Hi everybody. I’m new to this forum and I am a new Lincoln owner. I just bought a ’66 coupe (hope that doesn’t violate the “suicide” terms of agreement for this forum). It’s my first Lincoln. I’ve been wanting a slabside for about 6 years. Actively started looking 4 years ago. It was tough deciding between the coupe and 4 door. I gotta say now that I have one I’m glad I chose the coupe, but it’s got me wanting a 4 door something fierce. Maybe I’ll find one to sit on until I’m done with this coupe. Anyway, I have a few questions for you veterans out there.

1) Tail light issues: no blinkers, brake lights or left tail light (right works). Found the wiring at the brake switch aborted. It had about 78 scotch locks bundled up in a wad of wiring around the steering column where some A-hole installed the aftermarket cruise. I yanked out said cruise control (except for the cruise / blinker switch…..for now) and tested the brake switch. It works fine so I soldered and heat shrunk the factory wires back together. Found brake light relay under hood and it had broken/corroded wires going into the relay so I cut that out and put in a standard Bosch SPDT relay. That’s good to go now. Traced wiring back inside and found a gazillion more scotch locks in various places. I’m still cleaning all that up. Quick inspection of tail lights shows good bulbs and all but one good bulb socket, and good chassis ground. Harness to the rear along passenger side is good, nothing obvious. Fuse panel has a few loose fuse tabs (to be fixed later) but all good fuses. I removed glove box liner and discovered the 4-way flasher was unplugged. The wires that are “riveted” to the back of the switch are almost all broken off. Without a service manual or wiring diagram (following question below) I’m at a stopping point. I can’t find a replacement switch anywhere. It’s the silver push button style, not the horizontal toggle I seem to find plenty of. All that said, my questions are: Where can I buy a new/used switch? Is it possible to get a pin out of the switch (maybe I can fix it) ? Is the switch supposed to stay down when pressed and spring back when pressed again, because it doesn’t? Is this switch most likely the cause of all of this? Anything I may not have checked? I’ve been doing car audio for 23 years. Started out installing and I own my shop now, so I know a little about this but I’m rusty. I push a pen more than solder these days, but I’m looking forward to this type of work again.

2) Service manual and wiring diagrams: Found a few reproductions online. While I’d love to have an original, I don’t necessarily want to pay extra for the same damn thing if the reproductions genuinely are the same. Are they? Found this:

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=997289&cc=1342213&jnid=418&jpid=2

Do these type of reproductions have electrical diagrams? Where/what is the best to buy?

3) Parts: Where do you guys go to find parts? I like Bakers Auto and Rock Auto so far, haven’t actually ordered from either of them yet so maybe that’ll change. I was expecting to find a place like Year One that has everything. Maybe I’m not digging deep enough, but I’m not finding a lot of online resources. Hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction.

4) Exhaust manifold leak. My Matco tool rep says he’s owned a few Lincolns and claims the exhaust headers warp easily. I ordered some Remflex gaskets. They are 1/8″ and crush down to 1/16″ and claim to help seal against warped manifolds,  hopefully I’m going in the right direction for this fix? Not looking forward to changing them. Looks like I’ll need to unbolt motor and push it up to get to them? Should I change motor mounts while I’m at it? Is there an easier way?

I guess that’s it for now. I’m trying to get this car on the road and drive it for a few months to make sure I love it as much as I think/hope I will. If so, I’ll get to building it up right. New brakes, bag it, paint it, custom interior with killer audio system and possibly a crate motor and overdrive transmission.

Thanks everyone,

Ben