Using whatcha' already got.

Okay, Ive had my 1960 lincoln for about 2 years now.. Ive got all the brakes rebuilt and got it running.
Now Ive got my first (and only) kid coming December 8th, so this is my plan right now I have a 1977 Ltd with about 77k original miles.. it was in good shape until one of the brake lines burst and my poor girl had to drag it across the side of a mountain to stop it.. really just put a crease down the side, the ltd has an amazing brown/white leather interior front bucket seats and now Ive got the
400 running like a dream..it even has a 9 inch disc brake rear.

What I want to do is put the 400 in the lincoln because they aren't hot
rod motors but they are really fantastic engines.. electronic ignition low
horses but they will pull anything and really low miles are a plus. I could sell the 390 thats already in the lincoln for a couple bucks, I think someone would want it because its a mid to late 60s super marauder engine..
I could either sell the LTD rear end or put it in the lincoln for some extra
stopping power.. and of course the seats will come out of the ltd and go in the lincoln.. then after I pull all the good parts from the LTD I can crush the rest and If I'm lucky I wont have to spend much out of pocket.

What I would like is your opinions on all of this.
Should I upgrade the lincoln brakes with the Ltd front and rear disc brake system? Or just leave the stock brakes on the lincoln? the only thing about that is the lincoln has that "treadle??" vac system. This is going to be my family cruiser and I want it to be safe.
Should I sell my disc brake rear from the LTD?.. so much to consider.

this is going to be my winter project, I want to be able to take my daughter out this spring and summer and enjoy my new family and my old car.

 

I suggest you start drinking heavily

 

I'd say if you can swing it, hang on to the LTD rear and put it in yer Lincoln. I think it's a great plan, you have so much you can switch over to make yer '60 even better.
Holding on to parts VS needing the money is always tough. I'm begrudgingly selling a half-through project because of that. And even at that, I look at how nice the back leather seats are... to keep... but no, gotta sell the whole thing. What does your lady think?

 

X2 You do got a lot of thinking to do, you and Jack should have a heart to heart and then decide...lol

 

I agree the motor and rearend would be a good deal. the 400 M wasnt a power house but starts ever time you ask it to what more its paid for.

 

she LOVES the lincon and HATES the ltd... we had a 79 lincoln that she loved to death same motor and everything as the 77 ltd, that car never let me down once. She used to drive it everywhere it was the only car we had that she loved to drive.

I really like the ford 400s the parts are cheap and ford put them in everything in the late 70s. the seats in the ltd are perfect.. I was originally going to keep the ltd but after the little fender bender the side trim is wrecked along with the bumpers and vynal top.. Plus my grandfather needs a tranny to fit in his 62 t-bird.. so the one outta the lincoln could help him out too. plus the ac in the ltd blows super cold and will feel nice in the lincoln on hot days.

 

Finally got started on changing everything over.. should be on the road by next week "fingers crossed" I wanna have all the bugs out by spring.






Poor Poor LTD.

 

Those front seats have a high back. Can they be shortened or are you going with them as is?

 

When your done scrap the ltd and make some coin and take your wife out to dinner,

 

yeah, they will drop about 3 inches or more. I just sat them in there to see how it would look/fit.

 

nothing wrong with a 400 ford. just realize they are stump pullers not race engines. my folks bought a 77 LTD with a 400 brand new and used it to tow Dads bass boat on vacation to the Ozarks every year. even on those hills you couldn't even tell the boat was behind. other than the engine it was the worst driving car ever. uncomfortable seating, no steering feedback, mushy suspension, hard to see out of. was glad when they traded it in!!!!

 

yup.. the 77 ltd is a turd of a car for sure. thats why all I saved is the seats, motor, and wiper motor.

 

Nice swap- keep it up. That 400 will serve you well in the Linc. What are your other plans for the lincoln?

How's mommy and the baby?

 

Mommy and baby Ophelia are doing great. Thanks for asking.
Life is great right now.

Other plans for the lincoln are to put 15 inch wheels on it and can the 14s.. 15 inch tires are easier to find and it needs a nice radial "it will be Momma and Baby's get around town car.

I need to look into the air conditioning though. My buddy tells me the A/C compressor for the LTD will blow the seals out of my original floor unit A/C box that came factory option in the 60.?. anyone know anything about air conditioning?

 

Also thinking of using 2 57 buick portholes on the rear fins to french dual antennas.

 

Unless the rear axle is a bolt-in, and exactly the same width, I'd leave it and the brakes alone, except to make sure everything works properly. Good luck to you and your family.

 

Ive already decided to leave the stock brakes because I already re-built them... I am however going to put a dual drum/drum master cylinder and get rid of that single line crap.

