Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications General Mods Lotsa questions.. everyone look!!!!

K so here are a few questions i need answered...

1. Can i still buy the SVT bumpers and sideskirts from FORD?

2. I am upgrading my suspension... what are all the different bushings and crap that I should also purchase.. I do ALOT of "spirited" driving and im always scared for my suspension and have gone through a few tie rods now. I am going to get the BAT sway bar and stuff but as far as bushings and little bits what should I buy?

3. I am an idiot and dont know what shift forks are even ... why should i get them updated and do I have to drop the tranny for that?

4. Once and for all.. how do you know your clutch is f'd for good? (150,000km on stock clutch) redline shifts are stadard fair on every drive.

5. Can someone post links of their re-painted cars. Ones that have gottena totally different colour. What I am interested is when will it be visible that the car has been painted? Under the hood obviosuly but what about things like inside the doors etc.. ?? Because I'd get a different colour but I am not sure about it because i dont want to open my doors and see a different colour...


thanks


p.s.

6. how long would it take me in my garage to swap heads on my duratec to svt ones. Also to go with that,, should i bother swapping the heads or just do the intakes and the TB ?

thanks!!

1. As of last fall the sideskirts could still be purchased. I bought mine from Bill Jenkins. Dont know about the SVT bumpers, I am going a different route.

2. You can get *some* Energy Suspension bushings but I believe all of them, except for the tie rod end boots go on the rear suspension. If your putting on a bigger bar, and especially if you are changing rear bushings (the subframe has to be dropped) strengthen you sway bar backing plates. With you doing spirited driving, I wouldnt be suprised if you rip the OEM pieces off the car. To my knowledge there are no aftermarket front control arms/bushings. The only thing I have seen for the front is boxing in the arms. I dont see how you have gone through tie rods, I havent had to do them yet. What brand are you buying so I can make sure I dont buy them when I replace my parts.

3. Havent paid attention to MTX parts since I have an auto.

4. Read three.

5. Under the hood, trunk and in the doors can be painted to match for an additional cost.

search! Sir! (I say sir cause you have twice as many posts as me). Shift forks are the device that shifts gears, the pre 99's are non desirable. They require droping the tranny. That is literaly the extent of my knowledge, and I am sure that most of this wrong. lol.

For #4:
FWIW, you can at least see if your clutch is slipping by taking it up to like 25-30 in 2nd gear. From there, shift into 4th or 5th and FLOOR it. If your clutch is on its way out, you'll feel it slipping before it bites.

I think TH gave me that info when I asked the same Q.

sorry if this seems like a total NOOB post and for me not searching but i really have 0 time to be making 5 seperate posts.... as far as tie rods... thank the stealership for that one... im pretty sure im on the 3rd tie rod on one side and 2nd or 3 in the other... but that was before i knew anything about my car really.... now i have access to full blown shop so i will be doing some of the work like that myself... i know what im doing as far as shocks brakes and engine stuff but im afraid that i'll get the basic straight forward stuff and miss out little bits like bushings that should be upgraded or something similar to that... so thanks for the replies

For the clutch, try going from a stop to rolling, by taking off in 3rd, very slowy..

Can you do it? EASILY??

If so, your clutch is also slipping... a good clutch should bite down, and you should stall, rather easily (though not IMPOSSIBLE to leave on a good clutch)




Ray

Yes the tranny needs to be removed to replace the shift forks. there are three i believe but u can inspect them partially if u take out the shifting mechanism on top the tranny