Builds 66 Lincoln Continental build thread

[Gumby]

I have embraced the personal luxury sedan.

I've decided I like to own vehicles I can use regularly. I found myself driving the 45 maybe a dozen times a year. At Michigan insurance prices I was paying about $100 per use. 55 didn't have the insurance bill, but I had to tow it all over the country to use it. 4 hour drive just to go to the Badlands and do the whole thing in two hours in 2wd.

I'd be open to a 100 series if something happened to the Tundra, but being I only ever use that as a truck anymore, having an open bed on my tow rig is nice.

 

[Gumby]

I went with black wrinkle finish on the transmission as well. A lot of it shows behind the motor and before the firewall. I wanted it to look clean, but not be a focal point. Plain cast aluminum would have been nice, but I wasn't getting to that point without completely disassembling the trans and hot tanking and probably media blasting the case. I thought about the light grey of the engine block, but it would be very obvious in the black engine compartment. I think the black will be more subtle.

 

[120mm]

I have embraced the personal luxury sedan.

I've decided I like to own vehicles I can use regularly. I found myself driving the 45 maybe a dozen times a year. At Michigan insurance prices I was paying about $100 per use. 55 didn't have the insurance bill, but I had to tow it all over the country to use it. 4 hour drive just to go to the Badlands and do the whole thing in two hours in 2wd.

I'd be open to a 100 series if something happened to the Tundra, but being I only ever use that as a truck anymore, having an open bed on my tow rig is nice.

As much as they are maligned, the 1960s sedans are excellent vehicles, that knew exactly how to go down the road in comfort.

If my garage were not already full, I'd have a 1960s Ford sedan in it.

 

[Gumby]

Lotta stuff done, but no good pics for a while. Still got a lot of stuff to do in the engine bay, but it's getting there. A few good days and a handful of parts and I can put the hood on and call the engine done.

Got another impediment to progress Friday. Nothing at all got done Saturday.

 

[Gumby]

Re-did some harness to run the injector wires off of the back of the engine. No wires come up the front now. Might still make a heat shield where the fat part of the loom runs close to the exhaust, but it'd just be an excuse to make something with speed holes in it.

I'm debating heat shrink only on the injector harness or loom. I did find an injector plug that had the wire pierced right at the injector with a test light so #7 is getting a new plug.

Coils are off the back of the head. I'm not 100% sold on it.

Still need to cut the hole for the air intake on the panel I made to fill in where the HVAC was. The center part panel is held down with pan head screws into rivnuts to service the air cleaner element in the sealed up fenderwell fed by the cowl vents. The MAF will bolt on the panel. I have enough 4" pipe, but not enough without a bend, so I need to fab up a chunk this week.

 

[Gumby]

Passenger side has the heater hoses routed. I'm debating the routing of the AC lines to the compressor. The routing in the pic is by far the longest, so no worry of changing my mind and being short.

LS1 water pump is spaced 1.5" out to work with the truck pulley and accessories so there's a big hole where I ran the lines..

Radiator next so I can locate the condenser and trans cooler. Then all the AC lines need crimping.

Passenger side has the injector loom wrapped over the shrink tube.

 

[Gumby]

Gates website has great product catalogs to find all their hoses diameter, overall length and pictures of bends.

Product Catalogs

Browse our complete line of power transmission and fluid power products and services. View Gates Product Catalogs.

www.gates.com

I went with 20795 1.25x1.25 x 20.1 and 22363 1.5x1.5x 16

I wish I would have found this site for the belt.

 

[Gumby]

Cleaned and painted the hydroboost and re-installed, hopefully for the last time. Shortened the push rod to the pedal by 2".

Got the air box panel sorted after several tries. MAF is bolted through the panel. Cone filter will live in the fender well where the hvac was. Air intake tube lines up with the 90 degree bend out of the intake. I ordered a hump tube to help with engine movement. It also needs a 4 to 3.5 adapter because GM.

Sanded and re-painted the intake. The stock finish was super thin and badly scratched. New o-ring kit installed and the brackets re-drilled from LS 1 to L59 length. Drilled out the injector holes to 0.53 to fit the correct o-rings.

Re-routed the AC lines again after re-interpreting the pictographs and turning the compressor 90 degrees. Still deciding where the receiver drier will go.

Mounted the constant power fuse box. I used a mkIV Jetta part. It has a 100A fuse for the alternator, a 40A fuse for the fans, a 60A for the interior feed that will include the window motor relays, 30A for the fuel pump relay, and 3 spade fuses for other stuff.

Radiator is here, hoses ordered. Isolators ordered. Plans for mounting brackets forming. Will require speed holes.

