Franks 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC

[FrankAZ]

Its been a while since I've posted - and quite a bit has been done (and I've taken some time to do other things!!)

First - trying to dig into an occasional error on the EPC solenoid, and also gives the car fresh transmission fluid.

Its pretty clean in there!

New OEM Ford EPC solenoid (PO had replaced with aftermarket)

Sadly, that "helped" the issue, but, didn't eliminate it - so, time to start checking the wiring. Based on what was done prior (a wire splice) I'm going to replace the transmission internal harness and overharness - and hope that does it.

 

[FrankAZ]

Second on the list, was getting the sub box built + installed. Box is made of Baltic Birch plywood, and is sealed with a 1cf internal space after deducting woofer)

Covering the box with speaker box material.

The finished box.

When installing the subs, I ended up smacking one on the ground, and knocked the magnet off. I had to re-epoxy and then remove then reinstall the cone to make sure it was centered. Here's the sub with the foam surround glue clamped to dry.

The box installed. The box ends where the spare tire cover starts to give an idea on size.

It fits like a GLOVE, and that was my goal - a box that met the requirements for my subs, and took up as little space as possible in the back. The slope of the box in the back matches the slope of the back seat. I want to get some foam and velcro to make a couple of small filler pieces for the small gaps on the right and left.

I plan on putting grills over the subs, just not sure which ones to get yet.

 

[FrankAZ]

And last but not least - the best part - NEW WHEELS AND TIRES!!!!

18" Saleen Speedstars

Removing the old

Balancing the new wheels and tires (using a roadforce balancer) - I will say at least to 110-115 the car is as smooth as glass for the ride.

Prepping for the new ones (they hand tightened them)

Cleaning the mounting face!

Wiping down and buffing the new wheels.

The final result.

 

[Teccmoney]

Those rims look nice. Where did you buy them?

 

[Markviiiedrea]

Very sexy!

 

[Lownslowlsc]

That whole car is very tastefully done. Great job.

 

[FrankAZ]

Here is one of the first absolutely pointless "mods" that I'm starting to work on.

 

[Markviiiedrea]

An honest question, no offense.....Why?

Unless you have kids, never really saw the point.

 

[Bangster]

When my kids were little, and everyone didn't own a cell phone/iPad/tablet I mounted a 7 inch dropdown monitor and VCR (VCR!!!!) in my 2000 Grand Marquis. We progressed up to DVD player, then a media player with a hard drive. Now the kids are not so little, and they rarely use it. I used to watch movies and TV on it when waiting for kids at things like karate and soccer practice. I last used it when chaperoning 3 kids to a field trip.

 

[FrankAZ]

An honest question, no offense.....Why?

Unless you have kids, never really saw the point.

Figured why not (again... pointless -I fully admit it here!) but the cost has come down so much on these lately I figured why not. The set I purchased was only $100 shipped.

My radio has dual zone built in - so the head unit can be used for all video display/etc - so - I don't have to worry about that.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

Looks like they matched up very nicely and you still have your oem headrests if you ever want to remove them. And for $100 bucks? Why not. Now you have to work on finding a way for a person to fit back there.

 

[FrankAZ]

Looks like they matched up very nicely and you still have your oem headrests if you ever want to remove them. And for $100 bucks? Why not. Now you have to work on finding a way for a person to fit back there.

True - the passenger side isn't to bad as long as a shorter person is there. There is a touch more room than my tBird has for some reason.

The headresets are an OK match, but, not in love with them. I've had some leather dye on order for a while, and I want to hit the junkyard up and find some similar tan ones in leather (these are a nice "pleather" material) and mix-n-match to get a nicer setup, or, create my own covers by adding some foam material to the sides, top, and front of these.

The OEM ones are just a tad short to be able to install screens into.

 

[Bangster]

I think that the Mark VIII front seats have more travel backwards, so if the front seat is all the way back, there is nearly 2 inches less leg room in the rear than the MN12. My kids hate the back seat of the Mark VIII but never complain about the Cougars. I do drive with the seat all the way back. When I have adults in the back I move mine forward a bit, but really don't feel comfortable as it is not the way I am used to driving.

