My Stinkin' Lincoln project...engine CARNAGE pics!

[Charger_Fan]

At least this one will be a quick project...I think.

I spotted a local ad recently for this '77 Lincoln Town Car. Original owner, 68K original miles, a really rare factory glass roof...and a 460 that chucked a rod...sellin' cheap! I snagged it because I know I can make it run again reasonably cheap & hopefully because of the rare roof option, I'll maybe be able to flip it some some Lincoln lover & make some bucks to further my Charger along.
The current gas prices may make it tough to sell though, in which case I'll just keep it. I like the big 'ol barge & I won't be into it a whole lot in the end...probably less that the going rate for a half-stripped Charger parts car.

One of the pics from the ad...



And after I got it home & gave it a bath!





It's funny, I've never really given these Town Cars much thought in the past, but I've gotta tell ya...this one's really growing on me. And it doesn't even RUN yet!  
Ok, glass roof pics...pardon my forest of a lawn (& dandelions), it's rained a lot here lately, but dried out well enough a few hours later that morning to mow it. At least the neighbor's lawn is mowed.



Sort of an odd thing.



Biggest inside sunroof slide cover I've ever seen!




Uncracked dash, leather seats are dirty, but soft & in good shape. The door pull is separated, that's the worst part of the interior.



I know it's not a Mope, but it's still kinda cool. If this car had been an Imperial for the same price, I would have snapped it up without hesitation. As it was, I pondered on it for two days...but it was still there waiting for me, so I decided it was meant to be & took it under my wing.  

Ok, flame on!        

[moparstuart]

 better take out a 2nd mortgage to fill the tank     

[Charger_Fan]

Between this & the two tanks in brown F250 in the background, I bet I could get 'em all full in just under $250.













No, I won't be driving it often.

[dads_69]

Big pimpin'. My dad had cars like that while growing up. I like it, granted gas will, well, who cares, at least your safe if ever in an accident. 100 mph down the highway will be like floating on air. 

[70charginglizard]

Forgive me but I have to say it.

It reminds me of that land cruiser thing that clark Griswold ended up with from the first National Lampoons Vacation movie.

[BigBlackDodge]

Forgive me but I have to say it.

It reminds me of that land cruiser thing that clark Griswold ended up with from the first National Lampoons Vacation movie.

The Family Truckster! .............paint it green!



BBD

[Magnumcharger]

I've never heard of the glass roof option on these cars!
Coooool!

[Daytona R/T SE]

I like it! I'd buy one of those remanufactured engines from one of those cheapy engine rebuilders, drop it in and cruise the wheels off of it. 


P.S. be sure to get the A/C working-with that green hose roof you're going to need it !

[Shakey]

My Mother had one of those when I was a youngster.  We once had 11 people (10 children) in at once to go roller skating!   

Looks like a good economical commuter car!   

[Dodge Don]

Hope you flip it and move the 70 Charger along

Just remember, when boating you must wear a life preserver 

[TruckDriver]

Gotta love the size of the dash ash tray in those I once knew a guy who had one a little older. If you want less projects, I'll take your Charger off your hands

[Charger_Fan]

100 mph down the highway will be like floating on air. 

I had a '82 Crown Vic that sure soaked up the bumps, I imagine I could hit an open manhole with this thing & barely feel it.

Gotta love the size of the dash ash tray in those

Yep, I bet I could get my foot in there, if I wanted to!

Just remember, when boating you must wear a life preserver 

Oooh, I should brush up on my nautical vocabulary, too.

Looks like a good economical commuter car!   

Absolutely! Aint' skeerd of no stinkin' gas prices!

Forgive me but I have to say it.

It reminds me of that land cruiser thing that clark Griswold ended up with from the first National Lampoons Vacation movie.

The Family Truckster! .............paint it green!

You guys are right, the front end does resemble that car, huh? And there's plenty of extra room for another row of headlights.

I've never heard of the glass roof option on these cars!
Coooool!

Same here! I posed the question to the guys on a Lincoln forum I found...none of them had seen it on a 4-door Town car before. Some had seen one on a 2-door Town Coupe, though. Finally, one guy in Canada PM'd me about a 4-door car he had, but said the roof was really rotted...he hasn't said yet what became of his car.

I like it! I'd buy one of those remanufactured engines from one of those cheapy engine rebuilders, drop it in and cruise the wheels off of it. 


P.S. be sure to get the A/C working-with that green hose roof you're going to need it !

According to the previous owner, the a/c works. Sweet!
I've already gotten a replacement engine & torn it down to see what's what. Looks like I can do a re-ring & bearing job on it & be back in action purty soon.  Got the block & innards at the machine shop right now, getting spit-shined.
When I got the heads off the replacement engine, a few of the cylinders had obviously been running lean...I can't imagine why.

[Lowprofile]

Back east where I grew up [Providence] we used to call them "Mafia Staff Cars". Had a friend of mine who's grandpa used to own a Lincoln Dealership.....he called them "Jew Canoe's" lol!  Man, I love those land barges. My Uncle had  a 71' Mark III . Very cool cars.

