21 replies to this topic

[Terry Haines]

…a review of the unique upgrades and mods that HMS Inc can offer to your MTX75.


Diff Upgrades.

We all know the stoc open diff on most all MTX75’s from ’98 up are glass.The standard fix for this is either a Quaife or Torsen ATB diff.Owners should note this is NOT an LSD but an ATB(Automatic Torque Bias) diff,it has gears as a normal diff but no plates.It’s far stronger than the stoc units.We off both the Quaife and Torsen at discounts(if we fit them,not on mail order parts,under 600 on a Quaife,just over 500 on a Torsen).
We can also offer a cheaper option from our stocks of stoc Ford ‘open diffs.Either a stoc glass type diff replacement(some new,some used in good condition)used 95’>97’ units which are around 20% stronger than the 98>up units.Or the new Euro spec diff.All these 3 open diffs can be had on mail order from us.

With any power upgrade a diff is a must have on an MTX75.

‘Keyed Tower Mod’

 THE_BOLT.JPG   560.13K   257 downloads  towerlatelever.JPG   456.72K   226 downloads


early bolt tower & later tower lever


This mod can be had on any MTX75,which includes Contour/Cougar/Focus and Jaguar MTX75’s.
The reason for it is ‘loss of gears’ or ‘jammed in gear’.The early all shift towers have a bolt which holds the selector arm to the vertical shift shaft.Over time ,and harsh shifting,this bolt will fret and can break off its head resulting in total loss of gear selection or jammed in gear.The ally to can only be removed if the levers are in the neutral(vertical) position and not stuck in gear.If the tower is forced off when the trans is in gear it will bend the ‘fork keeper’ assy which will need replacement due to this damage and is not a part that can be had from Ford.The bolt head must also be removed from the trans as it will damage gears and can be punched ut thru the trans case!Some suggest lockwire on the bolt,this will only stop the head dropping down,it will not stop the bolt failure.The broken bolt can be replaced with the genuine Ford part but,as we have seen many times,can break again.
On the later Focus/Jaguar style towers,there is no bolt but the drive is by a roll pin.This redsign can still fail but no head will drop inside the trans but gears will still be lost.Another point on the later type,the selector arm is in 2 parts that are spot welded together.One part takes the roll pin,the other is the arm that selects the gears.We have seen some of these break at the spot welds…

All types of tower can be cured of this loss of gears issue with our key mod.
We machine a keyway in the vertical shift shaft and wire burn a matching keyway in the selector arm.The assy is rebuilt using a D3 steel key.This takes all the load from gear selection off of either the bolt,roll pin or spot welds so no failure or loss of gears can take place.
A very worthwhile mod on all MTX75..We also now offer this to ‘rod shift’ MTX’s as we hear that ‘some’ have also experienced a bolt failure.

Use Focus style tower as an upgrade?


Not any more guys!
A few years ago this was the ‘common’ upgrade for the ally tower,along with new ‘ball type’ Focus cable ends.Note it does NOT stop the roll pin break or the spot weld failure AND can get you in trouble if you ever need to change the whole cable assy’s.The early type cables could take either the ‘pin’ type cable ends or the Focus ‘ball’ type.Ford no longer offer the early cables but only the later Cougar type as replacements.These WILL NOT accept the Focus ‘ball’ cable ends.So if you fit a Focus ‘ball’ type tower but need a whole set of cables in the future you will either need the ‘pin end’ type tower or an old used set of cables that will take Focus ball cable ends.This Focus tower mod is now ‘old hat’.



‘’Shift forks’…Stoc Ford & our ‘Slick Shift’ set.

As we know,long use of ATF type fluids will cause the whitemetal bushes on stoc forks to become tight on the shafts and cause stiff gear selection.The later Ford style forks do have roller bearings on the 1st/2nd gear fork and a revised oiling gutter on the 3rd/4th fork.5th/R fork is still the same as original and the Ford 3rd/4th & 5th/R fork still retain the white metal bushes. Our Slick Shift kt has roller bearings on all 3 shift forks and is a good upgrade for thos who would like almost zero drag and friction on gear forks.

‘Koated Kogbox’

This is wher we coat all gears,blockers etc with baked on Moly/Ceramic coatings.the coatings can stand up to around 30,000 PSI.This helps reduce drag,friction and gear rollover niose and has been used by some owners of high output cars,where the cost of a full Quaife gearset is an issue re cost.

