My new LSE

[Alax7]

There were 2 here not too long ago, real cdc bumpers, I was surprised no one bought them right away. They were discontinued in 05 I think. TDUB said he bought the last cdc kit and is going to install it on his LS soon, he's rebuilding it or something.


Check this ls on car domain,cdc kit, looks pretty sick

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/311806/2000-lincoln-ls

 

[hite337]

So today I decided to go ahead with the electric cooling fan conversion and DCCV replacement while I'm waiting on my accel cop's to arrive. So I removed the fan, radiator (to clean it and fab fan mounts), hydraulic pump reservoir, and plugged the hoses on the pump cooler. I found out the stabilizer bar is indentical to the new one I installed in my '00 with the bushing brackets built in. So I know that I dont need to replace the bushings while I have everything apart....that's good news.


Now for the bad news...tomorrow I have to remove the hydraulic fan pump. Clearly one of the worst jobs to do on an LS. I'm trying not to damage anything when I take it out so I can sell the parts when it's all done. But the overwhelming urge to destroy the pump once I have it out my get the best of me. I remember nothing fun when I did it on my '00. Also on the list is removing the DCCV. It looks old and figured I'd replace it while it was easy to get to instead of realizing later it's bad.


I used a flex-a-lite fan on my '00 but I'm looking to find a comparable fan a little cheaper cuz $300 is kinda pricey. That is my task for the evening.

 

[jolinc01]

Good job, I'm all about switching the hydrolic fan to electric when mine dies.

 

[hite337]

Well, I ended up ordering a Flex-A-Lite 180 electric cooling fan for $240. I'm going to stick with what I know works and they have a good reputation. More than I wanted to spend but oh well....it'll be worth it in the end.

 

[JoshMcMadMac]

Well, I ended up ordering a Flex-A-Lite 180 electric cooling fan for $240. I'm going to stick with what I know works and they have a good reputation. More than I wanted to spend but oh well....it'll be worth it in the end.

I bet a 3.8L Taurus fan would fit pretty well, and they flow tons of air.

 

[hite337]

I bet a 3.8L Taurus fan would fit pretty well, and they flow tons of air.

I saw one or two on ebay cheap but they draw like 25-30 amps and without upgrading my alternator (yet) I didn't want to risk it being too much of a draw on the stock alternator. I decided to stick with what I know works. They did look they'd fit very well though...maybe a later experiment.

As for todays progress....I removed the hydraulic fan pump. The bolt behind the hydraulic line wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It took a few minutes to get it out but it wasn't siezed up like my '00. I also removed the Dccv. So as of right now I am waiting on my Accel coils, DCCV and the electric cooling fan to arrive in the mail. I am going to buy the shorter belt at Orielly's tomorrow, $18.

 

[hite337]

I took it easy on the LSE tonight. I only reinstalled the alternator and cleaned some more of the engine bay and under the engine. DCCV will be here tommorro. Still no fan or coil packs on my door step.

I am thinking of cutting out the factory fan shroud and using that to cover the new electric fan. I have to get the new fan and see how it all lines up. I think the factory fan shroud looks better than the electric fan in my other ls. And all mounting points for the accesories are already there in the factory position so I would not have to fabricate any brackets for that stuff, just the electric fan brackets. We'll see what happens....

 

[hite337]

Update

So I completed the electric cooling fan conversion, installed a new DCCV, fabricated an intake heat shield and installed the Accel COP's. The car cranked several times before it started but ran beautiful. I figured the cranking several times was caused by having the fuel line disconnected while replacing the VGC's. Then I realized that wasn't the cause. I drove it for two days and decided to park it untill I get the hard start problem fixed so I don't fry the starter.

I have removed the fuel rail and injectors and found one injector with rust around it and it looked very dirty. I ordered a remanufactured set of injectors and I am currently waiting on them to arrive. I also plan on replacing the fuel pump for good measure. I'm leaning towards using the Walbro GSS342 255lph high flow pump. I'm not sure what power adders I may decide to do in the future so if I'm already in the tank, I may as well upgrade now. I believe Pektel used this pump and said it only required a slight modofication to the pump housing. But I am going to get the car running with the new injectors first to see if the cranking problem is fixed.

Next on the list...drilled rotors, pads and exhaust.

I have already painted my calipers black and the caliper mounts red but they look very bad on what may be the factory rotors. If they're not factory then they were very abused.

I plan on fabricating the new exhaust, 2 1/2" cat-back with X-pipe, Jones resonators, and Magnaflow mufflers. My '00 is 2 1/4" with X-pipe, resonators with no mufflers and it's a little bit too loud for me. I have two Magnaflow's that have been sitting in my garage for two years and I will use them on the new exhaust.

I have also painted the upper and lower grills black. I think it looks alot better than before. I also fabricated a custom license plate bracket for the front bumper since Missouri is one of those stupid states that requires a front plate. The good news...the plate hides the crack in the lower part of the front bumper.

I cant wait to get this car running so I can put my 18" Kyowa's on it and then make a trip to the strip and see what is has before I make any more modifications.

 

[HyeLifeLS]

Very nice work. I have an oil leak from the hydraulic pump or the lower hose. Gonna try changing the hose first.

