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Hi Everyone, I'm Intrigued!


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Hi everybody,

I'm Intrigued but you can call me Luke if you want. I'm a soon to be W-body owner in CT. I've owned a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor for over a year now and it's really fun, but aftermarket options are really slim for it and it's incredibly expensive to fuel. My girlfriend's dad has a 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue with 173k on it and all the luxuries put in (not that I care much about those) and he's giving it to me for free because he likes me :D ! I'm going to sell the Crown Vic and register the car really soon. It's not in my possession yet because he's so nice that he's having the car get looked over by a mechanic to be confident that it will treat me well. I think I might be picking it up tomorrow. Some people my age go the direction of putting in a fancy stereo and doing dramatic things to the body of a car, those look cool, but I really don't care too much. The first thing I'm going to do with this car is work on upgrading and replacing steering and suspension parts to improve handling. Eventually I'd love to upgrade the engine to be either turbo or supercharged, and of course give it the HD transaxle. But first things first, I'm going to just enjoy having the car and cleaning it up :D I'll keep you all posted!

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I hope Intrigues are decent cars, They ought to be seeing as they replaced the Cutlass, well not replaced but filled the gap when GM allowed Oldsmobile to bleed to death. I do like the front end, looks good but needs dual exhaust to set the rear off. Sort of OCD about that sort of thing, I absolutely cringe when I see these nice looking tuner with a good $2500 worth of parts and a 3" muffler on one side. "Things that make you go (shudders)" We have a few options for suspension upgrading, depends on what needs repair and maintenance first and how much you want to spend and if you like treasure hunting in salvage yards.

 

Its going to be quite a transition for you though, like going from a Boeing stratotanker to a private leer jet. What engine does the intrigue have in it?

Edited by rich_e777
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Rich, I completely agree about the dual exhaust, and the nose is quite ugly. I would possibly do bodywork in the future, but my priorities are set around getting the understeering fixed a little, weight distribution to be improved, and the suspension to be lower and tighter. This one is using the L36 3.8L. I'm super happy about that because the engine has a ton of aftermarket options, and the transmission has a fair amount of upgrade parts that I can use in it. I'm definitely gonna make this an "upgrade as I go" car. Should be a blast :D

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Try a front sway bar from a monte that should help with the understeer :)

Rich, I completely agree about the dual exhaust, and the nose is quite ugly. I would possibly do bodywork in the future, but my priorities are set around getting the understeering fixed a little, weight distribution to be improved, and the suspension to be lower and tighter. This one is using the L36 3.8L. I'm super happy about that because the engine has a ton of aftermarket options, and the transmission has a fair amount of upgrade parts that I can use in it. I'm definitely gonna make this an "upgrade as I go" car. Should be a blast :D
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2000-05 monte(unsure about 06-07) also grab the strut tower brace steering rack and front brakes. Rack has a faster ratio(more responsive) and the brakes are 12" all you need are the rotors and caliper brackets

l67ss, good advice, any particular year, or is it more important that it's a 2nd gen W?
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This one is using the L36 3.8L.
Crisis averted.

 

Some say.... The 3.5 "shortstar" at 200k miles plus is only good for a boat anchor. Just reading a similar thread about a guy and his 01 or 03 Intrigue. If you need a new nose they should be easy to find in a salvage yard. You`ve got the second generation suspension, so you have a few more options than the first gens like mine. Poly-urethane insert bushings for your suspension components will help a lot, Just OEM struts will have a huge effect if yours are worn but there are stiffer ones available. 100% agree with what L67SS said about front sway bar, front strut tower braces and brakes, I`d also get some AWEB rear tower strut brackets and make you a brace for your rear struts as well as upgrade the rear sway bar and get some poly bushings for it as well.

 

The mentioned above and also the right tire can make all the difference, I used to run just some American Eagle brand that wasn't the cheapest but wasn't the best and they work(:lol:) Now I have some Falken on it and holy shit dude those stiffer side walls make a huge improvement over those economy walmart tires. Just remember these W-bodys were meant as sporty luxurious passenger vehicles at most and understeer is always going to be a factor in a FWD car without maneuvering thruster clusters at the 4 corners.

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Welcome to the forum!

 

I'm not sure if they will fit the intrigue, but the front sway bar from a Montana/Venture van will fit most 2nd gens, and is fairly bigger than what comes on these cars. Also, the strut tower bar from an Impala/monte/regal might fit, if there are holes in your strut towers. There might even be a stock option on the higher trim Intrigue (maybe even the Aurora?) as well.

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Intrigues dont have the holes for the stb but theyre easy to drill out :)

Welcome to the forum!

 

I'm not sure if they will fit the intrigue, but the front sway bar from a Montana/Venture van will fit most 2nd gens, and is fairly bigger than what comes on these cars. Also, the strut tower bar from an Impala/monte/regal might fit, if there are holes in your strut towers. There might even be a stock option on the higher trim Intrigue (maybe even the Aurora?) as well.

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It's really exciting to hear all the options I'll have for this thing. I've looked a lot at brand new aftermarket parts that should work. I've seen a front and rear strut tower brace kit that's supposed to work on 98 and up W bodies, I think I might get it, but I'll have to see what the car really NEEDS first. I'm looking forward to tinkering with the handling though, and I can tell that all of you will be a great resource of knowledge. Girlfriend's dad is really busy because he's in construction, but I might be picking it up this weekend (fingers crossed) then there will be initial pics. I warn you, it ain't purty yet. Also I was wondering. There are a lot of cool parts for the 3.8l engines, but I haven't seen a performance crank. What do you high HP guys running 3.8s do about the crank, are any of the factory ones good for say 400+ hp?

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Zzp has a 8-second stock crank/rod twin turbo gp :)

It's really exciting to hear all the options I'll have for this thing. I've looked a lot at brand new aftermarket parts that should work. I've seen a front and rear strut tower brace kit that's supposed to work on 98 and up W bodies, I think I might get it, but I'll have to see what the car really NEEDS first. I'm looking forward to tinkering with the handling though, and I can tell that all of you will be a great resource of knowledge. Girlfriend's dad is really busy because he's in construction, but I might be picking it up this weekend (fingers crossed) then there will be initial pics. I warn you, it ain't purty yet. Also I was wondering. There are a lot of cool parts for the 3.8l engines, but I haven't seen a performance crank. What do you high HP guys running 3.8s do about the crank, are any of the factory ones good for say 400+ hp?
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Same crank and block unsure of cast or forged but i know itll hold up :)

is there any difference between a 36 and a 67 crank or do they use the same thing? Is it forged or cast, sorry for the n00b questions :P
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Thanks! That's good to know, I thought I heard somewhere about people snapping internals just on stock W body cars, but maybe they were doing really stupid things (like not putting in oil) O.o

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