thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
You have no idea...
My strut masters blow
- Thread starter George Eisenhart
- Start date
You have no idea...
Lownslowlsc
Dedicated LVC Member
thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
Okay. Prove it. Show me proof that the Mark VIII/T-Bird/Cougar MN12/FN10 platform has a McPherson strut front suspension. I dare you. I have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Mark VIII does indeed have an SLA suspension and therefore can not possibly have a strut design suspension by any stretch of the imagination. Prove me wrong. If you can.
See, the whole thing's rhetorical. There's no possible way to prove the Mark VIII has McPherson struts:lol: It's impossible
So I don't expect a response.
Lownslowlsc
Dedicated LVC Member
Okay. Prove it. Show me proof that the Mark VIII/T-Bird/Cougar MN12/FN10 platform has a McPherson strut front suspension. I dare you. I have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Mark VIII does indeed have an SLA suspension and therefore can not possibly have a strut design suspension by any stretch of the imagination. Prove me wrong. If you can.
See, the whole thing's rhetorical. There's no possible way to prove the Mark VIII has McPherson struts:lol: It's impossible
But I thought you knew I was just messin' with ya?
thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
But I thought you knew I was just messin' with ya?
Dammit
Now I feel like a jerk. That's what happens when I drink...I apologize for getting all outta whack.
NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
I had to go cut my front and back yard and this is all you two could come up with? I think I'm gonna put struts on my John Deere. Wished I could put air ride on it.
thaywood, I think you proved your point on the strut issue but I bet someone will still call the front "air shocks", struts. I know my new boxes from Ford, labeled Motorcraft calls them air shocks. You even have a pic of my label in your sig. Strut isn't on the box anywhere. Tasca was listing them as "air springs, which btw, they (the texasmotorsport site) DID update their new price for them just like Tasca did.
http://www.texasmotorsfordparts.com/parts/1996/LINCOLN/MARK%20VIII/?siteid=214462&vehicleid=1188547§ion=FRONT%20SUSPENSION&group=&subgroup=&component=&searchText=&startRow=31&maxRow=10
I think I'm gonna put struts on my John Deere. Wished I could put air ride on it.thaywood, I think you proved your point on the strut issue but I bet someone will still call the front "air shocks", struts. I know my new boxes from Ford, labeled Motorcraft calls them air shocks. You even have a pic of my label in your sig. Strut isn't on the box anywhere. Tasca was listing them as "air springs, which btw, they (the texasmotorsport site) DID update their new price for them just like Tasca did.
http://www.texasmotorsfordparts.com/parts/1996/LINCOLN/MARK%20VIII/?siteid=214462&vehicleid=1188547§ion=FRONT%20SUSPENSION&group=&subgroup=&component=&searchText=&startRow=31&maxRow=10
Lownslowlsc
Dedicated LVC Member
Dammit
I apologize for getting all outta whack.
It was entertaining, no need to apologize.
thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
I had to go cut my front and back yard and this is all you two could come up with?
:lol:
Thanks. I'm extremely passionate about few things. But my hatred of McPherson struts is one of them. I can't explain why I hate them so much. Maybe it's because they are used in so many wrong-wheel-drive cars, which I despise with a passion also. Or maybe it's because the McPherson strut is a cheap and stupid design. Luxury/Sports cars like the Mark VIII are not supposed to use struts. Struts are for cheap Korean econo-death traps. Ford realized this and upgraded the old Mark VII's Fox chassis strut front suspension to a proper SLA design with an integrated air spring and shock unit. It simply baffles me to no end how anyone could honestly mistake an SLA suspension for a strut design. But undoubtedly, there will still be those imminently stubborn among us who simply refuse to see the forrest for the trees and will continue to incorrectly use the term "strut" to describe our cars' front shocks. It boggles the mind
Testify!
:Beer:IOh now that just sucks. Wish I had the money to order a set a few days ago when they were still (relatively) inexpensive
I felt it was more "educational" than entertaining. Welcome to absolute basic automotive suspension 101. I'll be your instructor for this semester. :lol:
I hope that some people may have learned a thing or two from my alcohol fueled spoon feeding session
(Yes, I did go back and proof read my rant after I sobered up just to make sure I had all my facts in order. They were.)
NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
Oh now that just sucks. Wish I had the money to order a set a few days ago when they were still (relatively) inexpensive
I'm working on something now with a seller for new OEM's at a much cheaper price than you seen before. I'll find out more on the 6th
thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
Ooooh goody goody! :wrenchKeep us posted
Only problem is, there won't be multiple shocks to choose from. Very limited but the price so far is looking to be around $330 to the door, maybe a few dollars less. That beats the hell out of $369+ $35 shipping. The passenger side is the one I'm having a problem with right now, to buy, not the new one on the car. I want to get the extra set I was gonna get first, to see if everything is all good. So far, it all looks good at the lowered price. I think they have limited stock and now they're at the point of just getting them gone and out of their computer system and storage facility. In other words, I'm bugging the piss out of them to come down on the price.
thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
They should give LVC members a 25% discount or something. They'd get rid of their stock in a big hurry.
NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
I found some more for $296 + shipping but for the left side only.
EDIT: Found both sides.
Right Side OEM
SubTotal: $303.78
* Estimated Tax: $0.00
Shipping: $32.36
Total: $336.14
Left Side OEM
SubTotal: $296.89
* Estimated Tax: $0.00
Shipping: $31.95
Total: $328.84
thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
That's not bad compared to the almost $500 each that everybody else seems to be charging. But still unfortunately out of my price range (at least until tax time next year
). I'm so broke right now I can't even pay attention...
