2000 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series aka rolling junkyard 2.0
So bought this car in July after looking for a second vehicle so I don't have to feel rushed repairing the heater plenum air flow door on the marq. Was pretty set on getting a GMT400/800 but the pricing on those is all over the place as is the condition to many rotted out. Usually while searching I look for 98-02 TCs as well, didn't like them when they came out but when 03+ ones debuted they look a whole lot better imho then those.
Looked at a lot of whale TC's previously most are totally clapped out and overpriced. The pictures of this car at the dealer when I drove down to see it I figured I would be looking at another dud.
Car was filthy inside and out when I got there but the interior was mint and the chassis wasn't rotted and it had a moonroof which was a requirement. And it drove pretty good. Made the deal for $3400. Not great not terrible deal for a former Florida 83k mile TC, figure I should at least try one for once. So Town Car #5 for me.
Car wasn't without issues though and wasn't surprised by them. Needed brakes, converted to coils, dead pass seat I didn't notice on the test drive, velcro headliner mounts failed, had the common intake leak no surprise there and the driver seat is extremely weak thanks to Easy exit (easy exit move the seat back anytime you remove the key from the ignition) and for some reason the pass side turn signal didn't work and some of the warning indicators on the cluster weren't working either.
Got to work ironing out the issues.
First up unfuck the turn signals. So the dealer did put some money into the car including replacing both headlight assy with TYC's but for some reason the pass side was wired wrong. So fixed that and thought I was done. Later I would find out that the high beam wouldn't work either so got a used harness and swapped it, now the pass side lights work correctly.
Next up headliner. This is a stupid design, headliner is heavier then a CV/GM and they don't use push trees on the rear like a CV/GM. Tried using Loctite marine adhesive. Should've just used a hot glue gun like I did when one of the mounts failed after getting it back up. Also having a huge hole in it makes it super wobbly, definitely folded it a few times according to the FSM if you do that you should replace it also I couldn't get it out of the car.
Disabled Easy Exit with Forscan despite the FSM saying it wasn't configurable. Should make the driver seat last a bit longer.
Took the cluster apart, turns out it was a remanned cluster put installed in 2002. Turns out this TC was a Canadian car sold originally from Toronto, even has a block heater. Got most of the indicators back after swapping some bulbs from a spare 01 cluster. Left TS indicator still dead.
Fixing the water leak. Wire brushed and used evaporust on the rust then primed and painted. Whomever the previous owner had work on this car ripped them off, found a cut in the rear footwell stuffed with rocks. Like that was gonna work.
Same baffoons decided to use windshield adhesive to the pass side cowl so that was fun to remove, had to break it and get a spare luckily the cowl never changed so its the same from 1998-2011. Instead of using gobs of RTV like most do I decided to use weather stripping from Home Depot. No more leaks.
Seats are out of the car so worked on those. Swapped to a 99 GM seat track. Will say this these seats break down a hell of a lot easier then the older -97 ones. So that was nice. Also cleaned the brushes on the driver seat motor and its working a little bit better.
So the headrests in these are terrible. You have to lean way back to use em. Solved that by getting another set of VIII head rests. Painted them with SEM Color coat. Came out good but getting a good color match for deep slate blue was difficult as the body shop couldn't find a exact formula match.
Gotta have a backup camera.
The Ford/Alpine stereo is meh. Already deep in the car might as well swap out the speakers. Put some Kenwood 6x8s in. Sounds way better. Also 6x9s won't fit because of the Latch system. Lame.
So TC door panels since 1990 have always been more of a pita to take off then a CV/GM well let me tell ya these 98-02 ones are even worse. Its a dumb design and I can see why I see so many that are busted. Uses really strong push trees in weak plastic mounts= broken mounts. Have had to repair the drivers door three times now. Rewelding the mounts, trying JB Weld (didn't do shit), hot glue (worked ok until the first door closing) and finally hot glue with reinforced with chicken wire.
Cupholders in these aren't good cause of the shape of the bulbous dash, they don't pull out as far as the older ones or CV/GMs. Tried using 03+ CV/GM cupholders but they don't work cause the shape of the dash prevents from fully closing. Time to find a solution. Decided to swap in a 03+ console with flip out cupholders and reuse my console bin and trim and fit the leather cover to it as well as the rear vent. Worked out well cause I didn't want to have to paint the entire 09 console cover. Once I cut the original leather cover there was no going back cause good luck finding a deep slate blue leather cover.
Ford de-contenting was the name of the game in the early 2000s. No rear sway? Lame. Put a 99 GM sway bar in. Not a HPP one but whatever any bar is better then none.
