1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel

[87gtVIC]

Way different than the aod trannies.

[gadget73]

yeah its very much different in there. This trans is really common on Euro cars though. Range Rover, Saab, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes, and probably others ran it. ZF 4HP22, overall apparently not a terrible transmission but they get shitty when the filter clogs, and they seem prone to having the governor get sticky after a fluid change.



The trash may have been prior bad work, may be just old-ass transmission with wear. When I drained and refilled the trans I probably stirred up the muck in the pan. Possible if the O ring was installed on the filter like it should have been it wouldn't have been a problem.

One cool thing about the pan, it does not have bolts passing through a pan rail like the AOD and other Ford transmissions do. The pan has a rolled lip, more or less like a baking dish. The gasket sits on that rolled lip, and it uses a bolt with a U shaped piece of metal to clamp it. One "leg" on the U is shorter where it pushes against the pan, the long leg goes against the trans case. Makes it pretty hard to distort the pan from over-tightening it. I think the wee little bolts would break long before the pan bent. I think they're M6.

[pantera77]

special diesel edition
[ATTACH=CONFIG]49352[/ATTACH]

Wow, that actually looks great on those. I almost bought a set of regular LSC lacy spokes when I owned it.
Though the boring 15" spokes it came with kinda fit it I guess.

[DerekTheGreat]

I agree, those wheels make me want to own one of those things, that color combo too.

[sly]

Those wheels make me wanna get mine powder coated. Not that it will happen, because $$$... but still.

[gadget73]

I found this stuffed under the front seat while I was puttering around under the dashboard today.



I'll scan it sometime so its more readable. Useful tidbits though, the factory exterior colors are 91 Pastel Cadet Blue Metallic and 5C Dark Cadet Blue Metallic. Interior is B, Charcoal (Midnight) Blue. It also apparently came with Michelin tires.

[Mainemantom]

I like build sheets. Interesting stuff.

[gadget73]

better scan of the sheet


Spending time trying to make the wheels look less awful. This is the basic state of them as-bought




This is what they look like de-spoked


A few steps missing, but this is the end result. There isn't really much to tell, basically its a matter of polishing each of the spokes, sanding the crusty center piece to get the corrosion off, then polishing it as best I can. Its pot metal so it will never have a great shine but getting the crust off is an improvement. I've been mounting it on the lathe to get the job done. Wheels are not perfect and I can't make them perfect, I can make them less bad looking though.

[pantera77]

Wheels look a lot better, tires, not so much.

[DerekTheGreat]

I've never seen those despoked.. They indeed look much nicer and not that you have a poll going but my vote is for the black LSC lacy spoke wheels. The spokes just look frumpy with that ultra wide Lincoln center cap. My asshole opinion is that the spoke wheels look good on rag top Lincolns like Ashley had, gangsta.

[gadget73]

I have new tires for it, just not on the wheels obviously. The goal is to finish making them as presentable as possible and then get the tires mounted next week. The LSC SE wheels are destined for the LSC SE. The one currently on it are truly horrible, and the tires are not in awesome shape either.

[Tiggie]

I feel like those were expensive to produce originally. I never realized they were more than a hubcap on a steel wheel. Interesting.

[gadget73]

Loads of aluminum. The wheel and the spokes are all aluminum, the center piece is pot metal, basically zinc/aluminum. There were wire spoke hubcaps on Panthers, as well as an actual wire spoke wheel on the Towncar, but those are both different than these. I'm sure they were kinda spendy to make. It was one of the upgrade wheels, no idea what the cost was.

These were the three wheel choices in '84 according to the sales literature I picked up last weekend



L to R, wires, "road wheels", and the standard wheels.

To be perfectly honest all of them are bland to the point of needing road salt. If you really made me pick a favorite I'd go with the center option but its basically just the standard wheel with "windows" that are half sized.

I do sort of wish the original wood trim was in it. It was real wood, not the plastic crap it currently has. There was a TSB in 1987 that allowed for free replacement of the original wood to the 1987 plastic crap if the real stuff was peeling. I can only assume thats why I have plastic woodgrain with an E4 part number with "87" molded in next to the part number. Of course considering they were allowing customers a free replacement as far back as 1987 because it was failing, i can only imagine how it would look in 2018.

[monterey1962]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]49646[/ATTACH]

Am I the only one who thinks this looks good? Maybe some sort of round top hex bolts for the holes?

[DerekTheGreat]

I agree on the center option for '84 but also like the rightmost option.

Yeah on the woodtrim as well. Real is cool in the beginning but the plastic shit still holds up & looks decent after 25+ years in non perfect conditions.

Monty, I think the wheel without the spokes looks hideous. It's almost there but something is just wrong, like boobs without nipples.