1978 Lincoln Continental Coupe

[wxo]

It appears to be an AMC Spirit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Spirit

[Maverick]

That's it. It had "Spirit" emblems.

I thought the engine was a SBF because of the distributor location and coolant outlet on the front of the intake. Since AMC did put a V8 in the Spirit, now I wonder if it really is a SBF.

[Maverick]

I HAD a plan for wider tires for the Lincoln: 275/60 15s on 8" wheels on the rear and 255/60 15s on 7" wheels on the front. Even ordered some 15X8 wheels with 5" backspace to center the tires on the rear. Planned to use BFG Radial TAs with the raised white letters on the inside because I didn't think they'd look right on the otherwise stock-looking coupe. Then, WXO photoshopped the car in black walls. NOT GOOD!!





Sent an email to cancel the wheels order. Hope its not too late. So, now I need a new plan. Port o walls don't do well on radial tires because of the additional flex. Paint? 235/75 15s are the most appropriate whitewalls I can find. Can't find any wider 15 inchers. They would fit on the current 15X6 wheels or the turbines we pulled off the '79 Town Car that donated the extra 3rd member.



I'll have to mount one and see how it looks compared to the very nice stock hub caps. Anyway, it doesn't look like the current 225/70 15 whitewalls can be improved on much. Would have liked to get some wider and a little taller tires on it.

[Basement Paul]

I ran 235-75's on my Caddy until I upgraded the wheels when I did the rearend in the car. At that point I had the stock 15x6 in the front and had a pair of more modern 15x7 off GMJohnny old square body wagon that bolted up to the rear. I had a couple notice that the rears were wider even though the tire size was the same. If a wider rim doesn't exist for you, there are guys out there that can widen your steel wheels. A 235-75 is a pretty big tire, and on a wider wheel looks pretty cool and IMO look a little better on that big car. Kuhmo makes a great tire in that size with a nice whitewall that is a little wider than most and will look real nice on that car.





Here's what they looked like.

-BP

[Maverick]

Those tires look good. Looks like a 3/4" whitewall, which is what's on there now and also the size of the original equipment.

15X7 wheels are available, bought two and have the drag radials mounted on them now. Good tip that the 7" wide wheels give a noticeably wider look. I'd like to have the wider footprint of the 275s on the rear and 255s on the front. I sent a query to a place in S. Carolina that puts a variety of whitewalls on a variety of tire brands. http://www.dbtires.com/ Interesting reading. Their process would seem to ensure a truly round tire, which I don't have now.

[Maverick]

Received the refund for the cancelled wheel order. That gives me some time to think thru the options for whitewalls.

Plan A: 275/60 15s on 15X8 wheels on the rear; 255/60 15s on 15X7 wheels on the front. 15X8 wheels with 5" backspace by Wheels Vintiques; 15X7 wheels from Summit. Whitewalls to be added to Radial TAs by http://www.dbtires.com . Puts 8.90" wide tread on the rear. Total cost about $1700. $1200 for tires, $500 for wheels. (No more tire smoke with $300 tires!!)

Plan B: 235/75 15 whitewalls all around. 5.9" wide (narrow!) tread. Total cost about $800. $400 for tires, $400 for wheels.

Plan C: Same as Plan A except PAINTED whitewalls on Radial TAs. Paint ordered from http://www.rangerpaint.com/ for a test paint on an old tire. I'm waiting for a response to a query about durability of the paint. I hope its improved in the 60 years since I've seen painted whitewalls but no way I'll want to repaint them frequently. Total cost about $1200. $700 for tires, $500 for wheels.

[Maverick]

Plan C has been eliminated by the test paint. Although I'm sure it would come out better with better, more flexible masking tape, I doubt I could make it perfect and an imperfect job couldn't be recovered.

Three rings of 3/4" masking tape were put down on the tire starting up against the rim. The middle ring of masking tape was removed for painting. The outside of the masking tape rings, where its stretched, worked well except for any raised areas where the tape didn't give a clean edge. The inside edge of the tape rings buckled and gave a horrible outside edge of the paint. Although more flexible tape would do better I doubt it would be perfect and any imperfections would be ugly and permanent.





The next question is how to level the front and rear of the Lincoln. Replacing the HEAVY iron heads and manifolds with aluminum heads and intake and tube headers took a bunch of weight off and raised the front end. The old rear springs have sagged aggravating the nose high stance.

