04 Crown Vic opinions

Need some opinions on this...

About a year ago I picked up an ex detective Crown Vic, with a bad trans. Swapped a 5-speed into it and have put about 5000 fun miles on it. Total fun car. 100,000 miles great engine, no issues.

I am at the next step in this cars evolution and am at a fork in the road.

Goal: Fast, fun, manual Crown Vic...

I want more powah... Turbo power. I have been planning on just throwing a turbo on the stock 4.6 (with the proper fuel) and letting her eat. I am lead to believe that with this settup I would be at a safe 400-450 whp... The hangup is, I cannot, for the life of me, figure a way to get it all plumbed with a rear outlet exhaust that does not go under the front crossmember. I really don't want to do that.

Enter in turbo LSX ideas.

I could drop a 6.oh in there with a t56 and have a way higher hp limit and a ton more room to make the 3" snake of tubing work... With significant more cost and work.

Thoughts?

You'll be limited on oil pan options. Might have to go custom steel for the LS.

The solution is a set of NASCAR style side exit pipes.

Does the old flip a pair of log manifolds trick not work here?

Oil pan is the stock van pan that is already on the motor that I have eyes on.

4.6 would be fabricated manifolds. 6.oh manifolds would be fabricated, easier to make also as there would be ton more room...

Thanks Ross

6.oh may be able to flip factory manifolds also. Depends on how the PS pump and AC plumbing fall. That would be the easiest settup. AC and PS a must... Want all factory stuff to work.

I'm anti LS swapping anything Ford but there isn't a lot of room in a 4.6 car unless you mount the turbo in the grill or bumper. That's why supercharger are so popular among the mod motor guys and would easily make the power you want.

Oh, forgot 4.6 is a bigass OHC engine. Rear mount turbo where the muffler lived? Cut a hole in the hood?

One of the guys who writes for Hot Rod magazine did a series of articles a few years ago about hopping up his Crown Vic. He swapped heads and cam along with a few other things and got quite a bit more power. The Hot Rod website is terrible but you may be able to find the articles there.

That was McGann's in CarCraft. You can still find the articles. The biggest problem you'll find is you'll break the Ford 5spd. Its at the limits with the stock 4.6.

Just make a boom hole out the side of the front bumper.

Appleseed wrote: Just make a boom hole out the side of the front bumper.

Side pipe! Over the front wheel arch, down the A pillar, along the rocker and dump in front of the rear wheel.

Yup, read up on using the Ford stuff. Down the line I want the coil overs from the Car Craft Vic. I have the sway bars on the way. Seems a turbo and fuel to 420-450 whp would be the safe limit on my current setup. That, along with the plumbing issue is what has led me down the sneezing LS path....the safe limit on that is much higher.

Thanks Ross

Never been in a non race car with a leaf lower output in front of the front wheel... Not sure it would be too friendly. I would like to keep the car quiet and stock appearing, kinda sleeper.

Thanks Ross

Sidenote: any info in that manual trans swap? How hard was it? Worth it?

Have you looked in to rear mounted turbo? Not sure of the packaging and running a second pipe back to the front but the technology of these setups has come a long way making them viable options. You also have plenty of room in the trunk for a independent oil system for the turbo. I have always pondered this option in a larger car with a rear mounted turbo thinking you put a oil holding tank in the trunk leading to the turbo then to small trans cooler and finally to a small pump that pulls the oil through everything and puts it back in to the tank in the trunk. The system would be a sealed system with a restriction before the turbo to reduce pressure and keep suction on the return side of the system.

By keeping the oiling system of the turbo independent from the motor you don't get the contamination of the oil from the motor and you can run a couple quarts of very high grade oil specifically designed for the turbo (think amesoil or redline) Possibly some sort of ATF even for the very high detergent but low foaming property's and it could be a viscosity that is best suited for the turbo. Also heat is much less of an issue in the turbo due to it being much further down stream from the motor making your need for cooling less and the chances of coking the turbo lower. All around this seems like a system that has many up sides. I have always wanted to put one of these together just to see if it would work.

CarKid1989 wrote: Sidenote: any info in that manual trans swap? How hard was it? Worth it?

Pretty straightforward, i had everything to do mine when i found the frame rust.

What did you use for a pedal assembly? I remember seeing quite a bit of fabrication needed to slide a T-56 into a Caprice back in the day.

In reply to dropstep: I agree with the supercharger idea. +1 since they have sold a lot of them, almost all the needed hardware should be buy and place.

Manual swap guys- It is not too bad pedal box being the most difficult. But there is a great guy in Canada that produces them sometimes for like 400 bucks, which is worth it for me to stay out from under the dash. I built my own... I will do a build thread soon I promise.

Supercharger guys- Seemingly a good idea. More limited on HP. The 2v cars that I have seen with blowers are loud as hell. Big bucks to do it on a Crown Vic in my very small amount of research. Dollar to dollar seems I could go turbo 6.oh for similar bucks and have a ton more power.

And I really think it would be fun with a turbo... Supercharger would even work better with a manual trans. But the damn thing will still weigh 4000+ pounds so no rocket ship, just a fun car.

Thanks Ross

Theres a guy on yellowbullet.com running a turbo ls in a crown vic. It does work but other then cost i dont know why you think the modular is so limited.

Cubic inches. Mod motors don't have it. Big cars crave torque.

Mod motor = 420-450whp limit stock.

LSX = 600+ whp stock.

Modded mod motor = mega bucks (heads, intake, cams) to get to 600+-

Modded LSX = way cheaper more powah+-

Honestly the plumbing of the whole thing is just easier with the LS on the simple fact that the motor is way smaller.

So its price, i figured as much. I know mod motors are exspensive but there not weak like the 80s 302. I thought you were refrencing the block as the weak point.

Just asking for clarity because of the ls craze. Stick a junkyard 6.0 in it and boost too your hearts content. Bang for the buck the mod wont match its performance.

If cost was not a factor its been proven over and over that the mod makes more power.

In reply to dropstep:

The mod motor is good, don't get me wrong. I just have no need to keep this car brand loyal. I just want a fun car... I have done the math repeatedly on the 2v and it just takes way to much money to make power.

Next winter I would like to do a suspension build on it. I do enjoy auto-x in this land barge. So in this build I am trying to keep it a fin to drive car, meaning being in boost way early and not having a ski jump power curve.