CrownVic Optional Equipment Retrofit TidBits:

The question often arises, "my crown victoria does not have the xyz feature, how would i go about adding it?" Is also sometimes asked, "i'd like to add some extra comfort and convience features to my crown victoria, what do you suggest?" Below is a list of some optional equipment, and some notes on adding them to your current vehicle.

Are four distinct trim levels of 1992+ crown victorias. There's
Civilian Base Model (P73)
Civilian LX Model (P74)
Police Model (P71)
Taxicab package (P72)

Prior to the 1993 model year, there was no were no P71's. Police cars will show P72 in the vin, and the option list will have "police package" listed in it. Also during the 1992 model year, there was a P75 crownvic "touring sedan" model that was the predecessor to the HPP (handling and performance package).

Note: Ford Crown Victorias are avaliable only as "fleet" vehicles in Canada, and dealers may not sell "new" Ford Crown Victorias to the general public. If you're in canada, there is an ample supply of "used" crown vics though that were formerly used by large corporations, rental car companies, and public safety agencies (police, fire, etc). Unlike the ford crown victoria, the Mercury Grand Marquis is avaliable for purchase to the general public in canada.

Cruise Control: All 1995+ vics appear to be factory wired by ford for cruise control. To add it, one just needs to change out the steering wheel for one that has the cruise control switches and install the servo/throttle actuator cable under the hood. See cruise control retrofit page for more details.

Radio: All 1995+ civilian vics come factory equipped with an am/fm radio of sorts, some will have a cassette deck, cd player or cd changer in the trunk too. Police models come standard with an am/fm radio without cassette or cd. Some departments opt for the "radio delete" option which removes the radio from the dashboard but leaves the speakers and wiring in place. See radio related page for more details on upgrade options.

Power Windows: Standard Equipment since 1992

Express Up/Down Power Windows: All recent civilian crown vics have an express down drivers window, just quickly tap the power window switch and release and the window will roll fully down without having to hold your finger on the switch. Police models did not get this feature until the 2000 model year. With an aftermarket window module, one can add express up and express down to both front windows. Convient feature for tollbooths and drive-thrus. See also: dei window module page

Power Locks: Standard equipment since 1998. On 1992-1997 crown vics, power locks were optional equipment. Appears as though ford prewired and installed the front door lock actuators in doors of all  92'-97' crown vics regardless of whether they were factory equipped with power locks or not. On such vehicles, getting the power locks functional involves replacing the trim panel around the window & lock switches with one that has cutouts for the power lock switches, and then installing the power lock switches themselves. Note that power door lock switches are wired in series so both the passenger side and driver side switches must be installed for the door locks to be functional. Also note that some non-power lock equipped crown vics had the front door actuators installed, but not the rear.

Rear window defroster: Standard equipment since 1995 when the radio antenna was integrated into the defroster grid. On 1992-1994 crown vics, the rear window defroster was optional equipment. Ford does not sell replacement defroster grids, but universal glue-on ones are avaliable aftermarket. Can also replace the rear window with a used salvage yard one, but professional installation is highly recommended.

Cloth "Rag Top" "Carriage" Roof: No 1992 or later crown vic, grand marquis, or town car has ever been produced by ford with a factory installed cloth or vinyl roof covering. Any such roof covering you may find has been produced by an aftermarket company and has been installed after the vehicle arrived at the ford dealership. This can sometimes be confusing to potential buyers since ford dealers in some areas will have "new" cars on their lot with the "presidential", "bay shore", "park lane", "montigua", etc packages pre-installed on them. What has happened here is that the dealer recieved the car from ford, but sent it directly to an aftermarket installation center before putting it on their showroom floor. Be warned that these coverings cause significant damage to the underlying roof panel and would cost several hundred dollars to have a bodyshop remove the covering and refinish the roof panel. Also note that the many carriage roof packages often include installation of aftermarket leather seat covers too. See also: http://www.egclassic.com and http://www.prestigestyle.com

Air Conditioning: standard equipment on all 1992 and later crown vics.

Tilt Steering Column: standard equipment on all 1992 and later crown vics.

