The 40MPG Crown Victoria Challenge

[Galane]

Could replace the V8 with the overhead cam V6.

It's possible to get 30 MPG in an Explorer with that V6, if you drive boring instead of hotrodding it. Crown Vic is considerably less brick shaped.

[oil pan 4]

We have been using our town car now for a while and it seems to do pretty good on the highway. The instant MPG is very good, off no more than the rounding error so far.
If I drive it at 60-65mph on the highway it will display constant 26-28mpg.

Driving it in town, like a taxi cab (its main use) it gets 16mpg.

[Midnight Drifter]

There's a place down in Georiga called Shade Tree Conversions; they do something rather unique, and that is putting FARM TRACTOR engines into vehicles! The good news is, since your Vicky is a '94, it is both OBD-exempt and also emissions-exempt if a diesel conversion if performed and the paperwork is filed at the MVC.

They have a demo F150 turbodiesel swap that averages around 40 MPG. Your car might be a bit of a slug off the line with the lack of HP and zero top end power, but 170 pounds of torque is enough to cruise at 65.

[oil pan 4]

Well I put the spare, OEM jack and my little hydraulic floor jack back in the lincon for for a road trip and left it in there for sort of an ABA test on city driving.
So far it looks like the lincon is down at least 1mpg in city driving, just going by the dash MPG display.
The dash MPG meter has proven to be very accurate.
If you look at my fuel log the first recorded tank was with the tire and jack. With out the tire and jack we have been able to put up low to mid 18's. (the high 19 and 20+ mpg tanks have lots of highway driving)
Now all of a sudden we are looking at low 17s.

So weight is a pretty big deal if you do a lot of stop and go driving.

[Varn]

Their claims seem overrated. My VW diesel gets 50 mpg. My Mercedes about 30 mpg.

What turned me off was that to see their data you needed to send them 50 dollars.

Originally Posted by Midnight Drifter

There's a place down in Georiga called Shade Tree Conversions; they do something rather unique, and that is putting FARM TRACTOR engines into vehicles! The good news is, since your Vicky is a '94, it is both OBD-exempt and also emissions-exempt if a diesel conversion if performed and the paperwork is filed at the MVC.

They have a demo F150 turbodiesel swap that averages around 40 MPG. Your car might be a bit of a slug off the line with the lack of HP and zero top end power, but 170 pounds of torque is enough to cruise at 65.

[gascort]

Originally Posted by mystere485

One of the upgrades ford guys say is upgrading the older first gen modulars with the second gen pi heads. The second gen heads have a slightly smaller cc combustion chamber and the pistons where slightly larger cc. With the head swap and no other mods the compression rises from 9.7:1 to 10.3:1. How high of compression could i go before needing to upgrade from regular to premium octane?

Those modular heads were terrible; the pi heads were worth like +50hp on those 4.6L engines.
Do you still have the plastic "alternator will snap off" lower intake? Those things were one of the worst Ford goofs ever.
"Hmmm, lots of tension on a device? Let's bolt it to something plastic that shouldn't crack and leak!"
I am excited to see if you can do this. I think aeromodding will get you to the mid 30s easily with the 3.08s. (are you sure those are the gears in the car? seems low for an AOD)...I have 3.08s in my '95 GT with the 5spd. I thought all the autos came with 3.55 or something; the racers typically throw in 3.73s into a 5spd, or 4.10s into an auto.

[Christ]

You should still be able to run 87/89 with PI heads, too, as long as you're not really getting into it and giving it hell.

[Galane]

Then there's Trick Flow Specialties twisted wedge heads. Basically the design is virtually identical to the Ford original, on the exhaust side. The big change is on the intake side where TFS switched the valve angle to lean towards the center instead of towards the outside.

The result is a huge decrease in intake flow restriction which creates a big boost in power. With the right intake manifold and EFI programming I bet it'd also have a big MPG increase too.

A major thing to keep in mind about the "modular" V8 is the engines from each of the two assembly plants have quite a number of differences and some of those different parts are not interchangeable.

When I first heard of Ford's "modular" engines, I had in mind an engine block assembled from several V-twin segments with a front and back end added or special front and back end V-twin modules for mounting the accessories and the transmission. Such a system would make it possible for the manufacturer or aftermarket to make longer engines like a V-12 or V-16 by producing longer cams and cranks and using four V6 or V8 heads.

Nope. Ford's "modular" engines aren't that at all. The V6 and V8 just share the same cylinder spacing and 90 degree angle, just like many other V6 designs that have been made by cutting two cylinders off a V8. By that definition any such V8/V6 pair could claim to be a "modular" design.

[Christ]

I believe they were called 'modular' because the engine package could be produced with minute changes in tooling to support any of the engines in that line. Also because the engine/trans package were installed at the factory lines as a 'module' in the same area, but probably less so for that.

[oil pan 4]

I was looking up some tow ratings and found that these boats can tow up to 2000lb.
I wouldn't recomend much hitch weight on the air suspention of a newer town car.