2006 Mercury Grand Marquis LS "Ultimate Edition"

[P72Ford]

I bought a replacement for my '08 P71 just before Christmas, and thought I would start a thread.



The P71 thread is here:
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...ain&highlight=

The P71 was hands down the best car I have ever owned (4 years to the day; 80K+ miles), but the writing was on the wall for the long run. I just did a ton of work to it, but it needed a wheel bearing and I had grown tired of the number of recent repairs. I drive a lot and need something reliable for every day commuting.

I found this car at a friends small local dealership. Its a 1 owner, 76K mile car from Rhode Island, which normally means rust. But... this thing is MINT. I mean MIIIIIIIIIIIINT!!!!. The owners were either snow birds, or simply did not drive this car in the winter. Underneath is literally, as new. Obviously it was loaded with all the JC Whitney chrome trim add ons which I removed right away. Other than that, it has been tinted (20% side, 5% rear), I picked up a set of 2016 Mustang GT wheels, and its been heavily undercoated with Fluid Film. The only additional plans are to black out the rear panel and pillars with vinyl wrap. Possibly long term I will swap the exhaust, and likely put a trac lok in the rear.

I have a pile of maintenance stuff I am going to do for piece of mind (fluids, plugs, filters, belt/ tensioner, hoses, wipers, etc), but it really needs nothing. My plan is to keep this car rust free and run it for a long time.

Its tan leather, split bench, 2.73 open rear, rear air suspension (I'm not a fan of that).

[Mainemantom]

It does look mint. Nice find. It should serve you well.

[FordMan77]

Man, that GMQ is clean. Looks good on the new feet. You'll get used to the RAS. I actually like it better than regular springs. I've loaded my 03 Sport with a lot of heavy stuff over the years and once it levels out it handles it just fine. I've owned it since 2008 and I've only had to replace 1 airbag so far (due to age and that was done last year).

[jaywish]

Great find.

My best suggestion in a nice heavy rear sway bar in addition to posi swap. You will love the sway improvement. Those along with really nice rubber, make a tremondous difference

Otherwise head lighting and a simple stock dualx conversion if one pops up might be fun.

The 2.73 is a bit of a bummer but somewhat more of a pain to swap ratios. The ras is really nice to have and plays well with other minor suspension improvements.

Should be a really great car for you. Good choice there nice low miles can't be beat. All I can say in my used 08TC has been excellent to me in terms of not breaking.

Happy new year!

[tjc78]

Nice ride! I really miss my 04. Looks like you got a really nice example.

[packman]

Very nice indeed! And I like how you got rid of all those distasteful add-ons.

[87gtVIC]

Nice find Nate. Do you like the wheels you picked up? The stock ones appeared more fitting. Maybe lowering would help out? Regardless it looks really nice. I like the odd color of the car. All cars I have owned are odd colors.

[Mustang Eddie]

Another nice ride good luck with it Nate. You always seem to find gems I wish I had you luck.

[pantera77]

Looks mint!

I personally can't stand the 06+ facelift, but supposedly they have really nice headlight output, which should be nice because the factory 03-05 lights are abysmal.

[P72Ford]

Looks mint!

I personally can't stand the 06+ facelift, but supposedly they have really nice headlight output, which should be nice because the factory 03-05 lights are abysmal.

Not too sure on the headlight output... I was thinking I should actually relay these seeing as I will have this a while.

Working my way through some maintenance, and its getting exhaust next week; elimination of the downstream cats, Magnaflows, and Marauder style tips. I'm having a local shop with a good reputation do it for me in SST.

[P72Ford]

I had the exhaust done; downstream cat delete, 2.5" stainless to the back, Magnaflow 11226s. The workmanship by the shop is excellent, and I am very happy. The parts delivery guy did run into it while it was there, but the only damage was the driver's taillight, which I replaced with a new Ford piece.

The drone on the highway with the new exhaust makes the car almost undriveable. I had read that Magnaflow is least known for this, but let me tell ya... I've had some loud stuff, and I've had some stuff that drones before, but this thing is unreal. Not sure what my plan is to alleviate it yet. If its just me in the car, I don't really care. But, its actually hard to hold a conversation with a passenger over the resonance at 1500-2000 rpm.

Additionally, we got some snow here recently and I discovered that the car is undriveable with the current wheel/ tire combo/ open rear diff. Like a giant ice skate, and not in the fun way (like the previous P71). Before next winter I will definitely be doing a trac lok and 17" winter treads. In the meantime, I have a 4wd truck.

Overall, I am really happy with the car.

[Mainemantom]

Would it be worth putting the good sound insulation in the floor pan areas ? It might not be as much work as many cars, I hear it it worth the effort.

[87gtVIC]

The parts delivery guy did run into it while it was there, but the only damage was the driver's taillight, which I replaced with a new Ford piece.

This is why I do everything myself I possibly can. Nobody cares. Accidents happens but come on. Pisses me off.

[jaywish]

It would probably be better with the cats in place. 2.5" is really kinda big. Maybe try swapping in some stock mustang 2.25" mufflers which will still give plenty of flow and a some good sound. Is it stainless or galvanized?

[Arquemann]

Do the exhaust tips end "outside" the body? Or atleast have turndowns at the ends. Exhaust noise can bounce around from the insides of bumpers and underbody panels, amplifying the drone. That's why axle dumps are awful and should always have downturns at the ends.

While I can't comment on sound deadening lessening drone, it can reduce other resonance from the road and drivetrain. The less sound deadening a car has stock, the bigger the improvement is. A friend had pretty good results with installing some on the floor, trunk and rear wheel housings on a "premium" BMW E46 3-series.

The awful drone might go away from just changing mufflers. Frequencies, resonance and harmonics are a stupid game.
Thats why some exhaust leaks are unbearable and some just add character lol