Electrochromic rearview mirror with compass: 1998+ LX models were avaliable with an electrochromic mirror with compass, earlier LX's were avaliable with an electrochromic mirror without the compass. Is nice feature not to be blinded by bright headlight glare in the rearview mirror. To add, one needs the mirror assembly and wiring. Note: This option appears to be incompatible with aftermarket window tinting. See also: Gentex Mirror Page.

Power exterior mirrors (electric): Standard equipment on 1992 and later crown vics. See also: http://www.kwmuth.com

Heated Exterior Mirrors: Standard equipment on 1995-1996 and 2002-2003 crown victorias, unavaliable in other years. To add, one would need to replace the mirror glass with glass that had a heater built in and run wiring to power the heating element whenever the rear window defogger was engaged. See also: heated mirror page

Tachometer: Unavaliable during any model year. 1992-1997 crown victorias have a tachometer output from the pcm on pin 47. 1998 and later crown victorias use a coil on plug ignition system, on such vehicles an adapter is required to install an aftermarket tachometer.  The biggest part of the project for many people when installing an aftermarket tach in their crown vic is deciding where in the car to physically mount it. See also http://www.uni-tech.com

Cloth Seating Surfaces:  1992+ Civilian vics will have cloth seating surfaces as standard equipment. All 1995+ police models will have cloth seating surfaces on the front seats, but may have a vinyl or cloth rear seat depending on how they were ordered from ford. Vinyl seating was still avaliable for both the front and back seats on 1992-1994 police and taxi models, if you're looking at a used police car from this era and think at first that it has leather seating surfaces, check again as they are probably vinyl. Note that all 1992-2003 crown vic/grand marquis/towncar seats will physically swap between vehicles and bolt in place. But if you're working with 2001 or later crown vic, you'll need 2001 or later seats as the tracks contain position sensors and the seats have load sensors in them for the redesigned airbag system. If mounting 01+ seats into a earlier vic, just leave the extra wires for the sensors disconnected. 03+ seats with side airbags will have self shorting terminals inside the connectors to prevent accidental airbag deployment.

Leather Seating Surfaces: Avaliable as optional equipment on LX models. Aftermarket seat cover sets are avaliable for under $1000. 1998-2002 LX models use a rectangular pattern of velcro to hold the upholstery to the seats padding, the 1998-2002 base model civilian and police models use a half moon shape with another straight line attachment point above it . See also: http://www.leatherseats.com and http://www.katzkin.com  and http://www.classicsofttrim.com and http://www.autoleathers.com

Heated Seats: Unavaliable from ford on crown vics prior to the 2003 model year. Aftermarket kits are avaliable to add heating pads to both the upper and lower seat cushions. See also: Heated Seat Retrofit Page

Lumbar Support: Standard equipment on 2001+ police model crown vics and 1995+ LX's, but unavaliable on the base model.  To add, one would need an air bladder, hoses and pump, and switches. Ford service parts literature lists two distinct seat back frames, with lumbar and without lumbar. But the lumbar parts will fit on a non-lumbar frame without a problem. Aftermarket lumbar support kits are avaliable too and the rostra "extended bladder assembly" lumbar kit (250-1458) is perfectly sized to fit over the 1995-2002 backrest flexolator grid that supports the backrest cushion. See also: http://www.rostra.com

Power Seats:  1995+ P71 and P73 models have a 6-way power adjustable drivers avaliable as optional equipment. Adjustment options include front seat height up/down, rear seat height up/down, and seat position forward/backwards. Controls for the seat are mounted on the seat itself. 1995+ P74 models and 2003 police models are avaliable with 8-way power seats, in addition to the 6-way power features there is also a motor to control the recline position of the seatback. Seat controls are mounted on the door.  To add power seats to a car not currently equipped, one needs the seat tracks, wiring and switches.  A note about the wiring: On 1995+ vics, the power wire for the 6-way power drivers seat (black with small white stripe) is on the same connector as the seatbelt buckle sensor wire. Adding a 6-way power seat to a 1995+ vic is "plug and play" if you've got the tracks, switch and jumper harness. On topic of 8-way power seats, the wiring for the seats in the door and under the carpet is contained inside the 14a005 body harness. This harness also contains wiring for the power windows, locks, keyless entry system, variable assist steering and rear air suspension. If you've got the factory keyless entry system in your car, then there is a high probability that your car is prewired for 8way power seats. And if you've got rear air suspension (i.e. hpp crownvic), the odds of having the 8way power seat wiring in place increase even more. Similarly, if you've got an 8-way power drivers seat, you're chances of having the 8-way wiring in place for the passengers seat are extremely high. But if you've got a 95-02 police cruiser, your odds of having the 8way seat wiring factory installed are close to zero percent. 1992-1994 crown vics were also avaliable with 8-way power seats, but the controls were mounted on the side of the seat not on the door. Note that you do not gain any new functionality per say if changing from 6-way to 8-way power seats, the manual lever for the recline is replaced with an electric motor so instead of pulling a lever on the seat while leaning backwards, you push a switch. But having an electrically adjustable backrest does increase the number of positions that it can be set to because the manual backrest recliner only clicks into a certian number of pre-set slots while the electric one is infinetly adjustable.

