My first Mark VIII Project

The computer mainly. My W3Z2 allows unlimited speed and I get 6 grand in first gear. She has done 240 Km/h, almost lost the sun roof. ;)

The 3.08 rear end makes fast easy and I think it has the best performance out of the box. They steadily nerfed that as they produced more cars.

They took a 93, shaved the mirrors and did 183 mph at Bonneville. Nuf said?
I have heard this many times and believed the 1st gen was faster than the 2nd gen. Seeing this thread, I wanted to know by exactly how much. I did some searching and this site says the 2nd gen is faster, are they wrong? One thing nice about the site - you can put the car specs side by side for comparison. Comparison table in automobile-catalog

2nd Gen: 0-60 mph in 6.9 sec, 0-100 km/h in 7.4 sec, 0-200 km/h in 30 sec and quarter mile time is 15 sec.
Detailed specs review of 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC offered since mid-year 1997 for North America U.S.

1st Gen: 0-60 mph in 7.4 sec, 0-100 km/h in 7.9 sec, 0-200 km/h in 34 sec and quarter mile time is 15.5 sec.

Detailed specs review of 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII offered since mid-year 1992 for North America U.S.

90 Lincoln TC
accelerate 0-60 mph in 10.7 sec, 0-100 km/h in 11.4 sec and quarter mile time is 17.8 sec.

Detailed specs review of 1990 Lincoln Town Car offered since mid-year 1989 for North America U.S.

 
Maybe the first gens are better on take-off due to the throttle body design. I don't have a clue because so far nobody has ever explained the differences between gen I and II except for a change in the systems management computer.

Also, my Town Car is an '07. It feels faster because it has an electronic throttle, which means the throttle and transmission never have a difference of opinion. One is always coordinated with the other, whereas with cable throttles, the transmission is constantly catching up with the ever-changing and unpredictable demands of the monkey behind the wheel.

Imagine doing a coordination test. Would you have better results touching two of your index fingers together while blind-folded, or touching your index finger to another person's finger while either of you is blind-folded?
 
All Mark VIII's use cable-actuated throttles. The '05+ panthers all use a drive-by-wire stepper-motor-operated throttle.

This means the transmission is never reacting to the throttle, they are always acting together.
 
Maybe the first gens are better on take-off due to the throttle body design. I don't have a clue because so far nobody has ever explained the differences between gen I and II except for a change in the systems management computer.

Also, my Town Car is an '07. It feels faster because it has an electronic throttle, which means the throttle and transmission never have a difference of opinion. One is always coordinated with the other, whereas with cable throttles, the transmission is constantly catching up with the ever-changing and unpredictable demands of the monkey behind the wheel.

Imagine doing a coordination test. Would you have better results touching two of your index fingers together while blind-folded, or touching your index finger to another person's finger while either of you is blind-folded?
Thanks for the update! When I subtracted the number of less HP you listed, from the M8, it equaled 225 and thus thought 90's 5L. H.O.
Interestingly your 07 TC may have less HP, but it has more torque: 297ft-lbs. The 93 M8 has 295ft-lbs. I would think this would factor in as well.
 
Time to tackle this column. It does not extend.

I will wire the motors to test them individually before putting things back in the car.

Interestingly, when trying to manually crank the worm screw, it was jammed. I cleaned off the old grease (gum/syrup/glue) and added new white lithium to both screws. I will also clean and grease the bearings and races.

This wheel did not have the limiting cables. I was able to find some at a junk yard. I broke my potentiometer while wrestling parts off, so I picked up another of those as well.

I'm cleaning the switch and potentiometer and reassembling to test.

Glad I got what I needed. The M8 in the junkyard had only been there a few days and NOBODY had touched it...until I got there and a guy was picking off the center tail lamp. It looked really good inside so I found a lot of useful parts. Now it's a wreck but I promise I broke as FEW pieces as possible.

I was hoping to find another headlight bulb, but I may make these adapters work.

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Question
Does anybody know how to turn the springs in the seatbelt retractors to add more tension? I can't find similar retractors online anywhere so I have no clue how to hold the spring when I open it.
 
I promise I broke as FEW pieces as possible.
Fantastic! I too try to be gentle on those other parts I do not need that are connected to those parts that I need. I have seen others just rip into a car breaking everything to get what then need, with no concern for any other part in the car. Its pretty disappointing to find the part you want damaged from someone else ripping out another part.
 
