u/LittleCaesarsManager

I, a 20 year old guy, met my best friend in 4th grade.
we've been best friends for like 11 years.
same age as me yet i feel like we've grown to be two incredibly different people past the point where we can happily be friends lest something change.
i, over the course of the past few years just evolved to be more open minded, willing to do stuff just because, willing to try new things, learn new skills, and to not make a big deal of what doesnt need it.
I've grown to wish to be a person who lives life rather than sits by as a product of it.
My friend has grown to be the total opposite.
In his room all day, and he never does anything.
theres always some reason why he cant do something.
Every time i have a "Hey we should do X" it gets shut down and he *never* openly speaks of just stuff we should do.
every hangout is just us at his house doing the same stuff we do every time.

He'd rather drive to a gas station to get snacks every other night than come to my place to do something different once.

He's convinced he'd get in trouble for doing shit, he lets people walk all over him and is basically the errand boy for everyone in his home.
He's so worried about stuff that goes wrong that even though it doesnt, he never does anything for risks that arent even real.

He's always tired, his "social battery" is always empty. which i get that but its not like he's helping himself. He actively pays for a gym membership yet never goes and is constantly getting terrible sleep and is terribly overweight and does *nothing* about it. ive tried in the past to help but after getting repeatedly shut down over and over again I just cant in good faith help someone who chooses not to be helped.
90% of the time when i try explaining to him that no, his entire world wont fall apart just because he chose to go somewhere and do something with his free will, or to fix the issues that he openly stated he doesnt like about himself, he'll get super defensive and mad at me and it ends with me just saying "yeah, man" and then we go like it didnt happen.

Anything that has him get off of his ass to do something for any reason outside of it being mandated, isnt worth it. He'd rather sit there watching youtube shorts for hours than have a decent conversation for 5 minutes.
i used to think he was my ride or die but at this point im pretty sure he wouldnt even show up.

And i cant just end a friendship because im the only one making an effort for us to do anything, for us to experience life together, and actually be there for the other.
And im pretty much his only friend.
He has a few friends from college(or just one, i cant remember but still) but i know they dont talk on the same level we do. he's known said friends for 6 months and i for 11 years.
And i know that for him to put himself out there to actively become closer friends with someone is basically never gonna happen since he's as social as a rock.

So if i cut it here, i feel like im actively making a decision that hurts him but this friendship just isnt what it used to be and i feel like none of my efforts to be a best friend are even acknowledged in anyway.

Just dont know what to do or how to tell him how i feel and how we can fix things because i dont see it getting better without him knowing how it actually is.

the balancing of PMEX Remix feels very....unintuitive.
Deathborn is said to be B tier? Better than updated Ganon? that doesnt make any sense at all.
Alloy Mario being buns feels weird because ive always felt that he's better than normal Mario.

Whoever greenlighted metal sonic should be off the team, its so dumb that i have to play out of my mind just to barely compete with a braindead MS player.
Waluigi feels like the person who designed him thought it'd just be *funny* to make him as dumb as he is. Granted
They are right, fighting Waluigi is incredibly funny.
not fun, but definitely funny.

And i know that legacy characters dont get updated or something but dang some feel like they got left in the dust. I dont get how Captain Falcon is supposed to be pretty alright, he feels so dated compared to the newer FZ reps. his movement is kinda busted though

I would *adore* getting an 80s Iron Duke as a car to drive when money's tight and gas is expensive and the 4000 pound yacht in my driveway thinks its funny to get 12 miles per gallon.

but in my time searching marketplace i have yet to find a single 4 banger camaro.

where do i find a 4 banger and why are they so hard to find?

1981 2 door panther.

was looking to upgrade the suspension because these 1st gens steer and handle about as well as a submarine and i wish to change that.

So

Sway bars.

if i remember right, these 1st gens had an option for a measly 12mm front bar, right? thats about all ive ever heard about sway bars in the first gen, i think i heard that LTD's used for police can sometimes be found with a rear bar maybe but idk if that was true.

also iirc, the suspension from the 2nd gen just bolts to the 1st right? What sway bar options exist for the 2nd, if they do just bolt up. i imagine the P71 probably had a slightly larger front bar, maybe a rear bar as an actual option but idk, i havent bought a 2nd gen yet.

