Father, son and a V8
Discussion
I'm going to go one better and get it rewired by a pro, are local to me and seem to have a good reputation. My reasoning is time available and the fact that if I did it, I would simply be doing the same bodge jobs done by other people in the past.
With the wiring sorted (needed before the MOT), I can then purchase a bunch of suspension parts, then the seat belts, then the exhaust, then the body work and respray and then the wheels and the tyres.
Its only money right?
With the wiring sorted (needed before the MOT), I can then purchase a bunch of suspension parts, then the seat belts, then the exhaust, then the body work and respray and then the wheels and the tyres.
Its only money right?
Edited by LincolnLovin on Tuesday 26th January 11:53
Edited by LincolnLovin on Tuesday 12th April 12:31
So another Sunday has passed, I managed to snatch a few hours to work on the Lincoln. The current mission is to strip out the car so that the Electrician can get access to the areas needed to rewire the car.
This greeted me when I arrived:
This is either the drivers side wheel being porous or the tyre is shagged, I actually suspect its both. The tyres are very very old and have cracked in places and the wheels are all in need of a good refurb.
20 minutes later (I left my electric pump in the Saab which is still in the garage getting the instrument cluster replaced) and the Town car is back on level ground.
I proceeded to remove the rear bench, which was suprisingly easy - you just yank it off, though I am not sure if that is such a good feature in retrospect. It looks like the heavy rains of the last few months have not done the right hand side of the car many favours as there is some water ingress somewhere (in-spite of the car being under a cover):
It doesn't look too severe, I have left the carpets raised to see if that helps dry them out and also show where the car is leaking. Though with the build quality of this car (more on that later), there are a number of potential gaps that the water could access the interior via.
Anyhow, no fist sized holes are clearly a good thing - I had visions of lifting the carpet and seeing concrete.
One of the areas that I'd like the electrician to focus on is the under dash area, which has suffered from a number of head unit and random fog light installs over the years. This requires removal of the front of the dashboard.
Did someone say walnut?
Clearly not:
Speaking of paint, this car has had quite a few different colours in its time:
It was originally white (I think), then a lurid lime green and then its present matt black.
I also fitted some replacement orange indicator bulbs, as the previous ones had been clear jobbies and so a tad illegal now that the clusters themselves were clear.
Finally I took a look at the 'head lamp doors', which are the plastic (metal?) surrounds for the headlights, they've been painted white as long as I have owned the car but I am pretty sure they are metal underneath:
So I wondered, why would you paint it white when there is clearly metal there:
It seems that in the past the metal coating on the plastic housing fell off (again with the build quality) and that would explain the prior paint job. I will likely do something similar (albeit better I hope), when I get round to sorting the bodywork:
This greeted me when I arrived:
This is either the drivers side wheel being porous or the tyre is shagged, I actually suspect its both. The tyres are very very old and have cracked in places and the wheels are all in need of a good refurb.
20 minutes later (I left my electric pump in the Saab which is still in the garage getting the instrument cluster replaced) and the Town car is back on level ground.
I proceeded to remove the rear bench, which was suprisingly easy - you just yank it off, though I am not sure if that is such a good feature in retrospect. It looks like the heavy rains of the last few months have not done the right hand side of the car many favours as there is some water ingress somewhere (in-spite of the car being under a cover):
It doesn't look too severe, I have left the carpets raised to see if that helps dry them out and also show where the car is leaking. Though with the build quality of this car (more on that later), there are a number of potential gaps that the water could access the interior via.
Anyhow, no fist sized holes are clearly a good thing - I had visions of lifting the carpet and seeing concrete.
One of the areas that I'd like the electrician to focus on is the under dash area, which has suffered from a number of head unit and random fog light installs over the years. This requires removal of the front of the dashboard.
Did someone say walnut?
Clearly not:
Speaking of paint, this car has had quite a few different colours in its time:
It was originally white (I think), then a lurid lime green and then its present matt black.
I also fitted some replacement orange indicator bulbs, as the previous ones had been clear jobbies and so a tad illegal now that the clusters themselves were clear.
Finally I took a look at the 'head lamp doors', which are the plastic (metal?) surrounds for the headlights, they've been painted white as long as I have owned the car but I am pretty sure they are metal underneath:
So I wondered, why would you paint it white when there is clearly metal there:
It seems that in the past the metal coating on the plastic housing fell off (again with the build quality) and that would explain the prior paint job. I will likely do something similar (albeit better I hope), when I get round to sorting the bodywork:
Edited by LincolnLovin on Tuesday 2nd February 09:14
Edited by LincolnLovin on Tuesday 2nd February 09:15
Edited by LincolnLovin on Tuesday 2nd February 09:15
Next parts order has been made, this is a full suspension refresh and long overdue:
1)Front shocks £32-80ea x2
2)Rear shocks £32-80ea x2
3)Upper ball joints £34-56ea x2
4)Lower ball joints £29-55ea x2
5)Upper arm bushes £10-40ea x4
6)Lower arm bushes £29-40ea x4
7)Front sway bar links £8-25ea x2
8)Idler arm £32-50
9)Pitman arm £38-48
10)Inner tie rod ends £13-70ea x2
11)Outer tie rod ends £16-90ea x2
12)Adj sleeves £14-90ea x2
Coming to a not insignificant £722.99, inc shipping and delivery.
