Auto Racing: Auto Racing, lincoln mark v111, flash programmers

Question
I have a 1996 Lincoln mark v111 with a v8 and would like to soup it up a little for the street. What are some options for this type of car? And does this car have a hi performance computer chip avaliable for the engine?

Answer
Steve-

  As far as what's available, it depends on what you want.  Since it's got the 4.6L V8 there's a good aftermarket for performance engine parts.  If you wanted something like a power adder (supercharger or turbo), you roptions would be a lot more limited since, as I'm sure you can imagine, there isn't a huge demand for Mk VIII performance parts.  Not to say the stuff isn't out there, but it would suprise me.  But all of the engine parts that fit Mustangs should fit your car.  As for a chip, they're really of very little use unless you have the car run on a dyno and burn the chip to the results of the dyno.  A more feasible alternative would be one of those flash programmers.  They can be used to tweak computer settings on the fly without the use of a set chip that can't be changed.  Some makers of these tuning devices are Diablosport, Jet Chips, Superchips (I believe), and Hypertech.  For my money the Diablosport is hard to beat since it also acts as a diagnostic trouble code reader (so do some others, though).  Hope this helps.

Steve