Should I Supercharge my Lincoln Town Car?
Posted by cartriidge@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 71 comments
Hello! I am new to this sub, and I thought this would be a perfect first entry.
I own a 08 Lincoln Town Car with 240k miles. It's my daily and I love her to pieces. I'm a bored college student with nothing better to do when I get home from clinical rotations. I want something fun to do to my car since I love working on it whenever I can! I was just recently talking to my brother who is a mechanic about cars and such, when I mentioned I thought it would be funny to supercharge my Lincoln. It's a bone stock 4.6 2v with 0 performance upgrades, and it makes a whopping 230 horsepower if that. Well, low and behold there is a supercharger on marketplace for $3200 (half of what it would normally cost brand new) 30 minutes away from me. It's a terrible idea, costs a lot of money, and would make no sense for such a dog of a motor... right?
Please, tell me no before I purchase on impulse. I have done this in the past and it's always bit me in the ass. If anything, this was just a funny thing that occurred. It's like my phone is listening to me or something!
EVE_Burner_Account@reddit
It's a terrible idea and you will probably blow up your motor and you should 199% do it
Rattlingplates@reddit
Just out nos on it. Ain’t worth a super charger
d3m01iti0n@reddit
Definitely not.
Supercharge a Mercury Marauder instead.
curi0us_carniv0re@reddit
You'll spend a lot of money to still be slow..and probably introduce a bunch of other reliability issues as well.
You can get a lot more bang for your buck from another car with a better starting point than a 2V 4.6.
BadMantaRay@reddit
I think if you have the money to do this to your car, you should spend your time and money and energy on trying to help people. I know I wish I did.
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
Love this response. I work with school children and I’d want nothing more than to help them!
BadMantaRay@reddit
That’s badass. I have been a preschool teacher for almost 20 years so lmk if you want help brainstorming
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
I’m a (future) occupational therapist assistant that wants to work in the school system. Like you, I have dreams of helping the youth (special needs youth) and being a car guy on the side! Love those little tidbits about the panther platform
BadMantaRay@reddit
Well to go back to your question.
You should definitely not supercharge this car, especially if it is in good shape.
Depending on the overall platform and stuff, this car could be an absolute bulletproof ride for you to work for years to come.
Especially if you want to go into education, occupational therapy no less, I would personally not be putting my money into upgrading my car unless you have inheritance or some other income you’re expecting. Superchargers are both finicky and hard on your car. You don’t need the headaches especially given that the car itself is already so awesome.
I think you said it is an 08 town car, so that thing comes with a huge, very smooth engine already. You don’t need to supercharge it. I’d put the money into maintaining it. Also don’t forget you are basically riding around in what people assume might be a cop car.
FiestaDeHombreMuerto@reddit
Do you change your own oil?
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
All general maintenance! Anything breaks I fix it, unless it’s electrical. Then I pass it on to my brother lol
No-Relationship-2169@reddit
If you have 10k to burn, yes absolutely. Otherwise no.
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
Just checked my pockets and all I had was 2 pieces of double bubble…
AC-burg@reddit
You charge that motor and don't do some rebuild of the motor you'll be blowing gaskets all over the place lol
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
I don’t know why I got downvoted lol, this is all in good fun 😭
AC-burg@reddit
I always wanted to buy an old crown vic cop car and swap over the Lincoln interior and have a bad ass nice car
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
It truly is like driving a sofa
AC-burg@reddit
I'm ok with that
bmxracers@reddit
Nah. Just enjoy what it is and don’t try to make it something it’s not. Those are nice big comfy cruisers. They don’t exist anymore.
hawyaw@reddit
You need s supercharger and ALL supporting mods. How is it going to mount? How are you going to regulate and supply fuel? How are you going to deal with stock components getting more powee to them and wearing out quicker? Think bushings, engine mounts, front suspension, rear suspension, transmission, driveshafts, etc..
Take it from the guy who use to live on homemade turbo dot com and turbo'ed his old honda. EVERYTHING BREAKS WITH 20 EXTRA HP.
If you have another car, do it, if you dont, then dont make your daily a deep project, especially if you rely on it for travel.
Go scoop a ford ranger, shortbed, short cab, v6, manual if you can find it, and beat/mod that. Make a drift truck or something, mainly, do not project your daily.
