Yep, think I'll stick to the same. Not nearly this hard on a muscle car.

Took it for a 400 mile swing though the northern CO mountains. 90s when I left 70s-80s in the mountains. Ran good. Figured about about 16.7 MPG on the last tank and that was with fighting a nasty headwind for the first 1/3 of a tank. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Last two times it was almost exactly 17 MPG. Oh, and that was with all my gear + 5 gal of gas but without the usual 20 gallons of water. And it ONLY does this good in the mountains - somewhere about 15-15.5 on the plains. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Its a far cry from the 18-18.5 I'm used to with the 3.0L. This is ALMOST as bad as driving a Jeep. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

I didn't have it outright overheat - which basically means I didn't have to stop and let it cool down. Probably because I didn't get stuck in traffic going up the pass. Still hit 216-218 a few times but it didn't go any higher - either because the fans can at least keep it there or because I just didn't give it enough time to go higher. For the most part, though, it behaved no different than my '03 3.5L. I'll drop the fan controller to 180 this week. Didn't feel like messing with it yesterday. Long, slow (below 35 MPH) climbs still eventually become a problem.

Taking it up to RMNP next weekend to run Fall River. See how it does there. Not really 4WD but that is a LONG steep climb. Haven't had any issues off road this year, but its been cool and I've only been up a couple times. We're heading out to Moab the 20th of next month - I'll have time to take it off road before then.

I managed to stumble across an actual Ford OEM Contour dual fan assembly last winter. Ford doesn't sell this anymore I found out but a dealership had one left on the shelf. I want to swap assemblies sometime this month. I had some weird noises coming from the fans this winter so I MAY have a motor going south - not working at full power.

On a more positive note - I took it in for emissions Saturday. Passed CO emissions on the first try and better than my stock '03 3.5L - by a good bit. I've had FOUR aftermarket CATs and I swear none of them work as well as the OEM one. Anyway, it was in and out in less than 10 minutes. I thought for sure it'd failed miserably since they'd finished that quickly.

Ah, well. At least it runs good. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> Maybe I'll try the MS if I get really really bored some day. I was really looking forward to putting a 3.5L in my little '97 - especially after seeing how heavy just the Pro Rock 44s are. I'm not sure even the 3.5L would be much help with a Pro Rock 60 in the back. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Edward