03 Cobra Motor Crown Vic Conversion

[1KFTLBS]

Just thought Id post some pics of my current project. Its not a mm but I think it qualifies....

So far everything below has been purchased and is waiting to be installed....
-PA Transbrake Valve Body(Auto Shift)
-06 Crown Vic Cluster and Bezel
-03 Cobra motor with full wiring harness and pcm
-Precision Industried 9.5" Converter(2800 stall)
-Baummanator TCS(transmission controller)
-New Motor Mounts
-MM Ashtray Gauge Holder
-Autometer Fuel Press and Boost
-Wideband Commander
-MJ Chip Modified FPDM
-8 bolt automatic Ford Racing flywheel
-Ford GT fuel pumps
-Stainless Works Full Mercury Marauder Exhaust(Jet-Hot Coated)
-A Crapload of other parts I cant remember
Trans is being built....

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/crownvic004.jpg

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/crownvic003.jpg

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/crownvic001.jpg

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/crownvic002.jpg

We test fitted the motor today with new motor mounts. I was surprised how well everything fit. You can see in the pics that the alternator was hitting the frame rail and the chunk we had to remove. Everything seems to fit pretty well. I have to buy a marauder oil filter adapter(cooler) and use the marauder pan(same as 03+ cv). These pics are from my phone so they arent that good. My buddy has the camera we used so I will post better pics when he emails them to me. I took that pic of the notch about 5 seconds after we did it. It still has to be cleaned up and we are going to have the guy next door come over and weld in some steel(same thickness as the frame) inside the hole and on the side to make sure the frame retains its strength. Since the notch is in front of the crossmembers and front suspension I dont think weakness would be an issue but I still want to keep it as strong as factory. I have no idea if the hood will clear or not. I almost used the old 100k police motor mounts for this reason but why half ass it - Ill deal with that when I get to it. It looks damn close.

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/00007.jpg

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/00003.jpg

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/00002.jpg

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/00001.jpg

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/00004.jpg

[RR|Suki]

Hope you never have to change that altenator :eek: nice work though, will the blower fit under the stock hood?

[Motorhead350]

Lookin sweet! :coolman: I bet if you gave that task to Zack he wouldn't have removed a single body pannel.

[1KFTLBS]

Everyone keeps asking me that. lol. Im not sure yet. Its gonna be close. I have an extra 2.8 pulley Im gonna put on which will help but I wont know for sure will we get the fenders and core support back on.....

[Rider90]

Keep up the good work, you seem very motivated to get it done. It looks great and I can't wait for the finished pictures, i'm sure that Vic will be a blast when you're all done! :beer:

[1KFTLBS]

Lookin sweet! :coolman: I bet if you gave that task to Zack he wouldn't have removed a single body pannel.
That sure wouldnt have made notching the frame, moving the abs to the side or changing wiring harnesses very easy....

[MarauderMark]

Looks like your gonna have some fun too.:burn:
Heres a pic of a marauder with that conversion:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a164/ctrlraven/mustang%20and%20marauder%20mee t/PHOT0007Medium.jpg

[jdando]

Looking good! Here is a picture of a custom hood that might be helpful for you

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/10/web/2206000-2206999/2206612_114_full.jpg

This was done by gdmjoe

More details are here http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=32145&highlight=hood

jeremy

[mad1stgen]

You can modify the alt brackets to get the alternator closer to the engine block. I had to do this on my Mark VIII to get it to fit. You can kinda see it here:

[Raudermaster]

Also, check here: http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=onelap
That's the One Lap of America CV with an '03 Cobra engine in. It fit under the hood, but I can't recall if that had to mod something for it to fit. If I were you, I'd look at quite a few of those posts.

