I JUST PURCHASED A MARK 8 ABOUT A WEEK AGO,FIRST OF ALL I DIDNT REALIZE THESE CARS HAD THIS MUCH POWER,MAAAAN.I ONLY HAVE TWO QUESTIONS,FIRST OF ALL I GET A HARD SHIFT INTO SECOND GEAR,IT SHIFTS ON TIME BUT ITS A POWERFUL SHIFT SOMTIMES IT CHIRPS THE WHEELS LIKE IM RACING.SECOND QUESTION,WHATS THE LIMIT ON THE HEIGHT OF SOME RIMS THAT I COULD PUT ON IT,I GUESS WITH THE AIR SYSTEM LOWERING SOMETIME I PROBABLY COULDNT GO TO BIG. AN IS THERE A COBRA ENGINE REALLY IN THERE?:cool:

1. Is there any chance the previous owner installed a shift kit? Otherwise, it's possible the accumulator spring in the transmission broke.

2. You can easily put lowprofile 18" rims on the car.

3. It's very similar to the motor that later was installed in the Cobra. They are both 4.6 liter DOHC 32valve v8 engines.

The cobra has a little more HP and a slight different head from what I've learned.

You can put the corbra head on the Mark VIII with a little work. It's been done many times by members.

check out 94m5's thread on this 95 Mark VIII.

Either the 1-2 shift accumulator spring broke, the prior owner installed just one of the upgraded springs or there's a shift kit. I've personally done the second one and my old '95 LSC would get sideways. I've since given the car to my old man and he hates that shift. :D

Ditto with veryone else, The 1-2 acc. spring is prob broke (vert common all all 93-97 Marks -98 had the upgrade). See the Tech section. Also make sure you have Mercon V fluid.

The heads are exactly the same between the 96-98 Cobra and 96-98 Mark VIII. The 93-95 heads are the same except the valvesprings are not Beehives. What's different are the intake cams, they are slightly less aggressive but not by much. Your hard shift from 1st to 2nd is probably a broken 1-2 accumulator piston, that needs to be changed asap with the updated piston before it does any damage to your transmission. Get the tranny flushed at the same time with Mercon 5 and change the tranny filter.

thanks guys i really feel better now about that shift problem all yall are really knowledgable about the Marks.one question is the spring a internal repair or external cause i want to get that done but i dont want to get ripped off.

You have to drop the pan to get at the accumulator springs. You can do it yourself with a good set of snap ring pliers.

Like 98LSC32V said,


The heads are exactly the same except for intake cams.



Intakes are completely different tho. You can swap the cobra intake on to the mark tho. ive got one on the 95'.

Mike