Extra legroom for front passengers: In 1995, the seat tracks were revised to allow the front seats to travel back further than the previous 1994 vehicles. Unfortunetly, the 95+ seats are designed entirely different than earlier models. And though the 95+ seat tracks may look like they'll fit on earlier models at a quick glance, the spacing between the two rails is different and so are the locations of the bolt holes which hold the rails to the seats. So if you want more legroom, you'll have to install the entire seat out of a late model donor rather than just the rails. Not a huge problem though as all 1990-2004 crown victorias, towncars, and grand marquis have the same floorpan design in the seat area so late model seats will bolt in to older vehicles.

Electronic automatic climate control (EATC): On 1995 and later crown victorias, EATC is avaliable as an option on LX models, but unavaliable on other trim levels. With EATC, just key in the temperature you want and the system will automatically choose whether to heat or cool the air. Swap is definetly not plug and play, and the eatc control unit will not even plug into the manual climate control connectors on the dash harness. See also: EATC retrofit page

To add EATC to a vehicle, one would need:
Of note, the blend door actuator and the accompanying blend door tend to fail more commonly on vehicles equipped with automatic temperature control than on vehicles equipped with manual controls. But this can probably be explained because the eatc system adjusts the blend door continuosly when the vehicle is running. But with manual controls, the vehicle operator only turns the control for the blend door occasionally, so the blend door actuator gets less use.

(note that the eatc swap page linked to above also contains information on heater core replacement)

Digital Instrument Cluster: Optional equipment but only avaliable as an option if the car is factory equipped with EATC. The digital dash electrical connectors are a physically different shape and have a different pin layout than the analog dash ones do. The digital dash also has a little bit more information flowing to it than the analog instrument cluster does. Like the EATC swap, one could change the entire 14401 wiring assembly to one optioned with the digital dash or one could modify their current harness by cutting the analog cluster connectors off and splicing in the digital dash ones and running a few new wires. One problem to consider before starting this swap is how to get the mileage on the digital dash to match what was displayed on your analog speedometer assembly. If you do attempt this swap, you'll also need the trim peice for the dash the fits around the instrument cluster.

A few points to consider before attempting digital instumentation swap:

Keyless Entry: Like the name implies, keyless entry is a system where the vehicle operator can enter the car without using a key. Pressing the keys on the numeric keypad on the drivers door in a certain sequence will unlock the doors and open the trunk.Vehicles without the factory installed keyless entry system are not prewired for it nor are the electrical connectors for the keyless entry reciever present. It is possible to remove the 14a005 body wiring harness and install the keyless entry version of it and then replace the drivers door with one that has the cutout for the keyless entry keypad. But it would be considerably easier to install an aftermarket remote keyless entry system or the device from http://www.taplock.com instead.

Remote Keyless Entry (RKE): Standard equipment on 1993+ crown vic LX's, optional on recent p73's, and unavaliable on p71's or p74's prior to the 1993 model year. Is very convienent to have a remote control which will lock or unlock the doors when you are close to the car. RKE also helps in avoiding locking your keys in the car. Just get in the habit of pressing the lock button on the remote whenever you get out of the car. No remote in your hand, keys are probably still in the car.  If you have a keyless entry keypad on the drivers door, you've probably got a factory remote keyless entry receiver installed in the car too. But if you do not have the keyless entry keypad on the drivers door, you definetly do not have a car factory optioned with the keyless entry module nor do you have the 14a005 electrical connectors for the keyless module. Are numerous aftermarket remote keyless entry systems avaliable. Is common for pre-owned vehicles not to come with the RKE remotes, even though the receiver is installed in the car. See also: http://www.ownerconnection.com (registered users with a recent model vehicle may view an online version of their cars owners manual) Note: Police cruiser P71 crownvics are NOT pre-wired for remote keyless entry. See also: remote start & alarm installation page.