Goodluck, let us know how the supercharger works out 🤣
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
I’m just here talking shit, and as you mentioned there was not a thought in my mind about supporting mods. I owned a mini truck a couple years back, it was bagged and all. Just recently had my first regretful thought of selling it. Maybe I’ll get back into mini trucks at some point!
hawyaw@reddit
I made the misyake and was pushing wood to work for a couple months caua i blew up my honda. Learned to never project my daily in those months.
Hell yea mini trucks, i just scooped up a 1994 square nose ranger i want to slam to the ground on bags. Looking into using a semi truck compressor mounted to my motor vs having a seperste conpressor under or in the bed, idk. Anyway, drive the lincoln til it blows, stack money, buy house, put mini truck in garage. Life = awesome.
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
Yessir brother 🤝 GOBBLESS!
Creadleader55@reddit
If you really, REALLY, want to do something with the air intake. Install a cold air intake.
Won't really make any difference, might make the engine a bit louder.
But supercharging a nearly 20yo car will be a lot more costly than a few grand.
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
Got one in the mail coming in a couple weeks!
Flenke@reddit
The supercharger is the cheapest part of this kind of project
Naikrobak@reddit
The answer to any “should i make my car faster” is always “fuck yes!”
One-Ad2914@reddit
I will tell you what I told an ex-friend who modified the heck out of his 2000 Honda Accord sedan about 20 years ago. I told him it was a massive waste of money. This car is an economy car. If you want a fast car, why don't you just buy one that was built fast from the factory? I told him you are not smarter than those car engineers and car designers. What are you going to do about the excessive heat? His hood warped by the way due to the heat.
It's your money. Do as you please. In my opinion, you are throwing good money at bad. Use the car as it was intended. It's a full.sized sedan, not a race car.
RelationNo9374@reddit
I would throw a cam and headers on that car before boosting it. Won’t be a much faster but the sound - yes the sound!
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
Y’all are reading my mind! I’ve had multiple projects through out the years and I’ve never cammed one of them. I long for the lope, LONG FOR IT
Relevant_Program_958@reddit
What kind of stupid fucking questions that? Of course you should.
Nervous_Hurry_9920@reddit
If I had one, I'd turn it into a lowrider before I tried to make it go fast
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
100% open to this! I just recently bought some cheap $250 rims on marketplace. I wish I could post pics on here, but coil overs would be sweet!
CahTi@reddit
you’re a college student that daily drives a lincoln town car, this doesn’t make financial sense, and past that, you usually have to do transmission work when you boost a car to certain levels, and upgrade loads of suspension parts
Left-Landscape-3890@reddit
The 4.6 2v doesn't make tranny breaking power. Mine held up under 8 psi for 12 years
gotcha640@reddit
No. Do all the maintenance you’ve skipped. All fluids, all filters (oil, trans?, air, fuel, not sure if those cars had an accessible carbon filter), brakes, u joints, spark plugs (and wires?), brake pads and flush fluid, timing chain or belt, serpentine/accessory belts, idler pulley.
Put that $3k in to maintenance and it could go for years. Skip the maintenance and do the supercharger and nothing else, and you’ll be shopping for a car by Christmas.
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
I actually love this response. Since I bought it I’ve done brakes, suspension, and regular oil changes/fix stuff when it breaks. Thinking about fun stuff clouds the mind for sure. Thank you for being the reminder!
Left-Landscape-3890@reddit
I put a 2300$ supercharger in my 4.6 2v way back in 99 amd ran 8 lbs of boost safely for years. Itsba great motor. Its not gonna make insane power but it'll get you in trouble
Kooky_Date5248@reddit
No
bcsublime@reddit
I would set the over under at one day before that fucker grenades
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
I gotta do it now if people are gambling on it 😭
bruceleesnunchucks@reddit
Bad idea. Should you do it? Absolutely. I supercharged a mini van motor (Pentastar 3.6) in my Jeep and it’s a riot. Is it the most financially smart thing to do? No. Is it going to make the Lincoln a race car? Also no. Is it entertaining and the opposite of boring, keeping you from becoming idle and anxious? Yes.
cartriidge@reddit (OP)
Love it! Me and you are very much alike
ObviousAlias7@reddit
I drove a termi-swapped Marauder once and found it awesome.
