If you buy a car, you can do whatever modifications your heart desires if you have the right shop you can trust, or you can build it yourself.
Diego Ugaz and Jack Parnoutsoukian, both of Lincoln Park, are two Ford engineers who also are YouTubers on the side who build project cars in their own home garages. Their most exciting build is their Lincoln Continental that features a V-10 engine, manual transmission and rear-wheel drive.
How did they start modifying cars?
Parnoutsoukian and Ugaz met in college at University of California at Davis where they both majored in mechanical engineering. They also worked together on the university's Formula SAE team where UC Davis students along with students around the country built small racecars resembling Formula 1 vehicles. After graduating,
they both came to the Motor CIty to work for Ford and have been in Michigan ever since.
"We are both from California and graduated from UC Davis and came to Michigan to work for Ford. I work with battery systems and Diego works with brake systems," said Parnoutsoukian.
Outside of work, they modified their own cars and other project vehicles they purchased. Then they decided to create a YouTube channel in 2022 called "Build It Yourself," which currently has over 100,000 subscribers. They've done other builds, such as putting a V-8 into a Honda SX200 or K-swapped a Mustang where the Ford got the Honda engine.
But beyond grabbing the manual transmission from a Mustang, fitting a Triton V-10 that was originally made for a Ford F-350 into a Lincoln Continental was their toughest challenge yet.
Making the first V-10 Continental in the world
Lincoln is well known for being one of the most luxurious American automakers. If you happen to see one of their modern cars or classic vehicles on the road, they aren’t overly flashy and have an elegant look to them.
Parnoutsoukian said, "We weren't always Lincoln fans but we always liked how the Continental looked. We thought it didn't get the love it deserved so we decided to make it into something more unique." This led to them coming to the crazy conclusion that the car needed a V-10 engine swap along with a rear-wheel drivetrain and a manual transmission. The car originally came with a V-6 engine, front-wheel drive and a six-speed automatic transmission.
A build like this takes a lot of time, effort and money to make changes this drastic. They said it took them a total of 2,000 hours over three years of work. Because the roaring V-10 is the highlight of the car, they had to rebuild the engine three times as it kept breaking down. They said they believe the current setup should last.
To put a manual gear shifter into the car to control the new manual instead of automatic transmission, they had to sacrifice their cup holders located in the center stack or under the dashboard as there was nowhere else to put it. They actually had to build some parts for the engine themselves and change the dimensions of the vehicle slightly, in the cabin and under the hood, so everything would fit.
"It started with an engine from a F-350, which is a Triton 6.8-liter V-10. All that's left from that is the block and the crank. Everything else we custom-made," said Ugaz.
All the trouble was worth it
Once the car starts up and the rumbling V-10 gets going, they are reminded by the sound of what they've created. Most Lincolns are calm and quiet and don't make much noise. But Ugaz and Parnoutsoukian's remodel keeps something from the original. Even though the car now has 495 horsepower and shakes while idling, it has an air suspension and still glides on the road in typical Lincoln fashion.
When asked how much they would sell it for they said they never even thought about parting ways with it and called it "priceless." They also talked about how the amount of work they put into the car wouldn't be valued as much by a secondhand owner so they would prefer to hold on to this car.
Said Ugaz: "Putting a price on it is something we haven't even considered. But the amount of work it took to build this is what makes it special and wouldn't be valued by a secondhand buyer. So we'd rather hold on to it and keep driving it ourselves."
Keenan Thompson is a car culture reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Keenan at kthompson@freepress.com. Follow him on Instagram at @keenanautos. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How 2 Ford engineers put a V-10 and a stick shift into a Lincoln
