Franks 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC

FrankAZ

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This is Franks little thread to post all the fun, photos, and info on my 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC, and with what I'm starting with, and going to.

First off, a photo of the car itself. The car is a 1997 Mark VIII LSC (nice rust free Arizona car) that I purchased with 89k miles, and in overall pretty decent shape.

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After having owned a 1995 Thunderbird since 1998, I finally decided it was time to get a new car, but, wanted to stay in the two door, and since I was able to find lower mileage Mark VIII's I decided that was the way to go.

The car itself does have few small dings on the body, and a bit of damage above the right rear tire area, but, is I all easily fixable, especially since a full paint job was already planned even before a car had been located.

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Want to have a thread to document the car, the changes and updates as I go along.
 
Some of my first orders of business are fluids changes, I know the transmission had been recently been gone through, and there was a transmission cooler added.

I met the mechanic who had been maintaining the car for the past 6 years for the prior owner (he was the one who notarized the title for us.) and he did give some basic rundowns on work that had been done and completed.

Even before the oil change, I had to get my stereo in. Late last year I had purchased for my Thunderbird a Pioneer AVH-x8500BHS, and knew this was one of the first things to change over. I made it 5 days before the stereo went in, and it wasn't to difficult to get in (and most of which was due to I had a nasty cold at the time)

I did the double DIN install with the Metra 95-5026 install kit, and the Scoshe FDK8B wiring kit. Trimming the mounting tabs off of the Metra kit, and a gentle trimming of the subdash was all it took to get the stereo in. I did use a file to smooth the top corner of the kit to round it nicely to fit the factory wood trim panel.

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Stereo is currently driving the factory amp directly since the Scoshe amp bypass cable would not fit.

Since the stereo itself features "App Mode" I also needed to run a USB cable and HDMI cable to the center console. There is also a second USB cord that was run to the glove box for a second USB device, and also a microphone that was clipped above the rearview mirror on the headliner for hands free cell phone calling.

I trimmed the old factory cell phone cable connectors from the center console, and used that for my cable runs. Right now the cables run through the mount, but, in the future, I think I want to actually put mounted jacks into the panel for a very factory look.

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One future job includes installing Rockford Power T600-2 and Rockford Power T400-4 amplifiers, and also Rockford Power T2652-S components into the car. I've been slowly cutting new adapters for the speakers out of a cutting board so they will mount up nicely.

The factory amp rack will also be modified to mount the new amps. I have two 10" subs, but, not 100% sure on how I want to install them yet.

Amp power wire will be 0 gauge welding wire (from wireandsupply.com) and I'm holding off until I have all of the parts to do the install in one shot.
 
Second order of business was getting the right turn signal working. When the car was purchased, the right turn signal didn't work, and me being the enterprising (cheap) person I am, I decided to tear into the switch to see if I could fix it.

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As it turns out, one of the resistors had failed, so I was able to replace and repair the switch myself!

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Third order of business: one of the HID headlights was flaking out, so, I knew new ones had to be installed. Went with the 5000k 9006 bulbs, and made my own delrin adapters on a lathe.



9006 bulb installed with my own adapters.

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Adapters to interface the ballasts with the factory wiring. I mentioned it elsewhere, but, for anyone doing this hit up your local pick n pull and find cables for ABS sensors - they happen to be a perfect fit (but!!! pay attention to wire color, black isn't always grou

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Polished and clear coated headlight.

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The HID ballasts mounted.

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Lookin good, what process did you use to clear the headlight lenses? Didnt think clearcoat would stick to a polished lense..
 
Nice, I like how the dash tells you the time and date, kinda like them Olds 88's did.
 
Lenses were cleared with the Duplicolor Acrylic Clear after a 1000 grit sanding. Theres a bit of orange peel to them, and I should sand them out at to 2500 then polish the clearcoat, but, they look pretty good already, so I'll wait till the car is painted before continuing.

