[Trinten]

I have a 94 Town Car, which has the same bolt pattern as that on the 2001 Town Car. I *really* like the 2001 Town Car wheels, but the offset puts the 2001 wheels about 3.5 inches further in than my wheels (if I remember correctly, might be even more).

Given the big number difference, I'm thinking that the axle lengths in the two cars are significantly different, compared to just the hubs. So here's the questions:

A) I'm having a hard time finding numbers on the axle lengths for the two years. Anyplace have a good source for this info?

B) Assuming it is a axle issue, how much of a pain would it be to swap them out? Is this going to be a "Mission: Impossible" thing and I should just look for other wheels I really like?

Thanks!

 

[fast Ed]

94 and 01 Town Car use the same wheel offset. That didn't change until 2003, when the suspension and brakes were revised with the aluminium front crossmember, rack & pinion steering, and coil-over front shocks. The newer cars have very high positive offset wheels (around +45 on a 7 - 7.5"), whereas the pre 2003 used wheels close to zero offset, around +5 to +10 tops.


cheers
Ed N.

 

[Trinten]

Thanks Ed!

I went back and double checked, apparently I have a problem retaining numbers for more than 30 seconds... the 2003 wheels are the ones I was referring to.

So given that mega-offset, you can see where the problems come in with using those wheels.

Any thoughts?

(and again, sorry for goofing up my initial info.)

 

[fast Ed]

Easiest route would be to get some of the bolt-on hubcentric spacers from Eibach, H&R, or eBay sources. A lot less labour, probably less expensive, and simply unbolt them if you ever want / need to put the regular wheels back on the car.

You would need spacers in the 1-1/2" thickness range.


cheers
Ed N.

 

[Trinten]

I checked out the Eibach at one site, I'll do some further looking into them. Thanks for the direction!

In your opinion, given the high-offset difference involved here, do you think a quality spacer would hold up okay to occassional track use? Spacers had come up prior to my idea of swapping axels, and they had some concerns of such large spacers holding up. Or is that just a little bit of paranoia?

I appreciate all the help Ed!

 

[fast Ed]

Track use as in drag racing? Not sure if that would pass tech with wheel spacers, if they were looking that hard. You should take a look at the NHRA or IHRA rulebook, depending on which sanctioning body your local track is affiliated with.

How quick is that car? If you're talking about a 4,200 lb. car going 15s, that's one thing, but if the same car is going 12s, that's a lot more strain on everything obviously.

On the rear, the entire axle assembly would have to be changed. On the front, the complete suspension, steering, and crossmember are very different on the 03-up cars, compared to the earlier Panther chassis. At that point, it would not be cost-effective to swap all of that stuff, just to use the newer wheels.


cheers
Ed N.

 

[Trinten]

You are a wealth of suspension information!

Honestly, I have no concept of how fast my Town Car is going to go once I do the engine swap, and I'm hesitant to make any speculations, for numerous reasons.

It's still going to be my daily driver, for what little that is worth. In short though, it sounds like it's time to just start looking for other wheels.

Thanks again for all the help Ed.

On another topic (hey, it's my thread, I can hijack it), the steering in my lincoln has more play than I'd like. I've had the entire front end checked out twice (the first time resulting in a new pitman arm), and everything was given the A-Okay, no unusual sounds or anything... just loose. Any suggestions on how to tighten it up?

Thanks!

 

[fast Ed]

Not sure if the steering box on that car has an adjustment screw or not, often the worm & sector style boxes will. If it does, maybe a small turn on that will help. It worked wonders on my 68 Cougar, but of course that steering box is a bit older than your Town Car!!


cheers
Ed N.