Audible Content Theft Deterrent System: Unavaliable from the factory for the US market. If you've got an alarm installed in your crown vic, it isn't factory equipment. Ford does offer ford branded addon alarm systems and numerous systems are avaliable aftermarket. Note that  that just because one has a remote fob with buttons labelled "lock", "unlock", "trunk" and "panic" does mean that the vehicle is equipped with an alarm system. To check if your vehicle is equipped with an alarm, roll down the drivers window, step outside the vehicle, close the door and press the lock button on your remote fob. Reach in through the open window and open the door using the inside handle. If the parking lights start flashing and the a siren sounds, you've got an aftermarket alarm installed in your crown vic.

Immobilizer System: 1998 and later civilian crown victorias have an very effective passive antitheft system (pats) that uses a transponder embedded in the plastic head of the ignition key. System is similar to the mobil speedpass system and does not require any batteries in the transponder itself. Basically if the correct electronic code is not present, the pcm will not output fuel and spark signals and your car will stay where you parked it. System is largely transparent to the cars driver, many don't even know their car is equipped with the system until they find out that the ignition key costs $25 to be duplicated (if you currently have two working ignition keys), and around $100 (if you only have one working ignition key). Note that police model crown victorias are not pats equipped.

Remote Start: Unavaliable. Is a very convienent feature, just push a button on the remote control and the engine will start along with any accessories you've left on such as the window defroster. Ford does now offer a ford branded remote starter addon, are numerous systems avaliable aftermarket as well. Remote start is basically a way of electrically emulating the ignition switch by remote control. When the ignition key is inserted into the ignition lock cylinder and turned to start the vehicle, parts inside the steering column physically move which mechanically unlocks the column so that the steering wheel can be turned and the gear selector shifted out of park. Turning the key also move contacts inside an electrical switch concealed under the dashboard towards the base of the steering column. Remote start emulates the electrical switch by using relays to first power the ignition and fuel circuits and then momentarily engaging the starter. Steering column and gear selector lever remain mechanically locked when remote started so that the vehicle cannot be shifted out of park nor the steering wheel turned. Note that the majority of remote start devices also include a feature where the vehicle operator can leave the engine running, but remove the keys from the ignition when making a quick stop at a convience store to grab a loaf of bread or a cup of coffee. See also: Remote installation start page.

Power Trunk Release: standard equipment on recent models. On older models, a latch release solenoid, control button, and wiring may need to be installed.  Of note, all 1995+ police models have the electrical wiring and connector inside the drivers door for the power trunk release. If you want to disable the trunk pop switch in the center of the dash and install a door mounted switch, all that is required is to remove the door panel, pop out the factory delete plate, push the new switch into the mounting hole, and plug the electrical connector into the switch.

Emergency Trunklid Release: mid-1999 & later crown victorias & grand marquises come factory equipped with a glow in the dark emergency release handle attached to the inside of the trunklid latch. If a person inadvertently gets trapped in the trunk, all that is required to open the trunk is to pull the illuminated handle and push up the lid. To add, one would need the emergency release handle and the cable that connects the handle to the latch. But ford does not sell the needed parts seperatetly, so you'll have to purchase an entire ~$50 trunk latch assembly to get the parts you're after.

Automatic Headlamps: All 1995 & later civilian crown victorias have headlamps that automatically illuminate when it gets dark out. 1995-1996 police cruisers also had this feature. But starting in the 1997 model year, the feature was eliminated from police models. To add, one needs to install a new headlamp switch, ambient light sensor, and wiring. See also: autolamp retrofit page.

Lighted Power Window and Power Lock Switches:  Civilian models have had backlighted power window and lock switches since the 1995 model year. Police models regardless of model year do not have any backlighting on the switches from the factory. All 1995 to 1998 police models appear to have the backlighting leds installed in the switches, all that is required to make them light is to apply power to the leds. See also: lighted door switch modification page

Lighted Sunvisor Vanity Mirrors: On some models, the back of the sunvisors have a mirror with lights on the side. To add the feature, one needs to install two new sun visor assemblies with lights in them and to run an additional "demand lighting" power wire to each sunvisor.

