can the strut and coil suspension from another ford or lincoln car be used instead of having to buy the expensive conversion kit
I’ve read there are conversion kits. Google “lincoln continental air suspension conversion kit”, lots of hits.
Um, texases, I think that’s what the poster is trying to avoid.
True…maybe some aren’t too expensive…I don’t know if there are other Fords with interchangeable rear suspensions…maybe Taurus?
Not likely, the Taurus is FWD, Lincoln Continental is RWD.
But, did all Continentals come with air-ride, or was it an option? Most of the kits just include springs, shocks, and struts. The springs can be gotten from a salvage yard out of Town Cars and Crown Vics as well as Continentals. The only concern I have is the modifications required to seat springs in place of the airbags. A kit will probably work out to be cheaper than the fitting and fabrication for the conversion.
Maybe hunting some salvage yards for a converted Continental may work out.
'95-'02 Continentals were FWD, that’s why I was thinking Taurus.
My bad. I thought all Lincolns, the Town Car and Mark VIIs and VIIIs were all RWD.
I don’t know much about the Conti air suspension. I know three things, at least.
There are plenty of quality aftermarket parts available at prices much lower than from Ford. Arnott is a good start, but there are several others. There is one source, that I don’t recall offhand, that will ship you a scanner to pull codes from that vintage air suspension for a deposit and the cost of shipping.
Coil spring kits are an easy and inexpensive way to fix it. Fixing it and preserving the marvelous air suspension does NOT have to be expensive, but you can’t throw parts at it. You need to diagnose it.
I know that www.lincolnsonline is a good source of information about these cars in general and the air suspension in particular. You can get diagnosis and repair info there in an FAQ.
Most Lincolns in production today are FWD. This is one reason that I probably won’t be buying any more Lincolns.
With the Town Cars (Crown Vics) you can simply install the coil springs from a “normal” car…A fairly simple process. If the Continental uses McPherson struts on the rear, the conversion might be more complicated…
As of 1988, the Continental was built on the FWD Taurus chassis, and was essentially a fancy Taurus with a larger engine and a trouble-prone air suspension. Even though the Continental was restyled in 1995, it continued to be built on the Taurus platform.