thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
Just out of curiosity, someone told me once that the front shocks from a Continental would fit a Mark VIII. I doubt that since (I think) the Conti uses McPherson struts and the Mark has upper and lower control arms so the setup is completely different. I've never bothered to look at a FWD Conti front suspension since I'm not a fan of FWD cars. I've never owned one and worked on very few. I seriously hate FWD. And I seriously hate struts. No true luxury car should ever be burdoned with a cheesy, cheap, crappy strut front suspension. It's just wrong. But I digress...If the Conti's front suspension is a strut design, the strut would bolt directly to the spindle and there would be no upper control arm like we have in our Marks. Does anyone know for sure? The reason I ask is because some Conti's had electronic adjustable suspension similar to the T-Bird Super Coupes. And I wouldn't mind adapting that type of suspension to one of my Marks. Just to see if it would work. I miss the adjustable suspension on my old '88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe. And I wonder why Mark VIII's didn't have that option in the first place? Anyway, I don't have access to a Conti since I don't know anyone who ownes one. Thanks.
:slamPhfffft! Never mind. I just found a picture of the front suspension of a Conti and it did indeed use struts. So they won't work on a Mark VIII. Dangit!
The pic is kinda small, but you can plainly see the strut mounted to the spindle and no upper control arm. Which means that a bracket would have to be welded to the bottom of the shock (bad idea) so it would mount to the lower control arm and the bearing cap on top of the spring would have to be removed since the air spring/shocks on a Mark VIII don't turn with the steering like struts do. So it won't work. That sucks. Sorry for wasting space. I shoulda looked it up before I even asked. But it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.
:slamPhfffft! Never mind. I just found a picture of the front suspension of a Conti and it did indeed use struts. So they won't work on a Mark VIII. Dangit!
The pic is kinda small, but you can plainly see the strut mounted to the spindle and no upper control arm. Which means that a bracket would have to be welded to the bottom of the shock (bad idea) so it would mount to the lower control arm and the bearing cap on top of the spring would have to be removed since the air spring/shocks on a Mark VIII don't turn with the steering like struts do. So it won't work. That sucks. Sorry for wasting space. I shoulda looked it up before I even asked. But it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.