I am now a MM owner

[LSCR351]

Well I thought I would share y'all, after all these years owning Crown Vics, as of 11-15-16, I now own a Marauder too. It is not much of one at the moment, but I was the high bidder on it for $1650.
A 2003 black 300A with flint interior and 191k. It is a theft recovery or something and is in bad shape but I am going to bring it back to life and make it my DD. About the only Marauder specific exterior part that is any good are the taillights.

The good:
No rust, or dents in the body shell or doors!
All glass is good.
Taillights are mint.
Does roll, steer, and stop.

The bad:
The whole front clip is pretty much shot! nothing that bad, but there is SOMETHING wrong with all of it.
Motor&transmission, Passenger seat & center console missing.
Carpet torn in several places.
Radio ripped out.
Driver seat torn-up/worn-out.
Wiring harness cut/torn at main plug that goes to the engine.
Trunk lid & reverse light panel both damaged.
Small tear in rear bumper cover.

[Lowndex]

Rebuild it and find the love of your life. I did.

[RubberCtyRauder]

black with light flint is rare..like 175. hope you cansave it.. and hope you are aware that a lot of the stuff is not available thru Ford anymore, seat skins, bumper covers, grilles, head lights...etc.. 03-05 grand marquis is the same front clip...there are some aftermarket lights, grilles etc...trunklid is same as cv and grand marquis..although a cv reverse panel will fit, it is not the same and obsolete at Ford. for a marauder one. it may take a while to find all the pieces, there at a few part outs that happen on here and parts come up for sale too regularly.so watch the for sale sections..items go quick.

[LSCR351]

I am defiantly going to rebuild it. I have several Panther cars for parts: 03 MGM, 03 p71, 05 LX, and several 92-02 Panthers.

My current DD is a 04 P71. I can/will use any parts needed of it too.

This is in no way going to be a restoration, just a driver. I love my 04 P71 as a driver but the paint is in such need of repair on the roof and driver door. And some more front damage from my wife driving it off a little 12' cliff.

I having a hard time what to use for a drivetrain. Here is some of the stuff I have laying around for options. 93 Mark VIII short block. 2001 Cobra heads and intake. 97 Cobra cams. 03 Navigator 5.4 DOHC. 97 Cobra t45. 2001 Cobra 5-speed. 44cc TFS 2v Heads. Saleen 2v supercharger.

Right now my biggest dilemma is the transmission. I think I would like to stay with an automatic. I have several 4r70w's, as well as two 4r75's. My question is what is the best of the 2?

[Ambitious1]

Congratulations on your new MM!

[RubberCtyRauder]

There are certain marauder items needed from an engine that can fit on other blocks. I'm not an expert on all of the small info like that. Youi might be building sort of a hybrid out of your items to select so some may or may not come into play. I believe the 4r75 is stronger than the 4r70 in some regards. There is a member here, 88grandmarq, that is pretty much an expert on the various ford trans as he rebuilds them for a living in GA. maybe send him a pm

[Turbov6Bryan]

Just find another wrecked marauder with a lot of the parts you need, it'll go back smooth

Congrats on the purchase

[LSCR351]

I have so many Panther parts I shouldn't need to buy much. My wife did order METCO rear control arms for my Christmas gift though!

I am going to have to replace the wiring harness so that is really like my first step right now. I just don't know if I should go 04 harness so I can have the 4R75.

I hope the 88grandmarq guy will respond soon, or another transmission guru!




I did pull the carpet & seats out the other day and got all the roaches, dirt, and leaves out. It is clean enough to eat off on the inside now. The dash turned out real nice, but I don't think the headliner is going to make it.
The Marauder rims are long gone. Right now there are 3 getto chrome 20"s and a steel 16", but at least they hold air. I did buy a set of 19" Mustang rims&tires cheap.

[Catfish]

Congrats on the purchase and keep us updated.

[SOSA03]

Congratulations on the MM any mods to come???

[Gerry24]

Keep us posted... Good luck

[LSCR351]

Well I have spent the last 6 hours reading about transmissions and I think I have decided to go with a 4R70W not the 4R75W. There is not much difference in them and I could not understand any advantage to a 4R75W compared to a 5.4 version 4R70W.

I was just leaning to the 4r75w because of the abuse the one in my 2004 P71 has endured. Full throttle shifts from reverse to drive(only 3 times), 4-2 downshifts (maybe 300 times), 3-4 upshifts (maybe 80 times), No fluid changes in 40k miles that I've owned it. But maybe a 4r70w could have taken that too.