Snow day today, but stuck puppy-sitting

 

[LukeZero]

Cleaned and painted the hydroboost and re-installed, hopefully for the last time. Shortened the push rod to the pedal by 2".

Got the air box panel sorted after several tries. MAF is bolted through the panel. Cone filter will live in the fender well where the hvac was. Air intake tube lines up with the 90 degree bend out of the intake. I ordered a hump tube to help with engine movement. It also needs a 4 to 3.5 adapter because GM.

Sanded and re-painted the intake. The stock finish was super thin and badly scratched. New o-ring kit installed and the brackets re-drilled from LS 1 to L59 length. Drilled out the injector holes to 0.53 to fit the correct o-rings.

Re-routed the AC lines again after re-interpreting the pictographs and turning the compressor 90 degrees. Still deciding where the receiver drier will go.

Mounted the constant power fuse box. I used a mkIV Jetta part. It has a 100A fuse for the alternator, a 40A fuse for the fans, a 60A for the interior feed that will include the window motor relays, 30A for the fuel pump relay, and 3 spade fuses for other stuff.

Radiator is here, hoses ordered. Isolators ordered. Plans for mounting brackets forming. Will require speed holes.

Snow day today, but stuck puppy-sitting

View attachment 3259632

View attachment 3259660

View attachment 3259661

The dogs look very un-impressed.

 

[gnob]

Gates website has great product catalogs to find all their hoses diameter, overall length and pictures of bends.

Product Catalogs

Browse our complete line of power transmission and fluid power products and services. View Gates Product Catalogs.

www.gates.com

I went with 20795 1.25x1.25 x 20.1 and 22363 1.5x1.5x 16

I wish I would have found this site for the belt.

This site has become so handy.

 

[Gumby]

Not getting to spend a lot of time in my shop. Puppies and whatnot.

Got an AC hose crimper. I had 14 crimps to make so less than $10 per fitting was worth buying a tool. All the hoses are now made so the tool will prolly never be used again.

Moved the coils to the firewall. I like it way better, but I had to pull the restomod air unit out to drill holes in the firewall. The plug wire routing is way cleaner this way and it just looks better. The wiring harness fits better without the coils on the heads too.

Got all the parts together for the intake and the air intake pipe. MAP and PCV go to fittings under the intake. The MAP is on a hose so it's not upside down. Waiting on a 90 degree PCV, but the hoses are run so I could finally bolt the intake down. Blacked out the rail brackets and cut them down. When I'm done pulling the injectors for any reason I'll zip tie the harness in tight to the brackets.

Air intake pipe needed a spacer between the elbow and the hump so I put the vent tube hose there. The vent on the valve cover spun 180 easily enough. Need more oil safe hose though.

Flipped the injectors around so I could make the wires run cleaner. Still not sold on covered or not on the injector harness.

 

[gnob]

some progress is better than none progress.

love this build.

 

[Gumby]

A whole week of working on the Lincoln and it feels like nothing got done.

Ran the power steering and brake booster lines. Used all AN -6 lines. Gonna use it for trans lines too, I think.

Most of the time has been wiring. Tying everything together under the dash.

Rebuilt the ignition switch. Mostly because the back of switch pulled off with the plug. Wired it to a Deutch connector.

Rebuilt the light switch. Mostly because it needed to come apart to fix the knob release button. The spring on the catch was gone so getting it to release involved a lot of shaking and jiggling and holding my tongue just right. Now all the contacts are cleaned and lubed. A ballpoint pen sacrificed its life for part of its spring. Wired it to a Deutch connector. I love those things.

Rebuilt the map light. It has a complicated mechanism to turn it on and off by pressing in the lens. Wired it with.a couple of LED strips. The lens cleaned up nice with plastic polish. Ran the frame over the buffer wheel. It runs to a relay that switches the courtesy lights on with the map light or the light switch turned counter clockwise, or the doors. The rear passengers can turn on just the opera lights with a switch on their door.

Sandblasted and painted the lower dash piece and put that assembly back together. Mounted the two dash assemblies to the dash frame to be able to get the locations of all the connections

Replaced the lights in the radio, climate control, ignition switch, turn signal indicators, ash tray and glove box lights with LED. Wired a dash subharness to get power and light feed to the ash tray, glove box and clock. The clock coil is bad. I'll put an electric movement in it. Pretty cool how it works, but prolly not worth fixing.

Got the cruise wired up. It should work with the Lincoln speed control switch.

It looks like a mess, and it is, but one wire at a time. It's getting close.



Steering column is all disassembled, cleaned up and painted. New bearings top and bottom.