I should add that all blockers are coated on our full trans rebuilds where all new blockers are fitted.

We also offer total unique custom builds with Quaife gears etc etc and have built these for such cars as the ‘Atom’ with the V8 engine and other ‘on off’ applications.

Hope that gives you all a rough guide to what we can do for your MTX75



Contact me by e mail for quotes,detail etc. TH

[EMacias]

Hi Terry.

I have been looking for in the internet for differences between the Contour and Mondeo MTX75 transaxle.

Maybe here is not exactly the topic to ask for but I´m new here and reading your comments I can see you have a lot of experience with this transmission.

I own a 2001 Mondeo trend 2.5L V6 duratec with a MTX75 transaxle. My transmission has a problem shifting in 2 and 3, after pull the transmission out we found that the problem is in the "brass synchro rings" (sorry I´m not sure if that is the name in english). The thing is that my car is imported and I can not find these spare parts here in Mexico I asked in US and they send me a quote for these parts but is for a Contour, I knew that the first mondeo generation was called "Contour" here in America even in Mexico had that name but now was changed to Mondeo. My question is: Can I be confortable to receive the parts I need for my transmission? or I can find differences in construction, materials, measures, etc if I decide to buy these parts in US for a Contour.

I hope you can help me on this because since now I could not find any direction to clarify my doubt.

Thank you very much in advance.




EMacias.

Terry Haines, on Oct 23 2007, 08:44 AM, said:

…a review of the unique upgrades and mods that HMS Inc can offer to your MTX75.


Diff Upgrades.

We all know the stoc open diff on most all MTX75’s from ’98 up are glass.The standard fix for this is either a Quaife or Torsen ATB diff.Owners should note this is NOT an LSD but an ATB(Automatic Torque Bias) diff,it has gears as a normal diff but no plates.It’s far stronger than the stoc units.We off both the Quaife and Torsen at discounts(if we fit them,not on mail order parts,under 600 on a Quaife,just over 500 on a Torsen).
We can also offer a cheaper option from our stocks of stoc Ford ‘open diffs.Either a stoc glass type diff replacement(some new,some used in good condition)used 95’>97’ units which are around 20% stronger than the 98>up units.Or the new Euro spec diff.All these 3 open diffs can be had on mail order from us.

With any power upgrade a diff is a must have on an MTX75.

‘Keyed Tower Mod’

THE_BOLT.JPG towerlatelever.JPG


early bolt tower & later tower lever


This mod can be had on any MTX75,which includes Contour/Cougar/Focus and Jaguar MTX75’s.
The reason for it is ‘loss of gears’ or ‘jammed in gear’.The early all shift towers have a bolt which holds the selector arm to the vertical shift shaft.Over time ,and harsh shifting,this bolt will fret and can break off its head resulting in total loss of gear selection or jammed in gear.The ally to can only be removed if the levers are in the neutral(vertical) position and not stuck in gear.If the tower is forced off when the trans is in gear it will bend the ‘fork keeper’ assy which will need replacement due to this damage and is not a part that can be had from Ford.The bolt head must also be removed from the trans as it will damage gears and can be punched ut thru the trans case!Some suggest lockwire on the bolt,this will only stop the head dropping down,it will not stop the bolt failure.The broken bolt can be replaced with the genuine Ford part but,as we have seen many times,can break again.
On the later Focus/Jaguar style towers,there is no bolt but the drive is by a roll pin.This redsign can still fail but no head will drop inside the trans but gears will still be lost.Another point on the later type,the selector arm is in 2 parts that are spot welded together.One part takes the roll pin,the other is the arm that selects the gears.We have seen some of these break at the spot welds…

All types of tower can be cured of this loss of gears issue with our key mod.
We machine a keyway in the vertical shift shaft and wire burn a matching keyway in the selector arm.The assy is rebuilt using a D3 steel key.This takes all the load from gear selection off of either the bolt,roll pin or spot welds so no failure or loss of gears can take place.
A very worthwhile mod on all MTX75..We also now offer this to ‘rod shift’ MTX’s as we hear that ‘some’ have also experienced a bolt failure.

Use Focus style tower as an upgrade?