 

[FrankAZ]

Its been a while since I've posted, but, we've gotten some more work done.

Door handle gaskets were finally replaced on the car.

After three months of talking about it, I finally was able to covert the car BACK to an air ride suspension. What made it easier is finding a "like new" set of rear bags on Craigslist for FREE along with 5 more solenoids (once cleaned, I could have passed the bags off as new they looked so good)

I ended up pulling the headrests out - I wasn't "in love" with how they were working out overall, and send them back to Amazon. There's a new set I'm going to try - and I think they'll be able to cut into a set of factory headrests (I picked up a spare pair at the junkyard) and look much better.

Rear quarter windows were also replaced with a junkyard pair - finally found some that didn't have significant sun damage - installed and re-tinted the new ones (not the greatest tint job, but, adequate until I have the entire car re-tinted)

Also picked up a set of valve covers in from the yard - so I'll finally be able to paint and install the painted valve covers into the car!

I'm starting to get into the little tiny details - such as the scratched steering column cover being replaced.

 

[FrankAZ]

Car sitting on air ride.

Polishing the stainless steel on the car (just prior to a car wash, so I could clean off the residue there) Wetsand at 2500 grit then metal polish - removed all of the fine scratches in the metal.

A nice clean side shot of the car.

 

[My Great 8]

Looks beautiful. Great job Frank!

 

[Teccmoney]

Looks great and I love that you put her back on air.

 

[turn_on68]

I don't know if this is of use to you,but maybe this is the problem with the air ride. I read to stop the annoying reminder in the info window about the air ride being switched off to pull the passenger kick panel and unplug a black plug in there. So if you look in there maybe it's unplugged?

 

[FrankAZ]

I don't know if this is of use to you,but maybe this is the problem with the air ride. I read to stop the annoying reminder in the info window about the air ride being switched off to pull the passenger kick panel and unplug a black plug in there. So if you look in there maybe it's unplugged?

Originally I wasn't sure on where the issues with the system was initially, I had my suspects on what may have gone wrong with the previous owner, but hadn't really dug into it. I was highly suspect of the relay for the compressor pump, and over the past few months I've made a collection of parts (four rear bags, two fronts, 11 solenoids, full set of ride height sensors, a spare compressor, and 4 relays.) Once I finally made the time to get the installation done (I live in a condo, so I have to actually go someplace to work, so I need to tend to plan out an 8+ hour work session at a time and no easy quick checks of things.) But, in the end - it was the relay causing the compressor not to kick in.

Part of what was delaying the air ride, is I was getting an EPC Solenoid error for the transmission, so during this time I'd also replaced the EPC solenoid in the transmission (along with a nice new fluid change of Mercon V) the car to transmission harness, and finally the PCM - the PCM ended up being the final solution. What is funny, after now having the car for five months, the transmission wire harness is the ONLY thing I found on the car (so far... but at this point I've been through pretty much everything) that had been monkeyed with, which is amazing for an older car. EVERY part that was replaced on the car prior to me was Motorcraft!

I did not get any Air Ride error messages upon re-install and re-connection of everything. I had cut the wire going from (I think) the black plug, but, had crimped on spade connectors when I did the cut so I could reconnect them in the future. When I purchased the car it came up with the Check Air Ride due to the wire never being cut, but, springs being installed.

I didn't post this earlier, but, forgot I had done this. Air Ride install and also replacing the O2 sensors at the end.
[video=youtube;ErzvVNf-d9E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErzvVNf-d9E[/video]

I do have some more photos of the work in progress, but, they are still in the camera. Another project that I'm going to start working on is the Cobra intake - I have some sort of crazy half-brained idea on something, and am really curious if it can be done (in regards to the EGR and the EGR tube positioning) but it might allow me to use the factory EGR tube AND the factory fuel rail. As of right now, plan on a summertime

 

[Modular97LSC]

The car looks great!!! looks very clean.

