Project 3-Liter

on

1995 Ford Contour SE

REVIEW

by

Dominic Ho

Last revised: November 7th, 2002

Contents:

  1. ------Overview
  2. ------Set-up
  3. ------Tools
  4. ------Key Points
  5. ------Project Insight
  6. ------Tuning & Additional Upgrades
  7. ------Contribution

1 - Overview

The possibility to fit a 3L Duratec engine into the Ford Contour was first discovered by a member of the Contour Enthusiast Group, Ray McNairy. It is considered by many Contour Enthusiast Group members the best way to increase engine power output without the use of forced induction or nitrous oxide. There are already a handful of Contour owners who have completed the 3L engine conversion with great results. The most noticeable was David Zambrano’s SVT. David’s Contour, which was already highly modified, achieved an amazing 284bhp/247ft-lbs after the 3L conversion. Compared to a stock 1998 SVT Contour’s 195bhp/165ft-lbs, it was an amazing 89HP/82ft-lbs gain!

To properly convert to a 3L Contour, the 3L Duratec shortblock from a 1999 or newer Ford Taurus must be used. All external dimensions of the 3L Duratec shortblock are the same as 2.5L Duratec shortblock which was originally equipped in the Contour. However, there are several differences in the 3L shortblock. First, it has bigger bores and uses larger pistons. Second, It has two extra oil return and one extra oil feed line (on some newer 3L blocks). Third, there is an additional alternator mount on the 3L block that is not on the 2.5L block. The 3L cylinder heads may also be used since it could lower compression, and have larger intake/exhaust valves (35mm intake/30mm exhaust vs. 32mm intake/26mm exhaust). Likewise, the 3L lower intake manifold may be used, however it will require modifications to the secondary butterflies linkage or they can be removed altogether.

For Project 3-Liter, a 2001 3L Duratec shortblock was used. However, it was matched with a pair of 1998 SVT cylinder heads which was port and polished, and have 3L valves fitted. This yield a higher compression ratio at about 11.2:1, which means higher power output. To further enhance the performance, the upper intake manifolds (port gasket matched and polished), and fuel rail from a 1998 SVT will be used, along with 24# fuel injectors, and 3L lower intake manifold. The rough initial estimated output of this setup along with existing modifications could be as high as 250-260bhp/220-230ft-lbs.

To properly complete Project 3-Liter, it was necessary to divide the project into several phases. It took over 6 months from planning to the eventual completion of the project. Research was crucial for this project. It took over 4 months of researching, planning, and material acquiring before the project was started.

Throughout the project, refer to the following website for additional information:

2 - Set-up

The following components were used for Project 3L. These are essential components for the engine to function.

  • ’01 3L Duratec Shortblock
  • ’98 SVT Cylinder Heads (P&P, fitted with 3L Valves)
  • ’95 SE Valve Covers (Powdercoated Translucent Red to enhance aesthetic appearance)
  • ’98 SVT Oil Pan and Oil Pickup
  • ’98 SVT Timing Chain Cover and Timing Chain
  • ’98 SVT Upper Intake Manifold (Ported Primary, Secondary Runners, and TB Entrance; Powdercoated Almost Chrome to enhance aesthetic appearance)
  • ’98 SVT Lower Intake Manifold
  • ’98 SVT Fuel Rail with Fuel Injectors
  • 65mm Mustang Throttle Body (Optimized, and Modified to fit SVT Throttle Cable)
  • 80mm Cobra MAF (without sensor)
  • ’98 SVT Throttle Cable and Bracket
  • ’95 SE Powertrain Control Module

Following the essential components, these were components that should be used for the car to function properly with the added power. Components are listed in order of priority so that more important components should be obtained first.