Got rid of the dumb muffler on the air intake for a straight to the TB one. Can't tell the difference. Also yes still has the OG all nylon intake in 2020.
Done for now.
Dual exhaust and reinstallation of the rear air susp next up.
Looked at a lot of whale TC's previously most are totally clapped out and overpriced. The pictures of this car at the dealer when I drove down to see it I figured I would be looking at another dud.
Car was filthy inside and out when I got there but the interior was mint and the chassis wasn't rotted and it had a moonroof which was a requirement. And it drove pretty good. Made the deal for $3400. Not great not terrible deal for a former Florida 83k mile TC, figure I should at least try one for once. So Town Car #5 for me.
Car wasn't without issues though and wasn't surprised by them. Needed brakes, converted to coils, dead pass seat I didn't notice on the test drive, velcro headliner mounts failed, had the common intake leak no surprise there and the driver seat is extremely weak thanks to Easy exit (easy exit move the seat back anytime you remove the key from the ignition) and for some reason the pass side turn signal didn't work and some of the warning indicators on the cluster weren't working either.
Got to work ironing out the issues.
First up unfuck the turn signals. So the dealer did put some money into the car including replacing both headlight assy with TYC's but for some reason the pass side was wired wrong. So fixed that and thought I was done. Later I would find out that the high beam wouldn't work either so got a used harness and swapped it, now the pass side lights work correctly.
Next up headliner. This is a stupid design, headliner is heavier then a CV/GM and they don't use push trees on the rear like a CV/GM. Tried using Loctite marine adhesive. Should've just used a hot glue gun like I did when one of the mounts failed after getting it back up. Also having a huge hole in it makes it super wobbly, definitely folded it a few times according to the FSM if you do that you should replace it also I couldn't get it out of the car.
Disabled Easy Exit with Forscan despite the FSM saying it wasn't configurable. Should make the driver seat last a bit longer.
Took the cluster apart, turns out it was a remanned cluster put installed in 2002. Turns out this TC was a Canadian car sold originally from Toronto, even has a block heater. Got most of the indicators back after swapping some bulbs from a spare 01 cluster. Left TS indicator still dead.
Fixing the water leak. Wire brushed and used evaporust on the rust then primed and painted. Whomever the previous owner had work on this car ripped them off, found a cut in the rear footwell stuffed with rocks. Like that was gonna work.
Same baffoons decided to use windshield adhesive to the pass side cowl so that was fun to remove, had to break it and get a spare luckily the cowl never changed so its the same from 1998-2011. Instead of using gobs of RTV like most do I decided to use weather stripping from Home Depot. No more leaks.
Seats are out of the car so worked on those. Swapped to a 99 GM seat track. Will say this these seats break down a hell of a lot easier then the older -97 ones. So that was nice. Also cleaned the brushes on the driver seat motor and its working a little bit better.
So the headrests in these are terrible. You have to lean way back to use em. Solved that by getting another set of VIII head rests. Painted them with SEM Color coat. Came out good but getting a good color match for deep slate blue was difficult as the body shop couldn't find a exact formula match.
Gotta have a backup camera.
The Ford/Alpine stereo is meh. Already deep in the car might as well swap out the speakers. Put some Kenwood 6x8s in. Sounds way better. Also 6x9s won't fit because of the Latch system. Lame.
So TC door panels since 1990 have always been more of a pita to take off then a CV/GM well let me tell ya these 98-02 ones are even worse. Its a dumb design and I can see why I see so many that are busted. Uses really strong push trees in weak plastic mounts= broken mounts. Have had to repair the drivers door three times now. Rewelding the mounts, trying JB Weld (didn't do shit), hot glue (worked ok until the first door closing) and finally hot glue with reinforced with chicken wire.
Cupholders in these aren't good cause of the shape of the bulbous dash, they don't pull out as far as the older ones or CV/GMs. Tried using 03+ CV/GM cupholders but they don't work cause the shape of the dash prevents from fully closing. Time to find a solution. Decided to swap in a 03+ console with flip out cupholders and reuse my console bin and trim and fit the leather cover to it as well as the rear vent. Worked out well cause I didn't want to have to paint the entire 09 console cover. Once I cut the original leather cover there was no going back cause good luck finding a deep slate blue leather cover.
Ford de-contenting was the name of the game in the early 2000s. No rear sway? Lame. Put a 99 GM sway bar in. Not a HPP one but whatever any bar is better then none.
Got rid of the dumb muffler on the air intake for a straight to the TB one. Can't tell the difference. Also yes still has the OG all nylon intake in 2020.
Done for now.
Dual exhaust and reinstallation of the rear air susp next up.
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