G_Body_Man wrote:Welcome to the madness of Panther ownership. We hope you enjoy your stay
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I've had three, starting with a 79 LTD that I drove for 14 years. Great cars.
G_Body_Man wrote:
I've had three, starting with a 79 LTD that I drove for 14 years. Great cars.
JeffHarbert wrote: Hah. Eaton makes 2in lift springs for the Crown Vic. I wonder if I could squeeze 31s into the wheel wells.
I have Moog 80090 springs and KYB Gas-a-just shocks on my '99 and they lifted mine to just shy of the limit of the travel of the front control arms. It vaults the front wheels into air on the slightest bump. It's highly entertaining but can be a bit disconcerting at speed. lol
JeffHarbert wrote: In reply to TIGMOTORSPORTS: Remove the livery and take the paint down to the original white. It's already flaking off in spots, so I'm hoping it won't be too hard. I'd like to avoid a respray if possible. We'll see how that goes. KYB shocks, Addco antiroll bars, and a set of 18in American Racing AR922 wheels. Maybe a stronger set of control arms for the rear axle. Timing of these will depend on the current condition of the car. Won't know that til I bring the car home. Add the airbox and MAF from a Marauder and reflash the ECU. This is reported to add 15hp or so. (ETA: I just read that 2004+ P71/P7Bs already have these Marauder parts. Just have to reflash the ECU. I'll confirm and report back.) And I'd eventually like stainless headers and dual exhaust with X-pipe. Do the j-mod to the 4R70W to firm up shifts. I'll probably add a bigger tranny cooler when I do that. Swap out the vinyl rear seat with a black or gray cloth seat from a local junkyard. Maybe replace the carpet with something nicer and add a little Dynamat while I'm in there. I'll probably add a push bar to the front for giggles, but also as a place to mount some driving lights. I live in BFE, and my local rural roads are dark as hell at night. Then top it off with a kickass stereo system, and this one will be done. Ish. Is a GRMer's car ever really done?
Sounds like a solid plan, but you forgot "Add GRM Dork sticker".
JeffHarbert wrote: Hah. Eaton makes 2in lift springs for the Crown Vic. I wonder if I could squeeze 31s into the wheel wells.
Donklifts has lift kits from 3-24" available for these.
Just throwing that out there, cause I've been eye balling them myself.
In reply to G_Body_Man: Thanks! This should be entertaining.
In reply to The_Jed: Overkill is just the right amount of kill.
In reply to kazoospec: My bad. Are they still available?
In reply to RevRico: Interesting idea. Maybe I'll start with the Eatons and move to one of those kits later. I'm willing to eat the cost of the Eatons if it doesn't work out well.
JeffHarbert wrote: In reply to G_Body_Man: Thanks! This should be entertaining. In reply to The_Jed: Overkill is just the right amount of kill. In reply to kazoospec: My bad. Are they still available? In reply to RevRico: Interesting idea. Maybe I'll start with the Eatons and move to one of those kits later. I'm willing to eat the cost of the Eatons if it doesn't work out well.
Just checked and, unfortunately, it appears not. Probably time to petition the powers that be for a new run of them so we don't have a bunch of unfinished projects running around out there. 
Brought the P71 home today. There was the scent of burning oil, but it went away after 20 minutes or so. The oil in the engine was full and clean. The oil change sticker on the windshield indicates there's about 1500 miles left on the most recent change.
Except that the rear doors don't open from the inside, which I expected (need to look up how to fix that), everything works on the car. Everything. Including the siren. Ahem.
The paint is quite a bit worse than I expected. Really bad in places. The entire car is going to need a respray, which I was hoping to avoid. Oh, well. There's also evidence of two minor collisions. The left corner of the rear bumper cover has two good-sized cracks in it, and the right corner of the front bumper cover shows spidered paint crack, there's a crack in the fascia next to the grille, and the corner light assembly is slightly adrift.
The throttle and steering both have a characteristic I wasn't expecting: You have to give them both substantial inputs before the cars wakes up and realizes what you're asking for. The throttle is drive by wire, and I wonder if there's a way to make it more aggressive. I know there are plug-in modules for some BMWs and Minis for just this purpose. I also wonder if the steering is variable ratio.
In reply to JeffHarbert:
Steering is variable assist, but not variable ratio. They're usually pretty dead when close to center anyways, and the ratio is pretty slow. A tune should wake up the throttle response. I'd do it at the same time you do a diff ($261 brand new with carbon clutches) and gears (3.73s really wake those things up).
Punch your Ford VIN here and it gives you the build sheet: http://www.etis.ford.com/vehicleRegSelector.do
I mainly wanted to see if mine has a limited slip, which it doesn't. Bummer. Definitely going to have to add one.
In reply to G_Body_Man: I see this line on my build sheet: "With Power Steering(Variable Ratio)" Where did you see that they're variable assist?
These seem to be replacing fox Mustangs as the budget hot rod of choice in my area. There are at least three or four that I see regularly with some combination of plasti-dip/loud exhaust/Mustang rims. I kinda want one too.
In reply to JeffHarbert:
All 03+ cars are variable assist. I don't recall later P71s to be variable ratio, but if they are it's incredibly mild. It doesn't significantly quicken, so the car responds to "big inputs" much better than it does to small inputs (92-02 cars are even more so).
As for paint, why not go with something interesting yet still subtle? Audi's Nardo Grey would look great, as would Ford's Guard Metallic.
In reply to G_Body_Man: Only if I decide to do a full color change. Mismatched door jambs have always bugged me.
In reply to JeffHarbert:
Many paint shops will offer color-matched paint in rattle cans. Remove the door trim and weatherstripping, mask everything off well, and you won't have any mismatch for the jambs.
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