'99 Lincoln Continental Refurbishment

Over the course of a 3-4 year period my plans for the Continental are as follows:

Transmission Upgrade
* Performance built transmission: from either spprecision, Jasper, or another outlet there are quit a few out there.
* Luk Schaefler, Sonnax, or Autozones heavy duty Torque Converter.
* Trans Go shift kit.
* New trans mount.

For the transmission work I have to find out for sure if it would be easier to just drop the engine and trans from under the car. If that is the case, I will have the engine resealed by putting all new gaskets and hoses.
1. New water pump, t-state and water outlet gasket.
2. New alternator
3. New o-rings for coolant bypass tube.
4. All new radiator hoses.
5. Upper and lower intake gaskets.
6. Send intake out to get powder coated Ivory Parchment to match the car.
7. New timing cover gasket set.
8. New cam cover gasket set.
9. New spark plug gasket set.
10. New oil pan gasket.
11. New oil filter adapter gasket.
12. New valve stem seals.

Performance upgrades to the engine include:
1. Comp Cams Xtreme XE-R Series XE 262 AH-114 #106300
- Has excellent torque for normally aspirated engines. No Computer modifications necessary. **Noticeable idle. :) It will require new valve springs would need Spring kit # 26123-32
Top: .943" O.D. 580" I.D.
Bottom: 1.105" O.D. .742" I.D.

2. Second choice of cams would be Comp Cams XE-R Series XE 254 BH-116
-These are an excellent replacement with strong torque. No computer mods necessary. No need for valve spring replacement.

I may have found an exhaust company to fab me up a custom system. I have to call and confirm this. It would be a stainless steel or aluminum mandrel bent 2.5" pipes with Borla Pro XS mufflers and Borla intercooled tips. I will more than likely keep the resonator on the car for sanity measures.

Body Work would include:
* Rust proof inner front fenders.
* Re-spray both rockers.
* Touch up and fix a couple chips on door moldings and edges of both drivers and passengers side doors.
* Cut, weld new metal behind the rear bumper where I had grinded down the rust both sides. Do body work and respray.

** I had browsed wheel selections on the internet and found a real nice set which are made by Mach Wheels. They are called ME7. They are Hyper Silver machined face.
CONFIGURATOR | 2Crave Wheels & Rims They are $112.00 ea. Good reasonable price.

So as of now that is going to be the journey. I am real excited. A good friend of mine who owns Street Lethal Performance will be doing the build. I'll update to see if the cam shafts would be good or not. I'll update as progress is made. Next spring it will go in to get a new headliner for sure. I've got a couple other things going on that I need full attention to especially this winter.
 
As you all know, Photobucket is being really gay. Now you have to pay them $399 a yr. for hosting your photos. Wondering who else I can go through and try to convert my photos from Photobucket to the new image hosting site? Only thing that I do not know is will all my photos on this thread convert with the new site...?

I did all this work, to show all and in the end I have to start all over possibly. Ugh
 
Living in Ohio can be a real PITA. So far the weather is calling for snow showers sometime next week, and all it's going to do is rain. I wanted to continue to drive the car until sometime in Nov. but looks like that will not happen. So I wiped down the car and scrubbed all the nooks and crannies, she is sleeping for now. Still got more detailing to do before the cover goes on, so I'll be updating as I go.

I do have a winter project for the Continental. I'll be getting new stickers made for the coolant recovery tank. Once I get some info and thought on how I want to do this I'll post everything up.

I'm also gearing up to buy some new polish for the paint. My detailing dude went to SEMA in Vegas this weekend to see what new car care products are out. Once I figure out what he recommends I'll post my results.
 
Svets96 said:
Here is a photo of the new parts I ordered a couple months ago. They have been since installed on the car. I will post pics when I get a chance.

New air deflector, cabin air filter, Lincoln emblem, power steering cap.

View attachment 828562001

I bought a Cover Craft custom fit car cover when its sits for the winter. Those of you who are interested in this cover it is part #C15901TT Pics both front and rear of vehicle.

View attachment 828562002

View attachment 828562003

This is it for now, until I get my rear bumper steel support. It should be here next week. I'll post pics of that and the new parts I installed, including a binder I have on the car of all the maintenance records and receipts, with the helms build sheet.

Please subscribe if you would like. I really like LVC a lot! Wish there was a north eastern part of Ohio into north western Pa LVC get together I searched the different locations but none near me. Maybe we all can figure something out.
Click to expand...
Your car is looking great! I have a 2002 Continental, and thank you for listing all of the fixes. How do you like the Firestone tires on your car?
I am in NE Ohio, let me know if anyone else is around, maybe we can put something together...
 