It does contribute to the scarcity of parts. Door panels seem to get it worst. Pry and bend and snap...to get a switch that could be removed without removing the panel at all.

I was looking for a replacement wood bezel for the center stack today. One was a different shade than the wood in mine, the other was in great condition. Well it was before somebody impatiently ripped it in half to remove the radio.

Oh well, I made it easy for everybody else that visits that Mark. Does anybody know how to fill in a small chip in that wood appliqué? I have a semi-circular chip about 3mm on the edge of the piece.
 
The steering wheel is back together. I can manually crank it to the limits without any trouble. I'm modifying the restraint cables so that it stops forward movement of the column before the bearing cage reaches the retaining pin that holds the race. I don't want to take a chance that a malfunctioning potentiometer allows it to over-travel.

Everything got completely washed down with mineral spirits to remove the old gluey grease, then coated with moly. I cleaned the potentiometer I found at the treasure-yard and coated the resistive trace with dielectric grease.

I'll plug it in and test it maybe this weekend.

Here is a before and after of the driver's seat belt. Also, some pics of the back so far.

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One half of this seat-back was cleaned using our Mr. Clean magic eraser, while the other half was cleaned with our leading competitor, Señor Buttwipe-o! Can you spot the difference?

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Middle Seatbelt tucked away!
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All gave some
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Some gave all
 
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Lookin great!

That interior refresh did amazing results. Can't wait to see what other things your going to do on the car.
 
looks amazing! Great work!! What did you use to clean the seat belt? It looks brand new.
 
Lookin great!

That interior refresh did amazing results. Can't wait to see what other things your going to do on the car.

Thanks. I love clean plush insides.

looks amazing! Great work!! What did you use to clean the seat belt? It looks brand new.

It is surprising considering this thing apparently had a lot of sand in it at one point and a lot of gritty sand came out of that belt!

I just soaked the webbing in some Super Clean (available at Walmart). Dilute 50/50 with water and DON'T LET IT GET ON YOUR SKIN, the stuff is to grease and oil what Hillary is to gabbing witnesses. Soak for one-hour. Then, remove the webbing from the Super Clean solution and scrub the belt with itself, like getting a stain out of a shirt. Continue to rub while submerging in a bucket of clean water. You will see the grease propelling itself from the fibers and forming a gelatinous layer of fat at the top. This is why you will need a fresh bucket of water for each rinse. You can reuse the Super Clean for another belt, but replace after that. You will not believe the amount of grease, try for yourself.



My steering wheel was not extending. I couldn't even hear the motor engaging.

I separated the column into the two main pieces. I completely wiped up the sappy and bogging grease out of the bearing tracks as well as the electrical contact surfaces in the potentiometer and 4-way switch. I used new bearing grease and dielectric grease. I also used white lithium to thoroughly coat the screws that actuate the column. I would guess that the column was seized, as it was difficult at first to break the extension screw loose but afterward would move rather freely.

With everything together I tested it in the car. It works nearly flawlessly and stops exactly at the limit of the restraint cables I installed.

My problem is that with the wheel all the way in, if I try to extend it, it will extend for one second and stop. Afterward, it will extend to its limit. No matter what I do it will stop after one second from the fully retracted position. Is this a known issue?

I also have to ask if your multi-switch rubber boot at the base of the stalk comes in contact with your dash when it fully retracts. My dash seems to have some wear from the contact of this rubber.

Finally:
I don't like how stiff the turn signal selection is when using the stalk. I opened the housing behind the clock-spring and wiped all of the old sap out and replaced with fresh grease. I also clipped a few turns of the spring off, behind this detent pin. Once back together, the stalk works smoothly and flawlessly.

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I also have to ask if your multi-switch rubber boot at the base of the stalk comes in contact with your dash when it fully retracts. My dash seems to have some wear from the contact of this rubber.
First thanks for the detailed info on how to clean the belt. Mine could use a good cleaning.
And to answer, yes the rubber boot does touch the dash fully retracted - at least mine does. I have actually tried to adjust mine so it doesn't, but as long as i have the easy entry option on, it does every time. I think it was intended to do so. No issues with mine for 5 years now.
 
Thanks for letting me know. I wasn't sure if my install was exactly correct.

A lot has happened, some of which I'm extremely grieved by.

I'll get to the bad stuff in a moment.

Blend Door Actuator
The biggest issue with the actuator is the two-piece design. The arm is brittle and gets split by the shaft. This was the case with mine.