Lighted Headlight Switch: All 1995 & later crown vics (civilian and police) have small incandesant backlighting bulbs inside the headlight switch. These bulbs burn out very quickly, often with under 50k miles on the odometer. See also: autolamp page

Homelink Garage Door Opener: Optional Equipment on 1998 and later crown victorias. Homelink is a universal transmitter located on the visor that can control up to 3 devices including RF garage door openers, security gates and home alarm systems.  The transmitter is self contained in the drivers sunvisor and it's only connection to the rest of the vehicle is for power (ground and +12 volts). For security reasons, it may be desirable to power the sunvisor transmitter only when the ignition key is in the "run" or "accessory" positions. Of note, Gentex also manufactures a rearview mirror that has homelink functionality integrated into it too. See also: http://www.homelink.com and http://www.jci.com

Map lights: Police and base civilian models often have a domelight assembly with just one bulb in it. But some crown vics have a "bug-eye" domelight that has a total of three bulbs in it. One that illuminates when the door is opened. And two maplight bulbs that can be switched on & off by individual switches on the light assembly. To add the deluxe "bug-eye" domelight:
Note: 1999 & later civilian headliners have a lot of flex in relation to their police counterparts. So in these models, you must glue the domelight mounting plate to the roof or you risk having the headliner sag in damp humid weather.

Headliner "Passenger Assist" "Grab Handles": Many crown victorias have a retractable handle mounted to the headliner above each of the three passenger doors. To install these handles in a car without the handles, one needs to install a new grab handle equipped headliner. The hole in the headliner above each side of the rear seat for the clothes hangers are situated in a different location than the two holes in the headliner for each grab handle assembly. Additionally, one needs to install new brackets in the headliner to mount the grab handles too. The brackets just pop into place, but above the front passenger door you will have to notch or remove entirely the lateral bow roof support if you've got a police cruiser with the lightbar reinforcements in place. Additionally, keep in mind that 99' and later civilian crown victoria headliners must be glued to the roof to prevent sagging under certain weather conditions. Also note that you need a headliner from a crown vic or grand marquis, a town car one will not fit.

Power Adjustable Gas and Brake Pedals: Optional equipment on 2001 and later crown victorias. To add, one needs the power adjustable gas/brake pedal assemblies, switch and trim panel. If the vehicle is a 2000 or prior vehicle, one will also need a 2001-2002 power brake booster, and the connectors for the adjustment motor and the control switch  Apparently, ford had planned on offering power adjustable pedals on all 2001 model year crown vics, but a supplier shortage of the pedal assemblies forced them to offer adjustable pedals only on LX models. So there is a high probability that the wiring for the adjustable pedals will already be in place if you've got a 01+. The brake booster is also the same on 01'-02' vics regardless of whether they had adjustable pedals or not, so retrofitting power adjustable pedals to a 01+ vic should in theory be "plug and play". See also: power adjustable pedal retrofit page.

Interval Windhshield Wipers: Standard equipment on recent crown vics

Automatic Emergency Brake Release: In a car equipped with auto-release, the emergency brake pedal will automatically release when the engine is running and the gear selector is shifted from park into any forward gear. Starting in the 1999 model year, ford discontinued this option in police models but left in it civilian vics until the mid-2003 model year. To add one would need the sense switch for the steering column, associated fasteners, vacuum hose that runs from under the hood to the switch, vacuum hose that connects the switch to the foot pedal assembly, and a new foot pedal assembly (ford does not sell the vacuum release diaphragm for the foot pedal seperatetly).

Anti-slam system for glovebox: Recent civilian vics have a system where the glovebox door is supported by a shock absorber device mounted above the glovebox and attached by a string to the side of the glovebox door that faces the passenger side a-pillar. The mounting hole is precut in the glovebox door and the holes are drilled in the dashboard frame too. To add this feature to a 99+ police interceptor, one needs the shock absorber and the fasteners that hold the shock absorber to the dashboard.