Ampere said:
Your car is looking great! I have a 2002 Continental, and thank you for listing all of the fixes. How do you like the Firestone tires on your car?
I am in NE Ohio, let me know if anyone else is around, maybe we can put something together...
Click to expand...

Thank you very much! As long as the content I provided helps you out, I did my job. The Firestones, are nice, they have that nice luxury performance look to them. The only part is the ride might be a little rough at times but still smooth. If your looking for replacement tires, I do recommend them. If you can get the factory type Michelin symmetry's. Those are the best out there! They are on the expensive side however.

I'm from the Youngstown area, eightiesgod lives near me too. Yea for sure that sounds cool to put something together lets figure something out. Like a meet up place or something talk cars and stuff. I know in Austintown which is a part of Youngstown, they have a big Quaker Steak and Lube that would be a cool location, plus its next to the freeways. They have car shows during the summer too. Let me know your thoughts on this...
 
Well, I got the car out. It fired right up! Gonna take it out either Wed. or Friday night.

My plans by June or so, is to get it into the shop to check over the intake gaskets. Replace them if necessary.

I noticed some damp areas.

We'll see what happens and what progresses.
 
Glad to hear it'll get some road time!

Have you done the trans yet? If so what did you go with?
 
Sincoln said:
Glad to hear it'll get some road time!

Have you done the trans yet? If so what did you go with?
Click to expand...

Thanks dude!

I haven't done the transmission yet. When it does come time, whether it be it blows up on me, or if I have the funds to just go ahead and do it I'll go with a Jasper Re manufactured unit, with a Luk Schaefler torque converter (heavy duty unit) along with a Trans go shift kit.

I don't know how much everything will cost yet including labor, I'm guessing around $2,000-$2400 might even be a little bit cheaper I guessed on the conservative side.
 
Svets96, read through your entire thread again just to refresh my memory on anything I might want to do on my 2001. Jotted down a few part numbers. Great reference. Amazing how clean your 1999 is for over 80K miles. Looks half of that mileage or less.

I also noted you're using the Motorcraft syn blend 5w-20. Nothing wrong with factory specified fluid. I joined the Bitog blog 2-1/2 yrs ago and did a ton of reading on what engine and trans fluids should be in my cars and why. In the case of the Continentals, I had been using the 5w-30 in my Dad's 1997 as per factory specs. In 2001 Ford back specced to 5w-20 across their fleet, primarily for CAFE dollar savings. I read everything I could on the subject and came away believing that the original factory design of 5w-30 was a better choice for our cars, especially if one lives in warmer climates, or for summer use.

I made the switch to 30 grades on my 2002 Lincoln back around 2015, having completely forgotten that my 1997 with the same engine ran on 5w-30. I did run across some articles by former Ford engineers and techs that had
"documentation" on engine tear downs and warranty work that at least indicated the 5w-30 protected the heads better. Some fleets use 10/15w-40 grades with excellent results. So maybe in the end there's not a huge difference in oil grades. Still, I want my engine to last to 250K-350K miles if I choose to go that route. And as you have stated before, if you want your Continental trans to last a long-long time, get used to doing 15K-20K fluid changes vs. factory specced 30K intervals. My 1997 got to 232K mostly highway commuting miles with 25K trans fluid intervals...when the engine went.

But I'm more comfortable with what Ford lubrication engineers originally designed to maximize engine life...not maximum mpg. It could also be said as our engines age (ie 100K-150K miles) they probably should be on 30 grades if only for the additional bearing wear that has occurred. In my extensive research, I found zero evidence that 5w-20 protected any better than 5w-30. Some warm weather Continental owners (and 4.6L in general) I know even use 40 grades. Would not be surprised that for Continentals sold in foreign countries, the original oil specs remained at 5w-30 in 2001/2002...as well as for Grand Marquis and Crown Victoria up to 2011. And it's no secret that Ford and other mfg's have in the past couple of years been back-tracking on some of these CAFE-driven oil spec changes due to excessive engine wear. Even the Corvettes and Mustangs now come with 40 and 50 grade oil specs for track/performance use.
 
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I stuck with the factory oil stamped on the fill cap.
One thing that is often overlooked is that the engine’s timing chain tensioners are hydraulically operated.
The 4.6L Ford has long timing chains compared to other engines.
It has been noted in many discussions, the correct viscosity oil can help to ensure proper tensioner pressurization, and keeps the chain tight, reducing chain and guide stress and wear.
 