I used super glue and baking soda and finally a zip-tie to completely solidly attach the arm to the shaft. This is a good long-term fix, as baking soda and super glue always is.

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Console

I rebuilt and degreased all of the components of the console, cup holder and ash tray. My ash tray lid is broken in pieces so I sutured the pieces for now and will be looking for a replacement. Not that I'll ever use the ash tray, but hey I like things as original as possible; assuming original condition is best anyway.

The center console compartment is flocked. Let me first say that the car has suffered a few severe fills of Big Gulps in its tenure. Sometimes orange Fanta, sometimes Cola. It has saturated the compartment, cup holders, ash tray, shifting components, carpet, seat and floor mats. I will be mentioning the clean-up quite often.

The flocked material was syrupy and otherwise dirt ridden. I was able to soak this in a very mild solution of the Super Clean. Dabbing with just a paper towel made it good as new. The glove compartment is cleaned in the same way.

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The cup-holder was soaked in a stronger solution for a long time and thoroughly rinsed. Without the buildup of old degraded grease and soda syrup, the cup holder springs open just like new!

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The ash tray was worst. It's clean now but I unplugged the lighter socket and removed the bulb socket because it will never be useful. Instead I'm going to install a power socket in the bottom of the center compartment. There is actually a removable piece on the bottom that is intended for the cell phone and even has the leads there ready to supply power. My cell phone will live in this compartment and will be able to connect to the new head unit I'm planning on. This connection will supply data and power.

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Speaker Grilles
The foam that masks the rear speakers has long perished. I don't like being able to see the components behind the grille, so the old foam is cleaned up and I mask it now with Typar. It looks fine now in the sunlight!

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One grille with the perished foam and one grille with Typar.

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Seat Motors
As I posted previously, I intended to clean and recondition the motors. I've changed my mind as the gearbox is the biggest issue.

Instead, I've taken a new gearbox and set of motors.

I had the choice of an '06 Town Car or an '04 Grand Marquis. I know that Town Cars also have the easy entry feature, which means the forward/reverse motor is used every time the car is driven. With the Grand Marquis, no automatic seat functions exist. This was a no-brainer, I took the Mercury motors and gearbox.

Once I opened everything up, I saw that the commutators were in excellent condition and showed very little wear! I plugged them in and everything worked perfectly!

I did have two hangups.

1. The sensors for the memory function do not fit the later style motors. I had to put all of the brushes and rear bearings into the Mark VIII's original rear cover.

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2. When I plugged it into the car to try, the forward/reverse motor as well as the rear tilt motor were reverse-poled. I swapped the pins in the connector and now everything works exactly as intended!

Seat Foam Repair
I will move on to the upper part of the seat another time, but for now here is my lower cushion repair.

The outside bolster had a hole worn through it, it even went through the leather. I had it repaired, but I'll bring that up later.

For the foam, I stuffed new foam to fill the gap. Then, to ensure it will not wear through again, I used Typar to reinforce it.

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The bottom of the cushion is being sawed apart by the wire supports underneath. I used Typar yet again to reinforce this area.

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The rear of this interior is definitively complete!

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Thanks a lot! I did actually have a question for the forum.

Every Mark VIII that I've tested, including this one, has a weird quirk.
The cable for the glovebox damper is always disconnected from the compartment. I've started to wonder whether this is something that just happens in the process of servicing the blend door or if it can just fall off on its own. If it is falling off regularly, that's no good. I opened a glove box on a car that I was testing and the cable was loose so the box came down hard (filled with junk) and snapped one of the retaining tabs. I'd hate to take that chance.
 
Great work as usual!

That interior looks brand new. Glad to hear all that yuk syrup and cola stains came out. If my seat motors ever give me problems, I now have a good visual to look at for repair.
 
Love the progress
Keep the pictures coming.
+1
Fantastic the way your mind works - you can take anything apart, see if there is an issue and find a way to fix or improve it! Repairing 20 year old leather seats is no easy task! Awesome work!!
 
All my glove boxes except one work great
The one that doesn't needs a blend door arm and I can tell the previous owners were up there to do a temp fix. They made it worse.
 
Thanks for the input. I'm glad to share whatever knowledge I have in the subject.

Slow, thanks for letting me know. I was afraid it was a common issue and would break one day if I'm not careful.

Only a few updates for now. I am driving the car now. I notice a trans fluid leak but it stops once the fluid gets to a certain level, so I'm hoping it's just the pan!