Brake/Shifter interlock: Standard equipment since mid-1992 when ford switches from the AOD to AOD-E transmission. With this feature, the vehicle may not be shifted out of park unless the brake pedal is depressed. This feature significantly reduced the number of unintended acceleration complaints against ford and associated bodily injuries. Also is a useful safety feature for public safety personel that leave their vehicles idling unattended while working.

Antilock brakes: optional some years, standard others but delete option avaliable

Retrofit notes: Many parts required including master cylinder, hydraulic control unit (hcu), controller, abs wiring harness, wheel speed sensors, brake hoses, brake line, new front hub assemblies with abs exciter rings and new rear axle shafts that have abs exciter rings on them. Cost of parts is a couple thousand dollars from the ford dealer, not including installation. To further complicate matters, there are several different revisions of the hcu used in crown vics and marquis and they are not interchangeable: 92'-94', 95'-95', 96'-97', 98'-00', 01'-02'

On the topic of wiring for 1995+ crown vics, the abs control module wiring is integrated into the 14290 dash to headlamp harness, but the rest of the wiring is the same between a car that is abs equipped and one that is not. So on a non-abs equipped vehicle, one would not have the electrical connector present to plug in the hcu into, nor would one have the wiring present for the front wheel speed sensors. But the wiring that runs from the rear wheel speed sensors to behind the front passengers side kickpanel would be present. Like the name implies 14290, feeds the lighting on the front of the car, it also contains the abs harness, the underhood fuseblock behind the battery, police power leads, the ambient air temp sensor for the climate control and a few other misc items.

Suggestion: If you want a car equipped with ABS, make sure the vehicle has antilock brakes installed before purchasing. Attempting to retrofit ABS to a non-abs equipped car is very expensive and labor intensive.

Can determine whether vehicle has ABS by lifting hood and looking at routing of brake line, if all the metal lines run from the master cylinder to the large hydraulic control unit towards the front of the engine bay on a bracket mounted to the steering box bolts, the vehicle has abs. If metal brake lines run directly from master cylinder to under frame rails, vehicle does not have ABS. Additionally if car is permitted to be driven, take vehicle to an open area and attempt to lock up brakes. If ABS equipped, the vehicle should not leave skid marks of signifcant length and the characteristic ABS pulses should be felt in brake pedal. Is a saying in the automotive industry: "you only need to use antilock brakes once for the system to more than pay for itself"

See also: http://www.abs-education.org

Electronic Traction Assist optional: unavaliable in police models during the 1999-2002 model years and also unavaliable in base civilian crown vics during certain years

Retrofit notes: Different master cylinder and abs hydraulic control module & control board assembly required. Wheel speed sensors, electrical harness, brake booster have same part number whether car is traction control equipped or not. Prior to the 1998 model year, if vehicle was equipped with traction control, it is active any time the car is running. In 98' and later vehicles, an on/off switch was added to traction control system.

Some pre-1998 vehicle owners have added an electronic traction assist on/off switch by putting a switch inline with the antilock brake controller power leads. Unfortunatetly, with this method when traction control is turned off, so is the rest of the antilock brake system. Vehicle will still stop without power to the antilock brake module, but a 1995 crown victoria will brake much like an older 1980 crown victoria would.

see also: http://www.racelogic.co.uk and http://www.omextechnology.co.uk

Limited Slip/Traction lok/Positraction: Are a few different names for a device that accomplishes the same basic task. In an open differential, power is transmitted to the wheel with the least resistance. In a limited slip system, clutches transmit power to both wheels. Helpful on slick surfaces such as rain, ice, snow. Some vehicle owners prefer mechanical traction loc over electronic traction control because it allows wheels to "dig in" to snow and other soft surfaces . This option was unavaliable with ABS from the factory during certain model years, but a few crown vic owners have been happy after adding a posi carrier on ABS equipped vics. Note: adding traction-lok is not a job for a backyard mechanic, is best left to a professional that has the proper tools and has done the job before.

Dual Exhaust: Police cruisers and civilian crown vics with the handling and performance package (HPP) have dual exhaust. To convert a vehicle from a single outlet exhaust system to a higher flowing dual outlet exhaust system, one would need a new h-pipe, tailpipe assemblies, and miscallenous hangers and other hardware. See also: police cruiser exhaust parts page.

