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Godfather52
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My 96 towny 4.6L I want to build smog legal in Oregon engine power building mods. Any ideas.
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Building the hot rod 96 Towny
- Thread starter Godfather52
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All2kool
Senior Member
Yes, trade it in for a Mustang.
The Lincoln Town Car is a 4000lb rolling Barcalounger, not a hot rod. No part of the drive train is equipped to handle any more power or torque than it already has.
Brian J. Patterson
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I won't go quite as far as All2Cool. However, you will be making major changes to the personality of the car, and spending some serious folding money doing so. This is money that you will never get back, so I hope you enjoy the end result.
The "easiest" way to get "smog legal in Oregon" performance will be to rob the powertrain and PCM from a Crown Vic Police Interceptor. Extra performance tweaking advice can be found in forums dedicated to the PI Vics.
One other swap would be for the 5.4L twin-cam engine and PCM from a Lincoln Navigator. You may be able to use the Navigator transmission. You will not be able to use your existing transmission without a "performance" rebuild, so swapping for the PI or Navigator transmission would be the way to go.
While you're at it, you will also need PI springs, shocks, sway-bars, etc. If you have any intention at all of sticking with the rear air suspension, get the limo springs, but be prepared to switch to PI Vic coils anyway. If you use the Navigator engine, you will still need to get the extra coolers from a PI. You will be driving fast, so you will want your mechanicals to stay cool.
If you have to ask how much this will cost, and/or if you can't do the work yourself, you will be much happier just buying a Mustang, or buying a very-good condition Crown Vic Police Interceptor and putting as much of the interior and sound insulation from the same year Town Car into it as you can get your hands on.
Just my two cents worth.
Good luck.
wolf_walker
Junior Member
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Forced induction. It'll take modification from a mustang kit but I'm sure there are smog legal setups to be had from ken bell or such.
Nothing cheap about making noticeably more power in these things, but it can and has been done.
There was a very nice TC not too long ago FS online with a full 3v supercharged mustang swap done, I would hazard to guess that setup
would make one doubt the weight of the car, until it came time to stop or turn. Yonder:
Nitrous is another valid option if you don't mind short bursts of speed. Should be able to do a 100hp shot at least safely with supporting fuel/spark care taken. You'll kill the rear axle doing holeshots on any kinda power eventually, and the trans too unless it's mint, and even then it's a matter of time. As they say, speed costs money, how fast you wanna go?
I would suggest that half measures will be wasted money with disappointing results, either make a decisive full tilt plan and budget for it, or just enjoy the car as it is. The engine isn't really suited to the car to start with, and most performance mods that work in a much lighter and happy at higher RPM manual trans mustang or the like are just going to make a TC more of an annoyance for it's lack of low end grunt.
Depending on your use, you might do the math on a set of 4:11 gears and see if that won't be good enough, it'll make more of a difference around town than anything short of forced induction or a complete drivetrain swap, just a little buzzy on the highway, but nothing we didn't put up with for decades before overdrive trans became normal and durable.
Nothing cheap about making noticeably more power in these things, but it can and has been done.
There was a very nice TC not too long ago FS online with a full 3v supercharged mustang swap done, I would hazard to guess that setup
would make one doubt the weight of the car, until it came time to stop or turn. Yonder:
Nitrous is another valid option if you don't mind short bursts of speed. Should be able to do a 100hp shot at least safely with supporting fuel/spark care taken. You'll kill the rear axle doing holeshots on any kinda power eventually, and the trans too unless it's mint, and even then it's a matter of time. As they say, speed costs money, how fast you wanna go?
I would suggest that half measures will be wasted money with disappointing results, either make a decisive full tilt plan and budget for it, or just enjoy the car as it is. The engine isn't really suited to the car to start with, and most performance mods that work in a much lighter and happy at higher RPM manual trans mustang or the like are just going to make a TC more of an annoyance for it's lack of low end grunt.
Depending on your use, you might do the math on a set of 4:11 gears and see if that won't be good enough, it'll make more of a difference around town than anything short of forced induction or a complete drivetrain swap, just a little buzzy on the highway, but nothing we didn't put up with for decades before overdrive trans became normal and durable.
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jkeaton
Active member
All very good advice. How much money you got to spend?