Looking at a 32 valve early model MKVIII Lincoln
What is good?
What is suspect?
What mods would you recommend?
Steve
Looking at a 32 valve early model MKVIII Lincoln
What is good?
What is suspect?
What mods would you recommend?
Steve
I always liked the Mk VIII's.
Unfortunately, the cheaper ones that I've seen have a bad case of slammed suspension....dunno if that's from the owner or the car....or both.
IIRC, the LSC's were rated somewhere around 290hp.
The Mark VIII is a hell of a car. With a chip it will run 155 mph. Problem is the suspension. Air struts all the way around. They will leak, and the air pump will burn itself out trying to inflate the leaking struts. Luckily there are options, rebuilt air struts are available from Strutmasters or Arnott, as are coil spring conversions. The transmissions are the AOD-E, which is pretty solid until it needs a rebuild, then it's pricey. Stay away from cars that have been "lowered" because old air bags don't like having their ride height changed (it has to do with where they bend). Working on the engine sucks due to the tight engine bay (same bay as the MN-12 Thunderbird/Cougar). Also the headlights suck on the early models, but you can refit later HID stock lights easy. Other than that, I'd have one in a heart beat if I was allowed (Lincoln is a cursed brand to me now).
http://www.americanairsuspension.com/cart/products.php?cat=3
They made an "LSC" version that was sweet looking. The Mark VIII is probably my favorite Mod Motor car.
The italian built aluminum block is a pretty good piece, it will not handle over 575hp but if you want to build it UP to that point you will have a winner.
The cams and intake are different from the Cobra pieces, I strongly suggest investing in the Cobra pieces. A 2.5" or 3" exhaust is key to power production.
If the world were my playground and I were to build a Lotus 7 clone it would be powered by an alloy 4.6L.
One of my best friends has one that's new enough to have the 4R70w instead of aod, don't know what year that is. Anyway, my p71 is faster through the quarter. I should mention his trap speed is much higher and it's about another 20 ft before he's blowing past me
John Brown wrote: The italian built aluminum block is a pretty good piece, it will not handle over 575hp but if you want to build it UP to that point you will have a winner.
I have heard that 450hp is more of where the line in the sand is drawn, owing to the hypereutetic pistions (but thats the pistons)
I have heard of people running 800hp on a stock block
I have the SVT mustang version of the motor in my mustang, for road course duty you want to run an extra quart (or so i hear, i havent run on a roadcourse)
Low end power is low, power builds up high.
can be expensive motors to fix, but they are pretty durable (havent had a problem with mine, but its only got 56k on it)
Sounds good so far, nothing I didn't expect to hear about, I was concerned about head gaskets, anybody know anything specific?
Do the same front and rear coil springs that fit in the Town Car/Crown Vic fit in the Mark VIII thereby replacing the airbags like they do in the rear of the Town Car
head gasket problems on the 4.6DOHC would be news to me...
i have heard about spark plug troubles though. (factory buggered threads)
The Gen2 Lightning Guys had some problems with the early 5.4 plug threads, but I'm not sure if the problem was shared with the 4.6 .
Oh it was most definitely shared with the 4.6! Ford was too cheap to tap the heads very far and if you built up enough pressure you could shoot plugs right out of the head! All of the 2V and some of the 4V have this problem and it's ridiculous. We had to be sooooo careful changing the plugs on my P71 so as not to strip what little threads there were.
The other mod motor problem is with the early intakes leaking coolant and cracking, but even the later "PI" ones like mine have gumming and corrosion issues. A sacrificial anode works wonders for these.
Never heard of a bottom end problem though. They are rock-solid in that department until you go super-crazy with power mods and even then most of them survive.
The LSC Mark 8 is rated at 290 hp and the non-LSC is 280. The Marks have the Teksid block which is stronger, but a bit heavier, than the blocks fitted to the 99-01 Cobras. The heads are also different from the 99-04 stuff. Coil spring conversions are easy--just buy T-Bird springs, front shocks and a rear spring perch. They're sweet looking cars and personally I prefer the slim-grille 93-96 models to the later ones with the bigger grille. 93 models also have a better 1-piece aluminum driveshaft.
Resurrecting this to get P71's input on a 4.6 Mod plug repair...
A buddy's 4.6 just shot out one of it's plugs this weekend destroying the coil pack on it's way out. P71, what is the best thing to do here. Try and helicoil the head in the car (it is the farthest back plug on the passenger side), or pull the head and do it. The car has 212,000 on it so while a swap for a lower mileage takeout would be nice my friend doesn't have a lot of money to play with.
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