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Factory jack upgrade for most 98-09 Crown Victorias! In this tech article, I outline how to upgrade the factory jack in any 1998-2009 (or present) Crown Victoria. For whatever the reason, Ford needed to cut costs wherever possible. Apparently, they’ve determined they can cut a substantial amount of money by eliminating the factory jack location in some select vehicles and models. This type of practice is what's called “de-contenting”. For those who are unaware, the 1998 model year was a revision of the existing platform, and at the time of this writing, is the current body style. When developed, the factory jack was mounted in the trunk, on the inner passenger side quarter. Ford’s cost cutting caused the jack to be relocated to the firewall (behind the seat). The jack in turn would be sandwiched between the seat firewall and the spare tire. This “feature” came and went throughout the years and was only brought back for specific models, like fully loaded Grand Marquis LSE, or HPP LX Crown Victoria Sport models. At some point it was dropped completely.  Because the body on the Crown Victoria has not changed since 1998, the mounting location for the premium jack exists in ALL Crown Victoria’s of this body style. You’ll need several things from a donor car or eBay auction in order to complete the upgrade: - Special Jack, with mounting holes - Retaining clip & hold-down screw. - Jack Support Bracket (mounts behind the fender firewall) - (Optional) Carpet with the added plastic or cardboard protective backing. The best vehicle to look for would be a junkyard P71 from 1998-1999 as most of these police cars automatically came with the jack, but any Crown Victoria from those years would probably come with this setup also. Installation should be fairly easy, but the most difficult part would be removal of the backing plate from the donor car, and re-installation of it on your own car. The backing plate is held in place with spot welds. If you have access to a sawzall, then it’s easiest to cut out the entire area and remove the spot welds at home. Otherwise, you can do what I did, and that’s to stand there for 2 hours, prying at it with a flat-head screw driver until it breaks the welds free. Then take it home and beat it flat with a hammer and anvil. Installation will go easier if you have a welder, or a spot welder. Otherwise you’ll need to drill holes and install nuts and bolts (preferably with the nuts on the side facing into the fender for aesthetics). Once the backing plate is installed, the jack will simply mount (as shown in the pictures below) and the hold-down will keep it in place. This upgrade won’t decrease your lap times, or improve your acceleration, but it is cleaner looking and gives you more room to hide an amp behind your spare tire!
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