Somebody just got themselves a heck of a winter car! Lifted, heavy-lugged tires... all you need now is a locker differential and maybe some tire studs, and you'll be all set for a Canadian winter!
I'm loving the Panther builds. I'm restoring an 85 Lincoln Town Car hearse and its becoming a much bigger project than I planned, but it's a good learning experience. After seeing this I may need to lift my hearse, since this looks so perfect at this height.
I was born and raised Chevy boy. GM in general. I've had bowties or bikes my whole life. But I work at a cement factory and my truck was getting a lot of cement dust on it, looking for a daily driver I really really did not want a Honda Civic or Accord, so I did a lot of research on different cars and one of the cars that kept on coming up in regards to reliability was the p71 Crown Victoria. I bought a normal one first for my daily driver then got a lifted Crown Victoria and I fucking love it. I mostly just drive the lifted one but wow is she fun in the back roads and in the mud pits. I'll say this: I won't bash Ford like I used to. And more so anyone who questions: " should I buy a Crown Vic" I will tell them yes. Preferably the p71 for its suspension, rear end, and ecu but it doesn't have to be. "
I've had 2 lifted Crown Vics and on the rear of my current one (a 2008 CVPI) I used those spacers too, but I put them up at the top of the spring (at the frame) because that part doesn't have any lateral or geometric movement (the axle side actually kind of rotates a little bit) and then I also put Ford Excursion Police SUV rear springs to give it just a little more load control and weight capacity. I also extended the sway bar hardware and relocated the brake line brackets. (Easy) I cut the lower shock mounts off of the axle and raised and welded it back on 5" higher to compensate for the longer spring/spacer combo.( I kind of regret doing that as I should have just gone to a junkyard and cut the Spring mounts off of a wrecked car and just mounted those 5" up and kept the originals in place in case I wanted to put the longer F-150 shocks on it later. Too late now😶) Since it was a Police Interceptor I liked the heavier duty shocks that were already on it.(much larger diameter shafts and bodies.💪) On the front I just used the strut tower spacers only.(Real pain in the ass!!🤬) but I deleted the sway bar. I'm running 31×10.50/15 Milestar Patagonia Mud Terrains on 15" Lincoln Town Car rims from a 2002 Limousine.(Very strong and+offset) I had to belt sand the casting seam off of the back side of the front brake calipers (police car front brakes are significantly larger than civilian model panthers) but I literally only to smoothed the radius of the casting without digging into the meat of the calipers.(If 16" or larger rims were used or non police brakes this is not necessary) A lot of the modifications I had to do with wouldn't be needed if not using a police car.......but I genuinely beat the hell out of this car,have had it at least 4 feet off the ground several times(on the street and off road) and I just recently did an 1100 mile round trip from California to Utah and back traveling between 85 and 108 mph (on the GPS) with zero issues. (Only got a 230 miles from each 18 gallon tank of fuel but that would improve at more reasonable speeds😯)
Had to catch this one!! Looks like my baby. 99 Crown victoria with adjustable upper control arms, lift cups, moog springs, f150 shocks front/back and 265/75/16s from a Chevy Silverado..
I have a 95 Town Car but every time I see a Crown Vic I want one really bad. I saw one modeled after a P51 Mustang fighter plane with the nose art, it was freakin' sick
I get compliments on my vic all the time and it has no lift. Just cut fenders with 255/75/16s on it and a 42” led offroad light bar. So much wrong with it but people love it! Good lookin car man.
You can re use the sway bar and links. I reinstalled mine with the car on the ground. However I do have sway bar links that are 3" longer if your interested.
@@whitelavarballI ended up reinstalling my sway bars with the stock links. Yes you can go without them but the hiway is a 2 handed driving experience, don't sneeze or look at your phone or you'll be in the next lane before you know it. I have a 4" suspension lift and a 2" body lift.
Hey ocg! Loved the video brother. My living situation changed and started doing more dirt roads but my mercury is all I have and wanted to see if someone did this. so glad i found your channel! Wanted to ask what size rims those were?
Not a lift kit but a conversion kit from air springs to coil springs. I have a 2001 Grand Marquis LS and I swapped out the air springs for coil springs. First I swapped out the shocks to the overload shocks and reattacked them before starting the coil springs installation got a spring compressor tool and compressed them from 18" to 14" and install them. No removing sway bar or shocks. fits great. complete job to me 1 hour
That thing is insane, I love it. I've got to get another Panther to just play around with. Thanks for the how to video. Just curious, did you have to replace your rubber brake lines? Seems like the OEM lines would be stretched pretty tight at full travel.