I'm looking to get a more oversteer biased setup. the sway bar split i have no idea.
12 front 24 rear would very much be an oversteer machine and with the rest of the build around it, it *should* be a fully controllable gigantic classic muscle cruiser that happens to spin like a ballerina if i ask nicely, but idk much about how bar sizes interact, a hellcat im pretty sure runs 35:22 and we all know that car *loves* to be thrown in circles by takeover guys so how bar ratio works idk

TL;DR, what factory sway bar options fit the 1st gen, how hard is it to grab sway bars from the 3rd gen or will it be cheaper to get custom sized bars for the 1st.

1981 Lincoln Mark VI.
This 302 is about 3 sizes too small for the car, and is legitimately the worst 302 ford ever made.

can i grab the 351/4R70 combo from a 90s F150 and and put it in this car?
the 90s 351 is so much better than the 81 302 and the 4R70 would handle the power it'd make so much better than the AOD(given that the 1996 F150 makes power numbers that are like 215hp/325tq, and i want it to make 300 horsepower, i can only imagine upwards of 400 foot pounds would destroy the little AOD pretty quicky with how id drive it).

the 81 had the 351 as an option
the 4R70 was made to fit the panther chassis
the 351 was the compromise Ford had to make because they couldnt put the 400 or 385 in it.
and it blows the 302 out of the water in every way.
Yes i would need a custom drive shaft, and ideally suspension built to handle the weight of the 351/4R70, and to wire it all in

But can i do this?

fixing this 302 is just so ass for someone who hasnt ever done internals work, i'd rather just put something better in here and the 351 is the factory solution

1981, 5.0LO/C 302. literally the worst one ever.
flat tappet 302 with the low output and compression bottom end, not just the low output internals(car had 2 options, 130hp and 140, and the 130 option had lower compression even on the high trim fuel injection options)

this thing can make approximately 170 horsepower at most without major work. thats a Holley Sniper, BBK Short Tubes, a cold air intake and letting the Holley ECU make the best of that setup.
After that theres major work needed to make any more power because why not.

Ive spent a bit asking about 60s/70s bolt ons, trying different old style heads that would *fit* but constantly learning about why this fuck ass car is the only bad car Lincoln's ever made(Mark VI, not a fox body but you guys know the engine inside and out where the Panther guys dont)

So after thinking of every possible option, from 351W swaps, 4.6 swaps, Buying a late 80s town car and putting the VI sheet steel on it, 351C heads, just not buying this fuckass car as a whole i think im just gonna accept that the only to have the car i want and the power i want(300 horses) is to do it properly.
and that proper way is converting the Flat 302 to a Roller 302 so i have access to the GT40/H.O parts at a minimum, and whatever aftermarket parts yall toss on your GTs and XR7s and LSCs and whatnot.

How do i properly convert this evil hellspawn 302 to a proper good roller 302?
do i need to have it machined? Can i do it at home? how much would it cost?

I love the Mark VI. i really do.
but its such a terrible terrible car, its so averse to owner ship in away only something with an actual soul could muster.

but the 1989 Town Car on the other hand, isnt.
great cars, and with the roller 302 it means i get access to 100% of the parts library everyone says the 302 has(flat tappet 302 is genuinely so buns)
But i love the Mark VI style and im ok with it having 4 doors if it means i get a good engine to back it up.

So the question is: Can i body swap the important body panels of the Mark VI, onto the Town Car to achieve a Mark VI 4D thats actually good?
Those panels being:
Hood.
Front quarter panels.
Face panel.
Trunk.

And additionally
the tail light assemblies on these 2 are removable, so we should be able to just swap VI tail lights onto the Town Car.

generally speaking, Lincoln sheet metal is incompatible with poor people panels from the Marquis and LTD since the body lines on the Lincolns are taller and more formal.

