Well, I did a thing.....

Topic: Well, I did a thing..... (Read 3413 times) previous topic - next topic

Well, I did a thing.....

December 16, 2019, 09:49:52 AM

Last week, a guy who lives less than a mile from me wasn't paying attention, plowed into my legally parked and unoccupied Dodge, and subsequently pushed it into my neighbor's 2019 Honda Accord Sport that had 6 feet of space.
Oh yes, my neighbor was actually in his Honda at the time to boot. I'm actually hoping they don't total out the Dodge because there's no way I'll find another decent 4X4 at a reasonable price around here unless it's 20 years old or has a ridiculous amount of miles on it.

Anyway, I'd been tossing around the idea of buying my friend's 89 LSC and we had discussed the topic a few days prior to the Dodge incident. A price was negotiated and we both figured to do the transaction after the new year. We sped up the time table due to the cirspoogestances.

41K miles
Brand new rotors, calipers, pads, and acspoogeulator with 150 miles on them when I got it. 3k miles on the transmission. This car has been on here before Dave (My83T) owned it before my friend Mike.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #1 – December 16, 2019, 09:52:18 AM

Wish I could see the pic. I always liked those cars.

sorry about your Dodge. At least you weren't hurt.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #2 – December 30, 2019, 12:08:38 PM

Well if Dave owned it, we KNOW it's clean. Pictures of the damage to your Dodge?

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #3 – December 31, 2019, 02:20:32 AM

The paint on the driver's side and rear of the truck prior to this was legitimately 9.5/10 prior to this.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #4 – January 02, 2020, 10:52:16 PM

Can't leave the Marks alone eh?

I'd like another one, don't have the space.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #5 – January 03, 2020, 08:08:54 AM

Sorry to see you got an unwanted present for the holidays. Must have been a pretty hard glancing blow to push into the neighbors car.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #6 – January 03, 2020, 03:08:34 PM

I've always loved the Mark VII's, especially the LSC Special Edition ones. If I had the garage space, one would be parked next to my T-bird

I recently drooled over this one....https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1991-lincoln-mark-vii-3/

The Special Editions were made in low volume and I believe will be collector cars someday.....it just may take another 20 years for that to happen.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #7 – January 04, 2020, 10:17:16 AM

Quote from: 88BlueBird – on January 03, 2020, 03:08:34 PM

I've always loved the Mark VII's, especially the LSC Special Edition ones. If I had the garage space, one would be parked next to my T-bird I recently drooled over this one....https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1991-lincoln-mark-vii-3/

The Special Editions were made in low volume and I believe will be collector cars someday.....it just may take another 20 years for that to happen.

Same here.

For fun, two of my close friends and I each put together a list of cars we would have in our dream garage if we were it hit the Power Ball and a 1992 Lincoln Mark VII LSC Special Edition in Garnet Red is one of the cars on my list.

Congrats on the purchase of the LSC.
Hope the repair of the Dodge works out for you.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #8 – February 27, 2020, 07:57:27 AM

She cleans up nice

Sitting for an extended period of time did take it's toll on the cooling system (something I'm all too familiar with on 5.0 cars with ethylene glycol based coolant. Let them sit and wait for them to leak once you start driving it again).

The radiator was the first to go. Easy enough fix. Went with a Summit 2 row aluminum. My last LSC had a stock replacement style one row with aluminum side tanks.   It was not as good as the stock brass/copper unit it replaced in that car. I actually priced out an all brass copper stock replacement. It was $10 less than the Summit piece. The Summit radiator works commendably well. I swapped out the fan clutch while I was digging around in there. Hayden part #2783.
Severe duty clutch. A vast improvement over stock and even the old police package ones.

Shortly after that the water pump gasket sprung a tiny leak. I knew the pump was weak anyway so I wasn't too concerned. Then I looked at it.   I decided I wasn't messing with 31 year old water pump bolts that pass through a timing cover.

It was the correct decision.

Apparently there was 5 hours of cursing and screaming involved in the removal of just those bolts by the shop I dropped it off to that did the work on that. Working a shift of overtime more than paid for the job. I've learned to pick and choose my battles. I have no doubt if I had tackled that job in my driveway I would have snapped a bolt. Not a good thing to do with limited tools and no lift.

New hoses and a new stock temp thermostat were installed as well. The heater core was tested to 30 PSI (which it should NEVER see in real world application) and was good. It now runs about 15-20 degrees colder than when I got it and doesn't leak.

After that I got a good look at the sway bar end links. Note to self. Next time just use a cutoff wheel to remove them. The fronts were in bad shape. Replacement improved tracking in the car. I still have to do the rears (yes, unlike other fox platform cars the Mark VII has rear sway bar end links).

Also on the agenda is new plugs, wires, cap and, rotor.

I'd like to put a good flowing yet quiet catback system on it as well as a larger throttle body. I had the intake tube from a 87-88 Cougarbird 5.0 and a 70mm throttle body on the last one. Didn't notice anything really top end, but tip in response did improve. There were zero idle issues as well. Don't fear the bigger throttle body on a stock head/intake/cam car.

As far as the catback; there's a rather reputable custom fab guy only about 3 miles from the house and his prices are reasonable. I was thinking 2.5" with Borla XS lers. The plan is to keep the stock h-pipe and all emissions components. Everything works properly on this car and I just want a decent highway cruiser.

Other than that I plan on taking those door moldings off and repainting them.   They're notorious for fading on the lighter color cars.   Interestingly enough the SE edition cars didn't seem to have that problem, but most were black or the deep red.

I have to respray the trim that bolts to the lower window felt as well. It's separate from the felt and comes apart fairly easily. SEM makes a good color match for it as well. I have new felt to go on it when that happens.

After that, drive the snot out of it. It now has 43k miles; about 5k on a new transmission. I think there's a lot of life left in it. I've already slogged it into New Jersey (cringe) via the dreaded GWB and a couple of other multiple hour drives. She's mechanically perfect. Just needs a little cleanup and ever so slight upgrades to suit my wants for it.

Pic of the Cougar for those that read the whole post!!!!

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #9 – February 27, 2020, 08:52:57 AM

You went over the GWB? Poor car. Did you lose any caps or fillings?

The Lincoln cleaned up nice. Too bad about the coolant corrosion from sitting. Sounds like it is all good now.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #10 – February 27, 2020, 10:27:38 AM

I would have been scared shiznitless to pressurize a old heater core to 30 psi!!!

Make sure you put a restrictor on heater core feed line, a socket and hose clamp works fine.

I wish I could see the pics, some reason I cant :(

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #11 – February 27, 2020, 10:57:21 AM

Restrictor is already there. Better to know where I stand with regards to the condition of the core then guess. I have an older build (read: actually made by original supplier) NOS heater core that I recently purchased just in case.

The pics SHOULD be viewable now.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #12 – February 27, 2020, 11:52:50 AM

I couldn't find a nos for mine, bought a Motorcraft one from Rockauto. Don't know if those are even there anymore.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #13 – February 27, 2020, 01:34:24 PM

Nope. Haven't been for a while now. They still pop up on eBay on occasion.

Re: Well, I did a thing.....

Reply #14 – February 27, 2020, 09:23:54 PM

You can purchase aftermarket restrictors from Late Model Resto and similar sites.