A few questions about a Mark VIII

[SVO]

[QUOTE='97 V8]yes i am. Please dont bid on it [/QUOTE]


Hell he can't bid on it, I have his car here in my garage getting a new motor and tranny swapped in, after some 366,000 HARD miles being put on it.

I would put it up on the web cam this weekend but the new system hasn't got all the bugs worked out.







Jeff - :navajo:

 

['97 V8]

I missed the auction. My internet from friggin sprint decides it doesnt want to work, and i missed the last few minutes to make a bid. It sold for 691 bucks.

 

[XLRVIII]

[QUOTE='97 V8]I missed the auction. My internet from friggin sprint decides it doesnt want to work, and i missed the last few minutes to make a bid. It sold for 691 bucks.[/QUOTE]

I think that may have been a blessing in disquise!

I looked at that car, and it wasn't a "runner", it was more akin to a "parts car".

If you want to get a Mark 8 and want to have any resemblence to a pleasurabe experience, then steer away from the 6-700 dollar cars on Ebay, they will EAT YOUR LUNCH in incidental problems.

what is your price range? We might be able to dig you up a "non ebay" car.

Remember, those ebay cars aren't "going to auction" because they are "good trouble free cars".

If you like the first gen 93-96 cars, you might want to steer towards the 96 model year because they are ODBII cars and tuning and mods are alot easier to deal with on odbII rather than the "non supported EEC IV" that the 93-95 cars have, with the EEC IV you are drastically limited in your tuning options, compared to the ODBII solutions that are out there on the market.

IF I knew "then" what I know now.. I wouldn't have bought the 95 I have, I would have held out for a 95 and a half or a 96 LSC and gotten a MUCH better car with ACTUAL HEADLIGHTS!

Good Luck with your search!
Let us know if we can help.

Tommy

 

[SVO]

With the old mill and tranny before I did the swap:



http://www.explorerforum.com/files/16937/burnout.AVI





STINKY







Jeff - :navajo:

 

['97 V8]

bumpin this

Friday at 11am i am looking at a 93 mark 8.

What kind of gas milage does this thing get anyways?

 

[XLRVIII]

bumpin this

Friday at 11am i am looking at a 93 mark 8.

What kind of gas milage does this thing get anyways?

it really depends on alot of things, basicly if the car has a good solid tune up and the tires are all aired up.. and the person driving shows a little prudence you can get 27-30MPG hiwqay.

IF the car has over 100K and has stock plugs and stock 02 sensors and if the person "has fun" driving the car, you can get 15-20MPG.

There is alot of leeway in mileage and it mostly is based on "driving habits".

With my car, W/373's going 65 with the AC off I can net 29-31MPG.
But I'm using a tune that I created, and I have to actually "TRY" not to have fun with the car.

The short of it...
If you drive right and the car is in a proper state of tune you can do very well 25-30 range
If you "drive it like you stole it" and most of the car is stock/plugs, wires and 02's then you could net as low as 15-20MPG.


Something you need to be aware of on the 93 4r70w.
AS soon as possible, before you put too many miles on the car, you NEED to flush the trans, and swap to mercron 5 trans fluid. This will go along way in keeping the torque convertor happy.

ALSO... get the upgraded 1-2 piston and spring along with a 98mark 8 transmission pan and filter.

The Transmission pan was improved in 98, adding capacity AND a sump to prevent the trans pump from being starved for fluid during corners and acceleration.

The pan, filter, gasket, piston and springs run around 150.00 if you get then from Max at www.fivestarford.com {he does us well on parts}

When you test drive the car, if it will bark the tires on teh 1-2 shift at WOT, OR has a long delayed lagging shift. BOTH scenario's indicate a broken 1-2 spring an stuck or jammed piston.

Where is this car at?
if it is anywhere close to houston, I could probably take a look at it for you.
OR.. bring it to houston and we'll give it a once over with an "educated eye".

hope this helps

Tommy

 

['97 V8]

its near my house.

the owner is a young woman with a kid so i think she didnt beat on it too hard. She claims she parked it, then the suspension aired down and now it wont air up and is sitting on the frame.

it has 162k on it, pearl outside with an extremely good looking interior for the age of the car. i was surprised when i saw the interior from outside the car.

 

[chickenviii]

go for it i love my 98 LSC, nice thing is it shares alot of components with cheaper ford veh's, if your not a member of www.lincolnvscadillac.com you should be if your even looking at a markviii

 

[XLRVIII]

its near my house.

the owner is a young woman with a kid so i think she didnt beat on it too hard. She claims she parked it, then the suspension aired down and now it wont air up and is sitting on the frame.

it has 162k on it, pearl outside with an extremely good looking interior for the age of the car. i was surprised when i saw the interior from outside the car.

A broken air ride is a plus, because you can use it for a bargaining chip to get the price lowered.
For instance.. if you got an estimate at a ford dealer, it's going to be a 2K repair.

you can buy new front struts for around 400.00 dollars and the rear bags are 99ish dollars a peice.
If you need a compressor they are available cheaper online than you get get them at the dealer.
Whatever you do.."dont convert it to coil springs"..as they completely FUBAR the ride and the handling of the car.

alot of people "swear" by the coil kits, but more times than not they are just trying to "justify their mistake".

My original air ride lasted til 200K..I'm at 392K now and am still on my "first set of replacement bags".

