Well, were do I start. My father purchased a Mercury Marauder a few years ago for my mother as a daily driving car. At the time, he thought it was a good car choice for my mother. As two years progressed, she developed a dislike for the car. So my father sold his car, got my mother a new car, and kept the Marauder because it is now a discontinued model. The warranty on the Marauder is close to being up, so he said he might want to change up the motor. I called him crazy for entertaining the idea of chopping a mint limited edition car.
As much as I hated the idea of gutting a new car, the wheels in my head started turning when I came across a website with a Modular 6.8 V-10 Crown Vic. I thought it was an awesome idea to swap a 415 cu. in. motor into a Vic. I did some more research into the subject and it turns out that Mercury made a Marauder during the '60's called the badged X-100 that was powered by a big block 429.
Then it hit me, take a Triton 6.8 and bore/stroke it out to 429 cu. in. and bolt it to the 4R100 in the Marauder. The result would be the new X-100. It would have gobs more low end torque than that crappy DOHC 4.6 V-8 and it would be nostalgic. This swap does however cause 4 main problems, they are:
1) The electronics nightmare of two more cylinders on a Ford
ECU. Maybe I can just use a Truck ECU, much work.
2) Brake master cylinder interference on the left bank from increased deck
height.
3) How much torque can the stock 4R100 take? (my father suggested
rebuilding the 429 to 500 hp & 500 lbs ft.)
4) Cooling. Should I go with the 6.8 radiator for increased
cooling?
I think that there will be many more problems on this swap that I do not know about already. There will probably be dozens of little problems my father and I will have to deal with. Anyway, I would like your guys input about this swap. Tell me what you think.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by fpv_gtho
