Interesting Talk With Old Ford Dealer Mechanic

[Ross]

Yesterday I took my MM to the Dealer, Southwest LM in Houston, for an oil change. While I was there, the service writer introduced me to a mechanic named Charles whose business card said "25 years service" at this one dealer. From talking to him, he has been working on fast cars since the 1950's. We looked at the engine of his Lightning, and talked superchargers and other stuff. The guy really sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Interesting points:
1. Charles said that in the very beginning, the Ford Motorsports catalog had a Roots type blower kit with a part number for the MM. It was taken out of the catalog after one edition, and by the time the car actually got onto the market, the kit was gone.
2. He has heard rumors that Ford is working on a Roots SC kit for the car, but it won't be out, if at all, until after Mercury offers a supercharged MM new from the dealer. Since it looks like 2004 will be the last year for this car, and the '04's wont be SC'ed, this probably won't really happen.
3. NON-SC NOTE: I'm no expert, and this guy could have had me fooled, but he sounded like the real deal to me. We were talking rear end gears, and he swears by the 3.73 for this car. He said that if you do a lot of highway driving (and believe me, we have some long stretches of highway here in Texas), the higher revs of the 4.10 will eventually become bothersome to you, in addition to adding some wear and tear to a car that is used for everyday driving, like mine is. He said that while the 3.73 won't give as much of an improvement in launch as the 4.10, it will be enough to notice a seat of the pants difference.

Comments to any or all of the above?

[BillyGman]

you might have considered this guy an expert, but the word "expert" can certainly be applied to Mr. Kenny Brown who as I'm sure that you know modifies Marauders as well as Mustangs. Kenny modifies Marauders for street driving, and he puts 4.10 gears in them as part of his performance package. So which "expert" do you want to believe? I mean no sarcasm by these statements, and let me further add that I have installed 4.10 gears in my MM, and my car only revs 350 RPM's higher at 70MPH than it did w/the stock 3.55 gears. And 350 RPM's is nuthin. My car still jumps up to 110MPH in a heartbeat. It doesn't start to strain until you begin to approach 120MPH and how many times are you gonna want to go any faster than that in Texas, or anywhere else? W/18" wheels 4.10 gears are not extreme at all. In fact I'm even considering going to 4.56's......going from 3.55's to 3.73's is hardly any change at all. IMO you might as well not even bother w/a gear change if that's what you plan on doing, because you're not going to feel any difference. Going from 3.55 gears to 3.73's will only give you about a 120 RPM difference at 70MPH. So how can you expect a difference in acceleration w/such a minor rev difference? Sorry, but that old guy that you talked to might have been sincere, but he's sincerely wrong. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Atleast not concerning this issue anyway......

[SergntMac]

I think Billy makes a good point, the topic has been covered by the experts, and a lot of us here. If you are going to change the gear, the differences between the 3:55 and 3:73 do not justify the cost of the mod, only a 4:10 or higher is worth it. Almost everyone who decides to mod, does the 4:10s and even Steve Babcock has said that in early designs, the MM had 4:10s.

Interesting note on the Ford catalogue, anyone out here who may have one of those lying around?

[Marauder57]

KInd of interesting topic.....I had never heard of 3.73 gears until yesterday...I was at UPS and a guy in the parking lot was asking me about the car.....so I was bragging....Blah, Blah, Blah....but it won't smoke them off the start....he was shocked and said what does it have 3.73.....and I said 3.55.....then went into the discussion about the Stage 1 etc......

Personally I am looking to be able to time travel in this car so I think 4.10's will be my go....:D

[TAF]

3.73s on this car is waisting money. I do a lot of highway miles, long stretches and no problem with the 4.10s. If you're concerned with the 4.10s...keep it at 3.55 and chip it with Dennis' chip.

[JET]

I bought the stage 1 kit 6 month ago and looked at it for 5 month wondering if it would be a mistake. It's not, I am thrilled with the results and I do a ton of highway driving. The car has 21k on it and it won't be a year until mid august. Get the stage 1 and don't get anything less than 4.10's.

[RCSignals]

"Charles said that in the very beginning, the Ford Motorsports catalog had a Roots type blower kit with a part number for the MM. It was taken out of the catalog after one edition, and by the time the car actually got onto the market, the kit was gone."

I'm sure not all those catalogues were rounded up and burned. Does anyone have access to old Ford Motorsports catalogues?

I'd sure like to know what one says.

[Murader03]

Originally posted by marauder2306
I bought the stage 1 kit 6 month ago and looked at it for 5 month wondering if it would be a mistake. It's not, I am thrilled with the results and I do a ton of highway driving. The car has 21k on it and it won't be a year until mid august. Get the stage 1 and don't get anything less than 4.10's.

Finally, another highway driver. Just had the 25K service on mine last week. Car won't be a year old until 11/04/03. I had the 4.10's installed at the 3K mile mark and have been pleased with the performance since. Only way to go!

[BillyGman]

Originally posted by Marauder57
....but it won't smoke them off the start....he was shocked and said what does it have 3.73.....and I said 3.55.....then went into the discussion about the Stage 1 etc......

I think 4.10's will be my go....:D

Just so you know, some guys on this board after getting the whole stage 1 thing(including the 4.10 gears) have said that they still cannot smoke up the tires from a dead punch, and that they still would have to power brake it to do smoke shows. And that's just one of the reasons why I'm thinking about replacing the 4.10's in my MM w/4.56's. W/18" tires that are 28" in diameter having 4.10's in the rear are like having 3.73's w/15" tires that are 26" in diameter.;)

[jgc61sr2002]

Originally posted by BillyGman
Just so you know, some guys on this board after getting the whole stage 1 thing(including the 4.10 gears) have said that they still cannot smoke up the tires from a dead punch, and that they still would have to power brake it to do smoke shows. And that's just one of the reasons why I'm thinking about replacing the 4.10's in my MM w/4.56's. W/18" tires that are 28" in diameter having 4.10's in the rear are like having 3.73's w/15" tires that are 26" in diameter.;) Billy - Good point about the 4.10.:)

[cyclone03]

Just how old is this guy talking?
I have every SVO/Fordmotorsport/Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog from the first in 1982.I'll go look at the past 3 years and see what I see.

[TAF]

Cyclone,

I would WAG it would be in issues from '01 to maybe early '02 before the launch of the car in May of '02.

Once again...just my WAG.

[SergntMac]

Remember now, the MM was slated for release as an '02, but got held back by emissions and CAFE...according to Babcock anyway, so, look back to the '01 cat too?

[cyclone03]

Nope.
00,01,02 cant find 03.
No Superchargeres for any 4v engines.
That included the special "Hot Parts" and "New For XX" issues.

[SergntMac]

Well, I've got the '03, and it's not there either. Oh well...

[Ross]

Hell, maybe this old timer was just blowing air up my skirt, I mean kilt, and I was gullible enough to buy his BS. I've readily admitted on a number of occasions that I'm a relative newbie when it comes to hot cars. The more I hang out here, though, the smarter I feel!

[BillyGman]

it's all cool, cuz atleast your man enough to admit that. Some guys on another board I belong to refuse to simply admit that somebody has just told them something that they didn't know because of their big ego, and therefore never learn a whole lot because they let their pride get in the way . Obviously you're not like that at all........like I said, cool.....