I was doing some research for a donor car that was cheap and plentiful that had a 302, AOD, and rear axle the right size that would fit without having to be shortend. I found that the 80's model lincolns,crown vics, and Mercury marquis' had a all of what I needed and I found alot of good deals on craigslist for these cars in decent shape. Plus after I got the parts off that I needed I could either sale the rest of the car (which prolly wouldnt happen) or scrap the rest of the body and get quite a bit of my money back because those cars weigh alot. I found a late 80's model fuel injected 302 aod lincoln 15 minutes from my house. I also read that 86 up models had roller cams. Anyways the guy wouldnt take less than 700.

I was thinking the stock weight of the car is just over 4000 pounds, the parts I get off of it would be like 1000 pounds, the price for scrap around here is 7 dollars a 100 pounds and for 3000 pounds I would get 210 bucks, so I would get all of the drivetrain I needed for basically $500. Plus it has bran new tires so I might be able to sell the wheels and tires. What do you guys think? I could always drive it for a while before I tear into it

 

i`ve built my truck with a 89 crown vic parts, best $500 bux i`ve spent, i`ve used the front end, rear end, engine,trans,rad, complete wiring harness, used the skins off the tail lights, brake system, fuel pump, and the list goes on! you`ll probably have to do some track width measuring i believe the crown vic is a bit wide for a 51.

 

I used a 91 Crown Vic.I stripped everything possible out of it.Then I filled it with scrap that was hanging around the house and called a scrapper and they picked it up for $200

 

Sounds like a plan! I'm using a 302/AOD out of an '85. Will you be keeping the FI or going with a carburetor?

 

Hey guys, just found out it is an 89 model.

I would be changing over to carb because of simplicity for me.

Do any of you know how wide the rear axle is from backing plate to backing plate on your crown vics and lincolns?

 

I think it will be too wide. The '89 Crown Vic had a rear track width of about 65 1/2 inches. They got even wider in 03 at 67 1/2 inches. Since what you want is something around 61 inches you would have to run some seriously offset rims to make up two inches on each side...

 

I researched that the 89 lincoln town car has a rear track width of 62 inches, I wander if its less than that from backing plate to backing plate?

 

not sure if i have those measurements anymore, i do believe i posted it on here when i showed my install? i`m using the efi, took the complete harness out of the car and retrofiting it to my truck.

 

Track width is the distance from the centerline of one tire to the centerline of the opposite one so I would think most wheel-mounting-flange-to-wheel-mounting-flange measurements would be the same as track width. The exception would be instances where the wheels had a lot of offset to the inside or outside. The newer vehicles seem to have a lot of offset to the inside. Backing-plate-to-backing-plate measurements, however, can be misleading since drum/rotor widths can vary so I'm not sure if the 89 Lincoln rear would work for you or not...

 

Hey Gang,

As best I can remember the 89ish -91 rear axle is 62.5 mounting flange to mounting flange. Red I dont think you will go wrong with your donor car. Although you might not want to run keep the steering column and grab the computer underneath the dash for the cruise control. Never know you might want to add it. I think the rear axle might be a little wide with standard fenders. My buddy and his dad did my conversion on my 55'. I kept the EFI setup and knock on wood no problems yet. Also hang onto that driveshaft. If you get the rear axle to work at best you would just have to get yours shortened. IF I can help in anyway IM me. IF you cant tell I LOVE seeing people use FOMOCO cars (Crown Vic, Grand Marquis or Towncar) for donors

 

another alternative is a 96-01 explorer with a 5.0. i bought a 96 for $465. narrower rear end. fuel tank looks like it will work for me. explorers use short water pumps which i like. some like the one i got has iron gt40 heads. others had the 40p heads. i'd consider the frt torsion bar suspension w/r&pinion but ours has suspension damage.

 

Ok, I went to test drive the car, It drove great and shifted great, no leaks, fluids looked good, I'm trying to get him to $650 on it. His 77 year old mother-inlaw owned it. It has 133,000 miles. Do you guys think I would be a good deal?

 

i got the diff out of an 87 vic i was given and if i remember right it was the same width as the dana in my 53 or it had to be dain close as i saved it to put it in . if i was wrong i done a lot of work to clean all the coil stuff off of it etc. to get it ready ...... it's over in the storage unit with a whole lot of other stuff i have managed to collect , and still collecting , for god knows what . i can't seem to bring myself to change a lot on the 53 as i love her the way she is , so i geuss i'll have to find another truck .................

 

Well I got them to come down on the price, so now I have a new "flower pot" as my wife says. But its really not I could tag it and drive it but its now my new parts car.

 

sweet!!!! keep us posted!