Oh dear. Well then I come to the main reason I wouldn't own a Panther platform car. I despise the 4.6/5.4 modular engines with a burning passion, which I could rant on for hours, but I wont. My solution, take that 4.6 out, and throw it in the garbage, use it as a doorstop, paper weight, counterweight for a trebuchet, whatever, just dont use it as an engine. Then go find a 302 or 351, and throw that in there, then everything will make sense. Then you should have no issue making 400 HP, without a whole hell of trouble, maybe some head work if it came down to it, but even then that would be easier than on a mod. engine. Also, that I'd wager that it'd be cheaper to go the SBF route and get some power out of it, than try to get the power out of the modular.
I really like the Mod engines but, holy hells is it expensive to make power without going with some sort of boost. I don't know if aftermarket boost is the safe thing to do on a daily driver either. Some crazy Turbo Vics online though. If, for whatever reason, I don't need the Marq, a Turbo Grand Marquis would be hilarious. So, this is where the trading the Merc thing comes back up. I don't think I'll ever really have enough money to make a real, true performer out of it. Might as well start with something that's reasonably quick to begin with.
(You have to take everything I say with a grain of salt) Yeah, but then you'd have a Mustang, And do you really want a Mustang? Telling people about your V6 "Stang" I'd like to get ahold of an old police car, but, like I said I despise the mod engines (with the possible exception of the V10, only mod. I've drove and not immediately hated) for several reasons, which prohibit me from ever owning a P71, however, I'd jump on a 9C1 Caprice in a heartbeat, given I could find one. Even more so a 9C3, but thats even more unlikely. I'd advise away from a Mustang of any flavor, but your your own guy. However, what else would interest you?
I really don't care what people think of what I drive. EVERYONE tried to talk me out of buying the Marq telling me it was an old man car etcetc. Even girls look at it weird until they get in and see all the leather and wood and how it drives. I'd LOVE to have a 94-96 Impala SS. Even a LT1 Roadmaster would be awesome. and currently it's between the RSX Type-S, 05-09 Legacy GT, or the 05-09 Mustang. V6 or V8. All manual preferred. The requirements -Sports oriented -Reliable for daily driver -Cheap-er maintenance (Subi might be cut off on this one) -manual -under 110k miles, under $10k, under 10 years old. I don't really know anything else that I could include on this list.
All the leather and wood ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Well, I feel our taste in vehicles differ, so much so that I really have no ideas off the top of my head that fit those criteria.
I don't know why you restrict yourself to those requirements, I don't know if you are capable with a wrench, I don't know if you prefere to build or to buy, and I don't know how you like to enjoy owning/driving a car, but I do know one thing: If you don't get the coolest most optioned "ideal" version of a car, you will always be chasing after the rare parts you don't have, and wishing that you'd just looked more for the right one in the first place. I've spent a lot of time effort and money making my '88 2.6L I4 auto RAM 50 into the equivalent of an optioned out '90 3.0L manual version of the same truck. It isn't worth it. Get the cool one to start with. How many people who actually kept their old base to mid range muscle cars do you think wish that they'd just payed the extra couple hundred for the big block, A/C, and delux interior back when it was new? OT: Did some diagnostics on my dead truck and confirmed my fear that is was in fact a spun bearing. Cylinder #4 bit the big one it seems, hopefully the crank and rod are still good. Looks like I've got a rebuild to look forward to. Hopefully this time it'll last more than 1,500 miles...
Drive a type s. If you want a long term car that is a great platform for modification than look no further. Dead stock it will destroy the mustang in any kind of turning scenario, and will be at least as fast in the straights if not faster. If you dropped that same 4200 in the rsx you would have a 300bhp car that weighed 2700 pounds and handles better than 9 out of 10 Cars you can buy for less than 100k. Very easy to work on as well.
I'd like to hear why you hate the modular engines so much. I like them, but I don't really have much experience with them outside of vics.
I just need a reliable daily driver to get me to work and to school. I can't really afford crazy repair bills while I'm school and because of that, I don't really have time to do things myself either. I prefer to build but I just don't have the time or money to build my own daily driver. I would want to get a V8 Mustang but idk how badly my insurance would destroy my bank account even more. The V6 one maybe, but a Mustang GT would destroy an RSX Type-S in the straights. The V6 is 0.1 quicker to 60mph and 0.1 slower in the quarter so they are pretty much even. I would also like at least some low end torque as it will be a daily driver. I know people complain about the K20 not having enough. Maybe the 6-Speed will help. But I do agree on the handling front. I don't think there is anything you could possibly do to a S197 to make it handle even similarly to a DC5.