Beautiful man!! Id be proud driving that!! Now just put ur logo up in the back window, some colored interior bulbs(at your preference) n ur set. Ive got red on my floor and blue up top.
Thinking about doing this to my 04 but don't want to have to cut anything. Car is in too nice of shape. Do you think 245/70R16 or LT225/75R16 which are 29.5" would work or could I get away with 30" 255/70R16?
It really is about the tire size. If you don't want to cut, you'll want to be no larger than 29"s likely. I really stretched it with 31's. But the only thing i had to trim was the plastic and massage the rear fender well.
This mod just hurts my brain. I don't like it, but I get it on the 'Donk' cars where the look matters more than anything else. I don't get ruining the suspension of the best riding car made in the last 30 years just to put steelies on with a rear gear that's already a turd and axles that already want to turn their bearings to shavings. On the other hand, this looks like a great mod for the small community of folks with F100 bodies on panther chassis... if they wanted a lift as opposed to the more common lowering on those trucks. P.S. the 'Donk' folk get offended if you call anything but a 71-76 Impala a Donk, but that community hasn't provided a term acceptable for other cars with the lift and too large wheels. I like 'Hot Wheels'.
Hey John. You see, it's the "Donk" cars that I don't get, but for clarification, it's the exact same kit that is used on these cars to make them a Donk. As far as the rear gear, it has been upgraded to a 3.27 locker as to help turn those big tires and if I'm being honest, it still rides quite well. I do understand that this mod isn't for everyone, but it's definitely a head turner and I love it. Thanks for watching.
Follow up? How was gas mileage affected? Did you weld the rear differential or put in posi track or limited slip? Cool build. Video of it in snow would be fun!
It was really hard to tell what the true mileage really was. I didn't take it out of town so it didn't get much highway miles. I did upgrade the rear gears to 3.27 locker which was perfect to keep the speedo semi-accurate.
I know this is a 2 year old video, but i had to mention that if you bought the upper and lower rear control arms for this kit, it will center the rear wheel in the arches and correctly realign the pinion angle.
Once they are in there, they aren't going anywhere! I had to compress the spring to get them in. Once the tension was released, they were pretty much locked in place.
@@OldeCarrGuy after mounting dually tires on the Grand Marquis' stock 16" wheels, I can't imagine going back to the stock size. They just clear the fenders and they really fill up that space. Your Grand Marquis will look even better being lifted.
How were you able to get the front sway bar links back in? On my 2003 CVPI it seems like I will need to install shims at the sway bar mounting brackets to get the geometry right. Thanks,
May I make a suggestion? If possible aquire Chicago/New York PD pushbar ? They cover the headlights and guard the grill and have a spot for offroad lights. Now it won't take a moose , but it will make other motorists give you some space in front of you lol. Sub'd.
I'd like to get my crown vic uber car lifted 3 inches. Chicago has put big speed bumps on about 50% of their side streets, and sometimes they are hidden by the snow, or the yellow paint rubs off.
Did you end up putting the sway bar back on???got mines hooked up but after lift it seems like my trans is dragging I’m trying to figure out y had no problems before the lift
also you should take it to a firing range and put bullet holes in it then super glue a blackjack card in place of the emblem, then put on a rhino bull bar and put crazy lights on it along with a roof rack
I love this so much! I've wanted to do this, except to a Town Car (since I already have a beautiful 93 signature) But now I have a 97 ZJ Grand Cherokee that I can't lift..... Stupid quadratrac.
I like what you are doing I been thinking of getting a grand marq, or a crown Vic to mess around with the are legit the last of the big cars, I want to covert it to a carburator though.
You wont regret buying on of these, but you may regret converting it to carb. They are already one of the most reliable modern cars out there. I'd suggest keeping it stock to keep it reliable.
You think it's a bad idea? I just wanted to go old school on it, headers, 4bl Holley, rally wheels. Maybe keep the fuel injection.I just love the simplicity of it.
It's a pretty straight forward job which can be done in a few hours. The lift kit is $189, the rear shocks were $30 (amzn.to/3kt8AuA), and my shops labor will likely run $300 (4 hours @75/hour). I hope this helps.
