In this second Crown Victoria frame swap video I will be showing the prep and disassembly of both the 01 Mercury Marquis, and the 68 Mercury Montego. This is basically the process I went through to get ready to start test fitting the frame to the unibody wagon. There is a lot of similarities between this and the f-100 crown vic frame swaps, except this wagon is a true uniboby car with no removable frame. Part of the process will show how I’m cutting the front unibody subframe out to prep for fitment, along with brainstorming some of the other areas for concern and frame fitment. After that I”m fully dissembling the Grand Marquis to the frame / rolling chassis.
I plan to keep as much of the stock 68 montego sheet metal and look as possible. some of the obvious things will be the newer steering column, digital gauges, and updated heater controls. As far as the dash it should look like a custom vintage hotrod dash, with no huge pointers to the chassis swap. I want to mount all the under hood wiring to the frame, and keep it off the fenders. Then the goal will be to make the hood and fenders easily removable to work on the car. I also plan to take weight off some of the items and a final weight when finished. Take the fenders for example… the 68 fender really doesn’t feel heavier than the 01, but I need to double check that.
I’m still a little confused on the rear end gearing i want to do. The 01 chassis currently has 3.55 gearing which would be a great starting point for a future turbo car, But the T-56 transmission I have for it from a 02 Viper Srt-10 which has a first gear of 2.66 and was used with 4.56 rear gear in the truck. The 03/04 cobra had the same 2.66 first gear, but also had the 3.55 rear gear stock … but the stock fist gear of the 4r70w that is currently in the chassis is 2.84. That is a little better off the line for the lower power motor. So i’d honestly rather keep the 3.55 gears for the future, so I’ll probably just wait and see how it feels, and hopefully wait out for a turbo to make up for that tall first gear.
The video link is below and thanks for watching, and please hit that subscribe button. If you have any questions or need help with anything, you can contact me through youtube or leave a comment here and I’ll be glad to help.