mtenderenda
01-14-2009, 02:37 PM
I found this on Hotrod.com
Inside The OEs - 2003 Mercury MarauderThe Marauder That Might Have Been
Ford had a great idea with its '03-'04 Mercury Marauder: a big rear-wheel drive sedan with a powerful V-8 dressed in sinister black duds. It worked for Chevy in 1994 with the Impala SS, but even though the Marauder had more horsepower and a tauter suspension, it never struck a chord with buyers and the model disappeared after a short two-year production run. Its undoing was most likely weak performance, for despite the 302hp 4.6L DOHC V-8 underhood, it accelerated like a slug by virtue of its portly 4,200-pound curb weight. What the Marauder needed from the start was a blower. The ideal engine-the '03-'04 Mustang Cobra's 390hp supercharged DOHC 4.6-was in the Ford arsenal while the Marauder was still in production, but we can only imagine the battles that might have been waged in an effort to get the Special Vehicle (http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0511_2003_mercury_maraude r/index.html#) Team guys to pony up their brand-new Cobra motor for a cop car. But now we don't have to imagine what a Marauder could have been like with that engine, because a group of gearheads at Ford has built it.
The project came about through the efforts of engineers assigned to the Panther rear-wheel-drive platform, which has underpinned the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis since the late '70s, along with the Marauder and Police Interceptor (http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0511_2003_mercury_maraude r/index.html#) versions. The Panther platform enjoys cult status as the last body-on-frame passenger car in production, not just at Ford but anywhere.
Ned Nuss is the Panther vehicle dynamics supervisor and project manager of the semi-official factory team that built this Crown Victoria Police Interceptor for the Cannonball One Lap of America endurance race. Sponsored by Car & Driver magazine, One Lap's grueling 3,600-mile '05 schedule challenges drivers to pilot their cars at and between various racing venues ranging from road courses to dragstrips and wet and dry skidpad tests without the aid of trailers or support vehicles (http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0511_2003_mercury_maraude r/index.html#), with overnight drives of as much as 800 miles or more. We stole the idea and modified it to create Drag Week.
"A Crown Vic is a comfortable car to ride in from point-to-point and we knew it could pull a trailer, which saves about two hours each day spent loading and unloading the car," says Nuss about the decision to enter the event.
The team, which drew support from many fans inside and outside Ford (including several aftermarket companies like BBS, Baer, and Kenne Bell), started with a Police Interceptor that was headed for the crusher and gathered parts from a variety of sources. Modifications were relatively mild, including beefing up cooling systems, installing a trunk-mounted transmission cooler and a custom front radiator intake, and upgrading the stock brakes with 14-inch rotors and Baer calipers on the front.
The Panther platform benefited from a suspension upgrade for model year 2003 that added rack-and-pinion steering and a beefy aluminum front suspension cradle and control arms, and during an impromptu cruise through some of the seedier neighborhoods of Detroit, we noted a firm, comfortable ride from the stock '06 police-package suspension setup, which includes 475 lb/in front coils and 180 lb/in rear springs, up from 325/160 for the '05 police package and 220/130 on the base passenger car. Skidpad testing during One Lap generated 0.93 g in the dry and 0.85 in the wet on Michelin Pilot Sport tires. The engine mods prove that you really can't have too much horsepower in a car this big. Tipping the scales at over 4,300 pounds even with a gutted interior, the One Lap Crown Vic feels just quick enough even with 538 rear-wheel horsepower on tap. It ran mid-13s at the dragstrip during One Lap, but it feels like it could run much faster with stickier tires.