I finally got around to dyeing the ignition bezel. It's really bothered me. I cleaned all of the crappy rubber paint off and then sprayed with vinyl/leather dye. Several coats later and it looks maybe even better than new.

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I had a few cataracts on the warning lights display. I peeled it apart to clean the control panel in general and found that the cause is peeling paint on the back.

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As you can see, a colored decal is applied to the transparent membrane. The decals has a removable mask. Once the transparent membrane is painted, the masks are removed and the decals are framed within the black. I masked the warning decals with tape and sprayed the back, after scraping away any loose original paint. I applied three coats to get an opaque finish. The result is good as new!

I also had to peel and dye the buttons.

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Finally, I've polished all of the wood. Shocking how gorgeously it shines now. Can't wait to see it all together.

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Thats amazing. You know exactly how and where to redo as necessary for these parts.

You are superman dude.

Just puttin this out there, see if you can get a set of Lincoln Mark VIII repair manuals "the blue books" from the dealer service department. They can be mostly found on Ebay, if you haven't already got the complete set. It shows everything on this car, assemble disassemble ect.
 
Thanks, I do normally get the shop manuals and may look for these when I get into the mechanical stuff.

I won't have any updates for a while because I haven't been able to progress until my door panels are finished. The only thing hanging me up is that I've destroyed my door handle bezel and window switch bezel.

I intended to repaint them as I'm repainting all of the painted panels. Ford has and continues to paint plastic molded trim pieces. The pieces come out with a plastic gloss. Ford chooses to subdue this sheen with a latex coating that peels in strips with regular use. The parts I am choosing to paint includes the A-pillar trim, the door handle bezels, and the switch bezels.

The problem I had with the bezels is that because they are set in leather, I wanted them to match as well as possible. I found a Krylon paint that matched almost indistinguishably. I stripped the original latex off of the bezels and started spraying. I had a problem, though. With every single layer, it would have dust in it. I did everything, even painting indoors, to eliminate dust but these were magnets.

After probably ten coats, I decided to strip everything and just go with the custom matched dye that I had. I stripped the pieces but the stripper just turned the surface of the plastic into goo that was gouged and cracked while removing the paint.

I'm so frustrated, I'm just done with it for now. I need to locate new bezels of any color so I can strip and dye them and skip messing with the spray paint.

In the mean time, I'm going to strip and dye the pillar trim.
 
Thanks, I do normally get the shop manuals and may look for these when I get into the mechanical stuff.

I won't have any updates for a while because I haven't been able to progress until my door panels are finished. The only thing hanging me up is that I've destroyed my door handle bezel and window switch bezel.

I intended to repaint them as I'm repainting all of the painted panels. Ford has and continues to paint plastic molded trim pieces. The pieces come out with a plastic gloss. Ford chooses to subdue this sheen with a latex coating that peels in strips with regular use. The parts I am choosing to paint includes the A-pillar trim, the door handle bezels, and the switch bezels.

The problem I had with the bezels is that because they are set in leather, I wanted them to match as well as possible. I found a Krylon paint that matched almost indistinguishably. I stripped the original latex off of the bezels and started spraying. I had a problem, though. With every single layer, it would have dust in it. I did everything, even painting indoors, to eliminate dust but these were magnets.

After probably ten coats, I decided to strip everything and just go with the custom matched dye that I had. I stripped the pieces but the stripper just turned the surface of the plastic into goo that was gouged and cracked while removing the paint.

I'm so frustrated, I'm just done with it for now. I need to locate new bezels of any color so I can strip and dye them and skip messing with the spray paint.

In the mean time, I'm going to strip and dye the pillar trim.
You have done so much amazing work here! Bringing back items 15 to 20+ years old, to new or better than new condition. This is no easy feat! And you have done this with different items over and over again! Do not let this one thing set you back or deter you! If I could do the restorations you do 75% of the time, I would shit gold bricks of continuous joy!
 
Thanks a lot. I'm pretty proud of how things are coming, even if slowly until I can find replacement interior pieces.

To take my mind off of it, I've started to play with my stereo. It wired up to the stock amp about as easily as it can get. I can't imagine the amp will last much longer considering the output of this head unit. Almost ready to start cutting and drop it in.

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There are a lot of wire adapters or audio adapters you can buy that will reduce the power input - this will save the amp and sound distortion if the input levels are too high.
If you have a wiring diagram for the amp you can use the rca output on the deck and splice a set of rca wires into the amp wiring harness.
 

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