The plan for the long weekend is to attempt to replace the exhaust headers, failing that begin to shore up the body work, the headlight wiring and maybe have a go at refurbing the wheels
1)Front shocks £32-80ea x2
2)Rear shocks £32-80ea x2
3)Upper ball joints £34-56ea x2
4)Lower ball joints £29-55ea x2
5)Upper arm bushes £10-40ea x4
6)Lower arm bushes £29-40ea x4
7)Front sway bar links £8-25ea x2
8)Idler arm £32-50
9)Pitman arm £38-48
10)Inner tie rod ends £13-70ea x2
11)Outer tie rod ends £16-90ea x2
12)Adj sleeves £14-90ea x2
Coming to a not insignificant £722.99, inc shipping and delivery.
The plan for the long weekend is to attempt to replace the exhaust headers, failing that begin to shore up the body work, the headlight wiring and maybe have a go at refurbing the wheels
5ohmustang said:
I have not read the full thread but that looks like a gt40/explorer/5.0 mustang intake manifold. 80s American luxary cars are so nice when looked after. I'd like an 80s Buick Riveria with 1st generation touch screen entertainment center.
Sadly not the GT40/Explorer intake just yet - its on the list 
They all use the same engine either the asthmatic 150bhp 5.0 windsor in the 80s or the improved 280-300bhp 4.6 V8 depending on the age.
In spite of the hangover yesterday I did crack open the box containing the headers that I've had in the garage for nearly a year and they seem mostly ok but I am surprised at quality (casting/welding line remain inside), so will need to get the wire cutters/sander out to clean it up prior to install.
Still they look shiny which is the most important bit and they are a step up from my secondhand £10 mustang headers but not much (I think they came to around £75 inc shipping) and hopefully should clear the exhaust blow.
In spite of the hangover yesterday I did crack open the box containing the headers that I've had in the garage for nearly a year and they seem mostly ok but I am surprised at quality (casting/welding line remain inside), so will need to get the wire cutters/sander out to clean it up prior to install.
Still they look shiny which is the most important bit and they are a step up from my secondhand £10 mustang headers but not much (I think they came to around £75 inc shipping) and hopefully should clear the exhaust blow.
Edited by LincolnLovin on Saturday 26th March 08:20
Edited by LincolnLovin on Saturday 26th March 09:53
Edited by LincolnLovin on Saturday 26th March 13:43
Tyres then, The current set were old when I first bought the car in 2006 and are very much in need of disposal. The question then becomes what to replace them with? Whitewalls suit the car nicely, but finding them from a decent brand is proving to be quite difficult.
Behold the Maxxis MA 1:
http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110...
Seems expensive for a no name tyre...
Behold the Maxxis MA 1:
http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110...
Seems expensive for a no name tyre...
Ok that's good to know, I had mused about a white lettered R/T tyre but struggling to find them at the moment.
As for the colour, that's a good question - at the moment I can't afford a bare metal respray so its staying matt for now but likely it will return to a metallic black next year.
In sad new, Barry at Specialist Autoparts is retiring and is selling on his parts business, used him for a great many years for the TC and he will be missed!
As for the colour, that's a good question - at the moment I can't afford a bare metal respray so its staying matt for now but likely it will return to a metallic black next year.
In sad new, Barry at Specialist Autoparts is retiring and is selling on his parts business, used him for a great many years for the TC and he will be missed!
Sometimes I despair, my luck with mechanical related providers really seems inconsistent - the latest is with the headlight wiring. I had got a guy round to take a look in January but due to the cold weather he could not work on it (mobile service), fast forward a few months and still no real contact in-spite of chasing. Just called them today and the level of disinterest was disappointing. What is the point of a 'mobile' service if you are unable to work outside? Surely you would have some form of temporary cover like a gazebo or something?
Maddening.
So it cost me a few months, luckily I've booked in another company to take a look tomorrow.
Unfortunately the suspension work has been delayed a couple of weeks due to the garage having a few projects running over, but that's fine as the car needs it for the next MOT in June so not super critical.
I want to get this next stage all sorted PDQ as I want to use my car for the stag do in June.
Maddening.
So it cost me a few months, luckily I've booked in another company to take a look tomorrow.
Unfortunately the suspension work has been delayed a couple of weeks due to the garage having a few projects running over, but that's fine as the car needs it for the next MOT in June so not super critical.
I want to get this next stage all sorted PDQ as I want to use my car for the stag do in June.
Edited by LincolnLovin on Tuesday 12th April 12:30
Edited by LincolnLovin on Tuesday 12th April 12:32
Suspension update, the lads are doing it as and when they have free time.
I last spoke to them in the previous week, so far two shocks, ball joints had been added. The rear suspension looks mostly fine but the front was utterly shagged. Will give them a call tomorrow and see how they've gone this week.
After the suspension, I need to sort the wheels out, then get new tyres and then sort the rust/speed holes.
I need this car functional by the first weekend of July so I can use it for my stag do
I last spoke to them in the previous week, so far two shocks, ball joints had been added. The rear suspension looks mostly fine but the front was utterly shagged. Will give them a call tomorrow and see how they've gone this week.
After the suspension, I need to sort the wheels out, then get new tyres and then sort the rust/speed holes.
I need this car functional by the first weekend of July so I can use it for my stag do
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