Good luck with your new ship Grant!

[Old Moparz]

Cool find CF, the old Lincolns were a blast to cruise in.     Never saw the glass roof option though, pretty cool.   

I had a '71 four door, for a short time that had a 460 in it, & a gas gauge that didn't work. Paid $400 for it & drove it until the trans crapped out, then unloaded it for $125. I pissed off a ton of people when I ran out of gas in it once during morning rush hour on the approach to the George Washington Bridge to New York City. I think that happened because it was GPM & not MPG to calculate how much gas you had. 

Here's a pic of the Lincoln, the roof of my '69 Charger behind it, the girl I was seeing at the time, & my mentally challenged dog. (The dog is on the left, btw) I had to take a B&W pic to put in the local Want Ad Press back then.

[Silver R/T]

a nice way to spend your stimulus check I guess lol

[Todd Wilson]

Thats a sweet old boat there. Looks to be in good shape. Heck of a road car!


Todd

[Charger_Fan]

My Uncle had  a 71' Mark III . Very cool cars.

I'd love to land a Mark III one day, they are great looking cars.

a nice way to spend your stimulus check I guess lol

You bet! It's being spent at my local parts store!

I pissed off a ton of people when I ran out of gas in it once during morning rush hour on the approach to the George Washington Bridge to New York City.

Is it a narrow road there? You must have been quite the cork in that day's commute.

Well, the owner said it had chucked a rod (his words were "I blew it up"), and that was pretty much assumed when I looked at the rear of the oil pan. I could tell there had been some shrapnel inside that had dented the pan from inside, the engine's locked up, too. Today, I finally got a few hours to work on it & started unbolting stuff.
After a while, I went underneath to start unbuttoning the exhaust, removing the starter & removing the torque converter bolts, etc. When I removed the inspection cover, these two trophy pieces fell out...apparently, it did more than ding up the oil pan.
Then it hit me...if there's that much carnage inside there, I may not be able to coax the crank free so I can roll it over & get the t/c nuts off!   About two hours later, with the help of my redneck engineering, I was able to get it to turn far enough to barely get the last nut out. As I was turning it, 5 or 6 things fell & hit the pan from inside, and the rest of it sounds like absolute death.
Did I mention that I drained about 1.5 gallons of coolant out of the oil pan? I'm guessing it lost a head gasket, thereby filling the pan with antifreeze. Because oil floats, that means the oil pump was pumping straight antifreeze through the engine. That thing HAD to be making one hell of a racket before it went.

Here's the two chunks of engine block. I've decided that that's not "101"...it really "LOL"



I'll share the carnage pics once I get it out & get the pan off...'cause everybody like to see carnage, right?

[Old Moparz]

I pissed off a ton of people when I ran out of gas in it once during morning rush hour on the approach to the George Washington Bridge to New York City.

Is it a narrow road there? You must have been quite the cork in that day's commute.

It was the right lane of a 3 lane highway, but it wouldn't have mattered if it was 10 lanes wide. The amount of traffic heading into NYC from NJ that time of day is unbelieveable. 

I'm just glad nobody fired shots at me.   

[squeakfinder]

I pissed off a ton of people when I ran out of gas in it once during morning rush hour on the approach to the George Washington Bridge to New York City.

Is it a narrow road there? You must have been quite the cork in that day's commute.

It was the right lane of a 3 lane highway, but it wouldn't have mattered if it was 10 lanes wide. The amount of traffic heading into NYC from NJ that time of day is unbelieveable. 

I'm just glad nobody fired shots at me.   

It's been several years since I've been across the George Washington bridge. Were you close to the toll booth? If not, how in the world did you manage not getting run over?

[TheGhost]

Those are some comfy looking seats.

[Charger_Fan]

I haven't been able to work on it much in the last week, but today I had the from noon on to play...but first, a couple pics before I yank it...and who knows, I may have to look at these to refresh my memory on something.  




After I removed the flywheel, I see that the couple small pieces of broken block are just that...the small ones!



The block is also broken above the oil pan. This area was hidden by the starter motor when it was still in the car, all I could see with the engine in the car was about 5 small-ish dents at the rear of the pan...only one had broken though a little bit & was seeping antifreeze.



Once I got it on the engine stand & dropped the pan, this is what greeted me...there's #4 rod & a chunk of crankshaft counterweight in that mess. *boom*
I didn't bother to remove those two oil pan bolts holding the block chunks.



Both rear pistons are broken & jammed into the heads.



Looking down #4 hole...



The cam retainer plate fell out in pieces, when I removed the timing cover. Oh & I'm thinking this may be where the coolant got into the block. The water pump & timing cover gaskets had a TON of silicone on them & the gaskets just looked like crap in general.



Apparently the cam had been shoved forward hard enough to break a couple lifters in their bores. The bottom half of the lifters are still in there, with the push rods holding them in.



Four of the intake ports have piston shrapnel in them, this pic turned out best.