So.. 600-700 dollars will rebuild the air ride system and you OWE IT to yourself to atleast have a "fully functioning air ride" BEFORE you decide to put any aftermarket "conversion kits" on the car.
.. you wont be sorry, I assure you.

One thing that will drastically improve the life of your air ride is a "spider valve" made by a guy called "eddie spinks".
Google the Spider Valve and it should pop up at Americanairsuspension.com or something close to that.

Spider Valve redesigns the way the system works, rather than pushing air into and thru the dryer TWICE, it turns the system into a single pass, vent to atmosphere system rather than sending the "Vented air" back thru the dryer.

"just say no to Tbird coil springs"...HAHA

 

[XLRVIII]

If you look on Ebay, most of those cars were converted to coil springs, and the seller tries to imply this is a "positive thing".. when in fact the "conversion" is probably the reason they are "ebaying the car"...

after spending 4-500.00 on the conversion, they no longer like the car, the way it rides, or the noisy coil springs banging around... so they "OFF" the car on ebay.

 

['97 V8]

funny you mention that. I was going to coil it lol.

Tommy, can i fly you out to ohio?

 

[XLRVIII]

funny you mention that. I was going to coil it lol.

Tommy, can i fly you out to ohio?

If I were going to make my car a 100% full time drag car then I would consider a coil coversion. because there are some really killer drag shocks and springs available for the Tbird platform.

In a street driven, daily driver.. I wouldn't convert it to coils.

Consider my factory air ride made it to 200K and I spent 650.00 on 2 fronts and two rears.. it was a small price to pay for 200K of trouble free miles.

Another thing to consider in the conversion is.. the stock Tbird has STEEL lower control arms in the rear, that have provisions for the coil springs aka Spring bucket.

The Mark 8 uses an Aluminun lower control arm which has no provision for a coil spring.

Considering the spring is harder than the lower control arm.. when the spring moves around in the lower control arm it will gouge the control arm alot before it finally seats.

This will create noise, and will likely screw up the lower control arms... which are quite expensive to replace.

SO saving a few dollars in the short run, could cost you more dollars in the long run.

AND.. you will lose the cars ability to "raise itself" at low speeds, which will cause the front end/bumper cover to drag on steep inclines/driveways and such.... overall.. it's a bad choice to "convert to springs".. because it does alot of bad stuff...

I wish I was closer to Ohio {wait.. NO I DONT).. I wish you were closer to TEXAS...HAHA

Feel free to give me a shout anytime, I shot you my cell # in your PM box.

 

[XLRVIII]

go for it i love my 98 LSC, nice thing is it shares alot of components with cheaper ford veh's, if your not a member of www.lincolnvscadillac.com you should be if your even looking at a markviii

LVC is a good board..

I like www.mark8.org as well.

I dont post on Markviii.org (no link on purpose)
because the mental midget that moderates the place is a "TOOL", Hell.. I probably "backed my car up" further than he has driven forwards.

Considering the 5000+ dragstrip passes I have on my car which roughly equates to over 1000 miles at WOT... I think I have a "good handle" on the "do's and don'ts" in regards to these cars.

P.S. The term "TOOL" is a direct quote from Jerry W. in regards to "markviii.org".

 

[chickenviii]

i joined .org but didnt like the atmosphere, checked out lvc and it felt like a family, so i stayed, been to a couple meets, met the "godfather" joey and plan on staying forever, i only got 146k on the 98 so i got plenty more miles to go (being a ford tech helps, i actually understand these cars)
for the coils ~eh~ im on the fence, ive drove some with coils, and some with air, i still have air (and plan on staying that way) but i dont feel that the coils are all that bad, epically if you never felt the air, then you wouldn't even notice the diff

 

[XLRVIII]

I'd say you have atleast 200K more to run that car, easily.

My car, I got it at 68,000 miles and drove the original engine and trans until 360,000 miles when a secondary cam chain tension dropped the nylon pad.
The engine wasn't hurt, but it made a horrible noise.

Found a low mile 93 motor and a low mile 98 trans and did the swap about 30K ago.
Jeff/SVO/NastyHoe did the engine and trans swap..he does GREAT WORK.. and he's pretty damned fast too!
pulled two engines and trans from two cars and put them together and into my car.. in a weekend...
JEFF IS THE MAN!!!

My friend has a coil spring car, he did the swap against my recommendatation...
a year later, he's now trying to retrofit air ride back into the car.

At first he "SWORE" by coil springs, after some time, the "new wore off" and now he's ready to "put air ride back on the car".

not to mention if you weigh the coils vs the air ride.. the coil springs ADD weight to an already "heavy car"..usually you would want to "remove weight" from a heavy car, not ADD to it.

they hurt performance, they hurt MPG, they hurt the handling, they hurt the resale value {which these cars dont need any more depreciation}..
overall.. with all things considered... coils are bad IMHO

 

[chickenviii]

are you on tccoa (your name looks famillar) i put a dohc into a tbird for a guy i work with heres my thread on LVC, he has one on tccoa also
http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=25280

 

['97 V8]

so what would cause a perfectly fine air ride sytem to deflate all corners over night?

 

[chickenviii]

good chance all of the bags are bad

 

[Blee1099]

Come on Tommy, you know you want to take a drive to Ohio in the Mark 8. I know there's a image of a Mark 8 and a executive airliner that Tiff once showed me.. There's your airfare right there

 

['97 V8]

went and saw the car yesterday.





















and i bought it