The cars color is going to be the Midnight Metallic Blue (a dark blue with a hint of grays) with what I plan is a blue pearl midcoat. I have the base-coat and pearl, just need to get clear. I want to get a panel together so I can do a test paint with and without the pearl mid-coat to make sure I like it before spraying the car itself.

Local place to me does a paint booth rental, so, were going to attempt to do it "right" and the best I possibly can by myself. I've painted cars twice before, first was an old Chevy Nova I had - used PPG paint that I'd picked up as a mis-tint from the local store, and second was my tbird two years ago, both "backyard" paint jobs. The Nova turned out great, but, the tBird isn't the best - heavy orange peel, and didn't lay down very nice..

Paint is PPG Deltron DBU - and I've got a gallon (so two gallons of sprayable) and I intend to do as much dis-assembly as I can to paint. I'll probably non-booth the underside of the trunk, hood, and door frames, and do the car in one shot a week later. I'm still trying to figure out when I want to do the paint (pretty much before May or after October) Part of my paint holding pattern is due to that I also want to do the cobra terminator bumper at the same time if at all possible.

I also have a set of Cobra R in 17x9 that used to be on my tBird, but, the chromes peeling pretty bad in the bead area. I'm going to have a local chrome shop strip the chrome, and I'm going to see about painting them in a gunmetal color and if the one turns out OK, I'll have the other three done and then paint them.
 
Last weekend, did an oil change using the Mobile 1 extended life oil, and replaced the spark plugs with new ones.

One of the interesting things I've found so far is every "consumable" part that was replaced on the car was always Motorcraft (and were not original to the car - this car looks like it has actually had the proper maintenance done to it!)

Today, was to replace the rear differential fluid, attempt to install a trailer hitch, and check the car for the presence of the air lines and compressor and test those components to see about returning it to air ride.

Differential was a surprise, I don't think the fluid was more than 10,000 to 15,000 miles old, and there was life left, but, we went ahead and replaced it with Mobile 1 synthetic. All the gears look good, and its in good shape/condition, and minimal metal shavings on the magnet.

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Hitch install didn't go as planned, as there were a couple of unplanned fitment issues. I need to redrill the mounting holes and offset it about 1/8" to get the fit exactly right, and since the back mounts mount in the same place as the exhaust hangers, I'll need to get some longer bolts to mount them properly together.

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I have had a roof rack on my tbird for a few years (and it fits the Mark just fine) but decided to move to a hitch bike rack instead to make life a bit simpler.

Another one of todays goals was to remove the air silencer, and since I was also wanting to check to make sure the air lines and compressor were still in place, this was a good time to do both, along with replacing the fuel filter.

Thankfully, once the fender was pulled, the compressor is present (prior owner said the front right air shock had failed) and the ride height sensors are still in place, and the connectors for the solenoids and the air lines are all nicely tucked by each wheel! Sadly, I forgot my EEC-IV tester, so, I wasn't able to initiate a self test on the compressor to see if it still works properly.

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I am hoping to get the air ride reinstalled next Friday (hopefully I can figure out a way to test the compressor to make sure it pumps)

From what I can tell, it looks like the suspension wasn't replaced to long ago, so I'm hopeful that a reinstall of the air bags and a new air dryer is all I'll need. The wire for the check air-ride I actually cut myself.

I'm also attempting to replace the O2 sensors, as they do appear original to the car, and I'm having a slightly rich reading (6% long term fuel trim) on bank 2, and at 90k, the cars due for them. I picked up two Motorcraft sensors, but, was unable to get them out today. I have one of the claw type O2 sockets, and it just wouldn't come loose. I'll try hitting them up with power blaster this week to see if that'll help loosen them up, and then see about an alternative wrench.

Only one "issue" I'm having is the P0411 - incorrect secondary airflow error coming up on me. I did pull off the hose to the diverter valve, and I've got a nice strong airflow from the pump itself, but, I haven't been able to validate a good vacuum from the manifold to the valve.

I'm willing to look at the P0411 a bit, I do plan on getting the car tuned, so, if its anything major, well, we'll just remove it from the computer!

