1992 Lincoln Mark VII

After some quality time spent under the car prying on various things and comparing the ease and amount of movement between the driver and passenger side it looks like the passenger side A-arm bushings are more worn out than the driver side. I couldn't discern any metal-on-metal contact that would explain the clunk but it's a (another) possible culprit. Also the brake pad retainer spring is MIA so there's a rattle there too.

Things replaced trying to eliminate the clunk:

sway bar endlinks

sway bar bushings

struts

Now the big question; rubber or polyurethane?

The_Jed wrote: Now the big question; rubber or polyurethane?

Heim joint!

Haha!

I considered turning my own A-arm bushings out of aluminum then my mind went on a tangent where I imagined myself making and selling forward offset bushings for all of the Fox bodies along with accompanying rack bushings... it was a long night at work.

I took the boring/easy route and ordered some O.E. replacement type Moog bushings.

I had the O.E. replacement bushings pressed in by a local shop and I'm not happy with the results. Lots of squeaks and groans. I actually wrenched there part time, for cash a few years ago, which complicates things a bit. They had my car from July 30th until October 8th... for a job that books at 4.6 hours...

On an unrelated note:

Recently the car had begun idling erratically and stalling on occasion. I was debating between pulling the upper plenum and chasing vacuum lines or swapping the IAC valve. I cleaned the O.E. IAC valve last night and it straightened out the idle for a bit but the E36 M3ty idle came and went. I decided that must be the culprit so I installed a new one and my Lincoln's rock steady idle is back.

While verifying that the o2 sensors were intact and plugged in I noticed a big chunk missing from the rear bushing on the driver's side.

I promptly drove back to the shop and chewed some fat. The owner said he'd personally press in a new set of bushings at no cost.

Up to this point his son had been doing the work.

I did find the source of the clunk, finally. Inside the rear a-arm bushing there is a funky, almost trapezoidal shaped piece of metal. The rubber had gotten so soft the metal chunk was moving around hitting the inner wall of the bushing shell.

Yesterday I raised the front ride height sensors to their highest setting then adjusted the rear to match. Unfortunately it looks like Art may see some snow this winter. The Scoob needs some down time and wrenching.

Waiting for the warm temps this coming weekend for Art's final oil change of 2014.

Updated rust and odometer pics (the car is filthy, too cold to wash it):

Top left corner:

I hit the underside with a wire wheel, then shot some spray paint on it as a temporary "fix".

Pounding my head against the wall chasing idle and drive-ability issues...

Swapped in a new distributor and upon turning the key forward the tach needle swept all of the way up to redline and stayed there. No idea why...tach driver malfunction in the dizzy?

Depends on how your tach is wired. I'm assuming it is stock and in the dash, but I'd check the wires. It sounds like a short. Your tach, I think, runs on spark rate. It is probably detecting a constant signal (a short) instead of spark and therefore spiking.

FB pics no work, maybe try imgur?

Part Duex! Making it "mine":

Drove it to work today then went for an hour long cruise. During the cruise the temp gauge needle was acting strange. It registered the usual gradual increase in temperature but the needle was "fluttery" instead of steady. Every sensor is new so I'm 99% sure that isn't the issue.

It hovered on the R in NORMAL, as it usually does, but then started a slow, steady climb upwards with no more fluttering. All of the coolant rushing past the sensor must have been nearly uniform in temperature since the needle was now steady. It was steadily rising so apparently the coolant wasn't staying in the radiator long enough to cool down.

My conclusion; the thermostat is stuck open. Oh well, it's better than closed. I ran the heater on the way home to keep the temp in the R.

Tonight's plan is to scuff and paint the battleship gray underbody with satin black then shoot some satin black plasti-dip on the upper trim and bumpers, in case I want to remove it without risking any permanent damage.

Pics to follow!

The boy hopped in and tried to steal my car.

The girl supervising:

The wife telling me I'm doing it wrong:

Daughter snapped some pics as the masking tape was peeled off:

^ I'm all dirty from laying on the ground to shoot the under side.

That's plasti-dip on the bumper:

Results:

Did you ever figure out the idle/running issue? That's what kept me from buying it when you had it for sale at the Mk.7 board...I have no trailer and a second project wasn't in the cards.