Panther Cars are Cool  

Traction Lok

I had a Traction-Lok differential installed in my Vicky three weeks ago, and that was a big deal for me. Every car I’ve ever owned has had an open differential, and I’ve always hated that. As much as I’ve loved every car I’ve ever owned, the open diff was always a secret source of shame. Like riding a moped- it’s fun as long as your friends don’t see you, I always avoided spinning the tires because peg-leg burnouts are just lame. Of course, I’ve never owned a car that had enough guts to do a good burnout, anyway. Before I pulled it, the V6 in my Caprice wouldn’t do a burnout for all the government bailout money in the world, and the flat-4 in my Subaru only makes 165 horsepower, and ‘cause it’s all wheel drive, I’d smoke the clutch out of the car before I ever got the wheels to spin. Before that I owned another 86 Caprice that did have V8 power, but the aenemic LG4 305 wasn’t packing much heat, either. So I’ve never really owned a car capable of putting on a good smoke show until now.

Though I’ve driven lots of cars with lots more power, at 250 horsepower, my Crown Victoria is the most powerful car I’ve ever owned, embarrassingly enough. That’s about to change, though. We are scheming up some cool stuff for the Vicky, and to that end, I definitely needed to get the power to both wheels.

Though it’s generally considered a light duty unit, I went with the Ford Racing Traction-Lok differential because it is one of the least expensive limited slip differentials available. I even kept the original ring and pinion (3.27:1) and axles (which showed only a little wear). I did buy new carrier bearings and axle bearings and seals. Jeff’s friend Tim Moore installed the diff for me, and only charged me $200. Well worth it in my opinion. I lit the tires up in the parking lot on the way out.

I don’t have any burnout pictures yet cause I had a spark plug malfuction a couple of days after that. You’ll have to read about that in another blog, though.

BTW: I’m listening to a live version of America’s "Ventura Highway" on iTunes and waiting for "24" to start. Jack Baur rules!