1997 Mark VIII 6 Speed build

[96mark8]

Hey guys it’s been a while since I have been on here, its good to see this place is still around. I had a 96 mk8 back in high school that I modified a bit throughout hs and college buy moved on from it after a while as I did not want to put any more money into it due to rust.

I moved out to Arizona back in 2017 and picked up my current 97 for $1000. It had a blown head gasket, but coming from Michigan I was amazed how rust free it was so I pulled the trigger. Over the past 7 years I have invested more money then I care to admit(LOL) into it but have never really had the time to get it running until recently. It still has a lot of problems and will probably never be done but I figured I would start a thread to document what I have already done and what I will do moving forward.

Current Mods-

Engine:
Engine was stripped down and rebuilt down to the bare block.
Remanufactured C heads from a 99 continental
2001 Cobra intake
Kooks Headers with 2.5in exhaust all the wat back.

Drive train:
Tremec t-56XL
4in Dennys driveshaft
4.10 gears rear end with e Trac-Loc

Suspension:
Adjustable QA1Coil over suspension from SCP
Addco 1 3/8 sway bars front and rear
Flaming river steering joint

I still have plenty of bugs to work out. Right now the most pressing issues are that the alternator won’t turn on and charge unless I send 12v directly to the signal wire. I think there is an issue with the ignition switch or instrument cluster but I am unsure. ABS light is also on and the speedometer does not work but it used to at one point. Also the milage will pop up for a few seconds at start up and then disappears and becomes dashes instead of numbers.

While there is no rust whatsoever the exterior has some extensive sun damage. Yellow lights, trim and rubber all cracked and clear coat peeling. The interior in not as bad but still not great the front seats are trashed and the door panels are pretty bad. Considering how hard it is to find parts these days it makes it a little disheartening to put more money into this project as I know some things I will never be able to properly correct. At the moment, I just want to make it reliable and enjoy it as it. Progress will be slow and funds are tight but I will update this thread as I go!

Unfortunately, I did not take a lot of pictures during the build process(shame on me) but I have a couple of the engine out and I took a couple of what it looks like today. I will have it back on the lift in a couple weeks work on it and I will try and get more pictures at that time.

 

[96mark8]

 

[clubairth]

Neat project and it's an LSC!
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[Dominator]

Nice, still got some work to do i see. When i got my 98 lsc shipped in from bc to Alberta it was a basket case. Every problem a 2nd gen mark viii could have and many more including issues with the can bus communication system, had a list a full page long.
Being a Ford technician and it being at the shop, i have plugged away at it for the last 2 months and it is all fixed now. I am now onto the hub conversion, 18" wheels, lowering and window tint.
Sound like your dashes on the dash are a loss of can bus communication. Can you hook a scan tool to the dlc and read codes? If not your buss is shorted and the modules are not communicating. May be a n issue with your abs as you stated you have an abs light. By the way, rock auto is a good cheap parts source for these cars, have bought about 1500 in parts from them in the last 2 months.

 

[96mark8]

Nice, still got some work to do i see. When i got my 98 lsc shipped in from bc to Alberta it was a basket case. Every problem a 2nd gen mark viii cold have and many more including issues with the can bus communication system, had a list a full page long.
Being a Ford technician and it being at the shop, i have plugged away at it for the last 2 months and it is all fixed now. I am now onto the hub conversion, 18" wheels, lowering and window tint.
Sound like your dashes on the dash are a loss of can bus communication. Can you hook a scan tool to the dlc and read codes? If not your buss is shorted and the modules are not communicating. May be a n issue with your abs as you stated you have an abs light. By the way, rock auto is a good cheap parts source for these cars, have bought about 1500 in parts from them in the last 2 months.

I have an OBD II reader and have attached the report below. All the transmission and traction control codes make sense to me seeing as there is no automatic transmission left in the car but as you can see there are some other odd codes as well. As you can see I get no ABS codes which I though was strange even though the light is on.

I think you might be on to something with the buss communication issues. I also have forscan(very limit knowledge on how to use) and when I connect it to the car I can only see few modules and the ABS one is missing all together. When I connect to my 2018 Mustang I probably find 20 modules easily and on the Mark VIII its just a couple. I would assume that the newer mustang would have more modules but there definitely seems to be some missing from the Mark VIII. I don’t have any screen shots to show you of what modules forscan has but I can try and take some screen shots of it today.

Any suggestions about what I should look at next/ replace would be much appreciated. At this point my next step would be to replace the abs module all together with a new one but those are $300 on ebay. I think you are on to something with the buss, and if that is the issue I assume a new abs modules would not resolve the issue. I have not researched or have any idea how to diagnose and resolve a buss communication issue at this point lol.

 

[96mark8]

Here are the modules I was able to detect using forscan. As you can see there is not alot and no ABS.
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[Dominator]

You should see 9 modules in total. I only see 7. Your abs and vlcm are missing. Disconnect the abs module and see if the vlcm comes online. If not try the opposite. The abs is in the left front fenderwell and the vlcm is in the right. Also on a side note, the connector for the vlcm and abs module inside the car is in the drivers footwell area near the pcm. It is a square large connector with an 8mm bolt in the center if i remember correctly. Not counting the psm as it on it's own network. You may have the large connector inside the car not making good contact(bolt loose) as that has the vlcm and abs in it only. If the vlcm or the abs was shorting the buss it would take down the whole network like mine did, however i never seen dashes on my ipc. My guess is you have an issue with power or ground to the abs/vlcm. I would try and get a hold of a ford evtm(electrical vacuum trouble shooting manual) on ebay.