They were body on frame for most of their time, right? Anyone know when that stopped?
Also, anyone have good wheelbase numbers for those years, or know where I can find them?
Any other general info on the frame and suspension would be cool.
They were body on frame for most of their time, right? Anyone know when that stopped?
Also, anyone have good wheelbase numbers for those years, or know where I can find them?
Any other general info on the frame and suspension would be cool.
They were all body on frame, the dimension numbers should be easy to find as they were body swapped a ton in the last 10 years or so and guys were using the front half of the frame/suspension under stuff.
There's a bunch of build threads on them and a few were guys did body swaps if you search the build section.
I owned a 1999 P71 and it was a great car.
Also they were one of if not the best all around police cars built which says a lot.
I'm very interested in this topic. I've always wanted a crown vic but feel like they'd be a lot of work to be competitive (although not sure it matters since that truck.. I mean car... will survive).
Also, they are really slow for a v8 these days. Nitrous at a minimum is a must, at least for the strip, IMO.
In 05 they switched to drive by wire. In 07 or 09 they became fleet only vehicles.
berkeleying tanks. Parts are cheeeeap.
Not very competitive in SR rallycross, but you'll be the most popular person in the paddock, unless a Volvo shows up.
I want another one.
Body on frame stopped when the Crown Vic stopped.
Wikipedia is as good a place to get wheelbase and other info about them, but I suspect you might want to know about the Panther Platform in general, or maybe only the 2003 and up with the aluminum crossmember.
Hot Rod Garage swapped an F100 onto a Vic frame and then supercharged the 4.6 engine. I searched for it on Youtube but I guess it wasn't a free epsiode, there's a preview though. And about 100 other people who did the same thing, it seems to be fairly popular.
slowbird said:Hot Rod Garage swapped an F100 onto a Vic frame and then supercharged the 4.6 engine. I searched for it on Youtube but I guess it wasn't a free epsiode, there's a preview though. And about 100 other people who did the same thing, it seems to be fairly popular.
I do have motortrend on demand. I should watch that episode again
Cooter said:Body on frame stopped when the Crown Vic stopped.
Wikipedia is as good a place to get wheelbase and other info about them, but I suspect you might want to know about the Panther Platform in general, or maybe only the 2003 and up with the aluminum crossmember.
Maybe I'm too used to looking at wikipedia for old obscure stuff, I didn't think they'd have wheelbase info.
I have ideas now. Thanks
In reply to Mr_Asa :
It is actually pretty good for wheelbase. I was looking to swap an entire panther chassis under my Travelette, and found some good information on the different wheelbases.
Another tip is that the WB is fairly easy to alter on them, as it is a perimeter frame with basically a box tube connecting the front and rear sections under the sills.
Now I'm also wondering how hard it would be to get an IRS under that back end. Might be out of challenge money range.
I'm really not sure how much an IRS would help you in the Challenge, to be honest.
I'm always looking to play with one, no matter the ultimate end goal, and I'm not too much a fan of drag racing, so I might as well go the other way
Cooter said:Another tip is that the WB is fairly easy to alter on them, as it is a perimeter frame with basically a box tube connecting the front and rear sections under the sills.
I feel like you could take that frame and whatnot right there, shorten it and add some square tubing and sheet metal and have yourself a "super duper 7" locost kind of thing. It would probably be pretty fast. And cheap.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
This dude always has a few for sale. I think he buys them auction, cleans them up, repaints them and sells them.
I came this >< close to buying a dark maroon 2007 detective car from him when I moved here in 2018. He was not at his office when I stopped by and it was sold by the time he returned my call.
2003-up was a significant improvement in handling and ride with the updated suspension/frame. 2004 got a slightly improved transmission. As noted above, 2005 went to throttle by wire. IMHO, that puts 2004 as one of the best years to get.
I'm not all that interested in the drivetrain. For resale it might be a good idea, though
In reply to tremm :
12-14mpg? What, you just hold the pedal to the floor the whole time?
18 around down, 23-25 highway. Actually got way better mileage than my miata, while being faster and way more fun, with more room to haul people and stuff.
What maintenance losses? $10 ball joints, $30 control arms? Oh no!
In reply to tremm :
Mr_Asa said:Now I'm also wondering how hard it would be to get an IRS under that back end. Might be out of challenge money range.
The 2015ish era mustang gt irs setups with lsd are cheap for what you get
plenty of info on these on GRM
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/p71s/37444/page1/
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/everybody-loves-a-p71/119916/page1/
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/p71so-whats-the-downside/27906/page1/
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/do-i-want-an-04-p71/144306/page1/
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/gmc-sierra-vs-p71-mpg/146188/page1/
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/idle-hours-and-mileage-p71/128660/page1/
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/roadmaster-wagon-vs-p71/57333/page1/
etc.
stanger_mussle (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Mr_Asa :
This dude always has a few for sale. I think he buys them auction, cleans them up, repaints them and sells them.
I came this >< close to buying a dark maroon 2007 detective car from him when I moved here in 2018. He was not at his office when I stopped by and it was sold by the time he returned my call.
He wants an awful lot of money, for a car he prolly paid 500 for at the auction. I guess he does always have a lot for sale!
tremm said:Slow, bad gas mileage, somehow both poor mechanical and electrical reliability.
Only reason someone would buy one is due to lol cop car. Or 6 passengers I guess. Maybe they can tow.
Only thing they do well is comfort. And I guess rwd fishtails with bigger sway bar.
Es300 or similar cars in the class is the better option.
Lol 12-14mpg out of a 4.6l v8 with like <250hp, and look up what FI kits cost & how 'fast' they are.
Trunk is surprisingly poorly designed.
Surprisingly poor crash rating.
Doesn't matter how 'cheap' parts are, 0 part replacement = cheaper than 5x cheap part replacement. Also those "invested" parts don't equate to any resale value. And many of those parts (both aftermarket and oem) are of poor quality. Operating costs are never going to make sense due to the gas mileage.
Failure in logic to assume government contact/cop car means they must be good.
Not much reason to buy one outside of ignorance. My guess would be that the majority of people who owned them with car experience would not recommend them. Of course some will. Someone for everything. Personally can't see what they do particularly well other than, it's a cop car. I can't think of the word, it's not icon, but a synonym to describe something that people buy due to what it represents rather than what it is. Not marketing either, though that is the basic answer (or whatever you would describe hearsay as). Maybe similar in the sense to a Jeep.
Again, they're cheap, but you lose all that money through the gas tank & maintenance and won't get it back.
Wow! That is a whole lot of incorrect information in one post!
im sorry you had a bad experience, and I’ve heard of others having the same. But WAY more folks with pretty much the exact opposite to everything you said!
I’ve been driving my Moms in law’s 03 for 4-5 years. Had 35k on it. Now has 85k. Bout 6 oil changes... a set of spark plugs, and a minor air bag leak. Yep, it sure is costing me a fortune to own! True, it only got 12 to 13 mpg in homestead FL... I’ve a 3 month period it’s average speed showed 14 mph!!! That includes several 75 mph trips up the t-pike! Got it here to AL and 35 -55 mph roads every day gets me 20.9 mpg. Highway best was 26, gets 24 on hwy anytime. In barkalounger comfort. Costing me a fortune!!!
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