1991 Lincoln LSC, Titanium

a Recovery

Sheridan Vincent

Rochester, NY

Email: svincent@frontiernet.net

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I have been driving Ford Thunderbirds since 1987 (1987, 1992, 1997) but whenever I saw a Lincoln Mark VII on the road my head turned. I really like the style. It is a classic. I have never been a fan of the Mark VIII body style. Too bad Ford let this one get away and now killed. I dreamed that if I could ever find one that had not been driven in the salt-heavy Rochester, NY winters with low miles, it would be fun to have one. On June 25, 2000 I picked up a local AutoTrader magazine and found a photo and description of the following car “1991 Lincoln Mark VII, LSC, titanium metallic w/titanium leather, all options, 44k mi, stored winters, CLASSIC SHOWROOM Condition. Best in New York.”

 I was hooked, I called and left a message, but they did not call back until the next Sunday morning. They wanted $12,000, but would negotiate. I set up an appointment to look at the car later that afternoon. It was oversold and overpriced, but I fell for it anyway. Options were basic, no moonroof, and the car was in need of lots of cleaning up, far from showroom condition. But, even to my untrained eye, the car was in great shape, no visible rust in the undercarriage, one minor spot of rust under the hood, a couple of shopping cart paint gouges, but no door dings. At just under 45,000 miles I assumed there were many miles left in her. We “negotiated” down to the price they were hoping to get -- $10,000, since I was the buyer that they were looking for to continue to care for the car. Aware that it was overbook, but feeling that it was the one I was looking for, I agreed and we drove it back home.

I have recovered a number of deficiencies in the car, turning it to a bit of a money pit. But I think my path was like many who work to bring a car back to its original condition. By working with a car that is less than 10 years old, there are still original Ford parts available, which makes the effort easier than if it was an older classic. I have spent many many hours cleaning it up over the last two months and would like to review what I did. I share this both for those who may be interested, as well as to hope that others who see it will have other ideas and suggestions for me.

One thing I learned early was that there is a fantastic and fanatic group of Mark VII owners. Bill “Keeper of the Board” runs a “Hot Rod Lincoln Discussion Group” that has been a goldmine of information and support. There is more than 167 mg of data in the database. The discussion is at http://www.peak-net.com/LSC/LSC.nsf and the description of the site is at http://www.peak-net.com/LSC/LSC.nsf/$about?OpenAbout. A must url for anyone interested in the Mark VII. Another site that has a very active group is http://www.lincolnsonline.com/ with a nice section on the Lincoln Mark VII. These forums are invaluable; any question that I have had usually has numerous answers filed away in the archives. 

Over the next several weeks I spent most of my evenings after work cleaning, polishing and buffing. The Hot Rod Lincoln Discussion Group has a posting for an excellent website to describe the materials and tricks and I followed most all of the recommendations at www.carcareonline.com . All of the materials were available here in Rochester, at the AutoFinishers or PepBoys. I made liberal use of cotton towels and rags.

Covering the various cleaning efforts briefly:

  Paint Finish: I used 3M Imperial Hand Glaze as the cleaner, conditioner on the paint. It did a great job, but I was disappointed that it could not clear up the slight “acid rain droplet damage” on the finish. You have to look very close to see it. My favorite wax over the years is Gliptone Carnauba Cream Wax. After a few days she was beginning to shine. I used Meguiar’’s Clear Coat Body Scrub Paint Cleaner for the under side of the trunk, hood, door frames, etc. before applying the wax. The shopping cart gouge on the passenger front panel and a couple of small gouges on the hood near the window were better hidden by a bottle of the stock Ford touch-up paint “Titanium Color.”

  Rubber on bumper: I used Rhino Black Again that does a great job at cleaning and bringing a nearly new look back, there are some swirls still evident that I am hoping will be reduced after multiple treatments. Read the label carefully on this stuff. It needs to be cured with some sunlight and is not meant for interior rubber parts.

  Other Rubber Seals etc.: I found a great material at Autofinishers, since somewhere along the lines I saw a discouragement from using silicone based materials. Car Beauty Pro Non-Silicone Rubber Dressing does a fantastic job at restoring the rubber to both look and feel new. Great stuff and it smells nice, kind of like apples.

  Leather Interior: The Leather Interior is in very good shape, there are a few creases in the front seats that come with any wear. It all cleaned up great using Lexol Leather Cleaner and Lexol Leather Conditioner.

