Hey first post / Engine Question.

[cpchase]

Hey just wanted to say hi and that has a young driver I am proud to drive a CrownVic LTD, classic power house. To many people I know with Civic's and loud mufflers its sickening. On one other note i've been trying to fiqure out how much Horse Power the old girls got. My mechanic said 220, Dad said 150... so any experts out there want to set me straight? Oh and are K&N cone filters any good to run on a Crown?

Specs...

5.0 L V8 (302)
EFI
Single Exhaust (Going duals soon)

[FatNasty]

to GMN!

Stock EFI setup in these beasts is good for 150HP, might get another 10 with the dual exhaust. So what year vic you got?

[Nathan in MI]

HP ratings depend on the year of your car. If it's '79-'85, you've got about 130 horsepower or so, '86-'91 is 150. The reason your mechanic said 220 is that the Mustang HO 302s were rated at about that, and many people don't realize that the Crown Vics didn't get the same engine.

Anyway, welcome to GMN!

[87_crown_vic]

150HP depending on year of the car. after a few mods, power can be upgraded to higher levels depending where you live. you could do an HO upgrade, underdrive crank pulley, larger intake, and dual exhaust with headers. after my build of what i have planeed, i am gonna run my car on the dyno and see the power difference. another thing to help it get moving is to swap the rear gears. after searching thru the site, you will see all that can be done to improve these big cars.

[86VickyLX]

Hey just wanted to say hi and that as a young driver I am proud to drive a CrownVic LTD, classic power house. To many people I know with Civic's and loud mufflers its sickening. On one other note i've been trying to fiqure out how much Horse Power the old girls got. My mechanic said 220, Dad said 150... so any experts out there want to set me straight? Oh and are K&N cone filters any good to run on a Crown?

Specs...

5.0 L V8 (302)
EFI
Single Exhaust (Going duals soon)

to GMN! 150 sounds right since that's what the stock engines were rated. 220 sounds like the High Performance 302 that the mustangs have.

BTW what year is your Vic?

I believe some years
'87-'91 I think have this bushing on the throttle body for the transmission that breaks and leads to the transmission burning up. So if you have one of those years, get the brass bushing replacement even if it's still on the throttle body, because you never know when it'll break. Someone on here should have the part#. I don't know it cause I don't need the bushing. I have an '86 and they don't need the bushing due to how they're set up.

There are plenty of guys on here who can help you with all kinds of mods you can do to your Vic. I hope you like this place. It is very useful site and the people here are great.

[cpchase]

Thanks ppl, I was leaning towards that myself. Wells she's a 1990. Really good condtion got er off an elderly man for 600 bucks BTW! What are some worth while mods for the vic? Besides the HO haha.

[87_crown_vic]

biggest bang for the buck is rear gears ... check drivers door and tell us the code under where it says AX. best setup would be a 3.55 or 3.27 for better get up and go on a lopo

[cpchase]

Yea, duals aint going to work out for me, its not exactly wallet friendly at this point so rear end gears sounds good. That was actully something I wanted to do awhile ago but it got put off. But if i go with a 3.55 or 3.27, what kind of effects will I see on top-end speed and MPG (Not that you buy a crown vic with MPG in mind ) ?

[Spaz]

by top end speed do you mean top speed or RPMs @ 60mph (~96kph)?

[87_crown_vic]

with the gear mentioned, it takes less time to get to higher speeds. there are times my Grand Marq with the 3.27 trac-lok i want to take off faster still. i can get behind the wheel of on of the other cars here and feel the difference the rear gears make.

[Tiggie]

But if i go with a 3.55 or 3.27, what kind of effects will I see on top-end speed and MPG (Not that you buy a crown vic with MPG in mind ) ?

Let's say your car has 2.73 gears:
- 60MPH in 3rd: 2051rpm
- 60MPH in 4th: 1374rpm
- Top Speed (Theoretical, in 4th, 5000rpm): 218 MPH

Now let's say your car has 3.55 gears:
- 60MPH in 3rd: 2667rpm
- 60MPH in 4th: 1787rpm
- Top Speed (Theoretical, in 4th, 5000rpm): 168 MPH


No much change in MPG either way, depends on driver and terrain. 3.55's won't hurt anything, they put the lo-po right in the torque peak at 60-65 MPH.

[gadget73]

you'd run out of engine long before you ever hit max theoretical speed. There just isn't enough horsepower to overcome the aerodynamic drag. Also those calculations are a bit misleading. The AOD won't shift to 4th gear under full throttle.

[murphmobile2]

Putting new gears in will cost about as much as the exhaust will... but when you do upgrade the exhaust go with 2 1/4 pipes and chambered mufflers.

Otherwise you could work on the handling too... these cars can really handle once you've done the right stuff to them. Which reminds me, which wheels do you have? The steelies with hubcaps or the alloy Turbines? Either way if you're tires are getting worn down, when you go to replace them, get a slightly wider and lower profile tire. Helps a lot with the grip.

And polyurethane sway bar link kits for the front swaybar are pretty cheap, great investment!

[87vicFIVEO]

Welcome to GMN.

Your mechanic probably assumed all 5.0's are HO motors, which do put out 225hp.