Hi, and new to Lincolns

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mpfi3100

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Hi, my name is Taylor, and I am a newbie Lincoln Owner. In the past, I have owned all GM's (mostly Oldsmobile's, and Pontiac's). This is my first Lincoln ever. I have always loved the styling of the Mark VIII, and after many years of looking, I finally purchased one.

I recently purchased a 1998 Mark VIII that was in REALLY bad shape. I have been working for a couple of months now to fix it up, and restore it, and I almost have it roadworthy again.

The car itself is a pearl white exterior with a gray interior. The rear side windows both say Diamond Anniversary edition, but from my reading, this car does not have any of the typical Diamond edition norms. When I first saw it, I thought it was just a base Mark VIII.

It has the chrome grills, and trim (non LSC) but has the Octo-star 8 spoke wheels and dual exhaust. Both exterior door handles were broken, as well as both door windows were busted out. The drivers seat was caved in, and only held in by 1 bolt. Both front fenders have some damage to them, as well as the passenger door.

I have not started working on any of the cosmetic stuff yet, but I now have the complete drivline in working order (other than the tensioner pulley, and traction control).

I look forward to learning more about these amazing cars, and see what the future holds for me.
 
WOW...what a way to start!! You WILL know that car very well by the time it's on the road! WELCOME to the LOD....there are many here that can help with information if you need it!
 
Thank you.

I personally feel that the best way to learn a car is get one that needs work.

I am not a newbie when it comes to working on cars, but I am a newbie towards Lincoln in generals. I have torn my Oldsmobile's apart piece by piece and put them back together again. I have custom built engines, and transmissions, and even programmed my own computers for them. None of that means anything though since hardly any of it can be applied to Lincoln.

Basic mechanics are all the same, but when you get in depth, they are night and day. I can't compare my Oldsmobile's 3.4 DOHC V6 FWD to my Lincolns 4.6 DOHC V8 RWD. That is like comparing apples to cantelopes. Both cars have 2 doors, 4 wheels, a steering wheel, an engine in the front, and haul butt. That is where the similarities end. Ohh, they are both WHITE exterior as well. ;)

Truth is, I have become bored with GM, and was looking for a challenge. I think I found one in the Mark. I would love to show some pics, but they are almost gruesome and obscene compared to the pristine cars on this site.
 
just the simple fact that I can now walk outside, and start the car, and the suspension raise back up, that is VERY rewarding indeed.

With all that was wrong with the car, you will never know how happy I was to learn the air-ride was still good. When parked, the rear bleeds down in about 2 to 3 days, and the fronts take about a week to bleed down. From all my research, that is about normal.

Now, I am starting to work on the electrical issues. Need to find out what the passenger seat does not work (no power, or bigger problem).
 
mpfi3100 said:
Need to find out what the passenger seat does not work (no power, or bigger problem).
Click to expand...

If it makes you feel better, my '96 passenger seat was intermittent and then just quit one day. I ended up removing the seat and troubleshooting everything I could find and could find nothing wrong. When I put the track and frame back in and plugged in all the connectors, it started working. I reassembled everything and haven't had a problem since. I figure it was on one the half-dozen or more harness connectors that was failing to make contact for some reason.

Maybe yours will be so simple. ;)
 
well, i do know I have some electrical issues. I have found 5 blown fuses, but not sure what they are too. I ordered the 1998 Mark VIII electrical book from HELM today, and should get it in 7 to 10 business days (where is the "rolling eyes" smiley?).

i am going to the parts store after work to get some things for it. Fuses, tensioner pulley, and serpentine belt are on the short list.

Other stuff includes carpet cleaner (2 YEARS of rain has made a black mess on my gray carpet) and vodka (for my own well being).
 
Welcome newbie. That is dedication there. Some of us hate it when something break and get fix something else breaks but you it all broke and you rather it all be broke and still love to fix it up. What part of texas
 
i live about an hour south of Houston. Lake Jackson area.

i love fixing things and am usually only limited by money and time.

