Coil on plug install on a 95 Lincoln Mark VIII 4.6L questions?????

[dmkberger]

I'm back working on my '57 Ranchero with the Lincoln 4.6L Twin Cam engine.
It originally came with two coils one on each head with four plug wires and lots of extra crap to take up space.

I've swapped in the Mustang GT 4.6L Twin Cam coil on plug valve covers, installed new coils, bought a wiring harness to swap the whole thing over to coil on plug....BUT...
There are two three wire connectors on each side of the coil on plug harness and my OEM wiring harness does not plug in to this.
I'm told the coil polarity needs to be reversed and now I need to figure out which of the wires in the OEM harness to put where???

Anyone out there done this conversion?
I think I've seen it done somewhere on this forum, but where oh where did it go???
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Dale

[RICH MUISE]

That was me. Where did you get your conversion harness from? My conversion harnesses had the 4 coil connectors in a loom such that it couldn't be mis wired other than making sure of the left and right banks. It was pretty basic..longest wire went to the front coil, and so on. I don't remember what the "connecting" connector's configuration was, but it had to match up to the oem style harness connector that originally plugged into the coil pack. If your conversion harness ' main connector doesn't look like the built in connectors on the coil packs you removed, then they supplied the wrong connectors.
I know of no reason why you would have extra connectors beyond the attaching connector and the 4 coil plugins......assuming I'm reading your "two three wire connectors on each side" correctly.
There was nothing in my conversion that dealt with polarity that I was aware of.
I did not use the oem harness, I used Ron Francis. I originally got the car running with the coil packs to not add any confusion to what to check if there were issues. Thankfully there were none, so a short time after, I did the cop conversion, and there was no change in how the engine ran, which is exactly what you're looking for since it is only an appearance conversion and not performance.
what year 4.6 are you using? Did you have  it up and running before the cop change?
Thinking about "a change in polarity".........I guess that could have been done in the harness connectors, which I would think would be the only place you could, but that should have already been done by who ever made your harness. I just wasn't aware of it if it was done.....just plug and play.

[RICH MUISE]

If your harness source was different than mine.............maybe he couldn't find the correct connectors and substituted. Did he supply a mating connector to replace the oem? The guy that made mine always said the biggest issue was sourcing a connector that would replace that built into the coil packs. He kept his source a big secret. Just thinking outloud here, but if a change in polarity is required by the cops, and mine was done with that polarity change at the connector, but yours has an expected oem connector replacement, that could be why he brought up the polarity change.....assuming it was him.

Thinking more about this this morning it dawned on me I was thinking the cop conversion harness(s) was two separat sides, but that can't be.....it has to be all one harness that plugs in to two locations, otherwise the signals couldn't cross one bank to the other.
Also, you mentioned the engine originally had two coils, actually it had 4 coils in the 2 coilpacks. The computer sent out 4 signals to each of the 4 coils, and the coils sent out signals to 2 cylinders simultaniously. On a true coil on plug setup, the computer would be sending out 8 separate signals, not just 4 that the coilpacks used. So, the harnesses that are converting to cop actually are splitting up those 4 signals so there are 8.
Probably stuff you know, but maybe not others reading this.

[dmkberger]

Rich, I bought my coil harness off of ebay from a Mustang guy who builds them and sells them on line. He has done a LOT of them, so I'm pretty confident they are okay.
My problem is this, the cop Mustang valve covers have the harness coming in from the rear on the passenger side and from the front on the drivers side.
I'm using a '95 Lincoln Mark VIII 4.6L twin cam engine and the OEM harness from the donor car. I am taking the harness apart and removing all of the un-necessary circuits to make the harness fit a lot better and it makes it much smaller.
So, I've pealed out the air suspension and ABS circuits along with a the SIR, or air bag sensors etc.
The OEM coil packs mount right on the front of the heads on L and R sides.
Do I reconfigure my OEM harness to come to the back of the head to connect to the coils or do I hook it to the connector and make a passage for the harness to exit the front of the valve cover?
That would have number one coil on number four and they would count backwards from there... I am confused, so confused!
I've watched a couple videos on YouTube and they were anything but helpful.
Can you shed some light on this dilemma for me???
Thanks very much.

Dale

[RICH MUISE]

I got my valve covers from a '97 or 8 Continental. The COP wiring exits the back on both sides. I had already run the wires to the front of the engine, knowing I'd be changing to the rear at some point, so I didn't include them in the rest of the bundled wires at the engine. I just coiled up the extra 30" or so of wires when I made the conversion and tucked them in between the engine and firewall. You can't see the coil wires at all........other engine stuff covers up what little there is exiting the coil covers.
Your connector issue is probably due to the fact the harness is for a Mustang. I got mine from somebody on the Mark VIII forum.
The whole reason we do this cop conversion is to neaten things up, so I'm not sure what I'd do in your case..........if money is an issue, I'd probably live with the wiring exiting the front on one side, and try to locate connectors that you can use with your new conversion harness. If not an issue, I'd see if the Mark VIII guy is still making them. I can research that for you if you want. I think I paid 125ish for mine, but that was 6 or so years ago. If those harnesses are still available, and you get one, the next step would be the valve covers. You might get away with just changing the coil cover if the configuration/bolt spacing is the same. That would also require grinding some clearance into the valve cover at the back end for the wire exit.
I wonder if it's the same guy that made both of ours. If you have his contact info, you might ask him. Maybe he'd do an exchange.

[dmkberger]

I've taken a better look and both of the valve covers do have the coil wiring coming out the back.
That makes me feel better, I had no idea what to do with it till I saw this.
Now all I have to do it re-route the coil harness on left and right banks to the rear and hide them away back in the back with everything else I want to hide!

I have another project going on right now that kind of takes precedent over this one.
It is a 1953 Fleetwood 16' Travel Trailer that I have to do the floor in and re-do the tin on the sides, some of it anyway.
I have to get the trailer done asap do to space at one of my shops.
I have one here in my backyard, two 2500 sq ft units and a 5000 sq ft unit that I do work on a gentleman's collection of odd and unusual cars...
He allows me to work on my own stuff there, but I have to get it done asap, you never know what he's gonna bring home and want me to make it go...
It's not a bad way to be retired from what I did my whole life...
I will still be putting time in on the Ranchero, but it will be split with this trailer mess for a while.

Thank you so much for your assistance with this Rich!
I owe you one!

[RICH MUISE]

Glad you got that part of it sorted out.
I guess you probably figured out what I said about your harness being for a Mustang didn't make any sense because by the time they started putting 4.6s into Mustangs, they were already using COPs, so no reason a Mustang would need a conversion harness.
I tried to find the long thread that was on the www.markviii.org forum, but all I could find was a short thread with a link to the mustang SVT forum, so it may very well be the same guy that made both of ours. his name on the mkviii forum was red monster.

what did you find out about the connectors though? has something changed from your original statement that they were wrong? Did you ever compare them to what is built into the coil packs? curious minds need to know, lol

[dmkberger]

Nope, the connectors were a perfect match. I initially thought the Lincoln harness had four wire connectors at the coils. Once I looked at them close and tried to plug them in, POOF, they just clicked in like they were made for each other. I will get to play with the wiring again on Tuesday. I'll keep ya posted on the outcome.

Thanks again Rich. You and others on this forum are the reason I will be a life long member of this forum.

[RICH MUISE]