 

[funkcity]

I really want to see what the front bumper would look like w/o the lower "grille". I'd really like to cut that out and just have an opening. Maybe fill it with some black "CDC" type mesh grille. I think that would look sexy I just don't want it to be a fail and I'm out a front bumper.

No no no. That is the preferred, original (more valuable) setup.
A real LSE. That lower grille patterned after an older Ferrari was the Lincoln design. CDC who built it for Lincoln merely removed the slats and retooled for the "open" look. My son had both as he converted my old 2k LS to an LSE type. A drunk driver ended that fun...and the car.

Putting the gen2 LSE front would ruin the continuity of the line from the sideskirts to the front facia. Take a look.

You seem like an LS smart guy so you have a terrific buy there!
Well done!

 

[hite337]

Very nice work. I have an oil leak from the hydraulic pump or the lower hose. Gonna try changing the hose first.

Good luck man. Hopefully it is just your hose. Taking the whole pump out is no real fun at all. The 2 electric fan conversions I have done have served me well so far. They are a little loud but slightly quieter than the factory fan on high. Plus....doing the electric conversion is less expensive than replacing either the hydraulic pump or fan assembly, not to mention both at the same time.

 

[dNyce LS]

Nice! And great cleaning of that engine bay. imo gen2 lse bumper all the way! lol (I'm not a fan of the gen1 bumper)

 

[hite337]

Nice! And great cleaning of that engine bay. imo gen2 lse bumper all the way! lol (I'm not a fan of the gen1 bumper)

Thanks, it's attention to the details that counts...IMO. I have sanded and painted every metal bracket, fuel rails, throttle body, IAC, EGR, etc in the engine bay. When its all together it's gonna look sweet. I just hope it runs as good as it looks.

I am a fan of the gen2 bumper too. The gen1 is cool in its own respect but I prefer the smoother lines of the gen2. No gen2 conversion in my future. I'm concentrating on the custom 2 1/2" catback, brakes, custom intake tube, some suspension upgrades including Eibachs in front only, and eventually an 8.8 LSD w/3.58's in the factory housing, and an SCT.

Before:

After:

 

[LS4me]

I still think without the coil covers you run the very real risk of water pooling in the valleys and causing a coil to short.

Just my opinion........

Looks nice and clean!

 

[214rod]

Whoa! What a big difference. Good job on bringing back the og lse.

 

[Kumba]

Damn nice work! And I agree with the coil covers. Down here I would worry about condensation pooling around the boot. Do the covers not with with Accel COP's?

 

[hite337]

Damn nice work! And I agree with the coil covers. Down here I would worry about condensation pooling around the boot. Do the covers not with with Accel COP's?

No, the Accel's are way taller and I dont think a water tight bracket could be fabbed because the rear plug harness is too close to the firewall to get anything over it. The plug boot fits very tight and if you rotate the boot just right it will seal perfectly.


The boots fit very tight

The best position for the boot to seal the plug hole

The COP's are too tall

 

[manoli]

Nice job looks very nice.

 

[djwhy60]

WOW! Great deal on the buy and a BEAUTIFUL job on cleaning her up. Makes me want to run out and spit shine the wifes!

 

[diskfunktional]

Any more pictures of the front of the car? I'd really like to black out my lower grille as well. Or color match it to the LSE grille which in turn matches the LSE wheels. For now..

 

[hite337]

These are all I have for now. I'm chasing a miss in the engine right now. I just changed my fuel injectors and I have a miss like a COP but they are brand new so IDK yet. I can't wait to get it out of the garage and clean it up nice. I will take some better pics then. Forgive the ugly front plate bracket, gotta have it.

 

[hite337]

Update

I had been chasing a miss in the engine. I started a thread to discuss it and I realized I needed to reverse the wires on the COP connectors and it worked perfectly. Today was the first day I was able to drive it in a few weeks and I enjoyed it. Then the rain came...oh well, I now love this car even more than I did before.

So far....New Dccv, degas bottle, thermostat, EGR, VGC's, Flex-a-lite 183 electric cooling fan, Accel COP's (with reversed wiring...lol), Motorcraft sp468 platinum fine wire spark plugs (OEM), Factory re-man fuel injectors, custom heat shield with 4" K&N, painted upper and lower grills, painted calipers, and Kyowa 18's and one extensive cleaning of the entire car.

Next...new drilled rotors and pads, tires, front and rear stabilizer links, rear adjust links, alignment, transmission flush, exhaust (2 1/2" with high flow cats x-pipe, and not 100% sure about the resonator/muffler combo yet) and initially swapping out the 8.0 for the 8.8 but staying with stock gears for now and eventually doing the entire differential swap and going to 4.10's

I plan on going to KCIR and doing a few runs to get an idea of what I am running before doing any more performance mods. Maybe Friday 6/10....we'll see.

I will post pics of this beauty as soon as we get some good weather here in KC. Thanks to everyone for the help diagnosing my misfire!

 

[hite337]

Finally had a chance to take pics of the exterior cleaned up with the wheels on. Enjoy

 

[dannoltie]

Finally had a chance to take pics of the exterior cleaned up with the wheels on. Enjoy

wow looks great man really has come a long way...btw our cars are twins! minus the rims, but its still nice to see members with nearly immaculate gen 1 lse's around! seems to be members popping out of the woodwork lately with these not that it is a bad thing of course, anyways good luck with the car hope it treats you good

 

[De-marko]

Looking good!