I've got love for the 4.6's, but more so for use in a DD than a weekend toy. Between the Crown Vic Interceptor and the Cougar that I had in the past, I've never had a more reliable, trouble-free motor in any car. (Wish I could say the same for the AODE, but even that ain't as bad as some others ... especially once you flush it, J-Mod it, add a cooler, and refill with Mercon V.)
Hell, I just bought another 4.6 tonight, actually. A '94 T-Bird, maroon, chrome factory rims, 122k, and everything (except the cruise control) works on it ... for a whopping $950. Just need to find a new bumper fascia for it, as the front tire on it blew and ripped the front-left plastic of the bumper clean off. That, and it's got the same 1-2 hang-shift quirk that my Cougar had before I swapped out the accumulator piston/spring, but that's a project I can nail down later on - I'll likely give it the same J-mod and B&M plate cooler setup as before.
The notch will soon be officially getting retired to weekend/track/emergency duty, as soon as I throw a basic tune-up and plates on the T-Bird. If this thing gets the same mileage as I was getting with the 4.6 Cougar I had, I'll be rocking about 26 MPG highway with functional A/C and not going deaf from exhaust and wind noise.
IIRC, my '94 Cougar pulled something like a 15.7 in the 1/4 mile, and my '94 CVPI did a wimpy 16.7 ... but in both cases, the times were always consistent to within a tenth. Nothing terribly whooptie-doo, but more than enough to get around the mean streets of Phoenix with safely, without worrying about getting run over.