[1KFTLBS]

You can modify the alt brackets to get the alternator closer to the engine block. I had to do this on my Mark VIII to get it to fit. You can kinda see it here:
Did you re-drill the upper hole on the bracket to move it inwards more?? Thats what I was contemplating. I saw the One Lap car but it seems like alot of the mods they did werent really needed like grinding down the cross member instead of just using the mm pan. But they were going for pretty much a track only car - no ac, etc. They did a nice job on the fuel system. Dual fpdms with cobra pumps. Ive got dual ford gt pumps with a modified fpdm for the whipple. Whipple is gonna be the last install though - after the rear end. I saw that mm with a cobra motor before. He did a very professional job. That things awesome. I was originally gonna do this to my mm but I wanted to have something unique. Ive always liked crown vics and its a much smaller initial investment. My car was an ex highway patrol car - has 103k - the paints decent and the interior is pretty much perfect. It has carpet, and the seats have no signs of wear. The only prob was the dash had some drill marks and sticker marks but I replaced all the trim pieces and got an 06 bezel for the instrument cluster so the dash is like new now also. So for $5500 it was a good starting point. Anyone have a pic of a mm or cv with 07 shelby wheels. Im most likely get the shelby wheels and have them powdercoated black...

[Dennis Reinhart]

http://64.60.72.200/crownvic/00002.jpg

When Paul did this on his marauder he welded in plates in the notched area to strengthen the frame after notching it.

[Zack]

When Paul did this on his marauder he welded in plates in the notched area to strengthen the frame after notching it.

He's doing just that, as stated in his opening post.

[Dennis Reinhart]

He's doing just that, as stated in his opening post.

I missed it sorry, but it will be a screamer when done

[Breadfan]

It's probably best you didn't use the original motor mounts - with the alternator that close to the frame if the engine twists too much on old worn mounts you could have the alternator hit the frame!

It looks close to the notch in the pics...how close it is? That revised bracket might not be a bad idea.

Awesome pics, keep us posted that looks real cool!

[1KFTLBS]

It's probably best you didn't use the original motor mounts - with the alternator that close to the frame if the engine twists too much on old worn mounts you could have the alternator hit the frame!

It looks close to the notch in the pics...how close it is? That revised bracket might not be a bad idea.

Awesome pics, keep us posted that looks real cool!

I didnt - I got brand new police mounts. That notch was just the first cut. We have to do the finishing touches once I get the correct pan on.

[Zack]

It's probably best you didn't use the original motor mounts - with the alternator that close to the frame if the engine twists too much on old worn mounts you could have the alternator hit the frame!

It looks close to the notch in the pics...how close it is? That revised bracket might not be a bad idea.

Awesome pics, keep us posted that looks real cool!

the engine would twist toward the passenger side, so there is no issue if its not hitting at a rest.

[Raudermaster]

So....I have to ask. Did you crash the Cobra, and pull the engine from it? :D Or did you have a spare engine, and bought a CV as a DD?

[1KFTLBS]

Coincidentally the cobra actually was totalled by one of my friends. I bought the car back from the ins company for about 6k and sold it for 9.5k. Then I bought my 300a. I was contemplating doing this conversion to the 300a but as I said above I wanted something extremely unique(except for the one lap car) that was a big time sleeper. Also, I wanted a smaller initial investment(about 5500). So I sold the 300a and bought the crown vic. One of the biggest reasons was that I just really couldnt bring myself to tear apart the 300a this way. My buddy had a shop and one of his customers had a totalled cobra that he bought back form the ins company. I bought the motor and every bracket/harness/accessory/dash harnesses/gem module/ins cluster for $7000.

[Raudermaster]

Not bad at all. Whereas you will be doing I'm assuming all the work, will probably save you a lot of money, and you can be extrememly proud when it's all done. May I ask if you're going to do any exterior mods? I know the OLOA car's body is stock, but it has some nice 18" BBS rims on it. If I were you, you should at least put some Marauder rims on. :D

[1KFTLBS]

I want to put black powdercoated 07 shelby wheels. If anyone has a pic of a vic or mm with shelby wheels post it up. Thats gonna be the last thing Im gonna do and besides that Ill worry about the rest of the exterior once I get it done....

[RoyLPita]

I don't believe that the Cobra PCM will work with an automatic trans unless the controls for it can be programmed in.

[Zack]

The PCM from the Crown Vic will be up to the task.
Use that one.

[1KFTLBS]

I am gonna use the cobra pcm so I have boost control and both IAT's. As I said in my initial post I am going to use the cobra wiring harness and a baummanator standalone trans controller. Also, I put 9 more pictures in the directory. Im not gonna post the pics anymore - if you want to see them just go to http://64.60.72.200 (http://64.60.72.200/) . They are in the cobracrownvic folder. There are some other folders you can look through if you want with pics of some of the cars I used to have. Also if anyone wants to host anything or upload feel free the ftp side is ftp://64.60.72.200. (ftp://64.60.72.200./) Just make a folder and upload then use the http side to host.

