Crazy Brilliant or Crazy Crazy?

I had this delimma creep up in the past.  I actually moved the front wheels forward rather than move the engine back.  This kept clearances with firewall constant, as well as drive shaft length, wiring, throttle components, etc etc etc.  Exhaust didn't change, either.  Just a thought...

I've looked at this in detail.  The problem is that the front subframe will interfere with the oil filter, a/c compressor, and power steering pump.  You can't move the subframe because it holds the lower control arms.  Getting the motor mounts moved back also involves some serious custom fabrication.

Rerouting the belt so you can remove the power steering and a/c will require moving the tensioner - which means fabricating something to hold it - the only way I saw it working involved drilling and tapping a new hole in the block.  If you can solve that problem, a remote oil filter kit might give you enough clearance to the frame.

I believe your Mark Ate has the aluminum driveshaft, so you'll have to find a steel driveshaft and get that one shortened.

Here's some good pictures of the subframe and motor mounts:

http://www.p71interceptor.com/enginemounts/pictures/

not to mention building a new firewall, pushing the seat back, relocating the steering wheel...

Sounds like you got the major hurtles figured out. So it can only help you.

DO it... if anything goes wrong you will just fit into Lemons that much more.

Really?  I thought it was a gussied up Crown Vic.

And after a couple of seconds of thinking about it, its the Towncar I'm thinking of.  Nevermind.  Actually, disregard all of my previous advice - its probably wrong.

Yes, it all is. The Mark VIII rides on the FN10 platform, which is a "gussied up" MN12, more commonly known as the '89-97 Cougar/Thunderbird.

Nothing really, it's just tricky finding someone to do it. I did and IRS swap in a Crown Victoria a while back, and finding someone that was willing to touch the drive shaft was difficult. Some places where on board until I told them what it was out of. Someone told me the Crown Vic aluminum shaft is balanced a certain way from the factory that they didn't have the tooling to do, and he was unsure if it could be balanced again and he would not warranty anything. And all of the places that said they would do it outsourced the job (and of course none would tell me who they send it to) and I had to pay shipping there and back on top of the job. The average quote was $350-375. I ended up getting a steel one at Pick-N-Pull and got it shortened with the new flange on the back end for a total cost of $100.

The making it shorter is easy. You don't even need one of those fancy lathe thingies. Re-joining the two pieces is what takes the skill.

Edward

I have a lathe, and I also now have access to all the tooling to do drive lines. A friend of mine bought a failing drive shaft business. I will be building the one for our car, steel however. He shortened an aluminum shaft that was all dented up and polished it on the lathe and set it on the table at his shop. It looks pretty good. Now that I have access to the tooling, I think I would have at least tried it. But out sourcing it seemed too risky since no one seemed confident in it.