Its quick enough in a straight line to have fun and keep up with any mustang once the turns start. Granted a gt will win assuming there are no turns or breaking, but a header and intake manifold and an exhaust and a tune will put you right next to that gt if not ahead. Again it depends on what kind of car you want to daily drive. Even if the Mustang is exactly as fast as the type s, I can guarantee you the type s will be WAY more fun to drive and much more rewarding. For the record I really don't care for the dc5 chassis at all but you want a newer car so that's that. As for torque I don't think it will be a problem. I have a 1.6 and make plenty of torque to get around and enough to walk a late model sti with 2 passengers in it all the way to 120. In your auto v6 mustang when you put your foot down it will downshift just like the rest of us manual driving fools. Drive a type s and see if you like it. I'd really like to see you boost the grand marquis but that's just me.
If I were to get a V6 Mustang, it would need to be 100% Manual with no exceptions. Otherwise it's a convertible top away from being the worst possible combination of S197. (V6, Auto, Convertible, Female Midlife Crisis Mobile) If for some reason I don't need to get rid of the Marq when I buy another car, Ebay turbo would be on the list of things to do.
I hear ya. If your a broke student i don't want to see you end up with a half finished project car. I'd say keep the marquis until you have some disposable income. I'm putting the finishing touches on a 95 Integra I put together for a friend. He has 10k into the car and it should easily beat ANY factory mustang. I'm expecting about 475 whp. Save up a few dollars and get something on the side to work on.
I do have my 1997 Ranger with a pristine body/frame sitting in the yard waiting for something around a liter bigger than the current 4.0L... Maybe 2 extra cylinders to. The older 302/5.0L from the 1996-2001 Explorers can be had for $500-750 in perfect running order. The transmission in my Ranger is compatible. They make motor mounts for the swap as well.
Have you changed your spark plugs lately? How about the coil packs? After you lodged that metric wrench you were using somewhere in your neighbors face, you realize you spent $400 on about $120 worth of stuff. Then you try to deal with the god-awful exhaust leak, Which has come to be calling card of the 5.4 F150/Expedition. After taking the fender off and steering column out, you learn that 4 of the manifold studs have pulled clean out of the aluminum head, and the manifold is warped. Then you go to the other side, and find out 3 studs have pulled out on that side, and another warped manifold, and for a cherry on top, the theres a tiny little crack in the head. I've seen 6 mod engines all do almost that exact same thing, only one of which was over 140,000 miles There has only been one modular engine that i didnt hate, and that one engine in particular, it was a 6.8 V10 in '00 F450 4x4 that had 52,000 miles on it, But even it had the same exhaust leak, but only on one side.
Valid point. Also valid points. Aren't you in the rust belt? You also have spark plug ejections, intake leaks, and problematic timing chain tensioners, which I'm surprised you didn't mention. I haven't had any of those problems, nor have most of the cars I've started up at auctions. I remember one having a wicked exhaust leak, but it went away within 5 seconds of the car starting up. It at least sounded like an exhaust leak, anyway.
Yep, nice and salty here, just north of St. Louis. The V10 F450 was like that, it's exhaust leak would go away after about 40-50 seconds, but all the other ones were constant, if the engine is running, its ticking like hell. I've never owned a mod engine, all this is based off of helping friends and dealing with vehicles at work. There was an 07 F150 at work that had a 5.4, and it ate coil packs like candy. The V10 F450 was my truck at work, I drove it every day for at least 3 months, that truck made me half consider the idea buying of a Super Duty, I liked that truck that much. However, it would get some pinging under a heavy load, never could figure that one out. I completely believe that there could be more problems with them, I've just only seen coil packs and cylinder head issues. Edit; Actually, thats a lie, a friend of mine had an 02 F150 with a 5.4, and it blew 3 spark plugs out, threads and all.
I would say to contemplate a BMW E46 as they fit all of your criteria except the maintenance part.. They are not cheap to maintain by any means. My 05 330xi has served me extremely well, but expect $2k a year for maintenance, $750 if you do the work yourself. So far I've put probably $2k into mine and haven't sent it off anywhere. Did some research and my total repair bill would be roughly $9k if I sent it to a shop each time.. Great car. Just needs lots of upkeep, which I don't mind so it works for me.
I will say this, the 4.6 tend to be a hell of a lot better engines in terms of reliability than 5.4s for some reason. They are considered one of fords most reliable, a close 2nd to the 300 l6. However on the opposite end of the spectrum, Ive heard nothing but bad things about the 5.4. I wonder why the 4.6 is so reliable, yet the 5.4 is a turd.