Not any more guys!
A few years ago this was the ‘common’ upgrade for the ally tower,along with new ‘ball type’ Focus cable ends.Note it does NOT stop the roll pin break or the spot weld failure AND can get you in trouble if you ever need to change the whole cable assy’s.The early type cables could take either the ‘pin’ type cable ends or the Focus ‘ball’ type.Ford no longer offer the early cables but only the later Cougar type as replacements.These WILL NOT accept the Focus ‘ball’ cable ends.So if you fit a Focus ‘ball’ type tower but need a whole set of cables in the future you will either need the ‘pin end’ type tower or an old used set of cables that will take Focus ball cable ends.This Focus tower mod is now ‘old hat’.



‘’Shift forks’…Stoc Ford & our ‘Slick Shift’ set.

As we know,long use of ATF type fluids will cause the whitemetal bushes on stoc forks to become tight on the shafts and cause stiff gear selection.The later Ford style forks do have roller bearings on the 1st/2nd gear fork and a revised oiling gutter on the 3rd/4th fork.5th/R fork is still the same as original and the Ford 3rd/4th & 5th/R fork still retain the white metal bushes. Our Slick Shift kt has roller bearings on all 3 shift forks and is a good upgrade for thos who would like almost zero drag and friction on gear forks.

‘Koated Kogbox’

This is wher we coat all gears,blockers etc with baked on Moly/Ceramic coatings.the coatings can stand up to around 30,000 PSI.This helps reduce drag,friction and gear rollover niose and has been used by some owners of high output cars,where the cost of a full Quaife gearset is an issue re cost.

I should add that all blockers are coated on our full trans rebuilds where all new blockers are fitted.

We also offer total unique custom builds with Quaife gears etc etc and have built these for such cars as the ‘Atom’ with the V8 engine and other ‘on off’ applications.

Hope that gives you all a rough guide to what we can do for your MTX75



Contact me by e mail for quotes,detail etc. TH

[KAOS_2.5M]

/\ /\ Haha, the shreded second gear synchro we hear so much about from focus guys. are the second gear syncro's that fragile? I havn't noticed, and I took my last tranny apart just to look at whats goin on inside, the syncros were good, maybe some people just need help opperating manual gearsets, heh.

which bolt is it exactly thats breaking loose on people's shift gates? I wanna go look at it and determine how much it should take to mangle it.

and... say I find a pre 98 in the 'ole junk yard, and decide to just pull the case bolts loose right there and bring diff guts up to the desk and buy them, would it be worth opening a good "glass" gearbox just to get that extra 20% of strength in my diff? could it be done with the diff/bellhousing side of the transaxel still bolted to the engine, or would it be one of those take the front half of my car apart issues again?

BTW, were can I see this V8 bolted to an MTX? I'm guessing bolt pattern compatibility came from the taurus V8?

[Terry Haines]

...it's 3rd gear that is the major issue on later MTX75's re Focus.The bolt is in the pics I first posted and on a pinned post called 'The Bolt'...common fault and we have a cure. The 95>97 diffs are a bit stronger but for an open diff,not as strong as the Mondeo from around 2005>,which we have stocks off.Next would come non open diffs re ATB such as Quaife & Torsen. On syncros/blockers ,the parts used on say a 98 Contour MTX syncros/blockers,will be the same as the 98 Mondy...but as I have said many times,not all MTX's are the same even if the assy # match.Only true test is to check internals and know what you are looking for/at...

[EMacias]

I see Terry, I requested for the parts and I´m praying to god to receive what I need.
Thank you for your reply.

EMacias

Terry Haines, on Feb 3 2008, 06:31 AM, said:

...it's 3rd gear that is the major issue on later MTX75's re Focus.The bolt is in the pics I first posted and on a pinned post called 'The Bolt'...common fault and we have a cure. The 95>97 diffs are a bit stronger but for an open diff,not as strong as the Mondeo from around 2005>,which we have stocks off.Next would come non open diffs re ATB such as Quaife & Torsen. On syncros/blockers ,the parts used on say a 98 Contour MTX syncros/blockers,will be the same as the 98 Mondy...but as I have said many times,not all MTX's are the same even if the assy # match.Only true test is to check internals and know what you are looking for/at...

[Terry Haines]

...if you have the trans apart and can take pics on the input shaft gear assy and the output shaft gear asy I may be able to advise the level etc of the parts.For that matter,any pics you need info on e mail me...address is in the sig...

