Heavily Modded Panthers here! SPECS AND INFO ON OUR BADDEST CARS!

[mrltd]

Gonna have a thread here with the heavily modded cars... Post the cars info, what's done to it, and your experiences with the setup(s)

[gadget73]

86 Towncar base model
probably ~4400 lbs, not sure

Front:
98-02 brakes
710 in/lb springs for 98-02 Grand Marquis
KYB GR-2 front shocks
1 3/16 wagon front bar
Poly bushings on control arms
poly endlinks on swaybar
stock rubber frame bushings on sway bar
02 steering box

Rear:
11" rear drums, standard with the tow package
1" police rear bar mounted to control arms
stock wagon coils from an 85 CP
auto-level suspension using some cheap air shocks, Gabriel HiJacker I think. They're white in any case
replaced upper rear control arm bushings with stock rubber. Lowers are shot original rubber.

Wheels/tires
16x7.5" LSC turbines
1" aluminum spacers in the back
1.25" spacers up front
Fuzion 225/60/16 H rated tires.

Springs are too tall, and make the front sit probably 3/4" higher than it should. The wagon coils are an attempt to keep it level. Front suspension is too harsh, and it seems like it has some oversteer. I think a lot of the strangeness to the ride and handling comes from the increase in ride height over stock. The alignment has also never been competantly done and the car has a constant drift to one side. Steering wheel is off-center as well. Steering gear is great, gives excellent road feel without being obnoxious to turn at low speed. Ratio is also a lot tighter than stock. Future plans include a return to stock springs and replacing the current wagon sway bar with a late model police one that mounts direct to the spindles instead of to the lower control arm.

[Blaze86Vic]

86 Crown Victoria (SVT Vic)

Front Suspension setup:
Tru-Coil 925lb/in 12" springs.
QA1 7/3 (compression/rebound) shocks.
PI solid mount upper control arms.
PI front anti-sway bar with poly bushings.
15X8.5" western wheels with 245/60 Yoko. Avid STs
PI brake calipers.

Rear suspension setup:
Tru-Coil 225lb/in 14" springs.
Generic Air shocks (suck ass).
PI control arm mounted anti-sway bar.
15X8.5" western wheels with 255/60 Yoko. Avid STs
11" PI brakes.

I would wager to guess that my car is a little under the factory spec weight. So 3600lbs. I don't have any track time but a good steady on ramp turn can give an acurate judgment of oversteer or understeer.

With the setup above I have concluded that it is a little on the oversteer (lose) end of the spectrum. I believe that with better shocks in the rear, it would hold a little better. Bringing it a little closer to neutral.

Recommended improvements on this setup:
Front shocks should be 8/7 ot 8/6 (c/r).
Rear shocks should be better than shit.
mayber 200lb/in rear springs instead of 225lb/in.
16" or 17" wheels with lower profile tires will DRAMATICALY improve response.
Need 98 brake setup for more adjustability in caster. More caster is never enough.

[SLYDAWG]

Who would mod a heavy??

Racecar:
1981 Colony Park, bought in 1988 with 110K mi., for $1K to haul the Little League/Soccer/Softball teams around, bracket raced several weekends a month, fully optioned. It eventually went 16.526 at 84mph at 4530# in full daily driver trim, VV carb, hedders and duals.

Front suspension:
Factory coils. Sway bar removed. Cheapest, smallest dia. OEM shocks I could find. Real close to 70/30.
Because speeds are approaching triple digits, the front end was rebuilt to stock specs, alignment set to track true and straight at speed.
Cheapest (softest) brake pads I could find to help slow the car down from speed and to hold at the line.
91 (lighter than the 81s) turbine wheels, 205/70 tires set at 40psi.

Rear suspension:
Factory coils with air bags, 25# r. side, 10# l. side, poly bushings thruout with new bolts, boxed factory LCA. Gabriel Stryder HD gas charged LT shocks (damn near 50/50 at ~1/3 the price). 4.56 gear, FORD posi with F150 spring, new 28 spline axles, bearing support girdle and aluminum cover, M/T 'I block' tires set at 32psi, rear brakes backed off 3 clicks for less rolling resistance and to heat the tires without a line lock.
Car dead hooks.............
Wagons transfer weight better than sedans.

Engine:
Exploder 302 crate short block, CRANE flat tappet cam, worked DO heads, Stealth intake, Avenger 670 carb, stock Duraspark with MSD coil.

Trans:
Pan fill large bell C-4 built to hold 500hp, 4200 EDGE convertor, factory driveshaft.
Next rebuild will add wr gear set and hardened input shaft.

Future plans:
AFR 185 heads, TORKER intake. Have a modified air gap. May use it.
Spool, 100 shot NOS, fuel cell, weight reduction.

Long range plans:
Build the 351 block I have into a 408 with AFR 205s......
11s here I come!!!!
Add a 100 shot to that........
10s anyone?

[AOD]

Not sure it fit's into the heavily modified category, but there isn't a thread for that.

1985 2-door Crown Victoria, base model.
Weight: est. 3800-3900 lbs wet, no driver.

