Back in a Ford

**mustang50lx** · 03-12-2013, 10:03 PM

I just bought a 2003 Marauder. It needs gears and a converter bad.

**PaxtonShelby** · 03-12-2013, 10:09 PM

Congrats - MM's are awesome cars! And they are good buys right now. Send a PM to gpfarrell. Greg has a blue 2003 with a Trilogy that I think you might like to see. And he knows all about those cars. Tell him Ron with the slow green '66 sent ya!

**jaa55** · 03-12-2013, 10:12 PM

very cool, let see some pictures! I love those cars

**yellowstang03** · 03-12-2013, 10:48 PM

Good buy! What color is it? I also have a 2003 marauder, for a car of its size it's fun to play with but like you said a bit sluggish at times.

**PaxtonShelby** · 03-12-2013, 11:19 PM

90%+ it is black. These cars don't get nearly enough respect.

**mustang50lx** · 03-12-2013, 11:46 PM

Yep, It's black

**ModularMike** · 03-13-2013, 01:08 AM

I love those cars, post pics!

**gpfarrell** · 03-13-2013, 09:51 AM

You could spend your morning at www.motorcitymarauders.com and then your afternoon at www.mercurymarauder.net to get started!

The stock tune in Marauders is really overdrive happy in search of mpg's. Before I supercharged my car, I got a tune from these guys:

http://www.alternativeauto.com/03-04_Marauder.html

Lidio is awesome. The car really woke up. Before the torque converter locked all the time and that little 281 cid motor had a hard time sluggin' 4200 lbs of Mercury around. Now the TC never locks up until like 60 mph... the car feels much more eager this way.

You might run across a guy named Dennis Reinhart that talks a good talk about Marauder performance. I'd encourage you to look elsewhere!

4.10s seem to be the next step, but with boost I'm happier with my 3.55s.

Have fun!

**Slow01GT** · 03-13-2013, 12:56 PM

Very cool. I've always been a fan of those cars

**Cam99** · 03-13-2013, 05:46 PM

Nice! Pics please

**mustang50lx** · 03-13-2013, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by gpfarrell

You could spend your morning at www.motorcitymarauders.com and then your afternoon at www.mercurymarauder.net to get started!

The stock tune in Marauders is really overdrive happy in search of mpg's. Before I supercharged my car, I got a tune from these guys:

http://www.alternativeauto.com/03-04_Marauder.html

Lidio is awesome. The car really woke up. Before the torque converter locked all the time and that little 281 cid motor had a hard time sluggin' 4200 lbs of Mercury around. Now the TC never locks up until like 60 mph... the car feels much more eager this way.

You might run across a guy named Dennis Reinhart that talks a good talk about Marauder performance. I'd encourage you to look elsewhere!

4.10s seem to be the next step, but with boost I'm happier with my 3.55s.

Have fun!

With those 28 inch tall tires and 4200# I was thinking 4.56's with a 4K stall. I had the torque converter lock up issue with my Mach 1 when I had it. I have a tune written for it. That car would shift into 2nd at the track and feel like someone threw an anchor out the window. It was a huge difference when it was unlocked.

**gpfarrell** · 03-14-2013, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by mustang50lx

With those 28 inch tall tires and 4200# I was thinking 4.56's with a 4K stall. I had the torque converter lock up issue with my Mach 1 when I had it. I have a tune written for it. That car would shift into 2nd at the track and feel like someone threw an anchor out the window. It was a huge difference when it was unlocked.

That will wake it up! Have you looked into an Eaton swap? They seem a little less turnkey than the Trilogy superchargers, but offer plenty of boost for a lot less coin.

**Slow01GT** · 03-14-2013, 12:52 PM

I thought the Trilogy kits used the Eaton m112.

**gpfarrell** · 03-14-2013, 01:45 PM

The Trilogy kits were engineered just for Marauders. They incorporated some brand new off the shelf FoMoCo components, some modified components, and some purely custom components into a complete package. The instruction manual had color pics and was over 100 pages long. Very thorough stuff... the engineering matched anything in our BMW 535.

As the Marauder is nearly 10 years out of production now (sniff) Trilogy no longer offers the kit.

I believe the "Eaton Swap" uses a supercharger off a Mustang Cobra and an eclectic collection of other used parts. The swap is less money (than the Trilogys cost when they were available) and more work, but there seem to be a number of them working well. I already have the Trilogy so I've never paid much attention to the swaps.