Ford MN12 platform

The Ford MN12 platform (Mid-size North America Project #12) ["What is MN12?" [http://www.tccoa.com/ TCCoA] . http://www.tccoa.com/articles/overall/mn12.php] was a two-door car platform formerly used by the Ford Motor Company from 1989 to 1997 for the Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar.

A variant of this platform, known as the FN10, was used for the Lincoln Mark VIII from 1993 to 1998. Each car based on this platform had a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout with an independent rear suspension.

The front suspension consists of upper and lower control arms with coilover shocks. A common misconception with this platform is that the front end has struts; however, since there is an upper control arm they are actually coilover shocks. Brakes were a vented rotor / single-piston caliper with Sport model Thunderbirds receiving a larger diameter rotor. The rear suspension consisted of upper and lower control arms with coil spring and shock. Varying sway bar diameters were used among the different models of Cougar and Thunderbird. All MN12 cars shipped from the factory with a 5 x 4.25" (5x108mm) lugnut bolt pattern.

MN12 cars had a 113" wheelbase and were available with a 3.8L V6 engine, a 3.8L V6 supercharged engine from 1989 to 1995, a 5.0L V8 engine from 1989 to 1993, and a 4.6L V8 engine from 1994-1997.

References