 

[Sapperfire]

Originally I wasn't sure on where the issues with the system was initially, I had my suspects on what may have gone wrong with the previous owner, but hadn't really dug into it. I was highly suspect of the relay for the compressor pump, and over the past few months I've made a collection of parts (four rear bags, two fronts, 11 solenoids, full set of ride height sensors, a spare compressor, and 4 relays.) Once I finally made the time to get the installation done (I live in a condo, so I have to actually go someplace to work, so I need to tend to plan out an 8+ hour work session at a time and no easy quick checks of things.) But, in the end - it was the relay causing the compressor not to kick in.

Part of what was delaying the air ride, is I was getting an EPC Solenoid error for the transmission, so during this time I'd also replaced the EPC solenoid in the transmission (along with a nice new fluid change of Mercon V) the car to transmission harness, and finally the PCM - the PCM ended up being the final solution. What is funny, after now having the car for five months, the transmission wire harness is the ONLY thing I found on the car (so far... but at this point I've been through pretty much everything) that had been monkeyed with, which is amazing for an older car. EVERY part that was replaced on the car prior to me was Motorcraft!

I did not get any Air Ride error messages upon re-install and re-connection of everything. I had cut the wire going from (I think) the black plug, but, had crimped on spade connectors when I did the cut so I could reconnect them in the future. When I purchased the car it came up with the Check Air Ride due to the wire never being cut, but, springs being installed.

I didn't post this earlier, but, forgot I had done this. Air Ride install and also replacing the O2 sensors at the end.
[video=youtube;ErzvVNf-d9E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErzvVNf-d9E[/video]

I do have some more photos of the work in progress, but, they are still in the camera. Another project that I'm going to start working on is the Cobra intake - I have some sort of crazy half-brained idea on something, and am really curious if it can be done (in regards to the EGR and the EGR tube positioning) but it might allow me to use the factory EGR tube AND the factory fuel rail. As of right now, plan on a summertime

If you're using the same Cobra plenum I have, you'll HAVE to use the Cobras fuel rail, unless you plan on cutting the FPR off of the MarkVIIIs rail.

 

[olddavid]

Damn, Frank, I'd wear my "enter" button out pushing for all the Thank You's I should be giving you. This is a great thread with clearly illustrated methods and results. Thank you again. The car is beautiful.

 

[FrankAZ]

Damn, Frank, I'd wear my "enter" button out pushing for all the Thank You's I should be giving you. This is a great thread with clearly illustrated methods and results. Thank you again. The car is beautiful.

Thanks! I've got quite a few more photos to add in the near future.
- The door handle LED illumination was changed over to ice blue - about twice as bright as the factory LEDs.
- both cruise control buttons are now LED. I used a slightly revised method on the right set of buttons that I preferred over how I did the left set of buttons.

New projects up and coming:
- Changeover of most interior lights to the ice blue LED - The small LED bulbs for the EATC and the message center buttons should arrive today.
- Cobra Intake Manifold, I have the manifold in my possession, and I've so far paint stripped it, and am working on polishing it to a mirrored finish. I'm still undecided on the EGR process i'm I'm going to go with. There is a cool (but HARD) way of doing it (never been done that I've found) or obtain the cobra fuel rail and go that route. I drive to much stop and go traffic to not use the EGR.
- sensor lower the car - it sits WAY to high at street height for my tastes.
- paint and install new valve covers. I have the valve covers, just need to prime + paint them.

Air ride is still working beautifully - car sat for 10 days, and settled less than 1/2 in during that period!!!

 

[turn_on68]

Not much - new valve covers, some spare parts from the local pick n pull. Managed to grab a CCRM, steering column with MFS, rear seat lights and door handle gaskets.

Bought some valve covers, and started cleaning them up.

Also working in LED bulbs for the cruise control buttons - first try looks OK, but not in love yet. I'm wondering if full replacement circuit board for LED lamps might be nice (I'd have to have multiples made if folks were interested)

Frank please reply where did you get the bulbs and did you solder the
On the original circuit board?

 

[JGood]

Hey FrankAZ I saw these wheels and I was considering buying them, what size tires are you running?