  • Quaife ATB Differential
  • Modified Y-Pipe
  • Pre-Cats Elimination
  • Straight Pipe from Y-pipe back
  • Brullen 2.5” Stainless Steel Cat-back System
  • 24lbs/hr Fuel Injectors
  • 65mm Throttle Body
  • Dual Mode Damper
  • Accusump Oil Accumulator

To further enhance the added engine performance, the following upgrade will be added in the future:

  • Lighten Flywheel to 16-18lbs
  • GReddy eManage OR EEC Tuner Board
  • Gauge Pod with A/F Meter, Oil Pressure Gauge, and VoltmeterKoni Sport Struts
  • Eibach Pro-Kit Lowering Springs
  • Aussie Bar
  • Haines Motorsports, Inc. A-Arm with adjustable camber
  • Kosei K1 Racing 17x7.5” Wheels
  • Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position 225/45/17 Tires

3 - Tools

Swapping out the engine would require several special tools. The following is a list of possible tools that will be needed for the job.

  • 3/8” and 1/2" drive ratchet
  • 3/8” drive socket set – 6mm to 25mm
  • 1/2" drive socket – 32mm
  • 3/8” drive deep socket set – 10mm to 19mm
  • 3/8” drive U-joints (2 preferred)
  • Open-end/Box wrench set – 10mm to 19mm
  • 3-ton hydraulic floor jack capable of at least 21”+ max lift
  • 2-ton jack stands (2 minimum)
  • Ramp (for rear end of the car)
  • Wooden blocks for support if additional height is needed
  • Engine hoist (1ton rating minimum)
  • Engine hoist leveler adapter (need to tilt the engine if pulling from top)
  • Fuel/AC line disconnecting tool
  • 14.4V+ cordless drill with drilling bits, cutting bits, grinding bits, etc…
  • Rotary tool with fiberglass reinforced cutting wheel, sanding wheel, grinding stone, Tungsten cutting bit, etc…
  • Slidehammer with CV shaft removal adapter, or use a pry bar
  • Sledgehammer
  • Blow torch
  • Container to be used as solvent tank
  • Measuring Calipers
  • Harmonic Balancer Pulley Puller
  • M12 x 1.5 (thread) x 90mm (length) bolt for crank installation
  • Oil drain pan
  • JB Weld (to plug extra oil return line)
  • Quick Steel (to plug extra oil return line)
  • Set Screw or Cap Screw (to plug extra oil feed line not covered by 2.5L right-side head)

4 - Key Points

Parts on engine that were replaced:

  • 3L Head Gaskets (2.5L head gasket DOES NOT fit)
  • 2.5L Head Bolts
  • 2.5L Valve Cover Gaskets
  • 2.5L Oil Retainer Gasket for the Water Pump Pulley bridgE
  • Upper/Lower Intake Manifolds Gaskets
  • Injectors O-rings
  • Throttle Body Gasket
  • IAC Gasket
  • EGR Gasket
  • Oil Pan Gasket (new oil pan comes with gasket and bolts)
  • Exhaust Manifold Gaskets
  • All broken hoses and clamps
  • Crank Pulley Bolt
  • Spark Plugs (double platinum plugs, used Autolite Platinum Pro NOT Bosch +4’s)
  • O2 Sensors
  • Waterpump with Metal Impeller & Belt
  • Shorter Drive Belt after A/C Compressor is removed

Parts on drivetrain and suspension that were replaced or rebuilt:

  • Quaife ATB LSD replaced stock differential
  • Front Lower Control Arms with New Ball Joints
  • New Tie-rod Ends
  • Spindle Assembly

Fluid that were changed during the engine swap:

  • 6.5 qt 5w-30 Motor Oil
  • 8,9 qt Coolant
  • 2.7qt Mercon III Automatic Transmission Fluid with 2oz Ford Friction Modifier
  • Brake Fluid (buy 1 new bottle Valvoline SynPower Brake Fluid)
  • Mobil1 ATF for Power Steering Fluid

Engine Prep

  • Grind down end of crank shaft pilot bushing to fit MTX-75
  • Drill and retap knock sensor hole for 2.5L knock sensor
  • Thread size – 12mm x 1.75
  • Use 11/32 drill bit for tapping
  • Block off extra oil return passages, lined with JB Weld then block off with Quick Steel
  • Extra oil feed line (not on 2.5L Right-side head) tapped and fitted with a cap screw then JB Weld shut.
  • Cut-off extra alternator mounting tab on 3L block
  • Relocate one of the alignment dowels towards the front of the block to help align the MTX-75 (did not perform because transaxle aligned without problem)

5 – Project Insight

How It Began:

This project actually started a little bit unexpected. When I was browsing through the contour.org classifieds, I found a deal that was very hard to resist. Bill P. from Douglasville, GA was selling his complete SVT engine, transaxle, and a brand new 3L block. After negotiation with him for a while, we finally agreed to a price of $1300 for the 3L block, along with all other parts from the SVT engine less the 2.5L block. I drove down to Georgia over the weekend of June 8th, 2002 to pick up the engine. Transporting the engine from Georgia back to Buffalo was another story by itself!