Performance Rear Axle Ratio: Crown vics are heavy cars and they really "dog off the line" with the 2.73 gears that 1995 & later non-hpp civilian crown vics have. Fortunetly, crown vics use an 8.8 rearend like many other ford vehicles such as the mustang do. So finding a 3.27 or 3.55 ring & pinion gear set is relatively easy. There are also 3.73 & 4.10 sets on the market, but installing one of these low ratio sets in a crown vic is asking for vibration trouble when combined with the long length of the vehicles driveshaft. After installation of the new gear set, one will also need to install a new speedometer drive gear in the transmission talishaft housing and also reprogram the pcm engine computer so that the transmission doesn't hit the rev limiter in between shifts. For reference: 1995-1998 & 2001-2003 police cruisers have 3.27 gears. 1999-2000 police cruisers have 3.55 gears. HPP crown vics have 3.27 gears except for the 2000-early 2001 vehicles that have 3.55 gears.

Variable Assist Steering: All 1995 and later civilian crown vics have a variable assist steering system where turning effort is raised during low speed parking maneuvers but lowered during high speed driving for reduced wandering. 1997-1998 and 2003-2004 police cruisers have a variable assist steering system too. But 1995-1996 & 1999-2002 police cruisers do not. To add, one would need the evo controller located behind the glovebox, the steering wheel rotation rate sensor, wiring and a steering pump equipped with an electrically variable spool valve.

"Quick Ratio" Steering Box: As part of the handling and performace package (HPP), crown vics recieve steering boxes with a "quicker ratio" than their non-hpp counterparts. This increases turning effort for better handling, reduced wandering, and for a more sporty feel. Police cruisers have a quick ratio box too. But the police one is a little tighter than the hpp box, particulary in the 99'-02' vics. Swapping steering boxes is straight forward enough. All 1992-2002 steering boxes will interchange, but older 95' & prior vics will require a new pressure hose to use a 96+ box. If you choose the "pre-owned" route, keep in mind that the general "rule of thumb" is to install the newest lowest mileage latest model year steering box that you can find. See also: http://www.car-part.com
Stiffer suspension: As part of the HPP and police packages, crown vics recieve firmer shock absorbers, firmer springs, and revised front & rear sway bars. Note: 2000+ grand marquis without the hpp package do not have a rear swaybar. See also: http://www.crownvic.net/tech/Handling.htm and the suspension spring selection page

Speed rated tires: As part of the HPP and police packages, crown vics recieve firm speed rated tires. These tires have reduced sidewall flex, better blowout protection, and other enhanced handling characteristics. See also: http://www.tirerack.com

Revised PCM calibration: HPP and police package crown victorias have different computer programming code inside the powertrain control module (PCM). On HPP crown vics, this results in slightly firmer shifts that occur at a little higher rpm. Police cruisers, have an even more aggressive shift schedule with significantly fimer shifts particulary under high throttle angles (i.e. accelerator pedal to floor). Police cruisers also have a more aggressive ignition advance for improved engine power. And the police engine idle speed is slightly raised for better alternator charging output to run radios, lighting, and other police equipment but at the expense that slightly more fuel is used when idling. Note that the antiquated crown vics with the AOD transmission manufactured from 8/91 to 2/17/92 accomplish the alternate shift scheduling through mechanical valvebody modifications rather than through computer programming alterations.

140MPH Speedometer: As part of the police package, 1992+ crown victorias recieve an analog speedometer with a 140MPH upper limit. 1992-1994 civilian vehicles had an 85MPH unit until 1995 when they recieved a speedo with an upper limit of 120MPH. Note that 1992-1994 crown vics with the handling package have a 120MPH unit instead of an 85MPH unit. Also note that although the speedometer may only display up to 85MPH, civilian crown vics will be able to achieve speeds somewhere in the 100-110MPH range before the electronic govener engages. Police models are governed to 130MPH, except for some 1999's that escaped the factory without an electronic limiter in place. Crown Vic instrument cluster interchangeability can be broken into a few distinct groups: 1992-1994, 1995, 1996-1997, 1998-2000, 2001-2002. Additionally, note that a 1992-1994 crown victoria instrument cluster will not work in a 1992-1994 grand marquis due to obvious size differences, but a 1995+ grand marquis will accept an appropriate model year crown victoria speedo without a problem.

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