I have a avide fondness for beaters.I have a 86 crown vic.Its not the cop car one with a 351 but rather a 302. This car was a cherry Florada car before it was driven through a cinder block wall. It now acts as a rubber burning toy that needs brakes.Its loud and scares small children.It will soon be paint black with THE DEATH MOBILE(the animal house) painted on the rear deck.I was just woundering what people on this thing thought of beaters that punks drive to(NOT THE BUZZ-BOMBS FOR GODS SAKES!!!BUT THE OLD V-8 CARS AND TRUCKS)  

"Goob!" Very "Goob!"

But the mid-80s "Panther" (LTD Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis, Lincoln Town Car) is much more fun with a set of Police Interceptor springs and swaybars and some stiffer shocks.

With dual pipes, a few 5.0 upgrades under the hood, a decent set of wheels (those fenderwells are fairly big)and  suspension bolt-ons (and maybe swapping in some cheap buckets from the JY and a floor shifter), an '80s CV/Grand Marquis can be as fun to drive as a '60s midsized musclecar (and get better mileage) for a mere fraction of the price.

You've just got to get used to the overly boxy styling and the massive bumpers (However, you do get about the biggest trunk since the '1961-64 Impala)

These cars are vastly underappreciated.  

When you say decent wheels you must mean some classic slot-mags.The CV currently has stock steelys painted black with the hub cap mounts still on and painted gold.It has new 215/70R15 tires on the back and bald white walls on the front.Wounldnt GT40 roller rockers fit and give it a little more power? Does any buddy make headers that fit this car and that are pretty cheap.I dont want to sink a lot of money into it.  

By "decent wheels" I was thinking more about size than style. Pick a style that you like. Steel is good if you can fit a big enough tire on it.   It's a regular Ford/Chrysler/AMC bolt pattern (5 on 4.5) so there ought to still be a lot of swap meet wheels that will fit. Be sure to measure the center hole on the stockers because that's where problems tend to arise. However, if memory
serves, the center hole in the Ford wheels tends to be smaller than, say AMC.

P215/70R15s are a bit small. The car will be more responsive with 60s in the 235-275 range.  A performance tire is one of the biggest improvements you can make to the driving feel of a car.  60s are a good compromise between handling and ride harshness (which is why many OEMS are using them on their mainstream models now.   Used 15" used to be easy to find but now they're probably getting scarce in parts of the country.

About anything that will fit a Mustang 5.0 can be made to fit the CV 5.O.  However, because its not a mass-air EFI, if you get too radical, the computer won't adjust without "help."

That being said, anything you can do improve the airflow through the engine is helpful. Heads, intake and exhaust manifolds are fairly restrictive compared to what's available for the 5.0.

Of course, on a dirt cheap budget car, you can always go with a carb ('83-'85 Mustang 5.0 intake and carb is a reasonable choice).  

Of course, N20 is the quickest and best "bang for the buck" (excluding bottle refills).

The order I'd modify the engine on a budget in (without nitrous) is:

1. Dual exhausts

2. Open up air box entry and pipe it to the grille for cold air

3. heads/intake/fly-cut the pistons for valve clearance (the one major difference in the non-HO 5.0s is a lack of valve notches (here's a discussion about it and cams/heads that will work without flycuts))

4. Cam/rockers

5. shorty headers.  (of course, at this point I'd be thinking about a Mike Sitar-style JY turbo)

Speed almost always costs SOME money, so how fast do you want to go . . . .