2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX-P74      Unfortunately, I received this car under miserable circumstances. This car is the property of my grand father. He passed away after having lived a long and successful life that most people couldn't even begin to dream of. Never the less, I am proud to own this car, and I know that he would be proud to have me take care of it. I've wanted to stay true to what my grandfather appreciated of the car, and keep in mind the reasons for him purchasing the car to being with. Any modifications I have made or will make to the car will be to improve it's performance and luxury, while maintaining it's originality. What Ford calls "Understated Luxury" 11/13/2008 - FORD CROWN VICTORIA FUEL ECONOMY UPDATE! Looking over this page, I thought I would give an update on the FUEL economy of the vehicle since I first received it. I aquired the car with just over 10k miles on it. It's safe to say the motor was fully broken in. I'm going to compare (briefly) the difference in fuel consumption between THEN and NOW, and the configuration of the vehicle at the time. Note: with the fuel prices having topped over $4.00 at one point, these modifications have basically all paid for themselves. THEN - 09/01/2007 - Highway MPG = ~23mpg         2.73:1 Gears - Single Exhaust - Stock - Driven at 65-70mph, Cruise. NOW - 11/13/2008 - Highway MPG = Best of 28.1mpg         2.73:1 Gears - Dual Exhaust - (MM/80Maf, 70mmTB, Synth-Oil) - Driven at 65-70mph, Cruise. 11/08/2008 - Factory jack upgrade for most 99-09 Crown Victorias! Although it seems like a silly upgrade, I've relocated the factory jack to a better location. As is with most companies, they often release a product with lots of attention to detail. However, in order to cut costs or improve revenue, they often eliminate features that will go unnoticed, but that can save them significant money per vehicle. In this particular case, it was the factory jack that got the axe. In 1998 when this body style was first released, Ford had the factory jack mounted to the rear-passenger quarter panel. It literally latched onto a bracket in the rear fender, and was bolted down. After mid-year (best I can tell) 1999, they eliminated this feature and instead wedged the jack between the spare tire and the firewall (behind the rear seat-back). This meant from every car they produced, they could eliminate the mounting bracket and the hold-down. I don't know what the cost savings for this equated to, but I guess they figured it wouldn't be missed since you'd need to remove the spare tire anyway (if you actually planned to use the jack). So, I found a vehicle in the junkyard (a 1998 CV Police Interceptor) which included this feature. I removed the mounting bracket, snagged the hold-down, and the factory jack from the donor car (it's slightly different than my own). I welded in the old bracket, and mounted the jack. This now affords me the ability to mount my aftermarket amplifier behind the spare tire so it doesn't appear as though my car is at all modified. FYI, the car's frame, and carpet were already designed for this feature, so everything was just a bolt-in. 01/03/2007 - Several things left to do! So many parts, so little time! I haven't had much time to work on the Vic, and probably won't until sometime late February. I'm coming up on my 30k mile interval and have several items I'll need to take care of. First and foremost, I have to flush out the transmission fluid, and change the filter. I will take this opportunity to upgrade the car even more. I ordered a MUCH larger transmission pan a while back. This pan by "Mac" not only holds 2 more quarts, but is actually made of rigid 1/2" thick aluminum. It weighs nearly the same as the stock pan, but improves the rigidity of the transmission. With the addition of 2 more quarts, it will help keep the transmission cooler. This pan ALSO features a built in drain plug. I won't have to drop the pan anymore to change out a few quarts. The ATF I'll be using to refill it is made by Redline. This ATF is 100% synthetic. It's far superior to any other transmission fluid on the market. Co-incidentally, I also use Redline's 5W-20 Synthetic oil as well. Last, but not least, I still have my C&L Performance Intake plenum yet to be installed. This plenum is said to add 20 additional foot-pounds of torque to the mid-rpms. Some slight modifications will be necessary to make use of it, so I'll probably make it last on my list of things to do. At present time, the Vic has 29,XXX miles. 12/02/2006 - Installing an OEM subwoofer in the Crown Victoria. Although I was happy overall with the quality of sound from the factory stereo, I thought it might be nice to have the factory subwoofer installed. Unfortunately, the subwoofer is no longer an available option for the 1998-Present Crown Victorias. (EDIT: I have heard it's now being offered in the 2008+ models). After the re-design in 98, they cancelled the option. However, the wiring is ALL still there in the trunk (power, etc). I happened to find an OEM subwoofer from a 1997 Crown Victoria on eBay. After fiddling with the idea of using the OEM speakers and amp, I ended up getting an aftermarket amp, replacement MB-Quart 6x8" speakers, and a 5.25" subwoofer speaker to fit in the sub box. I also modified the existing bracket to fit the newer style parcel shelf. The rear shelf in the 98+ Crown Vics is shorter than it was in the "aero" styled bodies. I cut the bracket in half, and welded the pieces opposite of eachother. The setup WORKS, but I still need to clean up the wiring, and connect the remote Power-On feature. The amp powers the two rear speakers, and the sub. Once I'm finished with the wiring, I can put the spare tire back, and it will completely cover the aftermarket amp. The inside sounds AMAZING. The bass response is far superior to the factory sound. I definitely won't win any awards, but at least now it has decent sound. 