  Vinyl Interior: Excellent cleaner conditioner is Vinylex Protectant.

Carpet and Odor: the light gray carpet was pretty spotted up. The Blue Magic Carpet Stain and Spot Remover did a pretty good job. Similar for the floor mats. I was hoping to get some Lincoln new mats, but they obsolete. I did buy some new Lincoln Mark VIII mats that are still available for about $65. The Embroidered “Mark VIII” looks nice and I don’t think anyone will object to an extra roman numeral. Unfortunately, the original owner did some smoking in the car, which along with an “old car smell”. I am very sensitive to smoke odor, so I don’t know if I’ll ever get rid of it. I have been leaving the windows open in the garage and using a spray called Evercare Gold Series Smoke Odor Eliminator that seems to be making it a bit better, or my nose is adapting.

Chrome: There is a bit of pitting in the chrome, very disappointing. Unfortunately, the car spent a fair amount of time outside in the sun. Rochester is not known for being very sunny, but there was enough, perhaps with some acid rain effects to cause the pitting on the top of the rear bumper and on the side mirrors. I cleaned them up as best I can with Blue Magic Liquid Metal Polish with no impact on the pits. It’s the pits! anybody have any good ideas on that? As you will see later, I replace some of the chrome with new.

Under the hood. It was pretty dirty. I didn’t think to take a before picture. The first weekend I took it to Delta Sonic and I was very surprised at how good a job they did to get rid of all the dirt and grime with their engine cleaning. (about $30 with a 10% discount with an oil change-the previous owner used synthetic, so I stayed with Mobil 1. I then attacked the painted surfaces with the Meguiar’s and some wax. The rubber parts and covers cleaned up great with the Car Beauty Pro Non-Silicone Rubber Dressing. The spot of rust on the under-side of the hood was eliminated with a metal brush, some primer and paint. Again, I was very pleased with the condition of the materials and how well they cleaned up.

Projects so Far

Throughout there were some issues that required some painting and replacement parts and I’ll continue the saga with some pictures with the descriptions.

My first parts purchase, was to replace the used lighter in the console. The chrome handle unscrews from the lighter element and for a few bucks you can replace element only.

A major detractor was the side molding. I have seen other light colored Mark VII’s having the same problem where, apparently for the exposure to the sun, the top of the plastic coated molding turns a very ugly orange color. No cleaning helped, because the plastic was actually deteriorated. A stop to my favorite body shop, Fetzner Collision, estimated big bucks in making the replacement parts, but I was pleased to learn they were still available. Fearing that the parts could go obsolete, I went for the replacement. We thought that they were going to need to be painted, since all the colors were not available, but I really lucked out, because the color that came was my Titanium color. That saved about $100 in painting costs. The total was about $620 for this change, but it took the eyesore away and it was now looking like new. Note the photos before and after, I think you will agree. Here are some shots of the old and new side moldings.

Another detractor was the hood insulator, the  “blanket” on the underside of the hood. It was very dirty, and the fiber was starting to pull away and deteriorate from the heat generated by the V-8. Again, a new one was available at about $120. I also replace the plastic rivets that hold it in place. It was very easy to replace, a one-person job. I took the opportunity to clean and wax the underside of the hood. Before and after photos show the improvement.

Others in the discussion group have reported another expensive trouble area for appearance was the window fiber scraper at the bottom of the window on the door. On my LSC that was not an issue. It cleaned up like new with no obvious deterioration. However, for appearance, I had a problem with the black painted part of the chrome piece on the top part of the door, under the window. There were a bunch of spots, probably acid rain again and a few scratches of the black paint down to the chrome. Replacement parts were obsolete and would have been expensive. I solved this with a bit of paint. I masked off the area and painted it with several coats of Plasti-Kote Fast Dry Trim Black # 611 found at PepBoys. Looks like new, see the photo. Lesson learned -- paint is cheaper than new parts and many lighter coats are better, but it is still hard to avoid the tendency to put too much down.

Another painting project was under the hood. Two parts were paint chipped and showing some corrosion. The radiator mounts on the top of the frame and a cylinder attached to the air conditioner. I used Plasti-Kote Engine Enamel Low-Gloss Black #215. See the photos, I should have tried to clean these better than I did, the paint wanted to repel in spots where there must have been some oil-like deposit. On the air-conditioner cylinder, there is a rubber sleeve that jackets the cylinder. It was jagged, and beginning to deteriorate at the top and looked pretty ugly. Not available as a separate replacement part, I decided to trim away about 3/8 inch of the top of the rubber with a sharp scissors. Treating it with the Car Beauty Pro Non-Silicone Rubber Dressing softened it up nicely. Note in the picture, it doesn’t look too bad now.

