buying a Mark, LSC or Base? Looking at both

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purpony

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So, I am in the market for a Mark VIII. My grandfather bought one the second they came out in 93 to replace his 92 Mark VII. I loved that car to death but after he passed my uncle got it.

Anyways, Im looking for a gen 2 97-98. I have always been a fan of the LSC due to the lack of chrome. I live in CT and so do my parents but they live winters in FL. I was just down visiting and found a nice 1998 Dark Grey LSC with tan interior and 44,000 miles. They are asking $5,999. I dont think it has a moonroof (something i really want).... I didnt get a chance to look at it but my dad is willing to check it out for me, buy it, and my mom would drive it home.

Then just last night I found a Mark local to me. Its also dark grey in color but with black interior (which i prefer) and a moonroof! Thing is its a 1997. Its only got 69K miles and the price was originally $5500, now dropped to $4900. However, its a Base, Not an LSC.

Dont know what to do. I do like the chrome around the tail lights on the base, and could paint the grill to look like an LSC... side chrome doesnt matter. LSC has lower gearing (does this hurt mpg that much?) This is going to be a nice day daily driver so looking for the best mpg i can get)....

LSC has true duals, Base single, (i want to put some throaty mufflers on either.)...

98 has the updated tranny, but from what i read its just the 1-2 2-3 Actuators, which i can update myself along with the JMOD....

also planning on the cobra brakes upgrade and mustang wheels.

so what to do, what to do???
 
go with the 98 lsc, better trans, true duel, less miles, slightly better gearing

win win in my book
 
purpony said:
Then just last night I found a Mark local to me. Its also dark grey in color but with black interior (which i prefer) and a moonroof! Thing is its a 1997. Its only got 69K miles and the price was originally $5500, now dropped to $4900. However, its a Base, Not an LSC.
Click to expand...
Easy to change.
purpony said:
Dont know what to do. I do like the chrome around the tail lights on the base, and could paint the grill to look like an LSC... side chrome doesnt matter. LSC has lower gearing (does this hurt mpg that much?) This is going to be a nice day daily driver so looking for the best mpg i can get)....
Click to expand...
Thats the way to do it, paint it.
Make it a LSC clone.
LSC gears are not much better over base gearing, in time you will want a deeper gear.
I run 4.10s and avg. 19mpg.
purpony said:
LSC has true duals, Base single, (i want to put some throaty mufflers on either.)...
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Again...LSC exhaust is not that much of a upgrade over a base, in time you will want to improve this if you buy base or LSC.
purpony said:
98 has the updated tranny, but from what i read its just the 1-2 2-3 Actuators, which i can update myself along with the JMOD....

also planning on the cobra brakes upgrade and mustang wheels.

so what to do, what to do???
Click to expand...
A low mile pre-98 trans will work just fine with a j-mod and light mods to car.
Find a car with the color combo you like, don't worry so much if its a base, it can be changed.
 
Check for rust on the one near you because it does have black interior, which is what you prefer. It's a lot easier to buy side moldings and have them painted to match the car, along with the grille. The only chrome you would have would be around the lights. It's not that hard to convert one into an LSC.
Plus, the one near you has the moon roof (and you want that) but if it's been on the salt and has rust, leave it alone. It's cheap for a reason, I would imagine.

The Florida car is most likely rust free if it has lived it's life down there but you don't know that yet. It could have lived a Northern life and then drove down to Florida by someone such as your parents, except to stay and live. I personally would prefer the LSC but not that interior color. You can always do an interior swap to black. Just some things you need to check into. You don't want one that has been up North and not stored during the winter months and that doesn't always stop the rust. A CarFax should show you where both have been living. Gas mileage between the two isn't enough to worry about, if there is any difference.

The 1998 trans difference isn't only the accumulators either. The 98 has a one way clutch and better torque converter and can be manually shifted where the 97 isn't going to put up with any manual shifting, not that you would. The difference in the mileage that you're showing doesn't matter. You're looking at a car that can give you well into the 200K to 300K range if it has been taken care of and you do the same.
 
thanks for the replies all.

I called on the CT car last night and going to look at it this weekend. First thing i will check is rust. Having only 69K miles, it has not been driven to much, but that doesnt mean anything. The FL car, my dad is going to look at tuesday, unless this one is the one :)

We will see. I would rather have an LSC, but if the Base is clean, which it looks like in the pics, ill probably go with the Base. The Base has the moonroof and black interior, both of which i want.

After reading around this site yesterday alot, im going to do 2.5" true duals on either the Base or LSC as well along with 3.73 gears. Im not looking for a super fast car, that what my mustang is for, but im looking for something with getup and GO, sounds good, and is comfortable for a daily driver. All of which either will do!
 
I would go with the base with black leather and sunroof..like others have said its not hard to put different side mouldings on and paint the chrome trim...

I would just absolutely make sure there is no rust, get under neath it and look for rust on the evap tray, exhaust and brake lines usually the first things to start rusting, that will give you a good idea if it was EVER driven in the winter..and obviously check the rocker panels down to where they are pinch welded at the seam where they meet the floor boards, check the bottoms of the doors too.

A 97 with only 69k was probably only used as a second car with that low of mileage..so hopefully that means it was only used in warm weather..and definetly get a car fax to see where its been..

