Reviews!!!!!!

[LVMarauder]

Hey, I dont know about you guys, but who wants ALOT more reviews. Theres been alot of performave mods done to our cars so lets REVIEW them. I encourage anyone with 10 minutes and mod experience to put up what they think.

[David JP]

Had Dennis Reinhart install his stage 2 on my 04. All I can say is the difference between stock and stage 2 is night and day, black and white and, well, any other direct opposites you can think of!!!

I think there are a lot of people out there that a happy with their stock M/M's, and rightfully so, because the car certainly has enough power. But I would highly recommend getting the chip and 4.10's. It's a whole new car and I gaurantee you will not be disappointed.

[captJ696]

Dave, (or anyone else, chime in plz) define what Dennis Reinhart`s stage 1-3 consist of?

[Agent M79]

captJ696, I can help with Stage I... here ya go...

Overview of Reinhart Stage I for the 2003/4 Mercury Marauder

Stage I is not a single modification, but rather a small set of modifications that work with one another to produce an obvious increase in power and enhance drivability. Some people may never go beyond Stage I and as such it is a good stand-alone mod. It was designed from the outset to be the first set of modifications culminating with a supercharger.

Stage I is made up of a set of spark plugs, a thermostat, differential gears, and programming.

Stage I Plugs
A set of spark plugs needs to do a little more than fit properly in the cylinder head. They must be able to deliver a reliable and consistent spark, resist fouling, and contribute to the transmission of heat from the combustion process into the cylinder head.

Spark plugs have to run hot, but not too hot. A plug shouldn’t run to cold either. The idea is that the plug runs hot enough to burn the products of combustion off itself but not so hot that it ignites the air/fuel mixture before sparking causing detonation.

The plugs that are part of Stage I run one heat range cooler than the factory installed plugs and as such shed heat a little faster than the factory plugs.

Stage I Thermostat
The thermostat installed by the factory opens at 188°F and allows coolant to flow to the radiator. The thermostat in Stage I flows coolant at 180°F helping the engine to run just a little cooler.


Stage I 4.10 Gears
The Marauder is a rear-wheel drive vehicle. The rear wheels are connected to a limited-slip differential. The differential is responsible for dividing the engines power to the 2 rear wheels. The number of times the input shaft of the differential rotates versus the number of times the axle rotates is the gear ratio.

From the factory, the Marauder has 3.55:1 gear ratio. This means that the input shaft into the differential turns 3.55 times for each single axle rotation. Increasing this ratio increases the number of times the input shaft must rotate to turn the axles and thus, the wheels. This also has the effect of amplifying the amount of torque and its availability lower in the engines RPM range.

The gear set in the Stage I raises the gear ratio to 4.10:1. This puts more torque to the rear wheels and sooner than the stock 3.55:1 ratio.


Stage I Chip/Program
The computer that monitors and controls the engine and transmission in your Marauder is called the Power-train Control Module (PCM) or Electronic Engine Control (EEC). Its programming is alterable using and number of available tuners and software. Altering the programming affects the manner in which the car operates.

With Stage I, the new programming is stored either on a separate chip which must be added to the PCM/EEC or is programmed directly into the PCM/EEC.

The programming in and of itself does much to improve the power, the availability of the power, and the shift pattern of the transmission. The inclusion of the new spark plugs, thermostat, and gears allows the programming to be further optimized for greater performance.

More power is put to the ground sooner and longer through out the RPM range. The transmission holds gears longer to capitalize on the newly available power curve and the shifts are faster.

Some modifications have to be measured on a dynamometer or at the track as they are so subtle as to not be felt “seat of the pants”. The Reinhart Stage I is not that kind of modification. The obvious increase in power and the greatly improved shift patterns will be noticeable immediately.

Stage I for the 2003/4 Mercury Marauder
Reinhart Automotive
www.reinhartautomotive.com
(904) 276-5003 ask for Dennis Reinhart

[David JP]

Well done, agent M79, well done. Pls return to HQ Asap.
Your new assignment has been approved by OCC.

[STLThunder]

Once you have the kit who intalls it, a local performance shop? I'm not a mechanic. Does Dennis have local distributors to do this? Say in the St. Louis area? :confused:

[darebren]

STLThunder Posted: Once you have the kit who intalls it, a local performance shop? I'm not a mechanic. Does Dennis have local distributors to do this? Say in the St. Louis area?

Being of a more "responsable age", you might get away with having your dealer do the install work of the gears. Sometimes the right person at the right time can get some work out of the dealer which some here have seem to accomplish. It's likely if you pull up to the dealer and say you want to start towing a small camper or boat, they might go along with you and do the gears.

(the other mods are do it yourselfers), with the thermo on the fence depending on how high you rate on the shadetree mechanic scale.

Otherwise a decent performance speed shop would work - look under auto-repairs-performance/custom in your yellow pages.

[04marauder]

Forgive me if this has been asked but how much horsepower does the stage 1 add, 0-60 & 1/4 times? Thanks :beer:

[Smokie]

Forgive me if this has been asked but how much horsepower does the stage 1 add, 0-60 & 1/4 times? Thanks :beer:
I have probably the least you can do and still call it modified, the results are listed below, the PCM software was upgraded by Dennis. I am very happy with results.:D

[SergntMac]

Forgive me if this has been asked but how much horsepower does the stage 1 add, 0-60 & 1/4 times?

It's been asked, but there has not been a lot of documentation on "exactly" what a Stage I kit will develop in power and performance. The "kit" accumulated over time as each individual mod was developed. The HP and TQ has been documented, but the times you ask about have not. As the saying goes, "your results may vary." However, you may expect a Stage I kit to add 25-30 RWHP and likewise FtLb. in RWTQ, which is fairly respectable bang for the buck, IMHO.

[2003 MIB]

Forgive me if this has been asked but how much horsepower does the stage 1 add, 0-60 & 1/4 times? Thanks :beer:Before installing the driveshaft (I don't think it will decrease 1/4 mile time) and the underdrives (I hope they will decrease 1/4 mile time):
I ran a 14.243 @ 97.14. I used the calculator at the NABR site to convert a 0-60 time. Based on an 1/8 mile of 9.197 @78.51 it says 0-60 in 5.37. Accurate? I don't know but those are the numbers.

Am I happy with the mods.? Yes! Is it a better car than the one Mercury sold? Yes! Downside to the mods.? None. Am I done? Nope- Kook's is next.