1997 Lincoln Town Car

alexbuddy

New member
As recommended by Lvnmarks, I am starting this thread to document my newest project....doing an engine swap on a 1997 Lincoln Town Car Executive Series 4.6L and reconditioning the vehicle. I found this vehicle while doing some web searches and had intended to buy it for myself. It had 150K miles on it but was in decent shape. I ended up buying it for my son when his vehicle broke down and was going to cost an arm and a leg to repair. Needless to say, my son is very hard on vehicles and he ended up throwing a rod on the Town Car. Instead of selling it to a salvage dealer, I bought it from him and decided to make it a project car. I love Lincoln Town Cars and always wanted one so now I have one. Here is a picture of the car the day that I bought it for my son.

Left Side and Rear.jpg

I bought a used 4.6L for $150 that came out of a 1997 Lincoln Town Car that was being salvaged. This motor only has 55K miles on it. I am going to remove the bad engine and then install the replacement engine. I have never done this before but thought this would be a good opportunity to learn. I have most of the large equipment to do this including a 2 ton shop crane and a 1 ton motor stand.

My first objective is going to be getting the replacement engine up off my trailer and secured to the motor stand. After a whole lot of research, forum questions, and a few phone calls, I was able to identify the lift points to hook up the load leveler/shop crane to the engine. On the side (interior) of each cylinder there are 8mm bolt holes on both the front and rear. The front bolt holes have two stud bolts already installed and the rear bolt holes are used for affixing other items to the block which I removed. I will replace the two bolts on the rear with new 8mm x 1.25 bolts (class 10.9). I will use these four points as my lift points.

To mount the motor to the motor stand, I will be using (4) 10mm x 1.5 x 70mm (class 10.9) bolts and washers. I removed the flywheel/driveplate and have the motor stand mount already attached to the motor bell housing. Here is a picture of the motor stand mount attached to the motor.

20150816_093115.jpg

I plan on getting the replacement motor mounted this week, but will wait till my son is available to help me. Will post more then.
 
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tixer

Lincoln Evangelist
This looks like a great little project, on a deserving vehicle.

Thanks for the write-up! I'll definitely be watching.
 

alexbuddy

New member
He failed to check the oil level (or do an oil change) the entire time he was driving it. Based on my observations and that of the mechanic.....he ran it dry of oil.
 

tixer

Lincoln Evangelist
Thanks.. That's the only thing I could think of as a cause..

One thought though.. my '86 had a "low oil" light that came on when it was exactly 1 quart low.. (1/2 quart below the "add" line.) and I've driven a 92 Crown Vic with the same light..

I'm somewhat surprised that the 97 didn't have one, although I am quite sure that my current '99 Town Car does not.. I suppose they could well have omitted that feature at some point.
 

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
Thanks.. That's the only thing I could think of as a cause..

One thought though.. my '86 had a "low oil" light that came on when it was exactly 1 quart low.. (1/2 quart below the "add" line.) and I've driven a 92 Crown Vic with the same light..

I'm somewhat surprised that the 97 didn't have one, although I am quite sure that my current '99 Town Car does not.. I suppose they could well have omitted that feature at some point.


I've read allot about the oil sensors on 4.6's failing, happen to a buddy of mine who's a car guy and some what good at vehicle maintenance. It happens more often than you'd think.
 

tixer

Lincoln Evangelist
Very interesting.. I wonder if it's easy to replace? on my car, that would be a useful feature... :D
 

alexbuddy

New member
The '97 does not have a low oil light but does have a low oil pressure indicator. Considering that it had virtually no oil in it, I am guessing the low oil pressure indicator did come on and he ignored it. I love the boy but this is the second vehicle that he has done this to.....needless to say, he funded vehicle #3 out of his own pocket.
 

alexbuddy

New member
This evening my son and I got the replacement motor lifted off the trailer and mounted on the motor stand. It went much easier than I expected probably because we took our time and did it very carefully. I already had the motor stand mount attached to the bell housing and the load leveler already bolted onto the engine at the four lift points and ready to go. All we had to do was:

• position the trailer and the shop crane in the driveway with the shop crane perpendicular to the trailer and the shop crane legs under the trailer
• figure out which way the engine was going to turn as it was hoisted (needed the bellhousing to the open end of the shop crane)
• hook the shop crane hook to the load leveler accordingly
• slowly raise the engine up and off the trailer
• remove the trailer from under the raised engine
• turn the shop crane parallel to the driveway so that we could slip the motor stand mounting tube over the mount attached to the belllhousing...the motor stand at this point is barely raised off the driveway and is suspended practically from the motor
• secure the mount to the motor stand
• slowly lower the whole assembly so that the motor stand was sitting flat on the driveway with some of the weight of the engine on it and made sure all was still good
• finished lowering the shop crane arm so that all of the weight was on the motor stand and there was a little slack in the hoist chain/load leveler
• let the engine/motor stand sit for a few minutes to make sure all was still good with 540 lbs of deadweight on the motor stand (first time it's been used)
• slowly and carefully roll the engine/motor stand into the garage.