With that said, don’t daily drive your project engine swap cars.
SpankyDammit@reddit
Yeah, it has a lot of miles on it, if the engine didn’t become unhappy, the transmission probably would. Then the rear end would start to go.
You could get a reliable daily then go to town on it. But be careful, a project car is never truly finished. Ask me how I know 😁
100KiloBearPress@reddit
No only is this extremely stupid but you should fail out of school for even considering it.
With that said YOLO, do it
Cranks_No_Start@reddit
While I get the desire it’s always a bad idea to do a hard core performance mod on A) your daily…B)your only car.
If it was me. Keep the Town car stick and with care it should hit 300k and at least get you out of school. But a project car and mod that.
lostinthesauce212@reddit
Get a sound system, catch up on deferred maintainance. Don’t turn the car into something it’s not. It’ll still handle like ass with all that extra power.
Glittering-Ad5809@reddit
With 240k you will blow the motor the first week, guaranteed. Sell it and buy a similar year Mustang GT for not much more money.
turbski84@reddit
It already has 240k on the clock... it won't get much more than that after adding boost. Ultimately you can do whatever you want... but you'll probably be looking for a new engine sooner than later
Lower_Kick268@reddit
No, just drive it as is, 240k is too wore out for a supercharger
Neon570@reddit
I dont care what you do. Just be ready to spend way more then you expect
nopester24@reddit
Do it
Jonny-Raze@reddit
Yes
StopLookListenNow@reddit
Papa said son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop driving that HOT ROD LINCOLN.
Budget-Razzmatazz-54@reddit
It will cost $10k and at the end you will have a 350hp car that wasn't designed to handle or utilize that power.
The 4.6 2v is a great engine for reliability. But if you want to go fast and spend $10k+ just buy an S197 mustang , GTO, or 5th Gen Camaro, or charger.
Squintz_ATB@reddit
I feel like with the age of the car and the amount of miles, you're just asking for trouble. Especially since it's your daily. If it were a project car and you had the disposable income then sure, because if it blows up you can still get to work and wherever else... But I just feel like going down that road is gonna leave you stranded with a blown engine or trans at some point in time. Even with a supercharger it'll still never be fast and will still handle like the boat that it is.
As someone else has already commented - if it were me I'd lower it. With the money you would spend on the supercharger you can prob get some coilovers and wheels and tires for it.
Colonel460@reddit
You already have 240,000 miles . Terrible idea and if you have to sell you’d get reamed .
ricerbanana@reddit
No. Take the 10k you’ll dump into the project immediately and buy an old Miata or some other cheap fun car. Keep the daily a daily.
PK808370@reddit
Best plan.
nickatnasa@reddit
No.
Content-Insect-8770@reddit
Bad idea unless you want to spend $10k up front and $thousands extra on gas and repairs going forward. If you do, this is one of the more fun ways to burn that $, I guess.
Dogpeppers@reddit
Does the kit include everything like the intercooler and resivoir? Do you know how to tune it? I’d put that money into something else.
throwaway007676@reddit
Very bad idea, waste of money. Be happy that a Ford product actually starts at that mileage.
5thor6th@reddit
Fuck this guy OP. Send that shit!
mtrbiknut@reddit
If it were my car and I cared about it (like you say you do) I would want to freshen the engine up first, you have quite a few miles on it to be stuffing a lot more air under very high pressure through it. And you are not going to do this and not have some fun with it.
But if you can spare the time, the money, and the headaches of getting it set up then it would be fun.
I say try it, then come back and tell us about it!
bravejango@reddit
Let’s look at the possibilities here. When your engine explodes can you afford a new car immediately or are you able to walk to your clinical rotations? If the answer is no then don’t do it. If the answer is yes then do what ever you want.
ImReallyFuckingHigh@reddit
You don’t really want to modify your daily unless you have a backup car
MaximumDerpification@reddit
If this wasn't your daily driver I'd say maybe...
But no. This is a bad idea.
BurntToast90@reddit
It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard. The car will probably gonna turn into a money pit and stuff will break, though
Potential_Stomach_10@reddit
Nope