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Sedans Lincoln LS Lincoln LS
15392 messages, Last post on Oct 23, 2009 at 5:20 PM
You are in the Lincoln LS Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
| I meant Altimas of course. | |
So there really is an Ottumwa, Iowa? Geez, here I thought they made that town up  Have to get out and see the country more. Love to drive to Dearborn, seeing the country along the way, and gave some serious thought about it, but I've used up quite a bit of my puny vacation hours for the club stuff already. It would take two full days from the left coast to Dearborn with a wife and a 4 year-old, which while the LS is great for long distances, doesn't bode well for family harmony <grin>. If it was just me I would do it in a heartbeat. aside to akirby: Couldn't agree with you more. |
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I am also shocked to be agreeing with you. When we bought our LS the acceleration must have been good, or at least acceptable, or we wouldn't have bought it. So the only thing that has changed over time is perception. Half a second or even a second quicker 0-60 is great for bragging rights but wouldn't sway me to buy a new one. Not that I don't want it, but in the overall scheme it's not worth that much. That plus a lot of other improvements would sway me, but I'm not looking until at least the 2005 MY. Think of how many V6 Autos have been sold. I bet that at least 95% of buyers are happy with the acceleration. Those that want more will always want more, no matter what. |
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If you guys want to see what the new shocks that will be installed on the project car look like, here's a link to the picture on Moriss Dampers site. Forgive the ugly mug shot of me. The shocks look way better! http://www.morissdampers.com/news.html |
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Without trying to start a long, drawn out discussion about modifications, I'll toss in my $.02 worth. Most cars are designed for the masses. Their target might be a specific segment of the masses, but nontheless it's the masses. There are those of us, who, for whatever the reason, want our cars to be a little unique from all of the other similar units of whatever car we have chosen. This is where the aftermarket lives. I realize that many more people lease their cars today than in the past. Therefore, due to contractual obligation they can't or won't modify a car that will be gone in 12, 24, or 36 months. Those of us such as myself, who purchase rather than lease, tend to work with the aftermarket to either upgrade the performance or alter in some way the appearance of our car to suit our desires. I agree that Detroit has come a long way in providing a good platform to enjoy some spirited driving with. However, they also have cut back on the number of options that used to allow you to tailor your car to your specific needs and/or wants. The aftermarket has stepped up to the plate with a lot of fairly sophisticated equipment that can fill that gap. That's the way that I see the situation, and if you don't want to modify your car, that's your choice. This America's a wonderful country, isn't it ?? One more thought in closing. As far back as the mid 1970's, I was making modifications to my cars in order to improve cornering capability, as well as the generally accepted HP increases. Back then, however, the aftermarket was very limited in suspension upgrades. It was definitely "cut and try", or "shadetree engineering" at its finest, but it was also a "character builder". Once again, over and out...... |
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There has been plenty of effort expended on searching out handling improvements for the LS, albiet, they're difficult to come by. It is difficult to really find items that improve the already impressive handling prowess of the LS . . . it was that well engineered from the get go. That said, it IS possible. Increasing wheel size is one (without adding to unsprung weight). Shocks are another area, and Brain/LLSOC has documented this effort in the LLSOC Lincoln Synergy magazine. Modifications in the name of handling improvement come at a greater cost than the performance items discussed thus far, and consequently, they will only appeal to a real enthusiast. My discussion has completely ignored the effort to enhance the outward appearance of the LS, as there are plenty of body panel and taillight lense kits available. People will always want to customize their ride to suit their personalities. This is not to say that the LS "missed the mark", on the contrary, I think it is still the value leader in the sport sedan segment, maybe just not by as wide a margin as it used to have. |
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I completely agree with your comment regarding wheels. When I decided to use the OEM wheels for winter use, I purchased a set of aftermarket rims, and I made sure that they were a litte wider that stock. The change was noticible. I also wanted to lower the car using a set of Eibach coils. I hesitate, however, to do this, because the rear camber settings are not equal between right and left, and since they're not adjustable (ugghh!!) I don't want to chance exaggerating a questionable situation. If not for this, the coils would have been in a long time ago. |
