This "rumor" about the Police Interceptor version of the 200CID came from a local mechanic who now sells parts at NAPA. He showed me in the NAPA catalogs, after I told him he was pulling my leg, about the PI 200.
He used to service them for a local security company (a "Rent-a-Cop" organization). They were in Fairmont 4-door sedans and Mustangs. The Mustangs had a Carter 1-bbl carb and the Fairmonts had the H/W 2-stage carb with a flat air canister with a square filter that fed from a snout pointed toward the front of the engine. This latter item sounded a lot like the H/W setup on my old (1974) Capri (2000cc 4-cyl.), but he swears it was the 200CID six underneath, as he tuned them up himself. They all had automatic transmissions, too.
The security company went out of business in 1990 and he went to work for NAPA. He said it was just recently that the PI designation started showing up in the engine parts catalogs, like for alternators, radiators (3-row on PI Fairmonts-turned out to be the same as the T-Bird radiator of that vintage) and A/C pumps. (The A/C pumps for the PI engines were the same ones Mazda uses, as rotary vane type instead of the piston type like mine has.)
I am very familiar with the larger PI engines, especially the 390 "FE" family and the 351 Cleveland types, haven't ever touched a 351W PI type, though. That one's new to me. Usually, these V8 versions have more CR (9.5:1 or 10.25:1), 5-15 degrees more cam, faster distributor spark advance curves (heavier weights are used in the dizzy with standard springs), and bigger carbs. The "FE" type had factory headers made of cast iron and distributors with 45 degrees of mechanical advance! I have one of those distributors in my 1967 LTD fastback and it's a real screamer! Gets good MPG, too, even on today's low-grade premium gas.
I'd like to find one of these PI 200 engines and swipe the H/W carb and distributor from it. I just can't seem to locate one locally.