Have to admit.....I was pretty happy with how it went and very impressed with the shop crane and motor stand. Never done this before so this was a great learning opportunity. I was really skeptical that four bolts could lift a motor and even more skeptical that four bolts could hold a 540 lb motor on a motor stand but I was definitely proven wrong. Done correctly (and with the correct hardware) it works just fine. As a reference, I used four 1/2"x 2 1/5" course thread Grade 8 bolts (with washers and nuts) to attach the mounting arms to the mounting plate of the motor stand.

I then took some pictures for reference but seem to have a problem uploading them to this post. Will probably set up a Shutterfly account to post pictures and will provide a link in my next post.

My next step will be to have my Town Car hauled on a flatbed to my garage at home so that I can begin prepping it to remove the bad motor. Hope to have this done tomorrow early evening. It will take me a week or so to get everything done to remove the bad motor. Will continue to update this thread.
 
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alexbuddy

New member
I have created a share site on Shutterfly for my project. The link is:

Pete's 97 LTC Project

It will take me a few days to get all of the pictures uploaded that I currently have but I have some posted already.

I will post relevant pictures for each post within the post, too.
 

alexbuddy

New member
I have not started on removing the bad motor yet, but have been formulating some plans on what I need to do to the replacement engine. These include:

Items which will be reused from the bad motor to the replacement motor.
• Cooling fan and fan clutch.
• Starter.
• Alternator.
• AC compressor and all other AC hardware.
• Valve covers....the ones on the replacement motor were marred by the person who removed the engine.
• One ignition coil....the other is in good condition.
• Power steering pump and related hardware.
• Power steering pulley.
• Air breather system.

New items will include:
• Oil and filter change.
• Air filter.
• Sparkplugs.
• Water pump.
• Thermostat.
• Drive belt.
• Appropriate gaskets and seals.
• Coolant.
• Freon to recharge the AC system.
• Power steering fluid.

Other items to check:
• Intake manifold. I believe the one on the replacement motor is the modified version that replaced the defective original equipment, but need to verify this. If so, I will leave as is. If not, I will install a new one.
• Timing chains, tensioners, sprockets, and guides. Figure I have the best access that I will ever have with the motor being on a stand and would rather repair/replace now versus later.
• Crankcase rear oil seal....visual inspection.

I will continue to refine this list over the next few days and do some comparison shopping for the parts that I will need. If anyone notices something I am missing please let me know. As I said at the beginning of the project, I have never done this before and would greatly appreciate any comments, suggestions, or helpful hints. I have several manuals specifically for this vehicle including the 1,800 page official Lincoln shop service manual so I feel fairly good about the resources that I have available. However, nothing beats hearing from those with experience.
 

Lvnmarks

quandoomniflunkusmoritati
You should be able to unbolt the AC compressor and leave it in the car to prevent the 134A from leaving the system.
 

alexbuddy

New member
Thanks, Eric. That makes a whole lot more sense. Would, per chance, this also apply to the power steering pump? I haven't researched it closely enough yet, but it would seem plausible. Thanks.
 

alexbuddy

New member
Ooops....scratch that last question. I am going to be replacing the power steering pump/pulley/hardware on the replacement motor with the equipment from the bad motor and just realized that this will be better accomplished while the replacement motor is on the motor stand.
 

SCTBIRD1173

Mark my Bird!
The first time you do an engine swap is a memorable one; enjoy it and afterwards bask in the pride of a job well done! :thumbsup:
 

alexbuddy

New member
Thanks, Bryan. I am really looking forward to each step of this project and then having my own fully functioning Town Car. I love these big cars and realize that there will probably never be anymore made of this size. Got a little side-tracked this week with helping my son repair his hood latch and cable on his '01 Explorer and then replacing the front rotors and brake pads on my '05 F150, but am going to start today prepping the bad motor for removal. Not sure how long this will take, but am in no rush and don't have a deadline to meet so I will take my time and hopefully do it right.
 
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