[EMacias]

Thank you Terry. I just sent you an e-mail to the address in your signature.

Thank you again.

[Terry Haines]

..OK,I'll get to it today...Have a foot + of snow to 'plow out' this morning....'bit' of a storm last night here in Michigan!!!

[cbman]

Can the Keyed Tower Mod be done with just the shift tower, or do you need the whole transaxle?

If I sent in my shift tower what's the approximate cost to have the keyed tower mod? Thanks, and btw I already have a Torsen diff and the later shift forks.

[Terry Haines]

...you can remove the tower with the trans left in, ship it to us for mod.Drop me an e mail.

[KAOS_2.5M]

just a silly pointless question here, but what do you think of the kazz clutch type LSD? seems like a clutch type would be better than an ATB considering the wheels that are going to cut loose are the ones that steer that car, ya know?

I only ask because I haven't seen anybody put one in.

[Terry Haines]

...and ATB (Quaife/Torsen)..is not an LSD. An ATB is also not a plate type...I have seen kazz be never in an MTX75. No user feedback eother.

[KAOS_2.5M]

Terry Haines, on May 5 2008, 04:30 AM, said:

...and ATB (Quaife/Torsen)..is not an LSD. An ATB is also not a plate type...I have seen kazz be never in an MTX75. No user feedback eother.

I know an ATB isnt an LSD, but I just feel like people are too fond of ATB diffs.

ATB's are great, untill a wheel looses traction, then.... their just expensive burn out machines. (IE plow off the friggin road when too much throttle happens in corners)

a cutch pack LSD, or a viscous LSD, both send traction to the wheel that ISNT slipping. hence the term "limited slip"

draw backs are: clutch packs slowly wear out, and viscous couplers waste a ton of power in the slush.

personally....

I like viscous, because it does it's job correctly, never wears out, and basically cant be broken. but alas.... nobody makes one for our cars, so... I'm thinking clutch is the right thing to do.

[Terry Haines]

..........but I just feel like people are too fond of ATB diffs.

Why so when there is no other off the shelf option? Driving with an ATB is no problem ,many racers use them ,incl Noble's.Need to know how to power thru corners with an ATB...100's of Contours,Cougars and Focus have them.

[BrApple]

KAOS_2.5M, on May 5 2008, 08:33 AM, said:

ATB's are great, untill a wheel looses traction, then.... their just expensive burn out machines. (IE plow off the friggin road when too much throttle happens in corners)

wouldn't that be understeer? and any front wheel drive car, ATB or not is going to do that with to much throttle ....

[KAOS_2.5M]

Terry Haines, on May 5 2008, 10:18 AM, said:

..........but I just feel like people are too fond of ATB diffs.

Why so when there is no other off the shelf option? Driving with an ATB is no problem ,many racers use them ,incl Noble's.Need to know how to power thru corners with an ATB...100's of Contours,Cougars and Focus have them.

I could swear you mad a post that was in your profile claiming to offer a "Kazz" clutch type LSD.

if all that is available are ATBs, then great, anything is better than an open diff, but if you have other options, then that would be the way I'd think people would be going.

PS a noble uses an ATB because it's RWD, not such a big deal if the wheels decide to go up in smoke.

I'm actually having a fairly similar talk over at NASIOC (IE not getting why there are so many cars with ATF fronts and clutch-LSD rears. seems backwards to me)

[Terry Haines]

.....maybe you can tell why the 'mondy ST220 and the MMT6 trans(FWD!) also fits the ATB diff by owners in Europe?..Same trans as the Noble. Yes I did post aboutthe Kazz but have yet to find any Contour owner who is using one in an MTX75...

[KAOS_2.5M]

Terry Haines, on May 5 2008, 01:01 PM, said:

.....maybe you can tell why the 'mondy ST220 and the MMT6 trans(FWD!) also fits the ATB diff by owners in Europe?..Same trans as the Noble. Yes I did post aboutthe Kazz but have yet to find any Contour owner who is using one in an MTX75...

ok... so you have them, but nobody's buying?

seems wierd.

in theory though, you get my point right?

[Terry Haines]

ok... so you have them

...did I say that?..I don't think so...

[KAOS_2.5M]

Terry Haines, on May 5 2008, 02:30 PM, said:

ok... so you have them

...did I say that?..I don't think so...

I could have swarn the post you made said they were available.

sorry if i got confused some how