How did u solve the tow problem fr fr cause it started to eat my brand new tires up so I said he'll naw. N I took my 22" off it fr fr cause I Kno for a fact u didn't just do a plan alignment fr
I'm not much on lifting the G.M. But I find it interesting, If you just raised the front the look that you have is referred to as the "Alabama Squat" ........
I've been wanting to do this to my grand marquis for a few years now, but I've been having trouble finding a lift kit for any panthers pre 1998. Do you know if this kit will work for me?
Thanks for the great video I'm think about doing the same to my marquis. Was there a sway bar in the front? How dose it ride now Compared to stock? Dose it handle ok at highway speeds? Mines about as nice as your grandma car and I can't decide if it's something I should do to a car that nice would really value your opinion on this thanks
Hey! The front sway bar doesn’t come into play and the car rides not much different that stock. Maybe a bit stiffer in the rear but it still cruises like a Merc! No regrets at all! The best thing is it can all be changed back to stock quite easily!
Trust me! Its an extremely snug fit to get them in place. They wont be going anywhere. The axle doesn't drop far enough on its own, you would need to remove the 4 links and pry it down. But yes, you could weld them.
I’m looking at doing this to my town car! I’m just worried about the front upper arm and ball joint not having enough room or hitting on something. Have you had any issues with yours?
@@OldeCarrGuy Would it be to much to ask for a suspension component update to show the wear on them so far? Mine is a 98 so I know it’ll be a little bit different but I’m genuinely curious before I drop big money on something
@@worldsokayestmechanic6631 Just put a 7 inch lift on my 97 town car to fit some big knobbies. I did need to change out the upper control arms with new ones but it gave me the clearance needed. Got the kit from Universal Car Lifts and the control arms came in the kit but you can also buy them individually.
Great video, however those don't look like 31" tires, especially at 20:48, they are actually 29"....Other vids showing 31's look substantially larger. My son had 31's on his Jeep and they are bigger than that.
It's all perspective my friend. This brand new 265/70R16 tire has an over all height of 30.8" (rounded up to 31"). When you add the weight of the vehicle, the tire does squat to 29 7/8" with 32 psi in it, which is what you're seeing in the video. Thanks for the keen eye and knowing your stuff.
If you're gonna be driving it mainly on the street and you want the alignment to be perfect so your tires last longer there is are camber kits by MOOG Automotive you will have to install because the geometry of the suspension is definitely altered. Your wheels are gonna be closer at the top than at the bottom...... But if you rotate your tires regularly it won't wear them out as quickly and if you run about 1 to 1.5 degrees of Toe In and slightly lower tire pressure it will compensate for most (if not all) of the camber.
Hey great video! Would a 1997 Lincoln Town Car be the same as well without the airbags? I'm trying to go 28 inch wheels. Wat size lift and shocks will I need?
It was a 3" Liftabrand lift and should be very similar on the town car. You'll want to research the tire sizes to know your overall height. The shocks i used on my 03 MGM were the same year F-150 2wd rear shocks. I believe the rear suspension on the 97's are similar to my 03 but the shocks are mounted inboard the frame but should mount the same as the 97 f-150 shock.
I had a 1995 x Oklahoma highway patrol crown Vic I put 235 75 15 mud terrains on it it looked great it ran great but somebody decided to take out my front end and push the driver side of the bumper all the way over to the Ford emblem
Just wrapped up a 7 inch lift on my 97 town car. You will need to pop out the rear airbags and replace with springs plus lift cups. The process wasn't too bad overall. Currently trying to figure out how to repurpose the old air bag compressor to have a pump for airing up the tires when needed.
I got a 2010 grand Marquis with air ride (factory) I want 24”s. Do I have to lift it? And if I do this will the air ride go crazy? Any advice would be appreciated. Rim shops telling me all kinds of conflicting information. Thanks.
I just put a 3 inch lift on my 95 Mercury grand Marquis I’m trying to lift the front now but I’m having trouble getting the lower control arm to line up due to the lift kit
@@richmiller6383 Get a floor jack under the control arm and jack it. The weight of the car should be enough pressure to bring the two together. If not, jack up the opposite corner first to transfer weight. hope this helps.
You don’t need to replace the front as you’re simply putting a spacer between the top of the strut and strut tower! In the rear I used f150 2wd rear shocks from the same year as my car 2003.
Xavier Stewart just buy exstended airshocks especially if your going to use lift cups in rear only dummy’s use shocks for another car an can eventually cause an issue
