4.6 Underdrives?

[KevinVarnes]

Was at the junkyard today because what else would I do on my day off? Actually I had other reasons to be there, but I saw they had a '97 4.6 T-Bird so naturally I checked it out. I think it had underdrive pulleys on the alt and water pump. I could not find any markings on them. I did not see if the crank pulley was there or not. Somebody give me a holler if that is what these are and you want them. I'll probably be back there at some point to possibly get the header panel and watch as the instrument cluster surround crumbles before my eyes as I try to remove it.



Looks like they price pulleys at $12.34 plus a $1.00 core deposit Oh, and if you want a 90 day warranty that is an extra $3.70.

 

[racecougar]

From what I can see, I expect that is a piggyback kit. Is the belt on the wrong side of the idler, too?

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

watch as the instrument cluster surround crumbles before my eyes as I try to remove it.

You drop the steering column, right?

 

[KevinVarnes]

You drop the steering column, right?

Naturally, but it usually doesn't even get to that point. The two wells where 8mm head screws along the top of the panel go almost always break out. Not the end of the world, but once those are out you can get a feel for how bad the rest of the panel is. The last one I looked at I just stopped after those two screws because you could tell that multiple tabs were already broken.

From what I can see, I expect that is a piggyback kit. Is the belt on the wrong side of the idler, too?

I honestly didn't look that closely at the belt routing. This thing was full race prepped with some chrome rectangular exhaust tips. A shame as it was once a beautiful car. It was all black with tan leather interior. It had the chrome 15" fan blades (two chrome center caps were inside the car if anyone needs/wants those - might be more, I didn't look too hard). The hardest part to look at was the completely rotten rocker panels with that stupid yellow foam sticking out. Just turns my stomach every time I see that on an MN12.

 

[XR7-4.6]

In my experience all the cluster surrounds I’ve found with broken upper screw mounts have signs of it being removed before, be it to change bulbs or an overzealous stereo install, and I suspect a lot of people don’t even notice those screws being there and break or crack the bezel on that first stubborn tug. I personally haven’t broken any that were intact in the first place.

 

[KevinVarnes]

In my experience all the cluster surrounds I’ve found with broken upper screw mounts have signs of it being removed before, be it to change bulbs or an overzealous stereo install, and I suspect a lot of people don’t even notice those screws being there and break or crack the bezel on that first stubborn tug. I personally haven’t broken any that were intact in the first place.

It is certainly possible. I would say 90% of the surrounds that I come across have both of those screw wells broken out. The car in question here has an aftermarket stereo so I'm not holding out much hope for it.