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| You complacent guys should be happy that a lot of us never seem to be satisfied. I have a saying: If most people were always satisfied with the status quo, we'd still be crapping in outhouses. | |
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Wow - so many topics! Going back to the post about the Buick GN and Impala SS and the popularity of the cars, GM really blew it when they closed their Arlington, TX RWD plant and lost all their fun cars. They gave up the police market and the true enthusiast market in one stroke. No wonder their market share is dropping in cars - they are all FWD appliances. In the automotive spectrum, GM is on one end and BMW is on the other. GM engineers must be on Prozac and saltpeter. How frustrating now that bean counters are actually designing cars. Or is it robots! NO PASSION. Yes, the factories are really distant from the 60's when you could order your GTO with the sound deadening deleted for weight saving. Assembly line customization is gone, and that's where the least expensive and best mods can be had. In the press is an article about how Nissan is developing a system that will let you order a car and have it in three weeks if it's a U.S. made model. Probably no aftermarket items but it could be possible in the future. I don't see why manufacturers could not stock, for example, a Borla system that could be factory installed at an additional "option" price. It's been done before. The assembly process is the same as the stock system so I don't think it would be a big deal. To get custom "options" now, we let the dealer choose what's available and their choices are sometimes in poor taste and tremendously overpriced. LM could always publish a "Performance Catalog" like Nissan and others do. My idea of LS aftermarket mods aim squarely at performance. The 2002 LS, especially the V-6, is a rolling admission that first year development time restraints resulted in less than optimum intake and exhaust parameters. So the Borla and intake mods are really recommended. In the case of the Borla, it's actually better than just replacing the mufflers with 2002 models. Borla addressed not only the need for lower restriction mufflers, but increased the pipe diameter, bends, lack of X-box, and finally made the tips chrome and visible. I can't wait to put mine on. Other mods at the top of the list include an LSD pumpkin. What good is power if you can't put it on the ground, especially in slolom type power slides. Right now I'm afraid to power out of sharp hard turns for fear of losing rear traction as one wheel inevitably starts its independent spin. I'm not hot on suspension mods as I can't utilize the handling potential of the car yet, especially without LSD. I'm only interested in wheels if the offset is dialed in for the LS and there is a significant weight savings. An inch wider or larger in diameter does not make IMHO a significant performance improvement for the huge investment required. Finally, I am on a 3 year Red Carpet so I don't want to modify the car so much I can't trade it in for a 2003 or order a 2004 if it has "the right stuff" (praying for VVT, six-speed and LSD). I just need a little more power. Yesterday a 60 year old guy in a newer Avalon tangled with me at a series of stoplights and while I got off the line faster, he was doing better as I went into third. Of course, we were both exceeding the 45 mph limit but it was fun. Too bad there were no corners as part of the run. Oh, I had my 10 and 12 year old sons as ballast and he was alone. That was hurting my power to weight ratio. I think this guy read my license plate frame that reads "Not Your Father's Lincoln" on top and "LS Five Speed Manual" on the bottom and took offense. |
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akirby (4063): It's all in the details - maybe with a few of us the honeymoon is over? Maybe the difference between some that were pumped at first and have had less than desireable experience over time versus the few that found the Car Of Their Dreams in the LS? My apologies for highlighting some negatives lately. giowa (4062): I think it's just personal preference. Some people just enjoy tinkering and personalizing their cars. It happens that exhaust and intake mods are the easiest to do in many cases. Ditto with the sound system and appearance upgrades. With the lack of mechanical aftermarket stuff, there isn't much more to change outside of totally fabricating your mods. slunar (4071): Actually I look at ROI. Time + dollars related to actual benefit. I won't waste time or money on something that will pick up 10 hp or add 0.1 G at the skid pad. It's incremental. On the other hand, when the 2.8L V6 in my Fiero sneezes, I will either go with a 3.8L S/C or Northstar. Big time and money investment with a proportional big payback in performance. Using your analogy, many of these minor upgrades are more like sawing an extra hole in the outhouse bench to double it's intake, not moving to indoor plumbing and flush toilets. |
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