Front:
OEM springs
2002 PI shocks
Original sway bar and bushings
17x7 Ford SAP Wheels
245/55/R17Z Michelin Pilot A/S tires

Rear:
2004 PI Front Springs, cut, 1 coil removed
2002 PI shocks
Police sway bar (control arm mounted)
17x7 Ford SAP Wheels
245/55/R17Z Michelin Pilot A/S tires
Ford Trac Lok and 4.10 Gears

Rear spring mod allowed me to customize the ride height I wanted (neutral stance). The high spring rate makes the rear very stiff. Overall, good tires with stiff sidewalls help the handling the most on these big cars.

Future mods include modified front springs with a stiffer spring rate and slightly shorter height.

~Adam

[mrltd]

Cowtown Cowboy's car

This is a CVN members car, Cowtown Cowboy.

The thread he started is HERE

I was thinking about this today, and I figure there's about a $1000 in suspension parts total. That includes springs, shocks, bushings, 4 balljoints, tie rod ends and sleeves, idler and pitman arms, too.
The front springs are 1200lb units with 1/2 a coil cut off, making them about 1300lbs/in. Rears are 350lb/in. Both sets came from SCP in Virginia. (They were OK to deal with at first, then they stopped talking to me and I don't know why?)Custom droop stops front and rear (I've got pics of them) The first shocks were Pro-shocks hydraulics and were just brutal on the street, current are Bilsteins. They're awesome! Cheap too. Part #1195 and 1196 if I remember correctly. Mine being a police model has solid bushings on the upper control arms. Those parts are obsolete from everybody, but they seem to last forever so find some at the boneyard. Install 1/2" worth of spacers between the upper control shafts and the frame for each 1" you lower the car, this will correct the camber curve and really even out the tire wear. The upper mount bolts are 14mm. I used grade 12.9 socket head capscrews which are cheap and easy to get. I replaced the lower control arm bushings with solid steel stock car parts. There's some fabrication involved with sleeves and spacers though. Front swaybar is a stock 88 wagon unit that weighs 7lbs less than the stock police 28mm bar. The wagon bar measures 30mm (?) and seems to be the same stiffness.
The rear suspension has stock replacement rubber bushings in boxed (don't forget to weld the sleeves for the swaybar in place first!) control arms. The Currie 9" has standard 3/4" uniball joints on the housing and rubber bushings at the frame end. Although the Currie rear end is nice, a 9" from a 73-79 T-Bird or Cougar is exactly the right width but will need the mounting brackets changed. Another thing to watch for is that Mustang upper control arms are too short and use too small (12mm vs. 14mm) bolts.
With your wagon, you've got exactly the same brakes I'm running and they seem to work fine. I run DOT5 silicone fluid and I like it. I've tried Hawk Blue and Black race pads and they suck. So far NAPA Severe Duty pads have the best balance of performance and price. And they don't wear the rotors faster than the pads. They do need to heat up before they work well, they're quite grabby when cold. For solo2 a softer pad would probably work better.
Tires are a really important, I dropped almost 3 seconds a lap going from brand new (friggin' expensive) Goodyear GT+4's on stock 6-1/2" wheels to American Racer 26x9.0x15 bias slicks on 15x8" Aero race wheels, now I run Hoosier 245-50x15 radials and they're faster yet. One thing to watch for is the end of the upper control arms cutting a groove in the sidewall of the tires due to cornering loads. I ended heating, beating and grinding as much off the end as I could and still use a solid aluminum 1/4" spacer. That appears to be just the right amount as I wear the witness paint on the control arm but don't mark the tire. The picture that's posted is the highest load left hand turn on the whole track, it's downhill and a true 180 degrees. on a good lap, I'm pulling what feels like 1-1/2 G's.
That's 'bout all I can think of for now.
Later, Barry

I started driving this car when the repainting project on my Taurus got out of hand. It was pretty sad, it leaked and it squeaked, but was in clean, mostly original condition. You could even make out where the decals were that said "Highway Patrol" and the unit numbers. The AOD had been replaced with a C-6 and the air pump and cats had been removed, and a cheesy non functional radio installed. I drove it all the first winter with bald Goodyear GT4's. It impressed me with it's inherent balance and decent handling, so I started fixing things...
After putting every single piece of the emissions equipment back on the rebuilt engine, the driveability was amazing. It would idle dead smooth at 300 RPM in gear and start instantly under any condition.
Then I got in my head that it would be fun to drive it on the race track.
4 years, $20K and about a thousand hours later, I've got a car that looks like it's worth $200 but runs high 12's at the drags and annoys a lot of BMW and Porsche owners on the track.
The highlights (I'll post some pics later) include:
-a 408 stroker with AFR heads, full roller valve train etc. that hits the rev limiter at 6700 RPM
-heavily modified 4R70W with a 3000 stall lock up converter from TCS controlled by a TCU from PCS
-a Currie 9" housing filled with 3.50 gears and a TruTrac.
-lowered 2" with 1300lb springs front and 350lb springs rear.
-Bilstein street stock race shocks
-solid steel lower control arm bushings, custom camber curve correction mods
-boxed rear control arms and spherical upper axle mounts
-hollow front sway bar, stock police rear
-cryogenic treated "stock" brakes(!) with cooling ducts for track use(race pads suck BTW)
-custom built rollbar, race seats, 5 point harnesses and on-board fire system
-Firestone V-rated PV41's on stock steel wheels and dog dish hubcaps for the street, Hoosier R6 radials on Aero 15x8 stock car wheels at the track, Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials on 15x8 DOT white spokes(painted black) for the drags

And it's been totally worth it. Having built, modified or fabricated just about everything myself; the looks of disbelief as the laughter stops just makes it that much sweeter.

