83 Lincoln Continental - Page 3 - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Sandy G · #31 10-11-2019, 09:16 PM

I MUST admit,I was NOT a big fan of these when they came out, but YOURS, especially its color scheme, is rather "Regal" looking-More like a Lincoln oughta be ! STILL not quite as nice as my Suicide Door Specials-but to MY feeble little mind, you'd have to go back to the great bespoke bodied cars of the Twenties, Thirties, the great KA & KB Lincolns, the Judkins & Lockes, Willoughbys, to surpass modern cars.. Guess I'd have to include Derhams, too, I think they made a few bodies for Lincoln, but mostly they worked for that damnable Generous Motors "Off-Brand"...(Grin)

MadMan · #32 10-12-2019, 12:16 AM

That photo looks like an advertisement piece.

Adam · #33 10-12-2019, 09:10 AM

If I knew how to do it better, I'd edit out the modern cars, so I'd look like the picture was taken back in the 80s.

I've never been a huge fan of the downsized cars that came out in the late-70s and early-80s either. I was actually looking for a truck when I saw this on craigslist: but the price was good, it was in good condition, and I was attracted by the long list of options and features, and while the 302 is no 460 or 462 I like driving it. And that digital dash looks good at night. The really old Lincolns I always thought were neat were the ones with the V12s in the late-30s - 40s.

And I'll eventually get around to fixing all those extra features - that beeping computer started flashing "DTE 0" and beeping again when I went over a bump - probably some nearly impossible to track down bad solder joint somewhere or maybe I'll get lucky and it'll just be an easy to find loose wire.

bgadow · #34 10-12-2019, 09:53 PM

A good obsolete Ford parts depot:
http://www.greensalescompany.com/
Kinda neat to just browse around their website. I think they only time I bought anything was when we were fixing up a late 70s Continental and needed a piece of body side molding. It wasn't overpriced.

Adam · #35 10-20-2019, 12:22 PM

So I'm driving down the highway with the AC cranked, and I start seeing mist coming out of the vents and smelling coolant. So the first thing I think is that I have a leaky heater core. The coolant level was low, but I found a leaky hose - it's a smaller diameter hose that connects from a T-junction in a heater hose to the intake manifold (not sure what it's for - I have to get a service manual for this thing, I know the cars of the 60s and early-70s inside and out, but even by 1983 I come across a lot of stuff that I'm not familiar with). There's tight 180 degree bend in it and I couldn't find a pre-bent one anywhere so I just got a longer hose and ran it a goofy way to avoid having the tight bend in it. I'll try that Green Ford parts next week and see if they have one.

But that is not the end of my problem - I drove around with the AC cranked up for a while after I changed that hose to see if it would happen again, and I did still get that white mist coming out of the vents after a while (but it didn't smell of coolant anymore). The carpet under the dash was also wet with the stuff (and there was a big puddle of it under the car) - it was clear but sticky. At first I thought it was leaking freon, but then I thought if it was leaking that much freon - how's the air still blowing cold? But if its just water, it's the wrong consistency, too thick and sticky. What do you guys think is going on?

MadMan · #36 10-20-2019, 07:11 PM

Might be refrigerant oil. Refrigerant itself has no odor and is a gas, but the oil smells and it's oily.

As for the hose, they sell things that look like a spring, you put it on the outside of the hose, and you can bend it and it will force the hose to keep that shape.
amazon link

For a smaller hose, like 3/8" you can use my trick - get the same size metal brake line, make the bend in that, cut out only the bent section, grease it liberally, and shove it into a regular hose up until you get the bend where it needs to be. Careful not to leave any sharp edges on the metal tube ends.
Also, is this the hose?

bgadow · #37 10-21-2019, 08:54 PM

The old diesel GMC van I had used several odd hoses in the EGR system, all very obsolete. The previous owner replaced them with pieces of straight hose and PVC elbows which worked very well. Later in another vehicle I needed to temporarily bypass the heater core and just used a short length of PVC for the short circuit.

