Hey everyone, I have been lurking around since my last posting as I have been busy with finishing my CSVT for this year. I figured with everything Ive done, I might as well post up a build thread here for everyone. I apologize in advance for a lengthy post!!! But its alot of work so I didnt want to skip out on anything haha. For starters, I'll explain what happened last year and get into how the car currently sits!
My old motor mysteriously burned all of the oil and developed a tapping noise around 1k when you touched the throttle. Above 1k it disappeared and would return once revs dropped to/around 1k again. This also led to the car losing INSANE power, it felt like I was driving a 4cyl. Not to mention, everytime the car would hit 3500 or higher it would POUND out smoke. Sometimes if I let the car sit and idle for an extended amount of time it would start pounding smoke as well, and once I started driving after 30sec or so it went away, it was sort of strange.
I drove the car that way from May 2010 until the night of September 11th, 2010 when on my way home from a carshow in Toronto (Importfest) Im sure I lost a cylinder. I was approx. 40 mins away from home (I was around Dixie mall on the QEW, and I live in Hamilton) when it happened. But thankfully she pulled through and got me home safely. The car was cruising good for a steady 20 mins or so after leaving MTCC in downtown Toronto, and then the exhaust note changed (sounded less agressive, and as if the revs had gone higher but they hadn't) while driving. I knew something wasnt right, so luckily it got me home.
So from that night forward, it had sat in the garage awaiting new mods, and of course, a brand new engine. I also pulled apart the motor, and found out what had happened. So now, onto photos of everything! I tried to take new ones at every step I took, to document all the work completed.
In garage, teardown started!
How about this nice PCV line...
October 31, 2010. She sat like this for awhile, while I saved money to fix her...
Then mods started arriving (finally!) ....so to start, fitting this:
Its from American Muscle, and obviously you all know what it is lol. Then I decided to do a custom full black interior. For those who may not know, SVT Contours never came with a black interior. Only midnight blue, or tan. Yuck! First off, black SVT mats! More on the interior later though.
Then heres how she looked:
I then started to pull my interior apart + out to do the color change.
Since I decided to go all out, even my doorpanels got treatment! Took them apart to make sure they were done properly.
Then I got around to dyeing my carpet. Turned out good I think! This was with 2 coats, the carpet got another 2 coats and went a tad darker. You can see the difference between the black carpet and the midnight blue wheel, quite a change!
While the car was away, I also needed some new wheels, so I started looking around. What a pain to find 4x108 wheels! BUT i lucked out, and scored these locally. 18" Enkei GF-1s!
After getting home from picking the wheels up, I had prepped my dash for the color swap!
Done!
So once I had done this, i remembered the cluster and trim peices are black! So that wouldnt flow nicely...so I decided to change those too!
Black dash + carpet vs stock MNB wheel
Trim peices back in, ta daaaa!
And that was it for the interior work for the time being, as it was time to put some work into the motor side of things.
Then I figured since my interiors out, and waiting on some parts to arrive, why not throw in some nice seats
....Genuine too, not knockoffs.
Once that was complete, I figured I should pull my tranny apart and see how my internals looked as they were done by the previous owner. And good thing I did...
It still grabbed like a mofo, but Im very happy I found that and gave me the chance to do a new clutch setup as well. Seeing how I was on a roll, I figured Id pull the heads off and once again, looky looky!
I guess that explains my oil loss, the smoke, and loss in power! The other head was fine, so it seems just that cylinder was pooched. I then looked into my enginebay and realized how dirty and rough it looked, so you know what that meant.....
Not bad for $15 in supplies, using rattlecans!
Then it was time to check out the bottom end, where I thought FOR SURE Id find something!
Yup, you see correctly....it was BLUE! Kinked PCV, no pressure relief, heated up, etc. On a better note, my rod bearings looked new! No scorring or shavings.
Then, more parts arrived! New SPEC flywheel friction plate, and tinted Audi A6 sidemarkers!
The sidemarkers required me to cut my fenders, so thats exactly what I did. Scary moment for sure, lol.
More parts - custom made tubular rear control arms
Then I focused on getting a new motor, rather then rebuild mine. So why not upgrade? Thats when I decided to opt for a Ford Escape 3.0L engine swap. My original plan was to rebuild, but seeing this made me decide not to
So then I found a motor, but it wasnt very local. Roadtrip time! 2004 Ford Escape engine is what I was picking up!
More little mods in between the big stuff...
Got my doors done, well, sort of. Black panels, red seude inserts!
Then I decided to let the 3L breathe a bit better. Modded 4.6L GT 65mm TB!
And when I arrived home, I had this waiting for me
Its a Clutchnet Stage 2 setup for a street/strip car. Carbon disc, and a Stage 2 pressureplate to match.
So I could now start getting the tranny back together!
And finally, got it on the Escape engine.
To aid the 65mm TB, a Ford Mondeo ST220 upper manifold! This held 7.5L of water while a stock one held 5.5L.
After some work, got the motor all in and had to set everything up
ST220, 65mm on!
Then seeing how my car is taking a "murdered" theme, had to do the wheels and tie my Baer BBK calipers to the interior!
Got all my wiring done, hoses ran, fluids in, oilchanged, etc and then started to put the car back together...and then a teaser of the car.
But the car wasnt done yet. Still needed to make a coilpack mounting bracket, tidy up some lines, and tune my ECU via a SCT flipchip w/ my Xcal2.
