Mark VIII Project

kustomizingkid

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I've been reading up and getting all the info I can on Mark VIII's. I think I have finally decided where to go with my project Mark. At first I was thinking daily driver but now I'm leaning towards weekend fun car. I thought I would start a thread so that I could ask any question that I can't find the answere to without starting a new thread everytime.

I did a little work in the interior last night. My heater control had all but two of the buttons cracked. I figured I could either buy another one which is porbably cracked or try and fix this one. If I didn"t work out at least I tried.
What I did was fill up the buttons with bondo and then sand them smooth. I plugged it back in and everything works so I'm gonna paint the buttons and see if it lasts.

In car.JPG
 
I can help if you want

Looks good considering the rig... another option in the meantime while you have fixed yours is to look for a really nice and clean one, try EBAY. if not in my journeys I will look for a really nice one, and if reasonable I will get and talk with ya later, if you dont want I can put on ebay as well...

By next summer I might buy a parts car and break it down and sell parts to mark owners and keep a stock of parts for myself...

LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED I WILL KEEP A LOOK OUT AT PIC A PART..

Peace dude :cool: :cool: :cool:
 
I thought about how some would glow and others wouldn't. All of them are going to be the same so at leasts its uniform, the other things is that it says what mode the heaters in so I won't have to worry about forgeting what button does what.

I'm taking the whole front end off, hood bumper grill fenders etc. I have some issues in the front because the kid who had it befor me slid off the road into a ditch. The fender that took the hit is just a little off. I also want to paint everything under the fenders and underhood black. I plan on painting the whole car black at some point.
 
The cats on my car are bad and since I have to take them off anyways I figured I would take the stock manifolds off and start over.

So what are all the options for manifolds or heasers for Marks?

So far the option I've found are stock, cobra, aviator, or kooks. Are there any other choices? Kooks are nice but I can't justify spending that much on headers, at least not right now.
 
Headers are a waste in almost any application used - unless you doing serious mods that can justify them.

But the problem is the manifolds. The passenger side is a true manifold, not attached to the cat. The driver's side is and as such is unique and made for the Mark only.

If you put any other manifold on there you may have to modify the steering shaft. My Aviator engine manifolds totally blocked the steering shaft and no matter how I modified it, it would not fit. So I moved onto Cobra manifolds. Much better fit, but still had to make a custom steering shaft setup.

Another user I know of put stock Cobras on his stock VIII engine, had the same problem as me.

We had both used 03/04 Cobra manifolds - I dont know if earlier years would have the same problems or not.
 
unity said:
Headers are a waste in almost any application used - unless you doing serious mods that can justify them.


I disagre with that statement.

Kooks makes a nice set of headers for the Mark VIII. Only problem is, the only way to get them is to go through super Coupe Performance, since Bill Evanoff has exclusive selling rights to those particular headers. The asswipe...
 
I can get some manifolds from a 97 Cobra for free. I hope they would work without to much of a hassle. The stock exaust just seams like it couldn't be more restrictive.

If I'm luck I might be getting the intake manifold for free too.

What makes the 4v exauhst ports different from the 2v, I've seen gaskets that say they are for eitehr the 2 or 4 valve engines? If the ports were the same couldn't you use any manifolds for any modular?
 
Correct me if im wrong guys, but I dont think the cobra manifolds will work.

I think the only set that will actually work is the kooks which go for about
600+ bucks from www.scp.com
 
unity said:
Headers are a waste in almost any application used - unless you doing serious mods that can justify them.

But the problem is the manifolds. The passenger side is a true manifold, not attached to the cat. The driver's side is and as such is unique and made for the Mark only.

If you put any other manifold on there you may have to modify the steering shaft. My Aviator engine manifolds totally blocked the steering shaft and no matter how I modified it, it would not fit. So I moved onto Cobra manifolds. Much better fit, but still had to make a custom steering shaft setup.

Another user I know of put stock Cobras on his stock VIII engine, had the same problem as me.

We had both used 03/04 Cobra manifolds - I dont know if earlier years would have the same problems or not.

Well said. Without anything extra going in, you don't need anything extra to help it get out. IMHO, there's not much power to be gained in these cars in exhaust with a relatively stock application. I had a cat back on my black car and I don't think it was worth it, let alone having headers.
 
I just need to do something because the stock cats are bad and that means replacing one of the manifolds anyways. I plan on putting on all new exaust while I'm at it.
 
What exactly makes bbk's headers not fit?

Are kooks a direct bolt in without any modifications to the car?
 
The Kooks headers are a direct bolt-on, but you will have to replace the valve stems on the tires.


at first i was like... wtf? then i laughed.

i think ur also supposed rotate your tires after the installation :)

to answer your question, i believe they are a direct replacement, but you will need new cats, and you will need to lengthen your 02 sensors so that they will fit.

The kooks headers come all the way to the bottom of the car so your cats will be mounted under the body somewhere.:)

or so i think, ive never done this before just heard
 
If I went the big bucks $$$ route of doing kooks I would do a completely new exaust, LMS twin x pipe stainless mandrell bends no muffs and nice polishesd tips. The only problem is that I would be looking at upwars of $2000 for all of that.

I'm just trying to figure out how to do an exaust system for a decent price. I want to redo everything from the manifolds to the tips. Even doing everything myself it is pretty dang spendy.
 
So how much would it cost for the stock stuff new?
Or would it be better to just do the Kooks thing like frog man did?
 
So how much would it cost for the stock stuff new?
Or would it be better to just do the Kooks thing like frog man did?

I think that all depends on what you want out of your car. I'm going for performance so I want to put in headers with a good exaust behind them. If all you want is nice quiet Lincoln exaust then get stock parts.

My totals for a custom exaust:
Kooks around $650
Exaust from the headers back around $1500 for all stainless.
 
So how much would it cost for the stock stuff new?
Or would it be better to just do the Kooks thing like frog man did?

It's $1701.00 from ford. My insurance just wrote me a check because my right rear tip and muffler were damaged and that's what he has as the replacement cost.
 
Can someone snap a pic of the sunroof switch for me? Thanks in advance, I couldn't a pic of just the switch.
 
So I just put a new radiator in my car because the old one was cracked. I found out that the yahoos that had the car before me put water in the system and it sat out all winter so now I think I have biger problems.

I tried filling the system but it never seemed to work. I might have done something wrong but I have this feeling in my gut that the engines shot.
Good thing I have a spare one.

If I have to swap motors it will give me a chance to fix a lot of stuff when the engine is out of the car, like the oil pan gasket, rear crank seal, ect. I will also give the engine compatment a nice coat of paint while I'm at it.
 
Working on the engine out of the car is nice. New motor mounts would be nice too if you have not replaced them.

But why do you think there is something wrong with the cooling system? What kinda problem ya having?

Oh, and if you go with headers and such you may need a customer steering shaft depending on what you go with. Generally not if they are made specifically for the Mark. If they are made for Cobra and such, set aside $200 for a custom shaft setup - you will see when you get to the end of the project if you will need the parts :) My 04 Cobra manifolds required a custom shaft....was pissed.
 

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