Another story: had an aging Dakota and I started noticing a foul, oily smell & I could feel some slight dampness on the carpet just to the right of the transmission hump. I really thought it was freon but the AC worked. Then one day I figured it out: I had one of those old compasses, from the 60's, that I'd mounted to the dash. It was leaking-I always thought it was full of alcohol but it was mineral oil, and stank!

Sandy G · #38 10-21-2019, 08:58 PM

Chicka-Boom, Chicka-Boom, doncha jes' LOVE IT ?!? Grrrrrrrrrr..

mr_rye89 · #39 10-21-2019, 10:18 PM

I overcharged my truck and it dumped some oil out of the rear seal of the A/C compressor, right on the intake manifold, a stinky mess! I've never heard of oil leaking out of the evaporator side, but it's certainly possible

MIPS · #40 10-21-2019, 10:59 PM

An oil leak that large should give a LOT of noise as the AC system vents. Are you positive the AC still works?

When you mention a T-junction though, I know some vehicles (my eagle included) shared the heater core in the same cavity as the evaporator and thus used a bypass valve to shut the heater core off whenever the AC was turned on. Due to the high heat and the mechanical nature they are famous for leaking.

Edited: one other thing. Are you POSITIVE it's not just condensation dripping off the evaporator? It is Arizona but one good rainfall is enough to crank the humidity up to 80% for an afternoon.

MadMan · #41 10-22-2019, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr_rye89

I've never heard of oil leaking out of the evaporator side, but it's certainly possible

Happens all the time. I've replaced lots of evaporators. It's always nice when you have the smoking gun of bright neon yellow UV dyed oil is dripping out of the condensate drain under the car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIPS

An oil leak that large should give a LOT of noise as the AC system vents. Are you positive the AC still works?

Eh, it's possible. I've seen a few evaporators fail in that manner. They leak just enough to get the oil smell through the vents when running the a/c, but slow enough that the a/c works at least through a season.

Adam · #42 05-15-2020, 12:02 PM

So, this car was having trouble starting when the gas tank was down to less than 1/2 a tank or so. After a while, I spotted a slow leak from the fuel pump (It's a frame-mounted electric unit sitting just in front of the gas tank.) I got a new one, but I had siphoned the tank down to just a few gallons before I swapped it because I was worried about fuel leaking out when I disconnected the pump, and the car wouldn't start at all afterwards with the new pump.

After doing a little research I found out that this car actually has two fuel pumps. The other one is located inside the gas tank. I think it makes some sense if it is the pump in the gas tank causing the trouble: if some seal on the pump is not really sealed I can imagine that it works ok only when it is submerged?

I have a replacement second fuel pump, but I haven't dropped the gas tank yet, which it looks like I have to do to replace the second fuel pump. What worries me about this is the weird fuel lines this car uses.

Weird fuel lines:

They are made of some kind of hard plastic with ends that look like several rubber washers stacked up. Whatever you hook the line onto slides through the middle of the washers. A plastic clip fits in-between the rubber washers (which I have yet to figure out how to remove without breaking), and these fittings can rotate freely around whatever they hook onto even after they are clipped in.

Now I'm fairly certain that the leak that I saw earlier wasn't from the outer fuel pump, but from one of these fittings (the one on the gas tank side of the frame mounted pump). Does this type of line only come in set lengths (if I can even get it), or can you get any length of line and put on your own fittings with the right tools? Or if that's possible, can I just keep the line already in there and change the fittings?

I'll try to post a pic of these weird fittings I'm talking about later today.

Adam · #43 06-18-2020, 02:08 PM

I dropped the gas tank yesterday. Now I have a replacement fuel pump to put in it, a new second (frame-mounted pump), and a new fuel filter. But I can't get the fuel lines. The fuel lines were leaking at the fittings where they attach to the second (the frame-mounted) fuel pump so I want to change them, but I can't get pre-made pieces sized to fit this car. Has anyone worked with fuel lines like this? Can I just get the fittings and some line and make one?

