seems like a good time to get a P71

Investigator, Police Chief, Fire Chief, miscellaneous government agencies (think DFW, DOT, Parks&Rec, etc), unmarked cruisers, etc.

mmmmmmmmmmmm. just decoded the axle. it's a locker.

I'm makin' an offer folks.....

Yahoooo. Just had my offer accepted!

A very nice P71, congrats.

are P71s really that great. im considering one seriously now..

Mine is! You can't find a better daily driver that can also be competitive and sheer stupid-grin inducing for cheaper.

If only they came with a tach...

Hey, don't judge, I love me some tachometer!

I will end up with one sooner or later, just othe rthings to work on for now

i need to price out a t45 and all the ancillaries. hmmmmm....

Osterkraut wrote: If only they came with a tach... Hey, don't judge, I love me some tachometer!

I've heard of people putting one in.

belteshazzar wrote:

Osterkraut wrote: If only they came with a tach... Hey, don't judge, I love me some tachometer!

I've heard of people putting one in.

Like an OEM in-dash tach? Or strapping a 8" autometer to the dash?

Marauder gauge cluster It drops right in and has a factory tach. Some guys put in Mustang clusters, but that involves actual work and some dash hacking, though it can look nice and factory when you're done.

that's interesting. even in an '02?

anyhow, I'm sure they bring more than I'll pay.
bidding on a nice used VDO on the 'bay as we speak...

i want one. went to a car cruise tonight and there were two there. i was drooling....

Picked up the car yesterday.

There are issues. There's been paint work and it's fairly horrendous. I can always sand and buff and sand and buff....

The steering wheel is deteriorating. meh.

the button to open the fuel door is broken. nbd

spare was missing. I woulda taken it out anyway.

tires are some goodyear garbage and had 20 psi in them.

the car feels kind lethargic. I've driven slightly older non-p71's that seemed much peppier. either my perspective is off or something's strangling this thing.

there's kind of a whine from the transmission. maybe that's normal, idk.

I will say, this car has THE BEST air conditioning of any car I've ever owned, BY A LOT! Holy crap, it froze me out on the lowest settings.

All in all, I've got some work ahead of me, but for the dough I'm still pleased. Those rear two cat's are gonna go bye-bye and I'm thinking glasspacks where the mufflers are.

the trans will have a straight-cut type whine in first. any other gear and there could be problems

they definitely look like one of the better deals out there. does a cobra motor drop in place of the stock unit?

ignorant wrote: I think it's going to be harder to find one vehicle to do all duties. I love fire breathing race cars, but driving one everyday is going to be prohibitively expensive soon. i think owning 2 cars may be the way to do it.

For the cost of the second car, including insurance and registration, how much gas can you buy for the first? Even at Challenge prices- $2000 is 500 gal of gas, and at 30mpg, that's 15,000 miles.

That's why people like SUV's, as they can do more than cars (normally). Even if they never, ever use that extra capabilty.

It's a lot worse for a new car.

If you are worried about CO2 emissions, then if you buy a new car as the second car, you'll never be able to make up the CO2 imprint of buing a new car.

Even if gas gets to $5/gal, $2000 is 400 gal, and 12,000 miles. Outside of this board, who would by a $2000 POS?

Time for a tune up. Change the fuel filter and the oil. I also recommend a 180* t-stat with a coolant flush and some Royal Purple ICE additive. I got better throttle response by home-porting/polishing the throttle body, which I also had to modify to allow WOT (they only go to about 90% stock).

Cat-back, K&N FIPK, and a tune should also be in your future.

What does the door tag say under "axle"? Mine is a 3.27 LSD unit, though you can find P71's with 2.73's. I have the code list here so I can decipher it for you.

Ford paint isn't the greatest to start with. Mine looks great in pictures, but it's definitely not show-worthy. Then again it did spend 120K miles as a cop car and cost less then the average Popular Hot Rodding paint job...

last time I read a PHR painting article, they went into how to get spray gun quality out of a rattle can, FWIT

the axle code is X5, which I believed to be 3.27 LSD. that's interesting about the throttlebody not opening all the way. wonder why.

It's definitely been resprayed in a few areas. you'd agree if you saw it.

the tranny whine isn't loud loud, but it's more than I'm used to. As far as I can tell it does it all the time, but gets drowned out the faster I go, it doesn't get any louder. I halfway wonder if I'm hearing an accessory whine and misdiagnosing it.

I'm liking the car more every day. that's a good sign.

Some of them are prone to very loud alternators.

yeah, it was just the alternator.

Had my car three weeks or so now. Got the title in the mail. It's a duplicate title from Kansas(dealer was in KC-MO). The title indicates 0124883 miles "actual". Unfortunately the car was sold to me under the assumption that the 91k on the odo was correct. I suppose it could be a paperwork error, I've seen that before. At a bare minimum I'd need it corrected though. We all know what a tmu crown vic is worth.

This is a bummer on a couple levels. If the dealer offered to buy it back I wouldn't really WANT to do that. I like the car, and furthermore have spent more on it than I would like to throw away for nothing. I sent the seller a brief email but I'm not totally sure what I want to do next. What's everybody's thoughts?

Was it your ASSumption that the 91k was correct or was it ASSerted by the dealer in writing that the mileage of 91k was correct. Makes a huge difference in your rights. If they told you it's 91k and it's really 123k they've got a big, big problem, especially as a dealer. They'd probably rather pay you a large amount of the purchase price back to shut you up rather than risk their dealer license and the state/feds coming down on them.

Scott

It was an ebay auction. Listed at 91k. They also wrote on the title and all the paperwork that they where selling it to me with 91,128 miles.

Anybody with carfax account?