[Power Surge]

I am gonna use the cobra pcm so I have boost control and both IAT's.

The PCM doesn't control boost. Just FYI.

[Zack]

The PCM doesn't control boost. Just FYI.

I think what he meant was the Cobra PCM is aready set up with the proper spark and load tables for this engine.

[1KFTLBS]

As far as I know - I could be wrong the features I would lose would be the intercooler pump wiring and pcm control, dual IAT's, and the MAP sensor - which is in the IAT 2 - which controls the boost bypass - which is why I said boost control.
I also heard the cobra pcm has a faster processor. Im not real sure about that though.

[Power Surge]

As far as I know - I could be wrong the features I would lose would be the intercooler pump wiring and pcm control, dual IAT's, and the MAP sensor - which is in the IAT 2 - which controls the boost bypass - which is why I said boost control.
I also heard the cobra pcm has a faster processor. Im not real sure about that though.

Vacuum controls the bypass, it's 100% mechanical like every other blower with bypass. The boost dump solenoid is in line with the vacuum lines to the bypass, and is there in case the PCM sees some kind of failsafe and will kill boost. Most people disable this anyway. The PCM does not "control" boost with the bypass.

The I/C pump control is not a big deal. That's what the IAT2 is for. It turns the I/C pump on and off when post blower air reaches certain temps. You can just run the I/C pump off key power with a relay. This is what I did with my car, with the Lightning motor in it, and I am also using the stock Vic PCM (with my tuning of course).

[1KFTLBS]

Thanks for the info. I wasnt real sure about how the pcm controlled boost. I knew it didnt limit it to a certain boost level like a turbo but I didnt know exactly what extent of control it had. I know the stock vic pcm would have worked fine with a 2 valve setup but I was unsure how well it would work with a 4 valve setup(besides the lack of controls I mentioned above).

[superford3]

very cool build up cant wait to see what its like in done form

[stryker]

:confused: I don't know it seems like it will work it but I will believe it completelly when I saw the final results pics of that Panther assembled and running.:rolleyes:


STRYKER.:burnout:

[RoyLPita]

:bump: Any updates with the beast? Also, what is the metal piece that is on the front of the bumper for?

[KillJoy]

:confused: I don't know it seems like it will work it but I will believe it completelly when I saw the final results pics of that Panther assembled and running.:rolleyes:


STRYKER.:burnout:


Please refer to Post #7 of this thread.

Others have already done it. ;)

KillJoy

[Power Surge]

Also, what is the metal piece that is on the front of the bumper for?

That's interesting. I wonder if it's a factory installed bumper "push" re-enforcement for the later CVPI cars.

[crouse]

I love those red cam covers. Did you paint them or did you purchase them already painted?

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10 513&d=1165329202


You can modify the alt brackets to get the alternator closer to the engine block. I had to do this on my Mark VIII to get it to fit. You can kinda see it here:

[mad1stgen]

I love those red cam covers. Did you paint them or did you purchase them already painted?

Powdercoating is your friend. The finish is identical to that of Ford GT crinkle blue covers, but in Red.

[1KFTLBS]

I havent been able to work on it for the last two weeks but Ive gotta get this thing done so this weekend Im gonna try and get alot done. I'll post more pics on sunday or monday. This car was a ca highway patrol car so that was the push bumper mount - aftermarket. I believe it might be a setina. Its a no-cut install.

[JVJ]

That looks real good. Hope one day I can do this to my "PANTHER". That engine will be a great mod for our "CVLX Sport".

[JVJ]

[quote=1KFTLBS;454542]I havent been able to work on it for the last two weeks but Ive gotta get this thing done so this weekend Im gonna try and get alot done. I'll post more pics on sunday or monday. This car was a ca highway patrol car so that was the push bumper mount - aftermarket. I believe it might be a setina. Its a no-cut install.[/quot

:banana: Once you breath life to this "PANTHER", she is going to breath and run like a true "BEAST". Patients bro. this is going to be "GREAT". :flag::burnout:(PS: Don't forget to post final pictures, "Good Luck" "HOO-RAH")