And if you're new to marks..check for blend door problems and air ride.
 
thats my plan. I have been through the whole blend doors already on explorers. Mine, along with my dads and sisters all needed blend doors fixed. Oh the fun. Also have done a couple replacement airbags on my grandfathers 93 Mark. My explorer airbags are still holding strong at 195K miles though.

Anyways, i will check out the Base and go from there. Im hoping it clean underneath.

I was reading about the evap tray rusting out on the Marks, what exactly does the evap tray do? Its an emissions thing, correct? Any chance of it being deleted? I deleted everything on my mustang, just put a set of cats on for the visual.... but thats a pre OBD2 system and now a full stand-alone.
 
purpony said:
thats my plan. I have been through the whole blend doors already on explorers. Mine, along with my dads and sisters all needed blend doors fixed. Oh the fun. Also have done a couple replacement airbags on my grandfathers 93 Mark. My explorer airbags are still holding strong at 195K miles though.
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Blend door on a gen 2 can be a handful, but if you can turn a wrench, and do a search on a how to, its not so bad.
purpony said:
Anyways, i will check out the Base and go from there. Im hoping it clean underneath.

I was reading about the evap tray rusting out on the Marks, what exactly does the evap tray do? Its an emissions thing, correct? Any chance of it being deleted? I deleted everything on my mustang, just put a set of cats on for the visual.... but thats a pre OBD2 system and now a full stand-alone.
Click to expand...
Yep, evap tray holds emission goodies in the rear of the car.
It is the first thing that will show rust, a great guide for how solid a car is.
No need to delete it if the car is FL...or FL clean.
Also if looking at a Gen two, check for rear neon working, HID bulbs working.

They both can be fixed, but a excellent bargaining chip when buying.
Also front end slop, these cars kill ball joints UCA and LCA bushings.
 
If you end up getting the CT. car, I have everything you need to turn it into a LSC. Judging by the miles on both cars, I would say they were not beaten up too much.
Key things to check for on both cars is to check the ball joints on the UCA's and the LCA'S. If any are worn, that is a $400 to $600 job if you are not doing the work yourself.

If the cars are still on factory air suspension, go by and check out the car just after they close for business, then go back and check it in the morning before they get there to open for business. If the car is slammed overnight, then you know you have an airbag issue.

Turn the heat on and make sure you have heat, hopefully you won't have any blend door issues.

The car in Florida has probably never seen harsh winters, and I am inclined to think that the heater never saw much use. That could lead to a rusted heater core. Good things to check.
 
Florida car by far - the lack of moon roof is just another problem eliminated ----- lsc lsc lsc lsc. in the future you can buy a donor car and swap out the interior. then sell it or sell the parts off in these forums. I thought all 97-98s had 3:27gears?
 
JAX.TRUX said:
Florida car by far - the lack of moon roof is just another problem eliminated ----- lsc lsc lsc lsc. in the future you can buy a donor car and swap out the interior. then sell it or sell the parts off in these forums. I thought all 97-98s had 3:27gears?
Click to expand...

Nope, only the LSCs had the 3:27s from 95-98 all others had 3:08s...which doesn't make much sense since cougars and thunderbirds all had 3:27s in 96-97,

The difference between the 2nd gen bases and LSCs is so minor compared to the 1st gens..I'd rather get the car with the color combo you like..exhaust and gears makes no difference to me because most likely its getting replaced with something better anyway..and when it comes to painting the chrome and mouldings, I'm sure that's waay cheaper than gutting the whole interior and replacing it all with a different color..whenever I've taken plastic interior panels apart to put in a new head unit or something it never fails that when it goes back together it starts squeaking and creaking..that annoys the hell out of me when I go over a bump and the plastic interior creaks and makes noises..I could only imagine how bad it would be after taking EVERYTHING apart. And as far as the perforated LSC leather seats..who gives a sh*t? If anything the holes in the leather trap dirt and debris easier.
 
interior

I personally don't mind fixing things that aren't broken ---- But I hate to fix things that that are :wrench

Image40.gif
 
keVIIIn said:
And as far as the perforated LSC leather seats..who gives a sh*t? If anything the holes in the leather trap dirt and debris easier.
Click to expand...

Nonsense, they're perforated to make them lighter. Adds about 3 MPH.
 
what years LSC had perforated seats? Everyone i look at on-line doesnt seem to have perforated...
 
well i went and looked at the CT Base Mark today and its a no go. I took it for a ride for the hell of it, but nothing i want. It had a few small dents in the pass door, a large scuff just above the pass fender lip. Also it was smoked in and ash all over the place from driving with the windows down.

Underside was pretty clean, even the evap tray... tires where shot. Headlights looked brand spanking new and where converted to halogens...

Still trying to get me dad to take a look at the FL car. Anyone close to Orlando and want to look at it for me??
 
Well..... I now own the FL car!!!

My parents stopped and looked at it for me today on the way north. It does have a couple little uses i need to address but all in all they said it was very nice.

Only problem is, i don't get to see it for a month since they are stopping at their TN property for a while before coming back to CT. Sucks for me.


So.... its a 1998 LSC in Midnight Grey with tan leather. Has 44,000 miles on it, was a FL its entire life (no rust anywhere). Cant wait to get it home!
 
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