Hot Builds: 1998 Ford SVT Contour

Staff
By Staff Writer
Sep 5, 2018 | Ford | Posted in News and Notes | From the Aug. 2015 issue | Never miss an article

The Builds and Project Cars section of our Internet community is bustling with activity. We’ll regularly feature a build from one of our readers. Follow this and other cool projects at grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars

John F. Preston’s third Ford SVT Contour is this all-black 1998 model. When he brought it home, it had already received a limited-slip differential and D2 coil-over suspension. John upgraded the wiring harness, gave the car a functioning horn, and took advantage of a Tire Rack sale to add the Axis Sport Xcite wheels wrapped with 235/40ZR17 Sumitomo tires. He’d purchased the Mirko splitter 10 years ago and was finally able to put it to use. Unfortunately, the Contour recently encountered some bad luck: A clutch failure has landed it on the sidelines.


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Comments
dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/6/18 7:55 a.m.

Were the stock SVT gages white in these cars?  

Like this. 

Tom_Spangler
Tom_Spangler GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
9/6/18 8:12 a.m.

Yes, they were. I think all 90s-era SVT Fords had white gauges.

As a former CSVT owner who still considers it to be one of the best cars I've owned, I heartily endorse this project!

Floating Doc
Floating Doc GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
9/6/18 8:52 a.m.

I've always liked these, but apparently the wiring harness falls apart and is NLA.

Non-running ones appear fairly regularly on CL around here.

te72
te72 Reader
9/6/18 11:05 p.m.

That car has a nice presence, I like it!

AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/7/18 9:31 a.m.

i missed one a few years ago when my buddy didn't tell me he was going to trade it in at his local CarMax.  with 120k on the odo and needing front wheel bearings, CM sent it to auction the day after he traded it in.  i had driven it about a year earlier and told him that i wanted dibs.   oh well, can't save 'em all.

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/7/18 2:40 p.m.

There is on on the local cl for 1800. The thing is they are advertising the $800 stereo more than the car. I was thinking of offering them $800 for it and they keep the stereo.  

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
9/7/18 2:41 p.m.
jimbbski
jimbbski Dork
9/7/18 3:28 p.m.

I owned a '00  SVT from 2004-2013. I sold it to another Contour owner who was happy to buy it. I later saw it for sale 2-3 years later and he was asking more then I sold it for. I liked the car fine but while I'm a Ford guy I felt that the car was a bit cheap/weak in the performance side. That is the front wheel bearings and hubs won't hold up to any kind of track duty with sticky tires and I had weird things go wrong that I had to fix as no shop would touch it.

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
9/7/18 6:08 p.m.

3.0 swap after you blow the 2.5 in a sustained right hander.

CyberEric
CyberEric HalfDork
9/7/18 6:41 p.m.

In reply to Appleseed :

I always wanted one of these, but that issue always scared me off.

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