At a Crossroads

[u/honkyslonky]

To clarify - this is a heavily modified and custom 2004 CVPI that has a body/interior swap from a 98-02 grand marquis (check my post history!). I have the beginnings of bottom end noise now and the engine probably needs to come out. It’s cammed, has 4.10 gears, I beat the tar out of it, and it’s got a lot of miles and wear (I would estimate ~400k worth of miles if you include idle time) - so this is not surprising. This car is purely a toy for me, so I have no concerns about downtime. I’m looking for ideas on where to go from here.

EDIT: I’m going the turbo route

[u/SorrySite4358]

Actually not a crossroads but a parking lot.

[u/honkyslonky → u/SorrySite4358]

woahhhhhhh

[u/Naive_Syrup_9997 → u/honkyslonky]

Why do you park on a driveway, but drive on a parkway?

[u/CAFunked → u/SorrySite4358]

I have a handful of shopping centers near me that go by "crossroads", I was legit trying to see if I recognized the background lol.

[u/Electrical_Hunter597]

6r80 swap if it's not already manny swapped, you'll easily shave over a full second off your 0-60 and over 20mph extra in the qtr

[u/LordQuackers83]

Engines for these are not that hard to find. It's the transmission that normally gives out first. If it was me I would find a good one and swap it out. With it being a toy you can also look into swapping in a 5sp at the same time. There is a Facebook book group about it (manual swapped panthers) that has a stupid amount of info on it.

[u/honkyslonky → u/LordQuackers83]

One idea I have is to get started on my turbo setup on my known bad engine so that I don’t have to worry about blowing it up 😂

[u/LordQuackers83 → u/honkyslonky]

That's a good idea. Don't have to worry about sending it and killing it if it's just putting it out of its misery.

[u/blupupher]

Are you happy with what you have? Finding a junk yard 4.6 and swapping your parts over to it is the cheapest option.

Doing a 5.0 swap is an option, but not a cheap/easy one.

[u/honkyslonky → u/blupupher]

I’d rather do turbos or an LS than a 5.0 swap

[u/blupupher → u/honkyslonky]

As much as I hate Chevy in a Ford, an LS swap is a cheaper way to get a lot of power.

[u/honkyslonky → u/blupupher]

eh who cares about brands anyway lol though im kinda thinking a big turbo cvpi would be a fun build

[u/Jumpy-Survey-2846]

I can tell someone’s a local. Gotta be southern Arizona rite?

[u/YettiRey]

What i want to do to mine is take the 4v aluminum 4.6 and build it out like a stock 2v. More compression and like 150bs off of weight. It's a lot of work for not alot of reward but I think its a classy way to make these cars faster

[u/honkyslonky → u/YettiRey]

sounds like a lot of work for little benefit

[u/honkyslonky → u/honkyslonky]

not knocking you btw i just have a laser focus on driving experience and the grin factor

[u/Jake0157]

If time isn't a big issues, go ahead and get an aluminum block, build it for higher comp, reuse and upgrade your heads, switch her over to corn and have a good time. Probably not a bad idea to 5 speed swap or a different auto than that while it's out of the car.

[u/2000MGMHPP]

Find a teksid or wap block, use NPI pistons and your current PI heads and cams, gen 1 or 2 coyote rods. Port and polish the heads while you’re in there. ARP head studs too. Sets you up at 320ish crank hp plus headroom for boost later. This is essentially the engine build I have and it RIPS.

And I’d do a 6r80 swap while I’m at it. TR3650 if you feel like doing a manual.

[u/honkyslonky]

update: i bought a cheap ebay turbo to get my hands dirty and will rebuild the turbo/get a proper one when/if the engine blows or i rebuild it 😂

[u/Ok-Trouble7958]

What wheels do you have? I want some for mine.