my 81 Lincoln town car doesn't spark.

The 81' doesn't have a pickup assy. its a pure mechanical distributer. I tried running a jumper wire from the batt. to the coil and jumping the starter solenoid with a screwdriver, it cranked but still no spark.

Quick question: Does the 81 have fuel injection or a carburetor? In Canada, they had the 2bbl VV carb, which is a whole different bundle of issues. Also, which engine? You could have the 302 as most of these cars did, but you could be REALLY lucky and have the 351W in there. It makes a difference to the answer.

its a 302w with throttle body injection.

Then I'm out of ideas, I'm afraid. We never got that particular system here in Canada.

When you replaced the coil, did you get one with the offset contacts that use the horse shoe connector on the car, or did you buy a universal one that meant removing the horseshoe? If the latter, did you verify that you got the polarity right? If the polarity is reversed, you will get spark, but not necessarily enough spark to fire the engine. Also, when you changed the wires and plugs, etc, did you replace the rotor and distributor cap? Check, also, the firing order. Those early Windsor engines had a very eccentric firing order and it is very easy to get them mixed up.

just replaced the eec, cap, rotor, and relays. still nothing. will take a pic of engine after I feed my kids breakfast.

Prob solved. timing chain was very stretched and jumped time. the 81's timing is non adjustable so everything went bad all at once. after replacing the entire timing assembly and properly setting the distributor I regained my beloved spark.