:
Wal-Mart SuperCenter
8924 34th Ave NE (Quilceda Blvd)
Marysville, WA

Is this the one?



I assume it's obvious to find if I just drive South on I-5.

- Kerry

Walmart is on the west side of I-5, you can't miss it. It is in Quilceda Village next to Home Depot.

I have everything here to do the install. Including RTV Sealant.

I will be parked at the South end of Walmart in my SVT.

Great meet guys. Kerry got his DMD installed (very nice!) and I finally got the fogs with parks mod done. We also did some throttle hang fixes courtesy of Lance. Darren cooks a mean bratwurst! After all that we drove around a bit, chased the Miata club 20 miles or so, then played some musical cars and drove some more! It rained a lot but that just made it more interesting. I know Lance took some pictures, and I believe Qbert and Kerry did also, so expect to see photos. Hopefully we can get enough DMDs together for an install party down here sometime soon. Thanks very much Darren for hosting and everyone else for coming!

Mike

So, how do you guys like the TH fixes?

Kerry, how's the DMD feel?

Sounds like chasing the Miata club was fun! We'll have to do the musical cars thing sometime when I'm in the pack

-Lance

Yes the meet went well. Thanks again for the GREAT food Darren!

We had a fun drive behind the Miata guys and an even better one when we turned off from following them (I can say there was 2 times I was wondering if I was going in the ditch...WHAT A BLAST). After driving everyone else's SVT's it is incredible the differences between them all even though 3 of the 4 were stock.

What kind of differences?

Would it be tires?

I'm curious.

-Lance

We all put in the TH fixes. I liked mine a lot, so did Darren. I think Kerry liked his, but I don't remember him saying for sure. I gave Darren my extra and he's going to put it in his wife's Taurus. I guess it does the same sort of thing.

As far as differences in the cars, the clutch and shifter feel were different in each of them. Darren said mine was notchy. Kerry's felt like what I would consider a new car! It was really refined...that DMD really does a wonderful thing to the higher RPMs. We didn't really drive that far in each other's cars, except when Darren and I went out in mine. We went out 5 or 6 miles just playing with the quaife. I think he likes it!

I expect that Rob's is the fastest. We found so many things decontented that its bound to be the lightest! Darren did say that mine felt heavy to him, but I think it might have to do with the mileage.

I showed Kerry and Darren my "vibration" at around 2400-2600 RPM. It's kind of disturbing. I might have some main bearings going out or something similar. None of the other cars experience this. I forgot to mention it to Lance at the meet...do you experience this? 5th gear at 60MPH in umbearable. I have to either speed up, slow down or shift to fourth. The oil pan will be coming off if the DMD doesn't solve it.

I'll get everything arranged for a Sunday meet here for DMD installations etc. We'll probably go after some tune-ups as well. Can't wait to get that DMD!

I'm glad you like the TH fixes... I haven't found many that don't like it. Many are skeptical at first, but usually like it right away!

I'm interested in having someone's thoughts on my car. It isn't quite as fast as the SVT's, but with the new manifold and throttle body, I shouldn't be far behind!

I, too, can't wait to get the DMD on! I'm a little scared of the decrease of performance in losing the UDP, but I want the smoothness.

-Lance

Yeah, the main difference I felt between all of the cars was the clutches. Kerry's felt stiff (but acceptable), while Darren's engaged about 1" from the top, and Mike's felt incredibly nice (I loved the firm feeling that the centerforce clutch gave). Mine clutch feels pretty light and engages about 1/2 to 2/3's of the way up.

Kerry's car felt very refined and incredibly smooth in the upper revs, no vibration when the clutch was depressed at high revs. One of the oddest things about Kerry's car was driving a car that showed KPH instead of MPH. I went to heel-toe into first and took a peek down at the gauges before I did and saw 45 and almost freaked until I realized it was KPH.

