Thought you guys might get a chuckle out of this...
After getting tired of only driving my TVS '07 GT500 800 miles a year, I wanted something that I wouldn't care too much about, comfortable on my 300 mile weekly commute and not boring.
After watching a maniac on youtube having a blast tearing around in his manual swapped CV, I had a new plan! (That maniac's name is Pier and he makes the pedal kit that is in my car)
After a TON of searching...I came up with this. 2002 Crown Vic Sport, 159,000mi, two owners, no winters, $2800 bucks. (I had to keep the initial cost really low to try and stay within my total budget of $6K)
The Sport is cool because it is one of the few Panther platform cars to come with center console and floor shifter.
It was definitely treated much nicer than a P71 cop car...but unfortunately it is one year too old to get the good front suspension, stiffer frame and rack & pinion.
I did a few mild bolt-ons, mufflers/resonator delete with JY SN95 tailpipes/JLT intake/E350 70mm TB/ported upper plenum/Marty 93 tune from Mo's Speed shop/eBay rebuilt trac-lok/junkyard 3.73's/CHE UCA&LCA/Jmodded the trans/21mm rear swaybar/P71 shocks
That helped...but it was still pretty boring... So I got serious about the manual swap.
The swap is relatively simple...it is all just new edge GT stuff.
I found Pier over on crownvic.net and bought one of his pedal swap kits
I would say the hardest part was really trying to get the clutch cable in the best location to reduce cable pull resistance...After having a bunch of hydraulic clutch cars & trucks over the years...cable clutches suck!
The shifter was too far forward to fit in the console opening...so I just cut some aluminum to space it back and used a S197 shifter boot to fill the hole.
I've been rocking it back & forth to work for a few weeks now and its a blast! Definitely NOT fast, but it feels faster than it is and make good noises.
I used an '04 TR3650 with the 0.62 overdrive and it is turning 2100rpm @ 75mph which is about perfect!
This thing EATS UP HIGHWAY like nobody's business!
I missed my $6K budget by about $1500...but thats how these things go.
I do have a staggered tire setup...but not in the traditional way. I have stock sized 235/55/17's up front and 225/60/17's on the rear.
My plan for this car was to hurt tires on a regular basis....but even with the rear 225's, being underpowered and SOOOOooooo heavy...you have to be pretty abusive with the clutch dump to get much action. Oh well!
Here is how it sits today after a quick clean up and repaint of the stock wheels. It is very clean, but very stock looking. I'm on the fence about putting different wheels on it. (was thinking about gloss black 18" terminator replicas)
After getting tired of only driving my TVS '07 GT500 800 miles a year, I wanted something that I wouldn't care too much about, comfortable on my 300 mile weekly commute and not boring.
After watching a maniac on youtube having a blast tearing around in his manual swapped CV, I had a new plan! (That maniac's name is Pier and he makes the pedal kit that is in my car)
After a TON of searching...I came up with this. 2002 Crown Vic Sport, 159,000mi, two owners, no winters, $2800 bucks. (I had to keep the initial cost really low to try and stay within my total budget of $6K)
The Sport is cool because it is one of the few Panther platform cars to come with center console and floor shifter.
It was definitely treated much nicer than a P71 cop car...but unfortunately it is one year too old to get the good front suspension, stiffer frame and rack & pinion.
I did a few mild bolt-ons, mufflers/resonator delete with JY SN95 tailpipes/JLT intake/E350 70mm TB/ported upper plenum/Marty 93 tune from Mo's Speed shop/eBay rebuilt trac-lok/junkyard 3.73's/CHE UCA&LCA/Jmodded the trans/21mm rear swaybar/P71 shocks
That helped...but it was still pretty boring... So I got serious about the manual swap.
The swap is relatively simple...it is all just new edge GT stuff.
I found Pier over on crownvic.net and bought one of his pedal swap kits
I would say the hardest part was really trying to get the clutch cable in the best location to reduce cable pull resistance...After having a bunch of hydraulic clutch cars & trucks over the years...cable clutches suck!
The shifter was too far forward to fit in the console opening...so I just cut some aluminum to space it back and used a S197 shifter boot to fill the hole.
I've been rocking it back & forth to work for a few weeks now and its a blast! Definitely NOT fast, but it feels faster than it is and make good noises.
I used an '04 TR3650 with the 0.62 overdrive and it is turning 2100rpm @ 75mph which is about perfect!
This thing EATS UP HIGHWAY like nobody's business!
I missed my $6K budget by about $1500...but thats how these things go.
I do have a staggered tire setup...but not in the traditional way. I have stock sized 235/55/17's up front and 225/60/17's on the rear.
My plan for this car was to hurt tires on a regular basis....but even with the rear 225's, being underpowered and SOOOOooooo heavy...you have to be pretty abusive with the clutch dump to get much action. Oh well!
Here is how it sits today after a quick clean up and repaint of the stock wheels. It is very clean, but very stock looking. I'm on the fence about putting different wheels on it. (was thinking about gloss black 18" terminator replicas)
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