Frankie X
Registered
On the way into work the Mark VIII crossed the 300,000 km point completely trouble free. What a great car this is!
Here's a brief history:
I bought it as a trade-in (towards a '98 MarkVIII) at my dealership 3 1/2 years ago at 165,000. All this mileage has been racked up due to my 150 km a day commute (12 months of the year), a road trip to New Brunswick 2 summers ago, and numerous trips up north to Algonquin and Killarney Parks.
It's been a relatively problem free vehicle, just suffering from the usual MarkVIII maladies--
-both front struts shortly after I got it
-an alternator
-a leaking water pump
-a broken rear anti-sway bar
-clunking rear shock mounts and leaking shocks
-blew the intermediate clutch out of the transmission last year; rebuilt it with updated '97 and'98 parts
-noisey suspension compressor; replaced it with one of Eddie's AmericanAirSuspension.com units
-5 brake jobs, until I switched to cross-drilled rotors
...and that's really all!
The car has never seen paint or bodywork except for one small boo-boo-- don'tcha just hate it when you go shopping at the mall and come out to find your passenger door caved in with no-one around to claim responsibility?
Of course the paint is no longer flawless; there's a hundred tiny stonechips in the hood and the bumper clearcoat from all my highway driving and a few dime-sized parking lot dings here and there, but with a good wash and buff, my car still looks younger than it is!
I've only done a few mods:
-removed the air intake silencers
-Diablo Delta Chip
-TRW cross-drilled rotors with semi-ceramic pads
-AmericanAirSuspension.com Spider Valve when I replaced the compressor
-I've got a set of 3.55s and a limited slip carrier sitting in my tool box I've been too lazy to put in yet. After working on other people's cars for 8-10 hrs a day, sometimes I have no ambition to blow the weekend working on my own...
I've always loved the long-nose-short-tail looks of Marks, going all the way back to the '70s MarkV. My first Mark was an '88 MarkVII, which had a different appeal altogether, and was loads of fun to drive, but the MarkVIII is the best. Looks, comfort, class, and tons of power-- always a pleasure to drive.
Here's a brief history:
I bought it as a trade-in (towards a '98 MarkVIII) at my dealership 3 1/2 years ago at 165,000. All this mileage has been racked up due to my 150 km a day commute (12 months of the year), a road trip to New Brunswick 2 summers ago, and numerous trips up north to Algonquin and Killarney Parks.
It's been a relatively problem free vehicle, just suffering from the usual MarkVIII maladies--
-both front struts shortly after I got it
-an alternator
-a leaking water pump
-a broken rear anti-sway bar
-clunking rear shock mounts and leaking shocks
-blew the intermediate clutch out of the transmission last year; rebuilt it with updated '97 and'98 parts
-noisey suspension compressor; replaced it with one of Eddie's AmericanAirSuspension.com units
-5 brake jobs, until I switched to cross-drilled rotors
...and that's really all!
The car has never seen paint or bodywork except for one small boo-boo-- don'tcha just hate it when you go shopping at the mall and come out to find your passenger door caved in with no-one around to claim responsibility?
Of course the paint is no longer flawless; there's a hundred tiny stonechips in the hood and the bumper clearcoat from all my highway driving and a few dime-sized parking lot dings here and there, but with a good wash and buff, my car still looks younger than it is!
I've only done a few mods:
-removed the air intake silencers
-Diablo Delta Chip
-TRW cross-drilled rotors with semi-ceramic pads
-AmericanAirSuspension.com Spider Valve when I replaced the compressor
-I've got a set of 3.55s and a limited slip carrier sitting in my tool box I've been too lazy to put in yet. After working on other people's cars for 8-10 hrs a day, sometimes I have no ambition to blow the weekend working on my own...
I've always loved the long-nose-short-tail looks of Marks, going all the way back to the '70s MarkV. My first Mark was an '88 MarkVII, which had a different appeal altogether, and was loads of fun to drive, but the MarkVIII is the best. Looks, comfort, class, and tons of power-- always a pleasure to drive.