 

I had the same engine in a 79 LTD II and when I sold it there was 175,XXX on the clock and it still ran good. Great engines!! It wasn't a hot rod (as you've already stated) but it was as reliable as it gets!! At one point, I had a fuel line break and caught the top of the engine on fire. I thought that was the end but after replacing the damaged parts, it just kept going. I changed the oil every 3300 miles but never had the engine apart. I wonder what ever happened to that car....

 

motor mounts are almost done, should be ready to start the motor next weekend. gotta get a power steering pump that will work, need a longer drive shaft made... the starter is in the way so the motor has to sit a tad bit higher than we thought.

 

You know that the 390 and 400 don't share transmissions right?

The bellhousing bolt patterns are different...

 

Those seats look fantastic in there. Good luck it's coming along nicely. Beautiful family you have there, I love it when my daughters show interest in what is happening in my shop.

 

Might be worth an eBay blast for small stuff off the LTD, trim pieces, dash pad, taillights, that sort of thing. I doubt anyone reproduces anything for those cars. There are guys into those cars who could probably use the pieces.

'57 Buick portholes are just chrome doo-dads, they don't have a hole -

 

I have a drill to make a hole yeah, alot of the ltd stuff will be sold/traded to people who need it.

using Ltd tranny too.

 

Wait, your car had a 430 originally............. Was a 390 swapped into it?

I have a 60 Premiere (pics in my album) and am about to start on the HVAC system. It's easily as much work and expense as doing the engine swap, if not more.

First, it's a very complex system so get ready for a bunch of work getting it working. Forget the guys name but a guy in Canada on thelincolnforum.net can rebuild your climate control servo head (dial on the dash) for $250 or $200. Trust me, it needs rebuilt. These were problematic when the cars were new.

Pulling the evaporator boxes is a bit of a PITA. The front wheels and fender liners have to come off. If I were you id plan on the following:

Recore the heater cores
Leak test the evaporators
Replace both sets of ac lines going to the evaporators
Check them expansion valves closely.
Have Accumulator rebuilt
Replace every single color coded vacuum line under the dash. This isn't fun.

A normal ac compressor should run this system quite easily. These cars also have slightly fragile cooling systems. Since you have a factory AC car you have the heavier duty radiator, since you're swapping the motor suggest you run a 5 blade fan and try and fab up a fan shroud.

The hood has to come off to r&r the radiator and condenser, since it's off now might be a good time to check em.

I love mine but these are very complicated cars.... Also, the stock engine has 315hp and 465lb-ft of torque, a 70s era 400 might have to work very very hard to haul over 2.5 tons around.

Bill

 

Also the 390 is an FE and the stock engine is an MEL. The MEL shares hardly anything with the FE. I'd be curious to see how an FE was swapped into one of these cars.

 

I dont think the 400 will have a problem pulling this car around. As for the heater and a/c. I'm not worried about the stock parts. I'll make what I have work out.

 

Well the problem with the AC and heat is... Think of a modern automatic climate control system in a, I dunno.. OT Cadillac or BMW or something.

Now imagine that system controlled completely by about a mile of vacuum lines. If you don't have the factory manual PM me and I can scan and send ya the diagrams.

See that silly servo control head on the dash is basically the vacuum control unit for the whole system. It's what controls airflow direction for the whole system and activates the ac compressor. It's nothing like the system in my '54 Ford, that anyone can rig up and get working. The problem is that the servo heads were very failure prone when new and VERY tricky to rebuild and if ya break it, another one ain't easy to find and when you do it's just not gonna be working either. At least it's not a '58 or a '59, those are even tougher to fix I'm told.

Think NOS pre-ww2 inner tubes... They aren't any good either.

Another option might be an under dash heater and AC unit and just bypass the factory system. Like find an old Mark2/Mark5/whatever they called 'em or something.

Welcome to the wonderful world of old Lincolns..... Awesome cars but they can be very frustrating.

 

The 400 should pull it around, but the Lincoln weighs about 850lbs more than the LTD and you're going from 315hp and 465 lb-ft to about 180hp and maybe 300 lb-ft.

 

the A/C in my lincoln is a floor unit. as for the heaters, all I need is for the defrost vents to open and blow hot air. Even if I have to hook up cables to the flaps I will make them work. I have lincoln parts cars from the 60s-80s at my reach so making stuff work wont be any trouble.
my 1979 lincoln only weighed about 250lbs less than the 60 and the 400 would carry it up the mountains at 75mph at half throttle no problem.

I will let you know if I need any diagram information though, thanks very much for all the input.

heres my buddies 59 I painted and did some tune up work on.


and here are my ladies.

 

Motor is in, need to get my dive shaft made this week.

more pics coming this weekend.