SVP's LSC-R Model Project


1987 Lincoln Mark VII LSC-R Model

This was what our '87 Lincoln Mark VII LSC looked like prior to the makeover. The makeover was prompted by an act of vandalism 2 years ago in Ocean City, Maryland, Some high school kids from Ohio were visiting and decided it would be cool to freeze water balloons and then drop them from a 5th story hotel window all over our car. The result was a windshield that looked like a person fell through it and many dents all over the car, it had to be towed 135 miles home. The kids were never caught, the police said that since nobody saw them do it, they did not have enough evidence to prosecute. I think they just didn't feel like pursuing it as there are many problems like this there during the warmer months. The only thing that had been done to the car at this stage was the installation of the factory '91 wheels and it had been lowered as far as the factory settings would allow. I do have pictures of the damage somewhere, I will add them when I find them.

This is the first painting of the LSC, the color is Dark Montana Blue which is a '95 Cadillac color, it shows blue, black or purple depending on light and weather conditions. The first time we painted it, we found the color to be too translucent and it did not cover well, we went back and painted it again using a dark sealer to help the paint cover better. The trunk lock was shaved and every emblem was deleted from the car. We also drilled the holes for the bolt on hoodscoop which was donated from a '69 Mercury Cougar Eliminator.

All mouldings were painted semi-gloss black and the bumpers were stripped and painted body color. '95 Cobra R wheels(17 X 9) were added with 245/45 R 17's up front and 275/40 R17's out back. Both tires measure 25.3 inches tall so they are the same height front and back. The factory air suspension was lowered an additional inch by modifying the existing mounting points.

The Grill shell was painted body color while the fins were painted semi-gloss black. The Lincoln emblems in the mirrors were also filled and the mirrors painted semi-gloss black.

There is pleny of tire clearance in the rear,We are currently running 17 X 9 Ford wheels all around but there is enough room for a 17 X 10.5 Cobra R style wheel with a 315 series tire(AFS recently anounced this size rim).The front Tires are a tight fit due to strut clearance, but the wheels are a straight bolt on with no modifications necessary.

Due to the dark color its hard to see the hood scoop but all the factory body lines on the hood match the lines of the scoop, it looks like it was a factory option.

This shot was taken at the fall Ocean City Cruise, it was our first outing with the finished car and really stood out among all the street rods. Without any emblems, people had a hard time guessing what kind of car it was, we seemed to get more attention than a lot of the muscle cars and many people came up telling us about how they used to own a Mark VII and wished they had never gotten rid of it.
Current Modifications: Mechanically the LSC-R is not heavily modified yet, we plan to do a lot to it in the coming months and will detail everything on this page.
MAC Fenderwell cold air kit Upgraded brass throttle valve bushing kit Removed air silencer Flow matched and balanced stock 19lb injectors GT-40 Intake(extrude honed lower) 1/2" Phenolic intake spacer 65mm throttle body 67mm EGR spacer Hardened pushrods 190lph in tank fuel pump Adjustable fuel pressure Regulator Rail mounted Fuel pressure guage 9mm Motorsport spark plug wires AWSF-32C motorcraft plugs(1 heat range colder than stock) '88 Mustang 5.0 engine(rebuilt and balanced) Stock Ported "E7" heads Motorsport E303 Cam Motorsport True Roller timing chain Motorsport headers Full 2.5" exhaust with polished stainless pipes from behind the tires back MAC Flowpath mufflers SVPU Stage 3 brake upgrade Mass Air conversion(using a '93 Mustang automatic computer) Performance Automatic Street/strip AOD MAC High Flow catalytic converter H-pipe
This car is driven daily and currently has 151,000 miles on the odometer...Back in February we developed an internal noise in the engine, so we have bagged the idea of installing a 4.6 for now and rebuilt a 5.0 for the car. The motor built was pulled from our '88 LX and had 210,000 hard miles on it, although it had regular oil changes since new.We are using stock '88 heads with port work, an E303 Cam and balancing the motor.The combination we are putting together should yield 300HP with all the bolt ons. When the opportunity comes along, we will put the car on a Dyno to see what the actual numbers end up at. This is a custom dash plaque we had made to replace the "Mark VII" one currently found on the passenger side of the dash pad. Pictured above is the prototype which was made from Brass, the final product will be Aluminum.

We had a custom drive shaft made in order to eliminate this double joint found on the Mark VIIs. This joint started to make a noise and since we were adding more power and wanted to be sure the original shaft would not be a weak link, this custom larger diameter shaft was made.

We also eliminated the insulator on the Yoke. We got an education during this change, those insulators are only there to hide any imbalance imperfections from the factory, Our new Shaft was balanced and had no need for this insulator. We also had larger Diameter Universal joints installed for added strength...after all this is a 4,000 pound car and hard launches will not be unheard of. Upon installation of the New shaft we found a noticeable difference immediately with the eliminationn of a few vibrations we never realized we had. We also had a weight savings with this change...The original driveshaft weighed in at 26lbs while the new one was only 20lbs.

This is the LSC-R at the August 22nd, 1999 SAAC Group Maryland car show. Ofcourse we had no chance against these other cars, we had the only car in the class newer than 1948! There are a set of polished '96 Cobra wheels on the car in this picture.

Even though the competition was stiff, we still had a lot of questions and curious onlookers. We had polished '96 Cobra wheels on for this show, these have since been sold and the Cobra R's are back on.

We have just had our full custom exhaust run on the LSC-R. This turned out better than we had hoped Thanks to Dan Townsend of Specialty Exhaust in Dunkirk, Maryland. From behind the Tire all the way out the back(Mustang LX style) is top quality 2.5" stainless. Dan was able to bend the stainless enough to make this a factory looking system. We did have to trim and fold over the pinch lip under the driver side quarter panel in order to get the clearance to run the pipes straight out.

Both pipes come out straight and even on both sides and tuck tight to the body. The also sit directly under each cutout under the rear bumper.

Thanks again to Dan at Specialty Exhaust. If you are in the Mid Atlantic area, you can reach Specialty Exhaust at 410-286-3367.
We finally got chance to install the SVPU Stage 3 brake upgrade utilizing the Stillen Sport Rotors that we had specially made for the Mark VIIs. This is a picture of the rear wheel with the sport rotors and metal matrix pads installed. And here is the front wheel with the cross-drilled sport rotors and metal matrix pads.
Not only does this upgrade look fantastic, it performs beyond my expectations. These brakes are a MUST HAVE upgrade for the Mark VIIs, the improved braking is amazing! I do plan to eventually add the 13" cobra brakes which are currently sitting on the shelf but that will not take place until the coil spring conversion is done. I do not feel that I need the Cobra brakes after installing the sport rotors, I will mostly be doing it for looks and because I have them already. The Mass Air Conversion has been completed. Driveability has improved dramatically, this is a must do upgrade for any Mark VII with even the most minor modifications. We used a '93 Mustang automatic computer for our swap.
We have installed the new Leather interior in the LSC-R. We chose to go with a 2-tone black and dark charcoal combination with a custom logo embroidered onto the front seats. This is the logo we had done up for the LSC-R. Here is the seat right after we installed the cover, the headrest has not yet been installed. Here is the interior installed in the car...... The digital camera I have is a cheapy so the pictures aren't as crisp as they could be. Here is the rear seat finished and installed.... The LSC-R(#001) has been sold and now resides in sunny Southern California. The new owner is Joe Schulte, you can email Joe at *flyboy@as.net*. We have picked up another project car which will be #002, pictures coming soon.