[furreal302]

When I pulled the motor/trans out of my Mustang I banged up the plastic electronic piece that goes on the shift selector shaft. I'm not sure what it's called, but I found a 96 Mark VIII 4.6 with the same part. I mounted it up and plugged it in but get no crank in any gear position. I moved it around manually and still nothing.
The relays click so it sounds like a loose power wire or ground, but I had another one from a different Lincoln and got the car to crank and run on that. I can't use it though because it mounts up totally differently. It's the little things at the end of a major project that really suck when they mess you up.

here is a picture of the part

[Bullitt95]

That's the manual lever position sensor (MLPS) or transmission range sensor. It also acts as a neutral safety switch.

[Cobraman1024]

that was going to be my first guess since yours is an automatic, the neutral safety switch is the faulty component.

[furreal302]

Got a new NSS from autozone and a new positive battery terminal. I was able to start it a few times while messing with the timing trying to get it to run well. Now it's doing it again so I'll mess with it more tomorrow.