As far as Mike's car feeling heavy, I would guess that would be old suspension components. Bushings, shocks, and possibly springs all showing some age. It probably wasn't a snappy as the others, which all had 34K - 45K miles compared to 100K+

I wouldn't worry so much about a performance decrease Lance. I think the biggest thing you'll realize is the abilitly (or lack there of) to rev quickly in 1st. But as a daily driver smoothness should far outweigh the loss. I would bet that with the SVT intake manifold you'll be really close to us. The SVT manifold will flow almost 20% better (99-00 manifold) then the stock Contours. To get the most out of it I would recommend getting a new exhaust and intake (I know you have the SVT exhaust, but it has limitations). Borla would probably be a good choice for that, not loud but flows much better. I seriously wouldn't doubt if your car could keep up with an SVT fairly well due to the weight advantage.

Well, i'm glad everyone had a good time. Next time I will have the wife cook the food so I can mix and mingle more instead of spending valuable time in the kitchen.

The TH fix is hard to get used to. Now when I shift the RPM's drop faster than what I am used to. I almost like it better w/o but I do like the fact that when I let off the throttle the car slows down now. I'll give it a couple of weeks to really get used to it.

Running down the Miata club was fun, but the Ben Howard road was the most fun I think I have had in a car. Surpasses the open track I did in the Mustang. The SVT is a much more fun car than the Mustang ever was. Mike hit the nail on the head with his comment when we stoped. We have to do the Ben Howard rd when it is dry. It is awsome. Next time we can go all the way to the end.

The quaife in Mikes car was very nice. I want one now. As everyone else said, Kerrys car was very refined, and Rob's car seemed to be the quickest feeling.

All in all it was a productive and fun day. When we do the next DMD install day, I expect to have a fun road to run when we get done.

Thank for coming.

Whew, glad to hear everybody got home safely. What a crappy drive with the rain and poor headlights. I think I went the wrong way home because I started seeing signs for Redmond (I made the connection...Redmond = Microsoft = Seattle! = $#@&*%!) which freaked me out so I got onto I-405 North and eventually got home. (I need an in-car compass.) One reason I love going into the US is because I get to drive fast! Our highways here on the island are generally limited to 50 or 55 mph, that's it. Down there, I get to go 80 or more, which is where the car starts settling in. The ride is not supple until 70 mph.

Darren, thanks very much for hosting and for the use of the tools. Thanks everyone for helping out. I can talk about cars, but I'm not very experienced in working on them.

I would say the DMD makes a subtle to large difference depending on what you are looking for. I'm not that used to the SVT (drove it for 1 day before the meet, and about 2 days a week earlier) so I couldn't actually do an accurate comparison.

It makes a subtle difference from 2500 and up when you tip into the throttle at highway speeds to pass. From 4000 rpm under hard acceleration, I don't notice much difference until 6000 when it's obvious that the engine is smoother.

I never hit the rev limiter, but I did today a few times for fun. During the fun run, I did find that the engine was noticeably smoother under engine braking at high rpm. Less vibrations in the clutch pedal. No, I still haven't done the TH mod.

By the way, the fun run was fun, and I'm glad I brought up the rear because I would have held you guys up. When we ran to the cars to chase the Miata guys down, I had my own fun trying to get the camera back in the case and secured so I could drive properly. I think I hit 95 mph on the straights trying frantically to catch up to you guys. I had visions of a night behind bars or upside down in a ditch.

Lance, too bad you couldn't stay longer. I think there were 10-12 Miatas that we chased around. I have pictures from behind the wheel with everybody in front of me. Will post tomorrow. Naturally they are a bit blurry.

Note to self: driving by looking thru the LCD screen on a digital camera is NOT safe!

- Kerry

I know I got talking about those quad beem projector headlights at the meet and most of you if not all of you had not seen them. I figured I'd present a couple links for you guys to take a look at them...they are expensive, but they look like they are well constructed and would be incredible on the contour.

Pics of the lights on a desk

Pics of the lights on the car

Some pics about half way down of the lights projected onto a wall

Just thought I'd bring this up here...

Here are some pics.

Here we are hanging out taking some pics.


Then the Miata club roars by, about 10-12 of them.

We jump in the cars and the chase is on! I'm bringing up the rear.





After, we hanging out and play musical cars.


- Kerry

I am SOOOO SORRY that I missed that meet!!!!