430 MEL questions

joukaishou813924 · Apr 6, 2011

anybody ever had one, and how hard are parts for one. I'm looking at a 58 lincoln continental http://easternshore.craigslist.org/cto/2304097135.html , that one, and have never seen nor worked on a mel, any comments would be appreciated.

TiredIronGRB · Apr 6, 2011

I've got one, they run great but have a rope rear main seal so they leak oil. The power steering pump is in the front of the engine and very expensive to replace.

joukaishou813924 · Apr 7, 2011

is retrofitting a newer one an option?

TiredIronGRB · Apr 7, 2011

Possibly, there's not a lot of room up there.

Torch · Apr 7, 2011

I know almost nothing about them MEL's other than my brother bought one with a rod knocking in a 66 lincoln continental and had the crank welded up and reground when they rebuilt the bottom end. The rods weren't hurt. it was a 462 and it was HUGE!. It kinda just tugged the thing around, it wasn't a street beast or anything.
At the same time I had a purple 2 door 69 lincoln continental my friends had nicknamed the "ace of spades". It had the 11:1 429 thunderjet engine in it and I thought it had more get up and go than my brothers with the 462
Looking around at other MEL Lincolns I've seen some with 460's put in but don't know how easy it was to do.
Chris got himself a navy blue 69 thunderbird with the 429 thunderjet leather interior and suicide doors...that car was a rocket!
It came from texas and was pretty nice
He got sideswiped by an uninsured crackhead putting that ride to an end, booo to crackheads and winos.

Torch · Apr 7, 2011

I just took a look at that 58 your considering I like it!
if I was fixing it up I'd either take apart the 430 just to inspect and freshen it up with new rings, bearings and gaskets, polish the crank, replace the oil pump, have the rods rebuilt with arp bolts for cheap insurance against fatigued bolts and maybe put in a new cam and get the heads freshened up....

or if I was going to modify it from original, I'd drop in a 460 or a v10.
Sequential port MAF injection for a 460 is rare, but instead of shelling out a few grand for a california only 460 maf injection setup...people are using or upping their injectors on the speed density manifolds, adding an aftermarket maf and using a mustang computer (ho i think) to run sequential port injection on the 460.