That was my point. The oil cap on my 1997 Lincoln was stamped 5w-30. 99% identical engine to what came in 2001/2002. The 1997 Continental is now back specced to 5w-20 as well. But the engineers designed it and the timing chain apparatus for 5w-30....not 5w-20. The bean counters made the choice to go to 5w-20 to save Ford $MILLIONs in CAFE related fees based on fleet mpg. The engineers no doubt did "some studies" and went along with the oil change shift as it probably had minimal impact on warranty coverage and costs. I very much doubt they were looking at taking car engines out to the 150K-200K range and breaking them down to inspect for wear. Makes you wonder why they didn't pick 5w-20 back in 1996-2000 (or in 1993 when the Lincolns changed) if that was the better oil choice all along.

I don't want to clutter up Svet's thread on too much oil junk. In fact if he wants me to move it elsewhere I will. It's just his thread is like the "book" on old Lincoln Continentals. This is the source. And the fluid choices are important to some degree. Even the coolant choices were changed in late 2002 model year where they shifted from regular old green to yellow (G05) anti-freeze.
 
The data I found stated the Continental coolant change took place on 7/15/02.
My '02 was built on 12/01 and came to me with the green stuff.
 
On July 20th-27th, 2002 the Ninth Generation Continentals got discontinued. So yea some did get the yellow "g" coolant.
 
Firebrian said:
That was my point. The oil cap on my 1997 Lincoln was stamped 5w-30. 99% identical engine to what came in 2001/2002. The 1997 Continental is now back specced to 5w-20 as well. But the engineers designed it and the timing chain apparatus for 5w-30....not 5w-20. The bean counters made the choice to go to 5w-20 to save Ford $MILLIONs in CAFE related fees based on fleet mpg. The engineers no doubt did "some studies" and went along with the oil change shift as it probably had minimal impact on warranty coverage and costs. I very much doubt they were looking at taking car engines out to the 150K-200K range and breaking them down to inspect for wear. Makes you wonder why they didn't pick 5w-20 back in 1996-2000 (or in 1993 when the Lincolns changed) if that was the better oil choice all along.

I don't want to clutter up Svet's thread on too much oil junk. In fact if he wants me to move it elsewhere I will. It's just his thread is like the "book" on old Lincoln Continentals. This is the source. And the fluid choices are important to some degree. Even the coolant choices were changed in late 2002 model year where they shifted from regular old green to yellow (G05) anti-freeze.
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Firebrian no need to start a thread on what you would like to state. It will help others out who use this thread for restoration and or info.

I agree with what you both state on the 5w 20. Last 2 oil changes I had used 5/20. Next time it will be 5w 30. Only two oil changes with the epa blend wont hurt the motor. So this fall I'll probably do an oil change or maybe wait til next year.
 
My battery just died for the first time. It was this morning. I just put the Battery Tender on it for a little while to see if it pulses back. If not I'm going to jump it. It may be time to get a new battery.

My dash lights were really dim and fading, as I turned it over.
 
I jumped the battery, it fired right up. Went for a ride and got it on the highway.

Should be good for now. Still going to probably replace the battery.

I also noticed that gear grinding sound when I turn the wheel right again.

So this fall I'm going to take the car in the shop for an oil change, fuel filter change, inspect that gear grind sound, look over intake gaskets, and a custom bent exhaust quote.
 
If you have a test light, pull the (IIRC) ground and make SURE everything is off/shut beforehand (no interior lights on), and put the test light in between the battery neg post and cable. If it lights up bright, you have a drain.

Wheel turning right and grind? Is it only turning right? Or does it make noise when the car shifts side to side like say you are going around a long gradual turn on the highway where the car's weight shifts to one side?

If it was clicking, I'd say look at the CV joints. Can still do a quick visual and see if grease seeped out OR if the boots ripped/split at a seam. Can sometimes grab the CV shaft see if it wiggles a bit. It should be tight. If it feels loose, it needs replaced.

If the sound is like a grinding when weight pushes the car left/right, that can be a wheel bearing. My Mark VIII hit 100k miles and one went bad, other went bad several thousand miles later. I first heard a grinding sound when it loaded the bearing laterally at highway speeds on long curves that shifted the weight against it.

IF your wheel bearing is bad and you plan to keep the car awhile, just have them do both sides if both are oem, else you'll have to take it back in a few when other goes. Not cheap though to pay someone. If you can DIY, it's MUCH cheaper.
 
Sincoln said:
If you have a test light, pull the (IIRC) ground and make SURE everything is off/shut beforehand (no interior lights on), and put the test light in between the battery neg post and cable. If it lights up bright, you have a drain.

Wheel turning right and grind? Is it only turning right? Or does it make noise when the car shifts side to side like say you are going around a long gradual turn on the highway where the car's weight shifts to one side?

