I am new to this board and new to Mercury Marauder ownership. In fact, I purchased my Marauder earlier today. She’s a beauty, a 2003 model, 300a model based on the information I’ve gleaned here, 36,000 miles on the odometer. The build date is 09/02, the last of the VIN are 637648, she’s black(is there any other color?.......j/k.....
.....), the interior is charcoal. It doesn’t have the CD changer, heated seats or the rear deck lid spoiler(and I don’t mind).
Before I pose questions, let me give a little background about how I got here. Growing up as a young man in the 80's, I was a GM guy(please don’t throw rocks!). I had a 68 Chevelle, a 69 Chevelle, a 72 Oldsmobile Cutlass S(350 Rocket baby!), a 69 Chevrolet pickup, etc. Then, one day, in the early 90's, I drove an 88 Mustang GT 5.0 and it was all Ford(with Jeep exceptions) from there. I drove that GT and loved it until I was smitten by a 96 Cobra, which resulted in a trade. I drove the Cobra for many years and loved it. 1996 was the first year of the mod motor and the Cobra of that year was the debut of the all aluminum, DOHC, 4.6 liter engine. As I recall, it’s HP/TQ rating was the exact same as the Marauder motor.
I got out of cars and back into Jeeps for a while but I came back to the paved road eventually. I found a comfy, 1996 Crown Victoria LX that was loaded and had low mileage for it’s age. Although I loved the CV, it didn’t stir my soul like my Mustangs did. I searched for a couple of months and in 2006 I found an original, 1993 Cobra(#4633) with 60,000 original miles. I bought it as a weekend car and enjoyed it until the tax man came calling in 2007. Then, the Cobra went on the auction block. I sold it last month but still had the Crown Vic.
Which brings me to the past week. I “discovered” the Marauder. It was perfect! A combination of the Mustang performance(mostly) and Crown Victoria comfort(mostly)/practicality! I diligently searched for a week, found a really good deal and traded the Vic in on my Marauder.
The above being said, I think my Marauder is the coolest thing since.............well, since a long time! Now comes the questions. I want to mod the Marauder but there are limits and caveats. I am in California and all mods must be smog legal here. This car is my daily driver(work/shopping/etc) as well as my toy and has to be as reliable as stock. I am not going to fork out 5k for a supercharger setup(as cool as it would be) plus the cost of the tune. I’m interested in simple mods, intake, cat-back exhaust, chip/tuning, etc.
The bottom line is, any advice would be appreciated and I look forward to learning from the folks who have been around here for some time. Thanks for any info and replies.
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Originally Posted by rocfan1
, Moon