Sure, the body lines arent 100% 1:1 from the 81 VI and 89 TC, but at this point im legitimately so done fighting the build plans for a VI because of that terrible fuck ass engine that honestly
if i convert the rear tumors(doors) to suicides id be ok with the slightly different lines and it'd be a simpler project than dealing with the flat 302.

this car has the factory 26/17 sway bar split front and rear.
its a bit of an understeer machine.
if i wanted to downsize the front bar and make the rear bigger for an oversteer bias, where do i go to get bars for that?
i know the first gen panthers had a 12mm front bar which would make it more prone to oversteer but i'd rather go something like 15/24 split
its so easy finding oem 15mm bars but anything not oem sized seems to be priced way higher and im not paying 800 dollars for some bum ass sway bars

putting 351C 2V heads on a 302 low output because im simply too lazy to change the 302 from flat tappet to roller lifters.
i know this little 5 liter just isnt making the power to support the 351C 2V heads by itself, and even with the Windsor high output cam its not doing it fully.
trying to hit 300 somethin horsepower, ideally upwards of like 400tq or as close as we can get on the 302 L.O

budget isnt real, just give me some honest recommendations for this great value Boss 302 build to hit that 300/400 ideal spec i want or at least somethin near that.

1981 Lincoln Mark VI.
currently this thing makes a whopping
less than 100 horsepower out of a 302(listen, 46 years of sub optimal care hasnt been good to it but im here to change that).
i have a build plan to make this thing hit 300 horsepower like the 302 should have had it not gotten knee capped by like 7,000,000 oil events in the 70s.

but this car isnt exactly a modern crossover full of safety systems so if we're making 300 horsepower we need to be able to stop and steer to match.

If i run 16 inch wheels, i should be able to put 3rd gen Interceptor brakes on her, right?
and
potentially dumb ass question
since the front brakes do like 75% of the stopping, rear brakes are smaller.
could we run 2 sets of Interceptor front brakes on a 1st gen panther with 16 inch wheels? no harm in being able to stop better with better rotors and pads and in a car with *zero* crumple zones

Building a flat tappet 302W, doing a roller conversion as part of the build. Target is 300hp naturally aspirated. Looking for aftermarket heads with 351-style port sizing that won't break the bank. What affordable aftermarket options should I be looking at and what cam would pair well with them for that power target? I also plan on doing holley TBI with a matching intake manifold to fit the 302 style heads, and a full exhaust system planned to help the heads and cam make 300 or as close as possible to it for a street cruiser.

Is it possible to buy heads with the rockers and lifters and springs all already installed or will i need to do all of that myself?
Ideally aluminum heads for weight savings.

EDIT:
found some 351C 2V heads from a 1972 Torino and im just gonna get the right pushrods and slap that and a cam on it.

researching how to make my 302 have more power(1981, 302 L.O, about 100 horsepower on a good day at this point in time in a 4000 pound Lincoln.)

and it seems that just every single path has some huge cost wall to it.
GT40/H.O 302 stuff? Either it doesnt work because thsoe are all Roller Lifter engines or the fox body guys inflated the price of those over the past 40 years, and teh cheap heads need to be machined and built out so they arent actually cheap.
Could go to 1st gen 302 stuff like in a Mach 1 or GT from 1969 to have flat tappet heads that just work cleanly but the 1st gen parts prices are crazy because the 1st gen happens to be a good performance platform when i just want my lincoln to have some balls to it.

or i could do a roller lifter conversion

or at some point a 351 swap to simply not have to fight a 5.0L.O V8 at all.
Like

im trying to make an old gutless Lincoln have a respectable amount of power thats actually fun and engaging to drive
im not making a 500 horsepower street build or 1200 horsepower 427 drag build but its probably because i dont know much about upgrading the 302 yet

asking for not a foxbody but a 1981 Lincoln Mark VI because the panther guys know more of the 4.6 and yall know the Windsors a little bit better if we're being humble about it.

I have a stock 1981 5.0 LO 302W.
i wish to take from a 302-GT40:
Cylinder Heads(including the springs and rocker arms and stuff)
Push Rods because the 81 Push Rods are 6.875 inches or something and the GT40s are way smaller and running larger ones is an issue.
GT40 Intake manifold
And GT40 Cam.

As to my understanding, i will need like
the brackets or mount points for the accessories and stuff from the GT40 right?
and might have to fabricate the mounting points since the GT40 has very different accessories than the 81.

Any advice would be appreciated.