Crown Victoria

[grumpyalbert]

I read on one of the old posts that a 1998 to 2002 Ford Crown Victoria used a Watts Link or Z Link rear end which should be very good for eliminating the bind in the rear suspension. I wondered if anyone is running this type of frame and rear end and if it is strong enough for racing? Also what size the ring and pinion are? I think they are 8.8 but am not sure. Thoughts or information on using these years Crown Victoria would be appreciated.
Thanks

[5dirtracing]

they are 8.8 rears also they have an aluminum bolt in front cradle and rack-n-pinion steering not sure about rear suspension but Lincoln Towncars are the same

[racen19e]

i have a newer one and it has the watts link but iam getting ready to build it. it dont have a rack. looks like its going to be a good chassis from what i have seen so far. dont think the watts link will be strong enuff, iam prob going to change it back to the stock older suspension, jmo.. any other info would be great

[5dirtracing]

it is the newer ones that have the bolt in cradle

[bushracing67]

1998-2002 = watts link/4 link rear same basic front clip as 1979-2001 with steering box w/ front steer setup

2003-2011 = new front frame w/ bolt in aluminum k-frame with rack and pinion steering, same basic rear as 1998-2002

[gade6racing]

We are running one right now. We had one issue of the mounts breaking this year when we got hit in the back end. But it was a pretty easy fix. It has an 8.8 in rear end. Car works pretty good. We had one win this year running a limited schedule and should've had at least two more. We also had a rookie driver driving it and it seemed to work pretty good and was consistent. We don't have a rack and pinion set up on it. I don't think I would recommend doing that. You also have to be careful what you are doing with it because I don't believe IMCA allows this type of suspension. All in all it was a good car and we are rebuilding and fixing it up to run again next year!

[racingford]

not sure why imca would have a problem, it is stock. unless you won all the races then might be an issue. not sure how it works, i understand the watts, but how it make forward bite , does it have one or two upper link. if one is it in the center or two on both outer ends ?

[bushracing67]

[bushracing67]

these are billet control arms made for limos

[gade6racing]

All I know is I have a friend that knew a guy that raced one in upper Iowa and he said they outlawed it because he won too much--not sure on details. We just plated all of the linkages to make them stronger and it held up fine all season. We didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure out the suspension, we just ran it since the guy running it has never raced before. You can watch videos on youtube of it racing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTy2XvmVodc

He's in the blue, orange, and white 1B. There's other links and videos but I think this is one of his better races

Keep in mind this is a rookie driver. We had a win in it this year with a guy that had a little more experience. I believe this car works pretty dang good!

[racingford]

btt////////////////////////

[tricknology]

hhere is the link for crown vic info


lots of pics of the chassis and suspensions


http://p71interceptor.info/