Many Marauder owners have had their rear wheels widened.

Thanks for the head's up, I just wasn't quite sure

Although I had a pretty good feeling.. that Mazda was originally the platform designer, for the Mazda 6 :nice:

Is that an easy thing to do? It probably costs a ton as well...

Do you mean Marauder owners bought new rims?

I do not like this style of rim on the Mustang, but I do like it on the Marauder, and it looks good on a Ford Explorer as well.
18 x 8 is a good size. The Cadillac XLR is 18 x 8 as well. How much wider do you want it to be? 18 x 9 or 18 x 10? Just asking!

an 8" wide rim can really not hold a tire much wider then 255. Many of the enthusiasts want tires in the 265-285 range, at least for the rears. These require 9 or 10" rims.

18x9.5, like a GT500 wheel; this can safely accomodate 275x40.

The Marauder was never intended to be a Shelby GT500. The Cadillac XLR was never intended to be a Corvette either.
18 x 8 is fine IMO for a 302hp "Crown Vic".

18x8 is fine for most applications. (The Marauder may look like a Crown Vic, but is far from it)

Some Marauder owners who have Supercharged have had their rear wheels widened 1" to 1.5" The wheels are forged so widening and welding is not a problem.

There is one Pro-street Marauder out there with them widened much more.

Hey just a thought guys what do you think about Ford naming the future Lincoln coupe the "Cougar"! Though the Cougar was originaly a Mercury would it make that big of a deal if it was called the Lincoln Cougar? I think the name is classic and it would live up to the classic Cougars as a luxery alternative to the Mustang. Some of the current design cues on the new Lincolns would also fit the look of a retro styled cougar too! I just hate the stupid letter names for the current Lincolns:shame:

Do you know if these aluminum blocks had iron/steel cylinder sleeves or not?

yes they have cylinder sleeves