After spending the next two months researching and getting more money for the project, I finally started ripping apart the car on August 4th, 2002. This was as unexpected as the start of the project. I was actually going to postpone the project until next year because I was going to get a sportsbike. But a few days before, the metal brake line going to the rear calipers burst making the car undriveable. It was then I decided to start ripping the car apart.

Pulling the Engine:

Engine removal started out pretty straightforward, but then it turned into a total nightmare! I first removed the upper and lower intake manifold, disconnected all the electrical connectors easily accessible from the top of the engine. I also disconnected the main wiring harness from the PCM, fuse box, battery, and other grounding points. Then I drained out the engine oil, tranny fluid, and coolant. Then it got tricky when I tried to remove the Y-pipe. Most of the nuts and bolts on my closed to 100k miles car are seized or rounded. The nuts holding the Y-pipe on the exhaust manifolds were the worst! It was rusted, and the hex nut was basically just a chunk of rust that none of my socket could really grip on. After trying for about an hour to remove the nut with no success, I decided to just cut the bolts. After about 3 hours of non stop cutting with the rotary tool, I finally cut the Y-pipe loose and destroyed the pipe during the process.

Once the Y-pipe was out of the way, it was pretty easy to remove the rest of the stuff. Everything including the battery tray, motor mounts, clutch fluid line, CV shafts, etc… have to come out before pulling the engine. The engine and transaxle assembly was then lifted out from the top of the engine bay. I had to take the hood off for clearance because it wouldn’t open up enough for the engine/transaxle assembly to come out. The total time it took to remove the engine excluding the time to cut the Y-pipe was about 4 hours.

Head Works:

At first, I was going to do a simple hybrid setup with nothing extra done to the internals until next year. But when I realize how hard it was to pull the engine out, I decided to do the internal modifications while the engine was out. I started off by disassembling the SVT heads. After removing the camshafts, I had to use a special valve spring compressor to remove the valve springs. The regular valve spring compressors wouldn’t work because they’re designed for pushrod engine and the DOHC heads don’t have enough space to fit the regular compressor. I ended up getting a Craftsman One Hand Operated Valve Spring compressor, part number 947627. On the package, it says it's designed for GMC and Continental engines. However, it works almost without modification. All you need is to mount the compressor from the other side of the head (ie. mount it from the exhaust side when you're trying to take the intake valves off) to compress the valves springs.

After stripping down the heads and labeling all valvetrain components, I cleaned it with simple green to remove all the grease to make the heads easier to work on. I gasket matched the intake and exhaust passages by hand. To accomplish this, I used quite a few grinding stones on the rotary tool to grind the metal off. I took a little meat out of the outside of the valve guides, but it didn’t really hurt because only the inside of the guides really matters. I also polished the combustion chamber and the exhaust passages. The main reason for polishing the chambers was because I saw how much carbon build-up I got on my non-SVT heads, and a polished chamber will help reducing the build-up.

Because of the added displacement, I replaced the smaller 2.5L valves with the bigger 3L valves. The 2.5L valves are measured at 32mm intake and 26mm exhaust, while the 3L’s are 35mm intake and 30mm exhaust; it is 3mm bigger on the intake and 4mm bigger on the exhaust. Fitting the 3L valves properly will allow maximum performance on the engine. Machining to the heads and valve seats was performed professionally at Northeast Machine & Motor Supply Inc. ( I had the shop fitted new valve seats, did a 3-angle valve job, and machined down the area in the passages directly below the valve seats.