Then I got time to bleed my clutch, wire up the headlights, foglights, etc. and pushed the car into some sunlight for the first time in over a year!
My old motor mysteriously burned all of the oil and developed a tapping noise around 1k when you touched the throttle. Above 1k it disappeared and would return once revs dropped to/around 1k again. This also led to the car losing INSANE power, it felt like I was driving a 4cyl. Not to mention, everytime the car would hit 3500 or higher it would POUND out smoke. Sometimes if I let the car sit and idle for an extended amount of time it would start pounding smoke as well, and once I started driving after 30sec or so it went away, it was sort of strange.
I drove the car that way from May 2010 until the night of September 11th, 2010 when on my way home from a carshow in Toronto (Importfest) Im sure I lost a cylinder. I was approx. 40 mins away from home (I was around Dixie mall on the QEW, and I live in Hamilton) when it happened. But thankfully she pulled through and got me home safely. The car was cruising good for a steady 20 mins or so after leaving MTCC in downtown Toronto, and then the exhaust note changed (sounded less agressive, and as if the revs had gone higher but they hadn't) while driving. I knew something wasnt right, so luckily it got me home.
So from that night forward, it had sat in the garage awaiting new mods, and of course, a brand new engine. I also pulled apart the motor, and found out what had happened. So now, onto photos of everything! I tried to take new ones at every step I took, to document all the work completed.
In garage, teardown started!
How about this nice PCV line...
October 31, 2010. She sat like this for awhile, while I saved money to fix her...
Then mods started arriving (finally!) ....so to start, fitting this:
Its from American Muscle, and obviously you all know what it is lol. Then I decided to do a custom full black interior. For those who may not know, SVT Contours never came with a black interior. Only midnight blue, or tan. Yuck! First off, black SVT mats! More on the interior later though.
Then heres how she looked:
I then started to pull my interior apart + out to do the color change.
Since I decided to go all out, even my doorpanels got treatment! Took them apart to make sure they were done properly.
Then I got around to dyeing my carpet. Turned out good I think! This was with 2 coats, the carpet got another 2 coats and went a tad darker. You can see the difference between the black carpet and the midnight blue wheel, quite a change!
While the car was away, I also needed some new wheels, so I started looking around. What a pain to find 4x108 wheels! BUT i lucked out, and scored these locally. 18" Enkei GF-1s!
After getting home from picking the wheels up, I had prepped my dash for the color swap!
Done!
So once I had done this, i remembered the cluster and trim peices are black! So that wouldnt flow nicely...so I decided to change those too!
Black dash + carpet vs stock MNB wheel
Trim peices back in, ta daaaa!
And that was it for the interior work for the time being, as it was time to put some work into the motor side of things.
Then I figured since my interiors out, and waiting on some parts to arrive, why not throw in some nice seats
....Genuine too, not knockoffs. Once that was complete, I figured I should pull my tranny apart and see how my internals looked as they were done by the previous owner. And good thing I did...
It still grabbed like a mofo, but Im very happy I found that and gave me the chance to do a new clutch setup as well
. Seeing how I was on a roll, I figured Id pull the heads off and once again, looky looky!I guess that explains my oil loss, the smoke, and loss in power! The other head was fine, so it seems just that cylinder was pooched. I then looked into my enginebay and realized how dirty and rough it looked, so you know what that meant.....
Not bad for $15 in supplies, using rattlecans!
Then it was time to check out the bottom end, where I thought FOR SURE Id find something!
Yup, you see correctly....it was BLUE! Kinked PCV, no pressure relief, heated up, etc. On a better note, my rod bearings looked new! No scorring or shavings.
Then, more parts arrived! New SPEC flywheel friction plate, and tinted Audi A6 sidemarkers!
The sidemarkers required me to cut my fenders, so thats exactly what I did. Scary moment for sure, lol.
More parts - custom made tubular rear control arms
Then I focused on getting a new motor, rather then rebuild mine. So why not upgrade? Thats when I decided to opt for a Ford Escape 3.0L engine swap. My original plan was to rebuild, but seeing this made me decide not to
So then I found a motor, but it wasnt very local. Roadtrip time! 2004 Ford Escape engine is what I was picking up!
More little mods in between the big stuff...
Got my doors done, well, sort of. Black panels, red seude inserts!
Then I decided to let the 3L breathe a bit better. Modded 4.6L GT 65mm TB!
And when I arrived home, I had this waiting for me
Its a Clutchnet Stage 2 setup for a street/strip car. Carbon disc, and a Stage 2 pressureplate to match.
So I could now start getting the tranny back together!
And finally, got it on the Escape engine.
To aid the 65mm TB, a Ford Mondeo ST220 upper manifold! This held 7.5L of water while a stock one held 5.5L.
After some work, got the motor all in and had to set everything up
ST220, 65mm on!
Then seeing how my car is taking a "murdered" theme, had to do the wheels and tie my Baer BBK calipers to the interior!
Got all my wiring done, hoses ran, fluids in, oilchanged, etc and then started to put the car back together...and then a teaser of the car.
But the car wasnt done yet. Still needed to make a coilpack mounting bracket, tidy up some lines, and tune my ECU via a SCT flipchip w/ my Xcal2.
Then I got time to bleed my clutch, wire up the headlights, foglights, etc. and pushed the car into some sunlight for the first time in over a year!
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