If it was clicking, I'd say look at the CV joints. Can still do a quick visual and see if grease seeped out OR if the boots ripped/split at a seam. Can sometimes grab the CV shaft see if it wiggles a bit. It should be tight. If it feels loose, it needs replaced.

If the sound is like a grinding when weight pushes the car left/right, that can be a wheel bearing. My Mark VIII hit 100k miles and one went bad, other went bad several thousand miles later. I first heard a grinding sound when it loaded the bearing laterally at highway speeds on long curves that shifted the weight against it.

IF your wheel bearing is bad and you plan to keep the car awhile, just have them do both sides if both are oem, else you'll have to take it back in a few when other goes. Not cheap though to pay someone. If you can DIY, it's MUCH cheaper.
Click to expand...

I should invest in one of those test lights. That will be a future purchase. For now I'll just keep the tender on.

For the "grinding/whirling" sound it only does it when I turn the wheel to the right. For instance it makes the sound when the car is stopped, and when I slowly take off from a stop. There is no sound when the car shifts it's weight going through a turn. Your probably right about it being CV joints. I've been thinking about this...sometimes it makes this sound out of no where, then it stops.
 
It makes the grinding sound when not moving? i.e. completely stopped, turning the steering wheel and it makes the grinding?

Have you ever accidentally added the wrong power steering fluid? I did that many years ago in HS on my 1st car, and it lost the power steering effect if turned in one direction (early 80's Chrysler) but retained power steering turning opposite direction.

IF it's making the sound while parked and turning the wheel, that might be an issue with the rack and pinion. Would be odd for it to go out in an unmolested car.
 
I’m not a front end/suspension expert by any means – but a couple of things come to mind for the grinding noise.

Grinding noise when turning the wheel, as I recall, may be caused by a bad/failing CV joint, or wheel bearing.
The rack, as Sincoln mentioned is also a possibility.

Also low power steering fluid or excess air in the fluid from a leaking hose or connection/fitting.
 
Sincoln said:
It makes the grinding sound when not moving? i.e. completely stopped, turning the steering wheel and it makes the grinding?

Have you ever accidentally added the wrong power steering fluid? I did that many years ago in HS on my 1st car, and it lost the power steering effect if turned in one direction (early 80's Chrysler) but retained power steering turning opposite direction.

IF it's making the sound while parked and turning the wheel, that might be an issue with the rack and pinion. Would be odd for it to go out in an unmolested car.
Click to expand...

Well, the power steering fluid itself was flushed and filled at the Lincoln dealer back in '03, the power steering pump was replaced under warranty at the time. That is a common issue with Continentals, the power steering pump whines and starts acting up. It probably could be doing it again...although the rack might be the culprit too.
 
FlaOkie said:
I’m not a front end/suspension expert by any means – but a couple of things come to mind for the grinding noise.

Grinding noise when turning the wheel, as I recall, may be caused by a bad/failing CV joint, or wheel bearing.
The rack, as Sincoln mentioned is also a possibility.

Also low power steering fluid or excess air in the fluid from a leaking hose or connection/fitting.
Click to expand...

Its all good dude. The more info the better for people. From you and Sincoln's recommendations I am leaning to either a rack, or a CV joint going. I'll know more this fall when I take the car in for additional minor service.
 
If the car is being driven a lot, it'd be a wiser choice to at least get it inspected so you know for sure. A rack failure could be catastrophic. Even a cv joint letting go at the wrong time could be bad, but more so with a rack Symptoms of a Bad or Failing Steering Rack/Gearbox | YourMechanic Advice

Look at no.3 in the link. It describes your issue. Don't put this off until the fall unless the car isn't being driven.
 
Thank you for the tips and info you have provided. I don't think I'll be driving the car for a little bit. I got another vehicle needing service once that's complete this vehicle will go in.

Thanks dude
 
So I kept smelling a coolant smell no leaks, and no loss of coolant. I remember when I had bled the air out of the cooling system, it had squirted a little on the hood pad, and in between the cross over pipe and in between the manifold to block areas. They are tight areas for sure. I had to get a skinny flat blade screw driver and paper towels to get some of the blackish muck off. I had used some Pyroil cleaner de-greaser. I washed and scrubbed down the hood insulator pad.

It came out pretty good, got in all the areas. However within the tight places where the intake manifold mates to block I was thinking of using brake parts cleaner. Anyone see any negatives to doing this???? It will dissolve all the additional dirt and make it squeaky clean. At least that's the results I am shooting for. Thought about spraying some Febreeze odor eliminator on the hood pad.

So hopefully this is a quick solution to getting rid of the "smell".
 
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