I can get a pair of rear springs from Eaton Spring for $200 that will put the rear 1/2" higher than stock. Or, a half coil could be cut from the front springs for free. Ride and handling would be improved with cut springs but that would reduce the limited ground clearance. Ground clearance was problem one time when a big, unnoticed dip in a paved cemetery road crashed the frame into the pavement hard enough to stall the engine. Probably wouldn't happen again at current height but might with less clearance.

[Basement Paul]

I like the cut front coil and a set of taller tires. It will lower the front and maintain the clearance, now level.

-BP

[markgrassl1976]

Hello Maverick and anyone else. If you like these big rigs, visit 460ford.com, go to photo albums, look up BadDaddy's Hoopdy. I just broke an axle and am swapping them out with a couple of Moser alloys. Hopefully they will better accommodate the 'enthusiastic' driving this car is subjected to.

[Maverick]

Beautiful car!! http://www.460ford.com/forum/album.php?albumid=178 Lots of good details. Not to nit pick, but I bet you could find a blue or black distributor cap. Good luck on your quest for springs.


I'm still not quite settled on cut front vs new rear springs. Took some measurements today. Kinda confusing. The front bumper is actually LOWER than the rear bumper. Rocker panel height is the same, front and rear. But, it looks and feels nose high. I've had no luck finding stock ride height measurements. Leaning toward Plan B. The front springs are "tangential" as described by Eaton Springs https://www.eatondetroitspring.com/cutting-coil-springs and the only ones they say should be cut.

[Basement Paul]

I think it's more a relationship between the fender and tire that creates the illusion of it sitting high or low and why you think it looks high in the front. Most cars when you look at them rake forward to some degree. I bet if you look at stock Lincolns like yours you'll find they are slightly lower in the front.

"tangential" - that sounds like a made up word to scare you away from cutting springs.

-BP

[Maverick]

You're right. There are a few inches of open space above the front tire and the top of the wheel opening while in the rear, the little fender skirt covers the top of the tire.


In addition to the esthetics, the high nose aggravates the problem of seeing over the loooooong hood too.

Other instructions for cutting springs say the ends of "square end" springs can be duplicated by heating
and bending the last half coil up to get the flat end back. Eaton says the springs should never be heated because temper is lost starting at 400*.

[Maverick]

Ford didn't have a better idea for changing springs on the Lincoln. The front springs go thru a tunnel in the frame so most of the spring is inaccessible to spring compressors. I tried but could only engage 3 coils with the compressors, not enough to remove stress on the suspension. The suspension has to be disassembled starting with the spring in compression.

Picture from the Ford shop manual showing a jack under the inner sleeve on the lower control arm.



The key thing in the picture is the metal rod sticking up into the lower control arm. Load is taken off the bolt with the jack, the bolt is removed, and the jack is lowered to decompress the spring. Scary but it works.

To get a rod on the jack I put a 6" length of 1/2" galvanized pipe in a deep socket and the socket fit nicely in the jack with the pad removed. I used the floor jack because I wanted its stability as opposed to a bottle or scissor jack. I kept imagining the lower control arm kicking out with uncontrolled decompression of the spring when the bolt is removed.



Got the spring unloaded without getting killed.



I was surprised that a hack saw would cut the spring. Thought it would be harder. A big vise is a necessity for this operation. Fortunately, bro Willy gave me one.



(Don't know why this picture is sideways, its not in the file.)

With the spring cut, now comes the HARD part, getting the control arm positioned so the bolt will go back in place with the spring pressing on it. Only took an hour or two for each side but, "got 'er done".



The half coil cut only dropped the front 1" but it looks much better to me. Haven't had it out for a drive yet so maybe it'll settle a little.

[wxo]

It's amazing how much work we are willing to do to get our hotrods just the way we want them. I bet the AC unit in your garage was working it's little heart out this week.
Does this mean you are going to need another photo at the lake?

[Maverick]

The AC is working great. The garage got new doors that eliminated the gaps around them so the AC is more effective now.

I'll try to remember to show you the enlarged, framed picture of the Lincoln we got at the lake. It, and a matching one of the Maverick, hang on the Family Room wall.

Plan to take the Lincoln for a drive today to see if ride or handing are affected. Also need to adjust the headlights up a bit.