 

[Gumby]

Well, that took way longer than it should have. Pic so there might actual be information in this thread someone might find helpful.

Upper hose. LS with LS1 water pump. Radiator with upper right inlet and lower left outlet. 1.27" diameter

Gates 22916

The radiator specs in the screen shot

 

[Gumby]

It took so long to get here I lost one of the hose clamps. I had to use the search my orders function on the Amazons to find the info on the hose. It was an embarrassing number of pages back

 

[Gumby]

Not a lot of progress on the Lincoln. Finished the steering column. New bearings top and bottom. The top one has a flange that causes the snap ring to need a new groove. I used a shaft collar at the bottom. Then a rebuilt rag joint.

Installed the inner dash and steering column.

Bought some used $100 rollers so I could have a nice level base for doing the final body work. Not enough sidewall for the car, but 15s are hard to find in farm country. They are very popular for trailers.

Bought new tires for the Benz and LS430 too. Got the Lexus ones all mounted, balanced on polished wheels and installed. Benz 14s showing up later in the week. Gotta dismount the old ones and polish the alloys. Lincoln tires need rim swapping tomorrow too. All 12 piled in the back of the tundo.

 

[Gumby]

New ultrasonic cleaner.

I didn't even know the handles had satin highlights

 

[Gumby]

Gonna give myself a chance for a little accountability. My buddy @tonyota came over and helped me move the Lincoln to the hoist side for buttoning up brakes, suspension and driveline. Here's my list of things to get done before it snows too much to move it back to the bodywork side. The Benz needs the hoist for floors.

I have started fitting the new crossmember. I think I can fit the 4l80e without too much tunnel rebuilding. If some future owner wants to do a big drop, they'll have to build a tunnel. The pan is a bit low. Might do a little skid plate. Edit: all built and in. I moved the stock brackets back until the last of the three holes in the subframe lined up with the first of the holes in the bracket. Drilled and sleeved two new holes. Used a boxed 4runner cross member welded to the brackets. Lincoln used rubber mounts on the end of the crossmember. Chevy uses one at the trans. Should stiffen the chassis to have the crossmember in solid.

Fab 2" drop blocks for the rear leafs. Lincolns and t-birds had a weird 1.5" center pin hole, so fibbing will be easier than buying. Yeah, yeah, spring hop, but I'd like to play with the amount of drop before I buy new springs. I can tell you the Amish drop blocks made me know 3" is too much static drop.

I found the spicer joint that adapts a 4l80e 1350 to the Lincoln 1310. It's part number 5-460x. So I have to fit the driveshaft and find out it it needs shortening. Edit: it's 3 inches short. Needs re-tubing.

The wiring harness to the starter and CKP is short. Gotta find out where it's misrouted, because it fit once. Edit - fixed. Starter installed. Wire in p- clamps

Remote oil filter needs to be perma-mounted. Lines need to be fabbed and routed. Edit: Filter mounted just forward of the power steering pump. nutserts in the boxed "frame" section. Outlet line made. Decided to order a different -12an fitting for a cleaner fit on the inlet line. Otherwise thats done

Fans need the switch wired up. I'm thinking drilling and tapping the water pump spacer for the switch.

A half dozen wires need terminating

Fuel pump, pre and post filters need mounting. Fuel tank straps need fabbing, then fuel tank in. I'm gonna need a sending unit too. The old one is a solid chunk of rust and crystalline dead dinosaur remains. Edit: fuel tank in. Straps fabbed, because $90 for two 1" strips of 18g is dumb. Corvette filter/regulator is mounted. Fuel line is fabbed to that and all clamped the length of the car. Pump and pre-filter are done, but waiting on some -6an fittings. I'm always waiting on -an fittings. Sending unit waiting on some project funds.

Last little bit of front brake line needs to be made and tied into the brake hoses. Edit: front and rear lines are done pending rear brake choice.

Trans lines need making and routing. Another floor clearance spot is gonna be needed for the rear line. Edit: stupid GM radiator fittings. Waiting on g1/4 to npt 1/4 and npt to -6an adapters

 

[Gumby]

Oil filter location.

Cleaned the old sending unit. Even fixed the variable resistance unit. The brass float is full of holes. So now it's a sink. The sock was destroyed. The hose outlets don't leak, but are very scaly and the retainer ring has some holes rusted through. All together not worth messing with when it just $110 for a new stainless unit.

It did do well locating my lines in the right place for finishing off the fuel pump plumbing.

 

[Gumby]

Lincoln isn't getting much love lately, but it did get the seats put back in. Mostly, I needed the floor space to put the part r107 in the shop for the winter.

We did sit in the back seat for a bit of pondering.