There's more planned but that will have to wait for another day.

[Lincolnmania]

86 lincoln towncar lss
5.0 ho shortblock from a 91 mustang
thumper performance ported e7 heads
ho cam
ported upper and lower intake
65mm explorer throttle body
motorsport 1.7 roller rockers
1/2" intake spacer
197,000 mi aod with b&m shift kit
3.73 gears with trac lock
98-02 big front brakes
92-95 rear disc brakes
kenwood stereo
two amps
two 12" subs
earthquake speakers
87-89 mark 7 lsc wheels with 1" wheel spacers
firestone affinity lh30 tires 225/60/16
221.8 rwhp 278 rwt
best time of 15.91 at 88 mph

[Grand Marquis GT]

1987 Ford Crown Victoria LX 2dr

Engine/Drivetrain:
1997 Ford Explorer 5.0 longblock
.020 over, fresh rebuild
GT40P heads cleaned up, decked for 9.5:1
HO Cam
1.7 Crane Roller Rockers
19# injectors
Mark 7 LSC ECM
Professional Products 65mm throttle body
Professional Products Power+Plus Inake Manifold
Ford Motorsports Ceramic Coated Headers
Offroad H pipe
Summit Polished Stainless Steel Mufflers
Dynomax 2.5" Impala SS Tailpipes
Rebuilt AOD, 2000 Stall converter, Hi-Rev Govenor/Transgo AOD-HP shift kit
3.73 rear with 8 clutch traction-lock rebuild

Suspension:
98-02 Front suspension, brakes
Late model rear disc brakes
Energy suspension bushings throughout, including trans and bodymounts
925# Springs front, 225# springs rear
KYB Gas-a-just shocks all around
PI rear swaybar/stock front swaybar

Exterior
16" 2005 V6 Mustang wheels
215/65R16 BF Goodrich tires
1979 LTD Clear lenses
Vinyl top/Trim delete
1979-81 grille
1979-82 taillights
Hella headlights

Interior:
1972 Cougar XR7 Bucket Seats/Interior/Floor shifter
140 mph speedometer



I think that's about it.

[portdizzal]

I am Billy and i own a slightly heavy modded '86 LTD Country Squire.


The Front Suspension-\
*Front springs replaced with firestone bags
*frame trimmed and boxed
*custom bag perches made
*shock mounts made and shocks relocated
*sectioned heater box and cage to clear the wheels
*raised engine 3/4" to clear oil pan

The Rear suspension-/
*custom c-notch
*3-link
*bags and perches
*tubed floor board 4"
*reformed drive shaft alley

All controlled by two viar 550 series compressors and two 5 gallon tanks.
Simple front back action with 4 valves for pump and dump.

The engine is currently out and i will update with the new one when i figure out what im doing.

The doors have all been shaved
The front bumper recessed 3"
all side markers are shaved
the rear tailgate and bumper are shaved
'59 caddy taillights keep people from rear-ending me
The car is sprayed with electric blue-pearl PPG

the upholstery is all done in white pleather and will change soon.
the rear seat is modified to make room for shaft alley.

Audio/Video-/
*Pyle indash flip screen 7" dvd player
*Sony explod headunit
*autotech crossover
*2-3.5" sony explodes in dash
*8-6.5" sony explod component speakers
*2-10" sony subs
*2-15" sony subs
*3 amplifiers with total 6000watts pushing components and subs
*2 optima yellow top batteries
*200 Amp alternator

I feel like im missing something..........Ill get to it later. Enjoy the pics.

[gadget73]

Changes in bold to reflect the current gig.

86 Towncar base model
probably ~4400 lbs, not sure

Front:
98-02 brakes
stock front springs
KYB GR-2 front shocks
1 3/16 wagon front bar
Poly bushings on control arms
poly endlinks on swaybar
stock rubber frame bushings on sway bar
02 steering box

Rear:
rear disc brakes from a 1994 model
1" police rear bar mounted to control arms
stock rear springs
auto-level suspension using 1999 Ford F150 rear air shocks
replaced upper rear control arm bushings with stock rubber. Lowers are shot original rubber.

Wheels/tires
16x7.5" LSC turbines
1" aluminum spacers in the back
1.25" spacers up front
Bridgestone Protenza G109 Grid 225/60/HR16

Energy Suspension poly bodymounts.


Car has been aligned properly and has stock springs. Handling is much more neutral, and steering is far more predictable. Car tracks straight and returns to center very nicely now. Still harsher than stock due to the truck rear shocks and the larger front bar, but its not unreasonable and I'm probably not going to change much with it. Still might change the front bar to a late model one but the endlinks are expensive and I'm a tightwad.