10/21/2006 - Installing Dual Exhaust in the Crown Victoria! I have mixed emotions. I am thrilled that I now have my new exhaust, but at the same time, I learned that the muffler guy "Porky" from Porky's Discount Mufflers died the day before I arrived. He apparently died from a blood infection that he received just the week before. It's really sad. He had a great shop, he was a hard worker, and I had just spoken to him the week before. As for the dual exhaust. I was surprised for a coulpe of reasons. I didn't notice a BIT of difference off the line. It actually didn't make ANY difference at all. But, in the mid to upper rpms, I definitely noticed it. My fuel economy has also substantially improved. I have been able to achieve 27.6 miles to the gallon on the last highway trip I made. And I did NOT drive overly conservative. The system I went with was the Walker "Quiet-Flow" Dual Exhaust System. The factory system, while nice, was nearly 7 times the cost of the walker system. The Walker exhuast is a little bit louder, almost a performance exhuast, if you will, but still maintains a quiet sound. I went with the system intended for the Grand Marquis LSE. This included the entire dual exhaust kit, but also the exhuast resonators (to eliminate resonance). 08/18/2006 - 4.6L 70mm Ford Racing Performance Parts Throttle Body! Yep, another upgrade. I was surfing on eBay (I really have to stop), and I came across a Ford Racing Performance Parts "FRPP" 70mm throttle body. It's sold by Ford as a "performance" product, but it's actually an OEM part for other V8 vehicles in the Ford lineup. Normally, Ford charges upwards of $200 for it. But, I happened to see it for less than $80! It bolted RIGHT up, and actually looked identical to the stock one just slightly larger interior diameter. I actually noticed a DECREASE in performance off the line, which was unfortunate... but I did notice a significant improvement in the mid to upper rpm range. Passing and highway performance is significant. All in all, it was worth it. 07/30/2006 - 4.6L Steeda Intake Spacer Install I will get so much flack for this... I bought a Steeda intake spacer. I was bored, wanted something to improve the performance of the car, so I bought it. $80 bucks got me this little spacer for the intake plenum. It's TECHNICALLY supposed to increase the inner volume of the intake. That supposedly gives better response, and improved power utilization. I DID notice a slight improvement if I stomped on the gas while cruising on the highway, but other than that, it didn't do that much. It did change the pitch of my engine slightly, which sounds kind of cool. 01/13/2006 - Upgrading the factory stereo in the Crown Victoria The Vic came with a tape deck. My grandfather had many more tapes than he did CDs, so decided that the standard tape deck would be fine. I needed a CD player, and in addition, figured I might as well get one that plays MP3s. I am extremely particular about keeping with my original intentions, and keeping the car OEM / stock looking. That's why I was thrilled to learn that they made an OEM MP3 player that not only FIT the Crown Vic, but looked identical to the OEM cd player in every way. It's an AM/FM player, with a CD drive that reads MP3s. Who needs the 6-Disc CD changer??? The installation was extremely simple. It required no modifications AT ALL. I just used the simple "DIN" tools, popped the old one out, and the new one in! The connections were identical and still gives me the ability to install the factory subwoofer or 8-disc CD changer in the future, should I decide to do so. 10/24/2005 - Hurricane Wilma, NOOOOOOO!!! What can I say? Luckily neither my friends or family were injured in the hurricane, but my Vic really took a beating. The pictures below really do not show the full extent of the damage. My neighbor's roof completely came off, 1 single at a time. We all thought we would be safe in the middle of the cul-de-sac, but we weren't. Shingles on a car's paint are like heavy grit sand-paper. My grill was damaged, the drivers side A-pillar and door was damaged, the hood was damaged, my front drivers side fender was damaged, the rear left quarter was damaged, and the windshield and drivers side window were scraped. I'm really upset about this because I didn't have full coverage on it. Oh well, I'll probably end up having to repaint these areas now. 09/27/2005 - Performance Upgrades for the Crown Victoria Probably the most expensive modifications I will probably ever do to this car. Although over $600 total these modifications are the "typical" upgrade for the CV and make the most realistic gains. These parts include the following: Mercury Marauder air box, with an attached 80mm MAF sensor; larger 2004 Police Interceptor intake tube (known as the "Zip Tube"), K&N Air filter, and finally, the ECM reflash kit from Blue Oval Chips. All in all, the Crown Victoria gains about as much as most other cars do from swapping in a new camshaft. Typical results average to the tune of about 25 horsepower. The Vic went from being a couch on wheels to a veritable rocket in the mid to upper rpms. Typically quarter mile times for JUST these modifications in a vehicle from 2001+ are mid 15s. I ordered my parts from Angry Duck Tofu Racing. The owner Chris really knows his stuff.