Jamies official 98 lsc progress thread

When my 1993 finally gave up, the head cracked on a remanufactured Ford motor that had about 185k miles on it. My car had 250k miles on it when that happened. The tranny didn't work great at that point either, and that was its 2nd rebuild. The first tranny rebuild was before 1998, before Ford knew how to fix it correctly. I spent thousands of dollars on that car in maintenance & repairs over the years and miles I owned it, so it was always in the best shape it could be. I even spent $2k painting it at around 140k miles. I put almost brand new front seats in the car at the same time too (from the LMS west car).

If you drove and looked at my old 1993 when it had 210k miles you would have been impressed as well. I had every intention of keeping it until it died. I even put brand new name brand tires on it somewhere around 230k miles.

I guess I'm saying even with the best care, besides Tommy's car, how far can this engine & tranny really go, not to mention cats, abs computer, suspension pieces, and whatever else wasn't replace recently, or wasn't replaced with the right parts? 250k seems to be the limit?

Ken
 
I had a 93 Explorer cost $700 with 150,000 miles on it. All it needed was a transmission, put 3 more transmissions in it and it lasted until 350,000 everything was original other then the transmission. Motor was still going strong, but the transmission went out again. My Mark VIII had 159,000 when I got it just hit 160,000 paid $900 and it was wrecked! I think Jamie got the best deal ever on his wives car, and it will last a long time.
 
I'm impressed with your mad eraser skills! Can't wait to see the finished result!

A car is only worth what someone will pay.....
 
I have a 1998 Cavalier with a 2.2 auto in it and 210K miles on the clock 360K KM for us up here. no oil burn no tranny issues nothing. It gets beat to hell everyday but I fix the little things before they cause other probs. Just in how you maintain things really.
 
I love how the seats came out. I've been trying to get the cracks in my seat clean. all of the leather cleaners I've used suck. I'm definitely going to try your ideas.
 
Car is coming along well. Was a great buy IMHO for $1500

Hell my chasis has 110K on it and the motor has 170K on it and runs better then my original motor. :lol:
 
mike and i bought a mark that looked like a pig stie. after mike and dave took the time to clean and repair it it does damm good they found like $60.00 in change in the console. oh ya it came from nj. hope the lady likes the new one Jamie
 
I think the car is looking awesome. Nice to see a diamond in the rough polished back to it's potential. I love the idea of the Majic Eraser, never would have thought of that I am going to have to try that on a few spots in my car that need a good clean.
 
be careful on the leather with the magic eraser if you concentrate on one spot too long you can actually rub the color out of the leather so be warned. i actually only paid $1,350 for the car, me and dan worked out a deal with all the black stuff i had left from my rosemist mark so i gave him everything i had left for 150 bucks off the cost of the 98, so it worked out for both of us, he spent about 5 hours at my shop last night playing in the mark VIII wonderland!!
 
yeah was on the loft thats where all the black parts were from the rosemist. he really liked the shop, he was at the old shop a few times and that was like a bathroom compared to the new one, he really liked walking into the office last night to wash his hands and walked into about 72 degrees! it was hot and nasty last night humidity was around 3 million! my ac in the office kicks like a bruce lee flic.
 
I used a Magic Eraser with some Pinesol in the water, not sure if it helps it clean, but it made everything smell good and the leather looked a little bit shinier, I guess. Jamie's shop air compressor is about to have to go out back and get shot. It was funny, Jamie is trying to tighten down bolts on the RF suspension on the 98 and one of Matt's buddies is running like a die grinder on the other side of the shop. The compressor couldnt keep up and wouldnt shut off. Not to mention the thing is LOUD AS F*CK! It was kinda cool getting to see the 3 Black LSCs all parked by eachother at the house. I was suprised when Jamie told me I was driving his car back to the shop. Its a pretty tight mark. The exhaust on the thing is awesome, it also shifts and pulls really smooth, but strong. Somethign else that is funny is looking at an exhaust from a M8 standing up on the wall. The LSC exhaust in the shop is standing up on the wall, it looks like its 30 feet long. You look at it and go, there is no way a M8 is that long, plus another 4 or so feet. Not looking forward to installing that pig, nor the dash, but the dash isn't such a rush. All that dicking around on the door handle and bracket just to find out that it is the handle itself that is different was kind of aggrivating. I'm gonna take a heat gun to the DS panel and fix the vinyl a little bit, but it looks pretty good as is. All that is left in my car that is saddle is the sunvisors, and the headliner. I have a new bumper and grille to go in soon, pretty excited for that, the paint is flying off the front bumper cover all of a sudden, and I don't know why.

I wish I had taken a picture of that like 3/4" drill bit I was using on my drivers door...
 
14.6@97MPH said:
I may get shunned and kicked off this board, but I'm posting it anyways.......Am I missing something here? How was a broken 210k mile Mark VIII a deal at any price, no less $1.5k?

This has been killing me, but Jamie said, if you post something, you deserve responses? And everybody is praising this purchase?! Why?!

My response is, I've owned a 210k mile Mark VIII, and I drove it to 250,069 before it died for good, and that was with a newer motor and newer tranny rebuild........i.e. a 210k mile Mark is just about done (except in Tommy's case).

What am I missing? I understand you can fix these on your own, but just the parts alone are going to be thousands of dollars????

My 98 Mark has 97k miles, its barely worth $2.5k, and everything works, how is this car worth $1.5k+travel+repairs???

My experience includes driving Mark VIII's for 267,500 miles and 13 1/2 years.

Really, what am I missing????

Ken
Click to expand...

WOW! way to piss on his parade! I am sure that jamie would NOT have gone through all the trouble if he thought this car was a piece of s*it!! Just because you had some bad experiences, doesn't mean others will! I think jamie got one hell of a deal! Car looks good jamie! Keep up the good work:D
 
thanks man, here are more progress pics from tonight. i finished the interior except the carpet i will do that this weekend, i did the floor mats they came out pretty nice. the driver seat only came out ok, really it should be replaced but i cant do that crap right now.

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hey rich do you have any gray interior crap? i'd like the driver seat skin, or at least the bottom half for now, and i need a drivers headrest bad!
 
Gotcha covered! I've got a good top and back from a LSC that only had 88000 miles. The headrest is also on it. It's yours man! We just have to figure out how to get it to you. Maybe we could meet halfway?
 
what do you think is halfway ft meyers? maybe we could do lunch at our meeting point, that would work right? you need anything i could trade ya possible? or let me know what you gotta get for the stuff, thanks rich i appreciate it.
 
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