*Maverick*
Well-Known LVC Member
What I would love to find is a set of good condition, fully functional electronic adjustable front and rear shocks and springs from an '89-'95 Thunderbird SC or '89-'92 Cougar XR-7 and install them with a switch on the dash for "Soft/Firm" selection. I did that on an '87 Mustang with '88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe electronic shocks and struts. It worked quite nicely. Problem is, SC shocks are getting hard to find.
Didn't the Mark VIII have electronic adjustable rear shocks? Or at least have it available as an option certain years? When my parents bought their 94 WAY BACK in the day, I remember the salesman showing them 2 switches in the trunk- 1 for the air ride on/off, and the other for sport/luxury suspension. Their 96 now doesn't have it and my 93 didn't have it, and I haven't seen a switch in any of the cars I've parted out over the years, but when I changed the rear shocks in my 93, there were wires unhooked at the shocks on both sides like they might have been hooked up to an electronic shock at one time, and I've also seen this in at least 2 of my parts cars. Anybody know anything about this?
thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
From what I've read/heard/seen, some early Gen1's had ARC rear shocks only. And they were not manually adjustable. They were 100% computer controlled. No firm/auto switch like the T-Bird. They were basically the same as the T-Birid SC rear shocks with the adjuster solenoid on top of the shock to adjust the stiffness of the shock. They were used to reduce squat on takeoff and nosedive on braking. When the brake pedal is pressed, the solenoid would click the shock to the "firm" position to reduce front end dive and the same procedure for takeoff to reduce rear end squat. It didn't last long and they are very rare. The Mark VIII never had ARC on the front shocks though. And there is no Sport/Luxury switch in the trunk that I know of:lol: Maybe he was talking about the fuel pump reset switch??
*Maverick*
Well-Known LVC Member
I don't think he was talking about the inertia switch for the fuel pump. If I remember correctly, this switch was on the opposite side of the trunk (same side as the emergency pull tab for the gas door). I specifically remember him talking about that and showing the SOMETHING in the trunk. I was only 11 at the time, so I've asked them about it more recently and they remember him showing it to them too, but they never tried to use it. I wish they still had that car. It was nicer than their 96 LSC in some ways. The 94 was also the car that had "Traction Assist" listed on the factory window sticker, but didn't have it. I'm just starting to wonder what kind of "freak" that car was or what the hell the salesman was talking about (this was a Linc-Merc salesman) as the car was almost new when they bought it.
thaywood
Dedicated LVC Member
I have no earthly idea what the salesman could have been talking about. The only thing on the right side of the trunk on my '96 or '97 is the fuel door pull string. There has never been a sport/luxury suspension setting on the Mark VIII. If there were, it would be on the dash or console like the Firm/Auto selector on the T-Bird TC's and SC's. The Continental, however, did have 4-wheel adjustable suspension that was driver controlled through a button or buttons on the dash. The Connie also had steering effort adjustment as well as several other adjustments that the Mark VIII never had (but should have). Does anyone else have any clue what the salesman could have been talking about? Or was he just making stuff up as he went along so he could make a sale (that gets my vote)?
*Maverick*
Well-Known LVC Member
That's what I'm wondering. I've NEVER seen that since, and unfortunately, they traded that car on the 96 before I was old enough to drive it or mess with it any. I was just wondering if it could have been some sort of experimental/rare something, but I'd figure with all the members on here (some of whom have owned multiple Marks), somebody would have come across something like this at some point if they'd made something like that. I've searched the internet before, and never found anything there either.
NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
Never was such a switch. The only thing that was different with the 93 and early 94's were the rear shocks. They did have an electrical plug going to them and anytime you turn the key on, you would hear a click/click or if you pressed the brake pedal down far enough, you would hear the click/click sound. They were designed to stop nose diving when braking hard. I had them on my black on black 94 but when I switched shocks, I just unplugged those and put in Monroe Sensatrac's fora 95 t-bird. All marks I have owned besides the B on B 93 did not have the T/A button and that is one option I would never have paid for when buying new and glad I don't have it now.
I think the salesman was just trying to make a sale if he did in fact say that the suspension could be firmed up or softened with a switch but Lincoln would never install such a switch in the trunk. They're too advanced for that. That switch, had there been one would have been inside on the dash somewhere.
the1andonlyGR81
Dedicated LVC Member
plus your still trying to remember a sentence from 18 years ago!
NoLimit95
Dedicated LVC Member
:iconcur:
Moes8
Dedicated LVC Member
my 93 parts car has the solenoids in the rear,but no switch.
chris2523
93 Mark VIII
my 93 had the solenoids. no switch.
*Maverick*
Well-Known LVC Member
Well I guess that makes sense then. After searching for something like that years ago, I had pretty much put it to rest, but a year or two ago, I was doing research for a friend who'd bought a 93 Cougar, and I saw that SC/XR7's had something like that, so I thought it was an odd coincidence that I remembered that and other sporty MN12 cars had it, so I started thinking again that there might have been something to it, but it was a long time ago, and my memory is foggy to a point. I do know he said it though. I just don't remember specifically WHERE the alleged switch was. I thought I remembered it being on the same side as the emergency pull tab for the gas door, but could he have been talking about the air ride switch? I just don't get why a salesman would be talking about turning your air ride off and driving around like that. I guess it wouldn't lower the car automatically or any of that, so "OFF" could have been the soft setting he was talking about, but is it safe to drive around with it off? I never tried it when I had my 93.