I had to stop there, hopefully tomorrow I can yank the heads. I'm now assuming the heads are garbage too. And, I was originally planning on just welding up the little divits in the oil pan...looks like I'm finding a new one.
I don't know about youz guyz, but this thing is one of the worst blown up engines I've seen in a LONG time. The friggin' thing looks like a dirty version of a top fuel grenade job.
This thing really had to have been making one hell of a death noise before it went. It's amazing the previous owner just kept driving! I can just picture a carload of old folks cruising along, when suddenly...BOOM!!

[Mike DC]

 
 
Do you have to drop an anchor when you park it? 

 

[Charger_Fan]

 
 
Do you have to drop an anchor when you park it? 

 

Currently, yes.

[472 R/T SE]

They were old folks, so unless they had their hearing aids turned up they most likely didn't hear anything and kept driving. 

We had a Lincoln.  It had the trunk lid with the round rear like a spare tire.  It also had a small little doo hicky mounted up on the cowl on the driver's side that was pointed towards oncoming traffic and would automatically dim the headlights.  Seemed it only worked when other people flashed their high beams.    I thought our Chargers' had a barge size hood area, those Lincolns' are every bit as long.

[Todd Wilson]

Its gonna be a sweet cruising unit when its done!


Todd

[Brock Samson]

They were old folks, so unless they had their hearing aids turned up they most likely didn't hear anything and kept driving. 

I'm betting the left turn signal was on too,..

great thread... 

[BrianShaughnessy]

I'd be posting that thing on Craigslist as an easy fix - for somebody else     

Sounds like you'll be vising the boneyard for a motor.

[Charger_Fan]

Sounds like you'll be vising the boneyard for a motor.

I've already snagged another engine. About halfway up this thread, there's pics of it's split intake gaskets. I guess I made this thread a little confuzing in that regard, sorry about that.

They were old folks, so unless they had their hearing aids turned up they most likely didn't hear anything and kept driving. 

You may be right, Mike.

I thought our Chargers' had a barge size hood area, those Lincolns' are every bit as long.

This hood looks to be about 2-3" longer than the Charger's hood & maybe 2" wider.
Oh & the rain got it all dirty again...

[RD]

CF, your nuts, i would have got my charger done first LOL

[Charger_Fan]

I know, part of me thinks I'm wasting my time messing around with this thing, when I could be playing with my Charger. The idea I've had stuck in my head for the last bunch of years is to gather up enough good parts & money to be able to just jump into it one day & not stop until it's done. I already took one project apart, thinking I could just fix things as I go...well, it's still in pieces. I didn't want to do that with the Charger too.
Most guys can do it that way, but not me, it seems. Once the project is apart & I run out of money, I run out of momentum & it sits.

So as of now, I'm now slowly getting closer to a point where I feel I can jump off into the Charger project & not run out of momentum. Make any sense?  

Anyhoo, today I yanked the heads...check out #4 piston.



#8 on the other side, was stuffed hard into the combustion chamber, but didn't break the top like the other one.



All but one cylinder had shapnel pieces in them.



Here's #8 rod, lookin' a little twisted in there.



To my surprise, the heads looked much better than I expected! Other than a couple intake valves that are hanging open a little, they look useable. #4 is on the upper left & #8 on the upper right.
I'm probably not going to use them though, mainly because I know the engine was low on coolant a lot & there's possibly some cracks in there. I'll have the heads on the replacement engine checked out first.



Here's the pistons, #4 rod, the crankshaft counterweight & a few chunks that came out with #4.



As for the reason of why the pan filled with coolant, I ruled out the head gaskets...they both look fine, so does the intake. However, the water pump looks like it was replaced 8 or 10 years ago & whoever did the job, didn't take much pride in his work. He used a ton of silicone & maybe didn't prep the area very well. I think the gaskets went on while the area was still wet with antifreeze.
Both gaskets came off really soggy.



I'm not gonna pull the crank & cam, There's nothing in there I can use & I already know they are fubar'd. You guys are probably tired of my Ferd carnage pics, so I'll post a couple pics as I finish the new engine in a couple weeks.

Oh, one last one...there was one more broken lifter than I saw yesterday. The bottom halves are still in there.
Just something I find interesting, this is the first time I've seen lifters break this way.

[PocketThunder]

If only i had $800* to buy that baby from you when you are done with it i'd on a plane out there to drive it back home.   

Paul
in Minnetonka


* that includes the flight out there..  hahaha

[BrianShaughnessy]

   

Sounds like you'll be vising the boneyard for a motor.

I've already snagged another engine. About halfway up this thread, there's pics of it's split intake gaskets. I guess I made this thread a little confuzing in that regard, sorry about that.

Oh... yeah... I see it now.   Sorry.     

I know, part of me thinks I'm wasting my time messing around with this thing, when I could be playing with my Charger.

Well...   That's kinda what I'm thinking about this whole deal.   

[Old Moparz]

If only i had $800* to buy that baby from you when you are done with it i'd on a plane out there to drive it back home.   

Paul
in Minnetonka


* that includes the flight out there..  hahaha

There goes your Coronet ragtop dreams.   

[Johnny SixPack]

Congrats and sorry at the same time, Grant. 

I woulda been lookin' to race yah in my '72 Imperial. 

Big cars rock.