83 Lincoln Continental

[Adam]

Put 4 new tires on the Lincoln. The ones on there weren't out of tread, but they were old and brittle, the rubber was cracking. The Lincoln sat in a garage for nearly 10 years before I bought it, and I suspect the tires were at least 10 years old then.

And my floor jack quit working when I was putting the wheels back on, after nearly 30 years...

[Adam]

So yesterday I was about an hour away taking some of my students to a 'robot competition' (I think the word robot is stretching the truth a bit, but they make remote controlled machines that have to perform some task). Anyway, on the way back we pull into a Dunkin Donuts and my muffler falls off in the parking lot (I was driving my Lincoln with all their stuff in the trunk, and the Bio teacher was driving all the students in her van.)

The main problem was that the pipe was flopping around loose and hitting up against the driveshaft, so I tied it up with some surplus metal from the students' robot spare parts kit and drove home. I would have rather just removed it and tossed it in a dumpster somewhere, but I didn't have the tools to detach the exhaust clamps holding it in on me (I really need to start keeping some tools in my trunk).

Unfortunately, in the Phoenix area any car newer that '66 has to pass a smog check, otherwise I would just replace the whole exhaust system with dual exhaust and no catalytic converters. (There's a loophole but it requires you get this classic car insurance which limits how much you drive the car usually to 5K miles per year. I eventually want to go this route with my Firebird - but it doesn't make sense with the Lincoln which I got for a daily driver).

It uses 2 catalytic converters (which are pretty rusty too), which feed into a single muffler. I'm thinking I should just replace everything (or maybe I could get away with just replacing the catalytic converters and everything behind them). I'm trying to find all the parts in one place and having no luck, I'm looking around online and I see catalytic converters, tailpipes, mufflers that might work, I don't see the pipes that join the cats to the muffler anywhere at all.

[MadMan]

Throwing the loose muffler away is a big mistake that I've had too many customers make! The guy making a new exhaust for your car needs a template! KEEP IT.

Also just go to a muffler shop and let them remake it from scratch. The car is old enough that locating all direct-fit exhaust parts is not necessarily viable.

[Adam]

I got the muffler, tailpipe, and piece that goes from the y-pipe following the two cats to the muffler. That's all I absolutely need to replace now.

It really doesn't need the pipes going from the manifolds to the cats, but if I keep driving it for a while I will eventually have to replace the cats and that y-pipe. After searching more throughly, the y-pipe appears to be the only part that is not available.

There are 3 things I have to repair in the dash, which I am taking apart now.

1. The radio: already cleaned controls, and replaced belts (now I have a working cassette player ) This car came with a nice stereo: six speakers, 4 front (2 in the dash and 2 in the doors) and two rear, and the rear speakers are run off a separate amp mounted near the speakers in the trunk. The cassette player even has noise reduction.

2. I need to change the vacuum-operated switch that automatically releases the parking brake. It was leaking vacuum, so I had just plugged the line. I have a new one, but the switch is mounted to the firewall directly above the steering column, and there was one screw I just could not get to from below - so I'm hoping to get to it from above.

3. Heater core - currently leaking and bypassed.

4. I'm enjoying those Perry Mason tapes I picked up last week ....

[Adam]

I was just talking about how great the stereo sounds, and I take out the speakers in the dash this morning and see that they are nearly disintegrated... But, surprisingly I was able to locate replacements.

[MadMan]

Nice.

[Adam]

So this week I've:

1. Now got a working cassette player with new belts and new speakers in the dash. (I think I'm going to need to replace the speakers in the doors too. I'll get to it when I take the door panels off to figure out what's wrong with the power widows.)

2. Replaced the heater core - but haven't hooked it up yet.

3. Replaced the tailpipe, muffler, and short exhaust pipe which bolts to the y-pipe following the two cats and connects to the muffler. - Which makes this the only one of my 3 cars with no exhaust leaks. I want to put a nice set of duals on the Ranchero - but I just noticed a crack in the right exhaust manifold, so I'll have to replace that when I do it too.

4. I replaced that switch which releases the parking brake, but found out the actual device that does the releasing is leaking vacuum too (It's sort of a vacuum powered solenoid).

5. I'm going to change the oil and filter today - at least I'll be able to drive this to work again next week.

[Adam]

I hooked up the heater core, so now that I don't need it anymore because it's getting hot again, the heater works.

There's a T-fitting which attaches to a 3/8" hose which goes to a built-in oil cooler. I couldn't get the 3/8 hose which I needed to replace it (it has a sharp 180 deg bend in it), so I just ran a longer hose in such a way that I didn't need to bend it sharply.

[Adam]

I finally figured out the reason it was having trouble starting after sitting outside on a hot day was due to the electronic ignition control module ("Duraspark III" as Ford calls it). Put in a new module, the problem went away.