'87 Lincoln Mark VII LSC

Just drove it home which was a VERY interesting experience! The driver's side front air bag had pressure but the other three were decidedly flaccid. The good news is the engine runs great and the transmission feels solid despite the fact that the odometer reads just over 200,000 miles.

There are a few spots of rust but nothing too serious. The underside of the floor pan is solid, rust free and completely devoid of cracks! The interior has been thrashed and has a unique odor that spawned the moniker, "Stinkin' Lincoln". Imaginative, I know. I found $2.72 buried in the interior and a bunch of strange dice looking things, pics to follow soon.

The Stincoln (I like that!) will be used for solo 2, rallycross and the occasional trip to work. That and all-around beaterishness.

Known issues:

Air bags need to be repaired or coil springs swapped in - check

tires (I can see wires!) - check...kind of

sensors (It was running VERY rich and puffing black smoke!) - check (vacuum lines)

fix the fuel leak - check

fix the oil leak - getting there

fix the slight coolant leak - check

fix the power steering leak - ugh

^ Might be why the floor pan has no rust!

fix the fuel level gauge - it works fine...it was empty

transmission fluid and filter

rear diff oil

engine oil and filter - check (several times over)

air filter - check

fuel filter

steering wheel (There's some kind of tarry goo leaking out of the stock wheel. ) - check

alignment - check...sort of

endlinks for both sways - check

the passenger side front seat is broken - check

That's it for now. I'm going to head out and snap some pics then take a nap (3rd shift), hopefully I'll get them uploaded soon.

Stincoln . . . . AWESOME!!

You owe me, my darling luddite;

Apparently driving the Stincoln is hazardous to your health!

You can thank me by trading my Suburban for a Forester next, preferably with a turbo

What the holy hell happened to that passenger seat?
Sweet ride.

Counting change...

In reply to Morbid:

Them's some pretty 'spensive pixors!

Had a moment of hilarity while performing the pre purchase inspection. Apparently the trunk spring has popped loose and it doesn't open automatically. While goofing around in the interior I decided to try the trunk release button. I hit the button and there was a solid "thunk" as the trunk latch released. I hopped out of the car and walked to the rear but the trunk was still closed. Thoroughly puzzled, I turned the key to open the trunk and it popped up about an inch. I then put the key in my pocket but before I could grab the trunk lid the auto close mechanism sucked it back down with a derisive whirrrrrring sound.

The former owner did not find it quite as funny as me.

mazdeuce wrote: What the holy hell happened to that passenger seat? Sweet ride.

Well the guy I bought it from had picked it up for his son who's attending college and you know how frisky them college kids can be!

The_Jed wrote: In reply to Morbid: Them's some pretty 'spensive pixors!

A new motorcycle would work, too :)

Those old 302 motors are bullet proof.

In reply to N Sperlo:

Indeed. I'll find out just how tough it is soon enough!

Well, it's on jack stands in the garage...progress may be rather slow on this one.

Ye Olde Cleveland 302. You'll know her like the back of your hand.

My friend had a similar one in a Crown Victoria pushing over 400 hp. Yep. It pushed 400 hp right into the ass end of that little car...

N Sperlo wrote: Ye Olde Cleveland 302. You'll know her like the back of your hand.

Well enough to know that the 302 is a Windsor, not a Cleveland?

Just snagged these for the Stincoln. Two of the tires are old and down to about 40% tread, one is scary (two layers of exposed wires) and one is worn out (wires nearly showing). Paid $60 for the set.

I'm beginning to suspect I may have a whingey head gasket on my hands or even a cracked head. The cooling system gets pressurized when I run the engine for even a few seconds. It's not down on power and there is no steam or coolant smell in the exhaust.

There's no mixing of oil and coolant either so I dunno.

What do you think, should I yank the heads and fix whatever is wrong or just drive it and be prepared to drop in a junkyard replacement engine?

Looks like a great start to a low buck sleeper, pull the 302 and freshen it up with some new rings and bearings and gaskets, throw a junk yard set of explorer gt40 heads and matching intake manifold and a cheap letter cam and you can surprise the hell out of some people in that thing lol

Also you can't forget some 4.10's in the rear lol

A care package arrived in the mail today from StrutMasters! I'm super excited to start seriously wrenching on this thing.

The more I look at and research the Stincoln the more I start leaning away from treating it like a beater. You may be on to something, Caleb. I'm thinking a low-buck sleeper/ resto-mod build might be the order of the day.

Blessed be the spouse who supports the purchase of $300 vehicles.

In reply to Woody:

Indeed.

Woody wrote: Blessed be the spouse who supports the purchase of $300 vehicles.

Don't think for a second that the support comes cheap.

Have you looked into doing a t5 swap? I can tell you from experience that the AOD takes a lot of power and torque away from that motor and there very fragile

In reply to Caleb:

I have thought about swapping in a T-5 but I think I'm going to stick with a slushbox for now.

Tried to drop the fuel tank only to have the nut break loose on the other side of the panel so the bolt spins but does not back out. Made a face and decided to pull the air springs and pop in the strutmasters coil spring conversion starting with the passenger side rear since I was already there.

Apparently at some point the top of the air spring on that corner popped out of it's mount and proceeded to bash the living E36 M3 out of said mount until it broke loose from the unibody and folded upward. FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU...

Now I need to pound it back down and weld it back into place...but I have no welder...

Since nothing else was going my way and I needed a victory I cut the pop rivets off of the stock strut mounts, loosened the nuts and pushed them inboard for a bit more negative camber.

The other 3 air bags are now inflated and holding air...