Engine Prep:

The 3L block had two extra oil return passages, and one extra oil feed line that’s not covered by the 2.5L heads. I had to block those off or there would be a leak. There were suggestions on contour.org that I can use JB weld to block off the return passages, but I had some doubts about it. After looking at the Project 3.0L on fordcontour.org and talking to Dominic, I decided to do what he suggested. I first coated the sides of the extra return passages with JB weld, then I stuffed some Quick Steel in to block off the passage. I also talked to Brad Noon about the oil feed line, and I ended up drilling out the hole and retap it to fit a cap screw in. I cut off the top of the cap screw, grinded it down to fit below the top of the block’s mating surface with the head, I also JB welded the top of the screw to the block to make sure nothing leaks out.

There was also an extra mounting tab on the right hand side of the block next to where the front timing cover sits. This mount was not on the 2.5L block, and had to be removed or the alternator bracket would not fit on. I cut it out with the rotary tool after the engine was assembled because I didn’t want to have any metal shaving to fall into the block. I only cut out part of the tab, and grinded it down enough for the alternator bracket to seat properly.

On the 3L, the hole where the knock sensor goes was quite a bit smaller than the one on the 2.5L. There were two ways to fix this problem, either drill and retap the hole so the 2.5L sensor could fit, or get a 3L knock sensor. I opted to drill and retap. The correct tap to use was the M12x1.50, with a 13/32 drill bit. After drilling and retapping, the 2.5L knock sensor screwed right into the block without any problem.

While I was doing my research on contour.org before even starting on the project, I found out that the power steering pump brackets are different from the earlier and later Contours. The old bracket on my ’95 engine did not fit on the 3L block because it uses bigger bolts. I also had the power steering pump bracket that came from the ’98 SVT engine, but that’s the same as my old one. It turns out that Ford revised the power steering pump bracket (part number: F8RZ-3C510-AA) in the ’98.5 model, and it uses smaller bolts. I special ordered the power steering pump bracket from West-Herr Ford of Amherst, and bought the correct M8 bolts from an industrial hardware store. I also had to remove the studs from the old bracket because the new one didn’t come with them.

I basically ordered all new gaskets and seals along with the control arms and some other stuff that are worn out on the car. I have made a separate list on what I ordered so I’m not going to list everything again. But there is one thing that needs to be mentioned. All the parts for the hybrid engine are 2.5L parts, EXCEPT for the head gasket! I made the mistake of ordering the 2.5L head gaskets only to realize that they won’t work on the 3L block. The bore on the 3L block is a bit bigger, that is how it the 3L got its extra half a liter in volume. That made the 2.5L head gasket hangs over the cylinder bore. So I called up Bill Jenkins and exchanged the head gaskets. The 3L head gaskets were also about half the price of the 2.5L ones.

To fit the MTX-75 transaxle, I had to use the 2.5L oil pan because the 3L pan doesn’t have the mounting holes at the same place. Ford also revised the oil pan in 2003, and I ordered the new oil pan from Bill Jenkins at Signature Lincoln Mercury. The oil pickup tube from the 3L also did not fit with the 2.5L oil pan on, so I had to swap it out with the 2.5L one. I did notice one thing though, the oil pickup tube from the 2.5L was a little different than the 3L one, the support bracket on the 2.5L one did not bolt up to anywhere on the 3L block. But since the tube is pretty sturdy, and it basically sits right at the bottom of the oil pan I highly doubt it would go anywhere at all.

Engine Electrical Works:

In order to use the 3L lower intake manifold, I had to use the later style fuel rail and

fuel injectors. I already have the SVT fuel rail and 19lb/hr injectors, but I wanted to use the 24lb/hr injectors instead. Coincidentally, Brad Noon was selling his set of 24lb/hr fuel injectors. He was asking for $100 for all six including the wiring connectors, I jumped in that deal without hesitation. There was a problem though, the '95 fuel injection wiring harness uses different connectors for the fuel injectors. So, I had to splice the new connectors into the existing harness. It wasn't that hard of a job actually. My friend, Joe Szymanski, who is a Computer Engineering student, helped me out on this. All we needed to do was to find out which wire is the ground (or common) wire, cut off the old connectors, and then used some 3M splice connectors to connector the wires together. After checking the continuity of the wires, we taped everything up using some 3M electrical tape