I want to see on the O2s as I'm running about 16.5 mpg (per the PC) and 18 per tank from tracking with Fuelly with about 50/50 driving and I think it could be a bit higher.
 
12 volts to the red wire, ground the black to test the compressor at the plug.

Nice clean car!
 
12 volts to the red wire, ground the black to test the compressor at the plug.

Nice clean car!


That's the easy way - I was try to avoid removing that cover again, but, I'm probably going to have to. I can probably bench test each solenoid without too much difficulty also.
 
So I just played with a program called FORScan - interfaced with a WiFI ELM327 OBD interace I use with DashCommand - and all I can say is WOW!!!! This is GREAT for a free program, and a low-cost WiFi adapter. www.forscan.org

I was able initiate tests on quite a few more items than I thought was possible on the car.

On my car, it gave options to test the following

PCM - KOEO
PCM - KOER
DSM - Driver Seat Motors (I'm assumming, as the PSM that I ran moved the passenger seat in all directions)
DDM - Drivers Door Module (didn't try this one)
EATC - AC Controls System Test (gave me an error... but, I've had a random weird error pop up on this anyways with the self test)
SCIL - Steering Column - honked the horn, moved the steering column, checked the lights, etc
MC - Message Center (didn't try this one)
HEC - Hybrid electronic cluster (didn't try this one)
ABS - ABS system (didn't try this one)
PSM - Passenger Seat - kinda of neat to see the seat move in all directions after a mouse click.

Also gives me the ability to clear/reset codes for the EATC, SCIL, MC, etc. It pulled compass code from when I had the compass unplugged the other day, and it knew I'd had a headlight bulb message.
 
Nice clean car. I envy you guys in Florida and Arizona, that have rust free cars to work on. Frank (rightonthemark) I feel sorry for you guys for having to work on the rust buckets up north. That's almost enough to make you change professions.
 
So I just played with a program called FORScan - interfaced with a WiFI ELM327 OBD interace I use with DashCommand - and all I can say is WOW!!!! This is GREAT for a free program, and a low-cost WiFi adapter. www.forscan.org

I was able initiate tests on quite a few more items than I thought was possible on the car.

On my car, it gave options to test the following

PCM - KOEO
PCM - KOER
DSM - Driver Seat Motors (I'm assumming, as the PSM that I ran moved the passenger seat in all directions)
DDM - Drivers Door Module (didn't try this one)
EATC - AC Controls System Test (gave me an error... but, I've had a random weird error pop up on this anyways with the self test)
SCIL - Steering Column - honked the horn, moved the steering column, checked the lights, etc
MC - Message Center (didn't try this one)
HEC - Hybrid electronic cluster (didn't try this one)
ABS - ABS system (didn't try this one)
PSM - Passenger Seat - kinda of neat to see the seat move in all directions after a mouse click.

Also gives me the ability to clear/reset codes for the EATC, SCIL, MC, etc. It pulled compass code from when I had the compass unplugged the other day, and it knew I'd had a headlight bulb message.

That sounds really cool. I'll have to check it out!
 
Ordered a few more supplies today. 24 feet of 0 gauge power wire to feed the stereo amps, and to do the big three power update to the car (that and a new stack of compression connectors so i can crimp connectors on the wires) and ordered more of the components for the alarm install, as I want to have independent window control with the alarm, and sunroof control with the alarm (and remote start)

Stereo install will be first, as the alarms going to be a big job. I'm hoping all of the speaker wires I yanked from the tbird are long enough (or at least most of them) as I used 12g speaker wire. I've got some wire left, but, probably enough only to reach one door.

Still not 100% sure how the air compressor for the suspension was shut off/disabled from running when the springs were installed. Wanted to install the air springs back in on Friday, but, I may not be able to get parts in time to complete that (if the compressor works, I want to replace the dryer) Fuse to the compressor is good, but, it doesn't seem to be kicking on. I plugged my EEC-IV tester into the port, and I hear a click in that area, but, nothing else.
 

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