My favorite thing to do is electrical. It is nothing to come to my house, and see me laying in bed with 3 or 4 tech manuals opened up and all on electrical diagrams. I jokingly tell people that I get off to wiring diagrams like other people get off to porn.

I love finding an option that my car does not have, and finding a way to wire it in and make it work. Perfect example of this is my 1994 Cutlass Supreme convertible now has retained accessory power (which was NEVER offered in the Cutlass Supreme's).

if I can dig up my camera I will get some pics tonight or tomorrow.
 
mpfi3100 said:
With all that was wrong with the car, you will never know how happy I was to learn the air-ride was still good. When parked, the rear bleeds down in about 2 to 3 days, and the fronts take about a week to bleed down. From all my research, that is about normal.
Click to expand...

Not normal my friend...you have some leaks. The air struts last for about 100k miles. If they are original bags, they are done.
 
I will check into them. The car has 147K on the clock, and from what I can see, they are original. For now, I am not going to worry about them. They work fine, and replaceing them will happen after all the other issues are fixed first. Here are some pics, so you can see just what all I am in for.

I have been working on the Lincoln pretty steady for the last few days, and want to show some of my progress. I have to say that this car has been just what I needed to get my back into cars. I have found my love of working on cars again.

The side quarter windows say that it is a Diamond Anniversary edition, but I can find no other evidence to back it up. It has the Diamond Anniversary etchings on both windows.
MarkVIIIDA1.jpg


The exterior looks good from a distance, but both front fenders have damage, the front bumper is loose, and the passenger door has some damage.

Standard Obligatory front shot:
MarkVIIIfronthigh.jpg


Standard Obligatory rear shot:
MarkVIIIsiderear.jpg


Light bar works perfectly with no flickers, or gross stuff growing on the interior of it:
MarkVIIIrearsexy1.jpg


Interior is missing the drivers seat. The previous owner trashed it, and it was not safe to even sit in. Only 1 bolt was holding it to the floor. I know the interior looks like a tan/cream colour, but that is just the nasties and the fact my camera sucks. It is actually a GRAY interior.
MarkVIIIinterior1.jpg


see the mess on the floors? This was all over the complete interior of the car. I have been cleaning it off and on for the last 2 months trying to get it all out.
MarkVIIInasties1.jpg
 
Wow...you are definitely resurrecting that one from the dead.

As for the model type, if you post the VIN up here, some of our members can translate it...tell you if it is really Diamond ANN. or not.
 
Hello again. I responded to your post on the other site, but here is where I spend the majority of my time. Feel free to private msg me or e-m me any time you need help. If I dont have the answer (which is common) maybe I can help you find it.
 
Thanks everyone. I appreciate all of the positive responces.

If someone can check into the vin for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

1LNLM91V7WY601508
 
Wirelessly posted (HTC Hero: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 1.5; en-us; A6277 Build/CUPCAKE) AppleWebKit/528.5+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.2 Mobile Safari/525.20.1)

Welcome aboard, I'm selling a lot of parts from 2 different marks so check out my posts and buy stuff u need
 
I just got back inside from working on the lincoln and discovered 2 things.

First of all, the passenger seat not working... I removed the lower seat cushion so I could get to the electronics and discovered some wires were corroded from sitting in water. Once I get a wiring diagram, I will resolder them and hopefully the passenger seat will work.

Second, I thought it had 2 busted windows (the drivers door, and passenger door), but when I took of the passenger door panel, I discovered the glass is intact. Now I just need to figure out why it is not working (probably shorted somewhere or bad switch or motor.

I am REALLY loving working on the car. It is a LOT more complex than my Cutlass Supreme, but I am looking forward to the challenges.
 
OMG what happened to the carpets? was it flooded?

BTW exterior looks good from afar and the expensive neon works :D
 
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