New addition to the family and other random musings

[LSCyaL8R]

Been a little while since i been here and couple things have happened in that time. Like to start off with the latest addition to my "family"

As of today I am the proud owner, once again, of a 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC Black on Black with the optional octastar rims. Been three years since my last Lincoln and I'm happy to have one parked out front once again. It will go great with my Hawk and Saturn and I can't wait to get some "family portraits" as soon as I get all three reasonably clean for photos.

For the price they sell for these days I don't think you can find a better mix of luxury and performance. They ride smooth and quiet have great power from the DOHC 32v 4.6 "cobra motor" It's easy to pull 300k miles out of these engines as long as you keep up with the little maintenance they need. I nabbed this one for a little over 2k. Don't let the small number fool you. The body is VERY clean and the interior is almost perfect as well. Looks better than my last Lincoln for sure.

Aside from the new ride I ran into a fellow member last night. A VERY VERY VERY nice red WS6 with stripes and bassani exhaust. 2 inch eibach drop and some other goodies. He loved my hawk and i loved his WS6. My hawk is quite filthy right now.... pretty sad sight if you ask me. I hate seeing it like this. Didn't matter. The hood hooked him! We had a great chat at the dunkin donuts and I'd like to find out his user name. So here's hoping he's lurking in the anything goes section and sees this!

[cammed goat]

It's too bad those cars are designed to drive with one specific tire like you told me. If I had photoshop, I would love to see one with these:

18" Rim Fits Mustang® FR500 Wheels Anthracite 9 / 10 | eBay

[LSCyaL8R]

there are lots of mark viiis with aftermarket wheels. a common answer is the 5 spoke cobra rims. Back when I had my last one I was very interested in getting a set of the 17 inch cobras on my car. also getting a couple of cobrastar emblems on it too. Up in the air as to whether I want to do the cobrastars on this one. I think they are sexy.

Here's a pic of the cobrastar..... I'd paint the inside of the lincoln emblem red like it's supposed to be on the Mark VIII. Not sure if lincoln still does red on the inside of the star.

[Red97GTP]

Congrats man! I used to work at a Lincoln/Mercury dealership and when we'd get them in I'd always drive them. Sounds like a deal too for a black on black LSC.

[LSCyaL8R]

Quite the deal. The car had a lot of little "things" wrong. So far the only money i've spent is on front rotors and pads and a set of strut rod bushings. all in that's about 240 bucks.

The rest of the stuff i've done has been free. The rear bags weren't holding air. drive around the block with the air ride off and it'd be on the ground. Turned out to be only O-rings. Greased em up and it's been holding air since. The cup holder didn't work. Took apart the console, JB weld on the broken bits. Reassemble. Good as new. The ash tray wouldn't come out.... turns out someone put a strip of plastic in there so the door wouldn't open all the way. took it out and it opens far enough to get the tray out just fine. The light in the ash tray was out. car came with a bunch of spare bulbs... fixed that while i was doing the cup holders. the gear selector was loose just tightened the screw and it's perfect now.

Like I said... it's all little things. The guy thought the car was just getting on in it's years and things were starting to go. From my point of view the car is doing great and once the bushings show up in the mail and i get the wheels balanced.... it'll be a luxo rocket.

[LSCyaL8R]

Here's the first pics for ya'll

[Zinergy]

I just pulled the air bags out of my town car and put in coil springs. Tired of hearing the compressor and of air leaks. Good news is its easy as shit to change the springs.

Looks to be a fun car, cognrats

[LSCyaL8R]

town car only has rear air springs IIRC. the mark viii has air struts up front and springs out back. I've changed em all at some point or another on mark vii's and viii's. the whole system is pretty easy to service if you ask me. If you can deal with the costs it's really not so bad.

[Spaz]

nice!!!

[Zinergy]

town car only has rear air springs IIRC. the mark viii has air struts up front and springs out back. I've changed em all at some point or another on mark vii's and viii's. the whole system is pretty easy to service if you ask me. If you can deal with the costs it's really not so bad.

Exactly, why deal with the costs on a system that is bound to go out whenever rubber dry rots in areas where the temps get cold. Its not like the air ride is really that comfy anyway. I always used to think when riding in my grandparents le sabre or caddy why do people love this suspension?

[LSCyaL8R]

sigh.... why are images of roots blowers dancing in my head {cough}termi{cough}

[Zinergy]

sigh.... why are images of roots blowers dancing in my head {cough}termi{cough}

Haha that would be badass. My friend has always had town cars, grand marquis and he has a really nice 06 gold series that he wants to start building lol

[LSCyaL8R]

it's not an iron block 4.6 in the Mark but it is the Teksid cast aluminum 4.6 It's got most of the strength of the iron block with none of the weight. The Teksid blocks in the Marks are good for north of 1k hp. A lot of tuners seek out wrecked marks for their engine blocks and rears. the rears are nearly indestructible on these cars.

[Zinergy]

Good to know, but its the heads on the 4.6s that hold a lot of the weight. Those things are massive

[TLS_Addict]

Nice! A friend of mine has a pearl white one. He got it years ago for like 12k with 25k miles on it. One at the auction two years ago went for 6k and it had less than 10k miles, another white one had 15k miles and went for 7.5k.

[LSCyaL8R]

TLS you are making me jealous. i only paid 2k but mine has 127k miles on it. granted i spent the whole night driving it and it's PERFECT. may as well have 10k miles on it.

got it up around triple digits and it's smooth as glass and quiet as a bank vault. I can feel a little shake from a wheel that is clearly out of balance and there's some slop in the alignment thanks to the worn strut rod bushings. but that'll all be taken care of this weekend. gonna be a sick cruiser. My friends can't believe it's a 98 and think it looks like a cop car with the fog lights in the grill.

[TLS_Addict]

Those are great engines and as much as we like to bust on the Stang crowd that 4.6 DOHC engine can last a lifetime.

I like those cars A LOT and I remember when they almost let them in to NASCAR in the late 90s. Remember that?

[LSCyaL8R]

and yeah Zinergy the heads are huge. makes the engine top heavy i'm sure. OHC engines were never known for compact dimensions.... if you need a small engine with a big punch... well... that's why we all have LSx's lol.

[LSCyaL8R]

You mean this bad boy right here?

[Shermanator86]

Looks like a good snag for 2k congrats, always liked the looks of the marks. one of my 7th grade teachers had one when they were new and I always would just stare at that car.