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Topic: Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther! (Read 7340 times) previous topic - next topic

Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther!

Reply #15 –
18 city 26 hwy?!! Starting to look like a nice daily now!
home ported E7's, HO intake, 93 Tbird cam, 65mm tb, Shorties, dynomax lers, TC 3.73 rear, Mach 1 springs, Bauman shiftkit, epoxy mod, SD, 3G alt, black magic fan

Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther!

Reply #16 –
Quote from: Crash225;446367
18 city 26 hwy?!! Starting to look like a nice daily now!

I believe there was stink about the mileage and figures were down graded somewhat back around C4C(not just these cars but many makes/models)... I've never seen 18 in town with any Panther, 5.0 or 4.6, but the 26 highway is doable... BUT at 60 mph I've pulled 26 out of the T-Bird running Trick Flow heads, cam and 3.73 gears...

BTW, I'll have to check but I believe I have the window stickers for all the Grand Marquis I've owned, that includes a '92, '93, 98 & '07... The '98 being a LS actually stickered higher than the '07 GS...

Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther!

Reply #17 –
My wagon had 3.55 gears. 16 city i think  i hit 20 freeway once...

When i was doing pizza in my cougar, i could hit 20mpg all day, everyday.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther!

Reply #18 –
Quote from: V8Demon;446360
Mark VII caps should fit.


Quote from: ZondaC12;446364




That'scha keep-err! I will keep the eyes peeled for some.

And uh...wow MGM's were cheap??? Typical Cougars started at 15-16K right?


As a FYI there are two styles of Mark VII LSC center caps: one is plastic with metal tangs and one is all metal. The all metal one has slightly more clearance around the hub than the plastic cap with tangs. The metal cap is harder to find as it was only used on the 88-89 cars.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther!

Reply #19 –
Lotsa good info up in hurr.

As far as MPG, yeeeeaaa I'm seeing a solid 13-14 around town in a suburban area. Not driving gently either, I'd love to take my sweet as time but no one's gonna stop the world and melt with me. 30-minute-long warm-ups being a regularity this winter hasn't helped either.

....Apparently I did 28 MPG in the black cougar going down to Ocean City MD for Cruisin OC the first spring I went, in 2012. Was stuck at 75 mph due to an imbalanced driveshaft. TF's "top end kit", 3.73 gears.

Last year was frankly, not much worse, I think 24 doing a solid 80-85 most of the way. Let me be quite clear when I say that the ENTIRE HIGHWAY was doing 90 on the Jersey Turnpike through a WORK ZONE POSTED 35 MPH. I love that leg of the trip. Though I also love the beautiful farm country and bright concrete roads of DE too. So different than up here in NY. Hell, even in early May some of our greenery isn't totally blossomed and filled in yet....
1987 20th Anniversary Cougar, 302 "5.0" GT-40 heads (F3ZE '93 Cobra) and TMoss Ported H.O. intake, H.O. camshaft
2.5" Duals, no cats, Flowmaster 40s, Richmond 3.73s w/ Trac-Lok, maxed out Baumann shift kit, 3000 RPM Dirty Dog non-lock TC
Aside from the Mustang crinkle headers, still looks like it's only 150 HP...
1988 Black XR7 Trick Flow top end, Tremec 3550
1988 Black XR7 Procharger P600B intercooled, Edelbrock Performer non-RPM heads, GT40 intake AOD, 13 PSI @5000 RPM. 93 octane

Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther!

Reply #20 –
28mpg with 3.73 gears seems incredible to me. That would be the equivalent of driving 75mph without overdrive for those of us with 2:73 gears. 3.73x.67=2.4991 vs 2.73x1=2.73 means you would actually be cruising at higher rpm then those of us stock staying in drive.

I've gotten my cars so they generally stay in the 25mpg highway range. Being really careful and staying below 70 you can get around 28. If you slow down to 55mph, you can hit 30-35mpg with a really light foot. My 312k mile cougar does around 25 right now, but that is with 28" tall tires, giving me the equivalent to a 2.42 overall final drive with a stock sized tire.

Edit. Oops, ment to say slightly lower not higher rpms with your setup.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther!

Reply #21 –
Yeah I really didn't believe it either. But I only calc'd it on the way down. And changed the speed the year after.
I'm not quite sure of the tank capacity. I know my 20th is 22 gallons. Thought an '88 XR7 would be the same, perhaps not.

I almost never figure out my MPG. People ask me ALL THE TIME what my cougar gets or what this gets. And I just respond with, "surely dogshiznit" :rollin:
1987 20th Anniversary Cougar, 302 "5.0" GT-40 heads (F3ZE '93 Cobra) and TMoss Ported H.O. intake, H.O. camshaft
2.5" Duals, no cats, Flowmaster 40s, Richmond 3.73s w/ Trac-Lok, maxed out Baumann shift kit, 3000 RPM Dirty Dog non-lock TC
Aside from the Mustang crinkle headers, still looks like it's only 150 HP...
1988 Black XR7 Trick Flow top end, Tremec 3550
1988 Black XR7 Procharger P600B intercooled, Edelbrock Performer non-RPM heads, GT40 intake AOD, 13 PSI @5000 RPM. 93 octane

Take that new Bimmer and shove it...real luxury is a Box Panther!

Reply #22 –
87-88 Bird / Cougar tanks were all the same, listed as 22.1 gallons in the parts catalogue.



cheers
Ed
84 Mustang SVO
95 Jaguar XJR