On the inside of the driver’ door, there is a rubber seal at the top. It was crushed as the photo shows. This part is available from Lincoln at about $32. It was easy to replace with the new rivets furnished with the item. The photo is at right, I didn’t bother with a photo of the new part in place. Looks like new now.

Other things fixed and replaced: Noting other fairly common conditions for these vehicles, I did have to have the door-lock actuator for the driver’s door replaced ($192), The air-conditioner was not working very well, the dealer has added the dye and found the o-rings and the condenser leaking. Both were replaced ($674). I pulled the one accessible spark plug and that looked like it was original. Looking at where they had the spark plugs on the 5L OVH, I gladly paid to have them replaced ($110). Several of the posts at the discussion website strongly encouraged the replacement of the PCV screen ($25) and the crankcase filter screen ($3.62). All this work was done at the local Doan Lincoln Mercury Dealer.

As the photos show (pictures actually overplay the appearance) there is significant pitting on the upper, horizontal surface of each bumper, the rear is worse than the front. I considered having them re-chromed, but the counsel at the Auto Body shop was that the new-plating can start to peel off as it ages. There was also considerable pitting and scratches on the top of the chrome (plastic) surface. I decided to replace all of the items and the work was completed on October 13, 2000. The work was being done at Long Pond Auto, Rochester, NY. There is a bit of buckling of the rear charcoal cushion and am going to have to give them a call to see why it is not flush with the bumper surface.

The photo is the final result after the replacement of the bumper and reflector element with new parts that are still available from Lincoln. The front bumper at $475 and charcoal cushion at $62, the rear bumper at $423 and Charcoal cushion at $66. The reflector and backup-light lens are $160 each for left and right. So that takes care of these major detractors and it now looks about as close as I can get it to how it must have looked when it was born on the assembly line. There is still some minor chrome pitting on the mirrors and on the front grill frame, maybe next year to change them out, or perhaps I’ll be able to overlook these more minor defects.

May 2001 Under the hood, I decided to replace the cover plate on top of the manifold (part No. E7ZZ-9E434-A $62.23), since the metal finish was a bit dull and the paint was peeling in places. The old one is mounted with four screws (part # 8-32X.71 $1.90 each) (Torx #10), but they wouldn’t budge. I think Lincoln must put a dab of paint on the screws and they become sealed on. I started by trying to grind off the heads, but worried that I would take the head down so far that I couldn’t get it unscrewed. After trying to grind down the four heads, I then worked to pry the cover off. It is made of a relatively brittle aluminum and eventually after some pryin’ and bangin’ it came off in a bunch of pieces. (with no apparent damage). Lincoln must have taken pitty on use for the four screws and for the new plate there were only two screw holes and two nipples that fit into the other two original screw holes. I did have to grind down the nipples a bit to fit. It turned out to be an all afternoon job that halfway through had me wondering “Why am I doing this?” But when it was done, it was well worth the effort as the photo shows.

May 2001 The car tended to idle up and down between 800 and 1200 rpm even when warmed up. Consulting the archive of the Hot Rod Lincoln Forum, it sounded like the Auto Throttle Body needed cleaning and the Throttle Air Bypass Valve also needed cleaning. I decided to purchase and install a new bypass (Part # E9AZ-9F715-B, $88.64), gasket (Part # E7SZ-9F670-A, $2.63) and mounting bolts (Part N605774, $0.87 each). I purchased GumOut’s Throttle Body cleaner, following the direction to spray it into the assembly after removing the air supply tubing. After a brief spray, the car would almost stall out, but then recover. After buttoning everything back up again, she ran fine with no variable idle. The guys in the forum come through again.

In the year that I have had the car, I have only driven it about 1000 miles and just turned 46K. Driving Thunderbirds and Continentals, I find the Mark VII to handle like the hybrid son of those two. What a sporty, luxurious pleasure. I am not planning on putting lots of miles on it, a bit of a “Sunday car” As we both cross over into “vintage territory” I’ll probably look into showing her off once in a while. But then again, this has been so much fun that I might want to check out other opportunities. I have only recently discovered Autotrader.com,  where there are a bunch of Mark VII’s -- those Special Editions sure look sharp…….. J

Expenses so Far

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