Ford engineers Dan Haakenson, Bill Woebkenberg and Dev Saberwal piloted the Crown Vic on the 3,600-mile '05 One Lap of America, but a fuel-pump gremlin kept the team sidelined for part of the event, dropping them down in the final standings. The performance of the car was promising enough to warrant a repeat effort next year, however. For more info on the One Lap Crown Vic, visit www.crownvic .net, where the buildup and One Lap effort are extensively documented. -Matt King
Inside The OEs - 2003 Mercury MarauderThe Marauder That Might Have Been
Ford had a great idea with its '03-'04 Mercury Marauder: a big rear-wheel drive sedan with a powerful V-8 dressed in sinister black duds. It worked for Chevy in 1994 with the Impala SS, but even though the Marauder had more horsepower and a tauter suspension, it never struck a chord with buyers and the model disappeared after a short two-year production run. Its undoing was most likely weak performance, for despite the 302hp 4.6L DOHC V-8 underhood, it accelerated like a slug by virtue of its portly 4,200-pound curb weight. What the Marauder needed from the start was a blower. The ideal engine-the '03-'04 Mustang Cobra's 390hp supercharged DOHC 4.6-was in the Ford arsenal while the Marauder was still in production, but we can only imagine the battles that might have been waged in an effort to get the Special Vehicle (http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0511_2003_mercury_maraude r/index.html#) Team guys to pony up their brand-new Cobra motor for a cop car. But now we don't have to imagine what a Marauder could have been like with that engine, because a group of gearheads at Ford has built it.
The project came about through the efforts of engineers assigned to the Panther rear-wheel-drive platform, which has underpinned the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis since the late '70s, along with the Marauder and Police Interceptor (http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0511_2003_mercury_maraude r/index.html#) versions. The Panther platform enjoys cult status as the last body-on-frame passenger car in production, not just at Ford but anywhere.
Ned Nuss is the Panther vehicle dynamics supervisor and project manager of the semi-official factory team that built this Crown Victoria Police Interceptor for the Cannonball One Lap of America endurance race. Sponsored by Car & Driver magazine, One Lap's grueling 3,600-mile '05 schedule challenges drivers to pilot their cars at and between various racing venues ranging from road courses to dragstrips and wet and dry skidpad tests without the aid of trailers or support vehicles (http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0511_2003_mercury_maraude r/index.html#), with overnight drives of as much as 800 miles or more. We stole the idea and modified it to create Drag Week.
"A Crown Vic is a comfortable car to ride in from point-to-point and we knew it could pull a trailer, which saves about two hours each day spent loading and unloading the car," says Nuss about the decision to enter the event.
The team, which drew support from many fans inside and outside Ford (including several aftermarket companies like BBS, Baer, and Kenne Bell), started with a Police Interceptor that was headed for the crusher and gathered parts from a variety of sources. Modifications were relatively mild, including beefing up cooling systems, installing a trunk-mounted transmission cooler and a custom front radiator intake, and upgrading the stock brakes with 14-inch rotors and Baer calipers on the front.
The Panther platform benefited from a suspension upgrade for model year 2003 that added rack-and-pinion steering and a beefy aluminum front suspension cradle and control arms, and during an impromptu cruise through some of the seedier neighborhoods of Detroit, we noted a firm, comfortable ride from the stock '06 police-package suspension setup, which includes 475 lb/in front coils and 180 lb/in rear springs, up from 325/160 for the '05 police package and 220/130 on the base passenger car. Skidpad testing during One Lap generated 0.93 g in the dry and 0.85 in the wet on Michelin Pilot Sport tires. The engine mods prove that you really can't have too much horsepower in a car this big. Tipping the scales at over 4,300 pounds even with a gutted interior, the One Lap Crown Vic feels just quick enough even with 538 rear-wheel horsepower on tap. It ran mid-13s at the dragstrip during One Lap, but it feels like it could run much faster with stickier tires.
Ford engineers Dan Haakenson, Bill Woebkenberg and Dev Saberwal piloted the Crown Vic on the 3,600-mile '05 One Lap of America, but a fuel-pump gremlin kept the team sidelined for part of the event, dropping them down in the final standings. The performance of the car was promising enough to warrant a repeat effort next year, however. For more info on the One Lap Crown Vic, visit www.crownvic .net, where the buildup and One Lap effort are extensively documented. -Matt King