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According to my searching, it seems a E0 SVT gauge cluster (the one that says NORMAL in the temp gauge) will work in a 96 or 97 contour as long as it is not a cable driven speedo. There was an instance of someone trying that though (KyleH I think?) and it started smoking and stuff. Others have apparently had success. Anyway he ended up heavily modifying a E1 cluster to get it to work. Well I tried this plugging in a E0 SVT cluster too...
I didnt see any smoke, but I smelt it. It went away though, and the gauges appeared to be working fine except the speedometer. I also noticed the CEL light on the SVT cluster is located in a different spot than on my SE cluster, so insead of a CEL light I get a "O/D Off" light lol. Woopedy-do, anyway, the tachometer is off by about 1250 RPM's, but I dont know the history of this cluster because I bought it off ebay, so I'm just going to recalibrate that needle (e.g. reseat it), shoudnlt be no thang. So that leaves me with a working cluster except for the speedometer and that brief burning smell.
Upon inspection, I see why the burning smell went away. Here is a comparison of my stock SE cluster and the SVT cluster (after I installed it):
Notice how one of the electrical paths appears to have melted/broke. There are two other spots that look similarly stressed as well. Comparing the two, it looks like the SE cluster has much larger connections there, so there must be too much current being pushed through that small electrical path on the SVT cluster. All three places that it began to melt though are at the smallest points of the electrical path.
So. I could repair those data paths using solder, and maybe make them bigger to handle the current, but would that lead to damaging the speedo itself? What do I do now?
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I would solder a wire from the start to the end of that circuit path and see if that helps.
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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Scourge of the Master Debaters
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Wait... The first pic is your cluster, and the second is the E0 SVT? I'll have to break out the screwdriver to confirm, but I'm almost positive my E0 cluster looks like the 1st pic. In fact, I got a cluster from Thinkmoto and it looks exactly like the second pic, which was a problem for me since I wanted to swap my speedo into his.
Beer is my Gatorade.
Hooray Beer.
'98 "Sport" Pacific Green
'98 E0 SVT Silver Frost
Pictures
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Originally posted by Stazi:
I would solder a wire from the start to the end of that circuit path and see if that helps.
I guess that's a no-go! lol:
It just burned up the pathway a little further up is all.
Unfortunately I'm just guessing that this is an E0 cluster. The ebay auction didn't specify, but according to another thread it was stated that E0 clusters have NORMAL written in the temp gauge.
Pics of a E1 cluster look more similar to my stock cluster on the back but the speedo's have 3 extra large pins on them so I can't just pop the speedo gauge into my pre-98 cluster like I did with the tach, temp, and fuel gauges from the E0 cluster I have (which work perfectly btw)
Hetfeild, I'm very interested to see what you find out!
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Solder it at the pin, not the flimsy track. 
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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Originally posted by Stazi:
Solder it at the pin, not the flimsy track.
Genius! Be back in a few.... 
(My brain thinks it has the day off too!)
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You're having the exact same problem I had. I also tried soldering the track back together only to have it burn out elsewhere.
Edit: Here's my suggestion that doesn't require removing needles...but unfortuantly you still have to buy another SVT cluster.
Take your SE cluster and remove all the gauges
Swap the temp, fuel, and tachometer from the E0 cluster into your SE cluster.
Get an E1 cluster remove the speedo, cut the 3 extra pins, modifiy the upper standoff in you SE cluster, and pop in the E1 spedometer.
Or you could just get another E0 cluster that has the same looking circuit board if that is indeed what was causing our problems.
Last edited by KyleH; 11/04/05 09:37 PM.
My Cars
1999 Silver Frost SVT - 80,000km #2603/2760 Aug. 10, 1999.
1996 Mercury Mystique LS V6 MTX - retired @ 323,151km.
1995 Ford Contour V6 MTX-sold @ 214,000km
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Originally posted by KyleH:
Get an E1 cluster remove the speedo, cut the 3 extra pins, modifiy the upper standoff in you SE cluster, and pop in the E1 spedometer.
Wouldnt that cause something not to work?
I soldered in a wire directly to the pins, but I'm thinking, the problem isn't week electrical paths, the problem is too much current or something that is causing them to burn up, which makes me think if I correct the weak link here maybe its just going to damage the speedo circuitry.
Electrical diagrams would be the shiz here. I can solder a resister inline, thats no problem, it seems to be just that one electrical path that is the problem. But can't do jack without diagrams.
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Here's some information about the wiring harnesses in the pre-98s:
The top image is the black harness, the 2nd image is hte white harness. The electrical paths that are burning up are going from pin 7 on the white harness and end up at pin 4 on the black harness. So we know that this is the "always on" power line. Now we just need to find out the how much power is flowing through there...
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I believe the extra 3 pins are used for some warning lights on the E1 cluster. I cut the 3 pins off the one I installed in the 'stique and everything works. In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the write-up I did when installing my gauges. If I've got time a little later, I'll look at the circuit closer.
My Cars
1999 Silver Frost SVT - 80,000km #2603/2760 Aug. 10, 1999.
1996 Mercury Mystique LS V6 MTX - retired @ 323,151km.
1995 Ford Contour V6 MTX-sold @ 214,000km
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