The first pic shows one of the fittings from the line that goes from the gas tank to the second fuel pump.

The second pic shows one of the fittings on the line that goes from the 2nd pump to the filter (they're the same but have that 90 deg angle.)

The third pic shows the different kind of clip that holds in the vapor return line where it attaches to the tank (I picked up a box of the more common kind of clips, but I now need this one too).

4th pic is the gas tank itself.

init4fun · #44 06-18-2020, 07:22 PM

http://www.lincolnsonline.com/forum/index.php

Adam if no one here has your answer try posting your fuel line question over at this website (that I use for my 03 towncar) . It's not a very busy site over there but there are a few people who really know Lincolns

MadMan · #45 06-19-2020, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam

But I can't get the fuel lines. The fuel lines were leaking at the fittings where they attach to the second (the frame-mounted) fuel pump so I want to change them, but I can't get pre-made pieces sized to fit this car. Has anyone worked with fuel lines like this? Can I just get the fittings and some line and make one?

Yes, you will have to make your own. The fittings are not the easiest to find, but they can be had, usually NAPA or Carquest (now Advance) will have them, sometimes Autozone, usually in the "Help!" section, but in some stores you may have to ask (and keep telling them that yes, they do in fact carry them). They come in two common sizes: 5/16" and 3/8" and usually come in either right angle or straight. They will come in some different connection types, however, they are almost always interchangeable with each other. They have the old fashioned metal connectors that you need that special tool to release, and the metal ones that have the release tool built in. Then they have three or four different plastic types. Just use what you can get as they should all work. The only times they won't interchange are when the metal line has two beads in it (because some engineer wanted to make your life difficult).

Yes, you technically can make new nylon hoses, but good luck finding the nylon hoses, and even then, it's a huge pain in the ass to work with. Also, yes, technically, you could 'repair' your existing nylon hoses by heating the ends with a heat gun and pulling out the connectors and replacing them with new ones, but see the earlier note about the difficulty. Rubber hoses are much easier to acquire and work with. For the pressure lines, you probably want to buy actual "fuel injection" fuel hose, which is a more expensive rubber hose that has a liner inside of the hose to handle the high pressure. The return and vapor lines will be fine with ordinary "fuel hose." Ideally, you'll also want to use "fuel injection" hose clamps on the pressure line as well. Those kind of suck, because they're very particular about the size of hose to the clamp. In a pinch, however, you can get away with regular fuel hose and clamps. The hoses I replaced on my LeBaron lasted about 8 years with regular stuff (I just replaced it with regular stuff again lol).

If you need a long run of tubing (say, going from the pump to the engine), and you don't want to run a rubber hose that long, you can buy a steel brake line of the same diameter, and use that. I like to make bubble flares on the ends (because good luck finding an affordable hose bead making tool) and just put the rubber hose over the ends to make the connections to whatever.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/tools/ho...raight,1001128
Note the categories for fuel line connector are "90º" and "straight." You'll also see that they are named like this: "5/16 Nylon to 3/8 Steel" where steel is the diameter of the fuel pump metal pipe, and nylon will be the hose diameter that you can connect to the connector. Also I'd definitely recommend buying them online, just because the stores usually only have one of each in stock...

(I'm a mechanic!)

EDIT - I have a hack to connect a nylon hose to a rubber hose. Get a metal brake line of the same diameter. It needs to have a good double flare on the end of it, just like it has when you buy it from the store. Cut the flared end off of it, making the piece about 1.5". Ensure the cut end is flat and round off the sharp edges. Warm the end of the nylon with a heat gun and shove the metal line piece into it, with the flare end out. Now you can shove a rubber hose over the flare and you can tighten a hose clamp over it, as the metal will support it!