So I guess this means my transmission decision, and therefore my wiring harness, is figured out. Looks like as soon as weather permits I will be pulling a wiring harness. I am actually excited!




So now I have this question; I have a 2003 MGM and a 2003 P71, which harness would be best to use in the MM?

[LSCR351]

Congratulations on the MM any mods to come???
Thanks for the congrats from all y'all.

I am not sure to the extent I will be modding this. Remember it is just a cheap DD, and a replacement to my beat up Crown Vic.

At this point it is a toss up between: 2001 Cobra heads and intake on a 93 Mark VIII motor, A supercharged 2V, and a 03 Navigator 5.4. I don't see the 5.4 happening.

Oh, and what can I use off an 04 Lincoln Aviator motor? I have one of those with a BAD rod knock.

[LSCR351]

Well I pulled both wiring harnesses today! The one from the Marauder, and the one from the 03 P71. I wanted to use the MGM harness because of the automatic headlight feature, but it is a late 03 so it has no hood light or power gas door, and it has the digital dash which I don't care for so much .

[LSCR351]

I thought I would update. It has been a long road, but I got the MM back on the road a few days ago and am loving it! I ended up going with a lot of parts from a 2003 Crown Vic P71, An aluminum 2valve motor from a 2002 Explorer, and a Saleen supercharger. I did manage to get some pretty neat stuff, such as: a FGT fuel pump. 80mm Lightning MAF, OEM black headliner and visors.


I am having a issues though. I have an AirBag code for the passenger seat airbag. And I am
get a transmission range sensor code, but no symptoms

[crownvic97]

I thought I would update. It has been a long road, but I got the MM back on the road a few days ago and am loving it! I ended up going with a lot of parts from a 2003 Crown Vic P71, An aluminum 2valve motor from a 2002 Explorer, and a Saleen supercharger. I did manage to get some pretty neat stuff, such as: a FGT fuel pump. 80mm Lightning MAF, OEM black headliner and visors.


I am having a issues though. I have an AirBag code for the passenger seat airbag. And I am
get a transmission range sensor code, but no symptoms

Congrats for getting it on the road!!!

Any pics?

[MMBLUE]

Congrats.. Would love to see some pix of the beast.

[Turbov6Bryan]

Good to hear it's up and running. Air bag issue, I wonder if it's the bag?
I have a good bseat ag, but I don't know if you have to take the car to the dealer for a reprogram?

[88LTDCV351]

"Don't crush em, restore em" - Dennis Gage

[LSCR351]

Yeah y'all, I am enjoying the MM! I got a few bugs to work out yet, but it is 80% great! No pictures as of now. Only camera I have is the crappy one in my flip-phone. As of right now it just looks like a beat up MM on steel wheels, with really nice P71 black interior and a light flint dash.


I still have the Passenger air-bag light/code.
Got a weak coil on cyl 4.
Getting her tuned on 3-26-18.
There is a rattle in the left front suspension.


But my biggest mystery is: All the windows work from the main/drivers switch, But if I unlock the windows to power all the switches everything shuts down! There is a dead short somewhere in that circuit.
Any ideas?

[LSCR351]

And now I just bought a set of 09+ window switches. I think I might have the only MM that is transforming into a CV!

[Joe Walsh]

I bet that blown 2 valve is a torque monster!

[LSCR351]

I bet that blown 2 valve is a torque monster!
She ain't bad! If it didn't just blow the tires off in first gear, and then spark knock in the top of 2nd and 3rd gear, It might would get somewhere. Tune coming Monday though!


So I was cleaning out the trunk today, and right there under a 24.5 semi rim was?,,,,,, my Metco rear control arms!
This project has gotten stretched out far enough, and with me mainly focusing on more important things like: swapping the whole wiring harness, Interior, Motor, Supercharger, Exhaust.
I had forgotten about having the brand new arms laying there!


So I put them on today.

[LSCR351]

I still have this thing! Tune got held up for a while. Just got it tuned last Monday. Also got outrun by a 2011-2014 V6 Mustang same day! So sad!

[BUCKWHEAT]

I still have this thing! Tune got held up for a while. Just got it tuned last Monday. Also got outrun by a 2011-2014 V6 Mustang same day! So sad!
Before tune, put in gears: 4.10's at least. Say goodbye to V-6 Mustangs!