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bustaflow25

bustaflow25

Newbie
Joined
Apr 29, 2024
Messages
14
Location
Wichita
Vehicle Details
1997 Ford Thunderbird LX V8
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Found out about this page from TCCOA. 3 time TBird owner 85, 89, 96...lost em all miss them all. But i seen my son looking at Thunderbirds and i looked everywhere and found one and it will be his graduation gift next month. Its a fixer upper so I'll be leaning toward you guys for advice. 20240425_182713.jpg
 
Great gift. I got to wonder what your son's peers will think, and hopefully it doesn't sway him to think a 90s car is a boring car. My peers were reluctant to applaud the acquisition nearly 10 years ago, but they're goofballs raised on fast and the furious. Now after all of these years, some of these peers are seeing 'random' people come up and compliment the ride
 
Welcome! Looks like a great starter car to me. Hopefully he gets years of enjoyment out of it
 
Nice car! Post more pix. :) it's a 97 v8 from the badge on the quarterpanel; I haven't seen that one, but my 97 had a Limited edition badge here, but WTF, it's a v8. moonroofs are cool, but you'll want to keep the drains clean. Does it have a locking rear diff? A pic of the door decal would show all the options. Blur the vin number in paint before you post it, I'm not sure why, but you don't want to give out a vin number, for some reason. Or car tags. :)
 
Howdy! Welcome! What state is the Tbird coming from? I ask because it looks pretty clean...i.e...rust? I see a bit on the rear well at the bottom. Is there more? I've never seen the V8 badges on a 96/97 before...oh wait, I just zoomed in on the badge. It's a stick-on for a Triton. Definitely NOT original. This car looks just like mine. It appears to be Pearl White..WR paint code with gray interior? Or is it a pale blue. Nice looking car. I'd like to see more pics as well!
 
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Grog6 said:
Nice car! Post more pix. :) it's a 97 v8 from the badge on the quarterpanel...
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I'm curious to learn how you know its a 97. Aren't 96 and 97 identical except for the front of the bumper, which can't be seen in this photo. Mine is 96 and this one looks like mine from what I can see...
 
I can tell it’s a 97 by the moonroof 😉
 
Is the 97 moonroof different? I noticed the v8 badge; most 97' v-8 cars had a badge there, my 97 was a LE. Came with some nice floormats.
 
Grog6 said:
Is the 97 moonroof different? I noticed the v8 badge; most 97' v-8 cars had a badge there, my 97 was a LE. Came with some nice floormats.
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That badge isn’t factory, they certainly weren’t called Tritons. V8 badges were only used on 91-95s

The moonroof changed suppliers in 97, easy tell is there is no chrome accent trim on the 97s, just black rubber
 
I'm an idiot, lol. The Triton was the worst Ford design that I know of, lol. If you didn't break a plug removing it, they randomly blew them out. My Boss' truck had a coil that bounced, lol. "it was like that." I pulled the spark plug still in the coil. :facepalm. I told him not to buy it. he bought a rebuilt motor, and bought a shortblock. So, reusing the bad head. The engine never ran correctly, and right before I left there, it broke a timing chain, on the new engine, lol.
 
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Can you buy parts for the 96 sunroof still? I need some gears, and a seal. I replaced it in 06, lol.
 
Vicinity said:
Great gift. I got to wonder what your son's peers will think, and hopefully it doesn't sway him to think a 90s car is a boring car. My peers were reluctant to applaud the acquisition nearly 10 years ago, but they're goofballs raised on fast and the furious. Now after all of these years, some of these peers are seeing 'random' people come up and compliment the ride
Click to expand...
I could care less, I found out he had been looking for a thunderbird on facebook marketplace, and was telling his mom there wasnt no t bird for sale in Kansas. Once I found that out, the mission was on.
 
bustaflow25 said:
I could care less, I found out he had been looking for a thunderbird on facebook marketplace, and was telling his mom there wasnt no t bird for sale in Kansas. Once I found that out, the mission was on.
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Good. I don't care what people thing about my rigs either. Looks like a great project and you two can rebuild the mechanicals for not a ton of money. Be sure to post a project thread. It is always great to see people bringing these cars back to life.
 
Grog6 said:
Nice car! Post more pix. :) it's a 97 v8 from the badge on the quarterpanel; I haven't seen that one, but my 97 had a Limited edition badge here, but WTF, it's a v8. moonroofs are cool, but you'll want to keep the drains clean. Does it have a locking rear diff? A pic of the door decal would show all the options. Blur the vin number in paint before you post it, I'm not sure why, but you don't want to give out a vin number, for some reason. Or car tags. :)
Click to expand...
Ill post that in a few thank you
 
Grog6 said:
Nice car! Post more pix. :) it's a 97 v8 from the badge on the quarterpanel; I haven't seen that one, but my 97 had a Limited edition badge here, but WTF, it's a v8. moonroofs are cool, but you'll want to keep the drains clean. Does it have a locking rear diff? A pic of the door decal would show all the options. Blur the vin number in paint before you post it, I'm not sure why, but you don't want to give out a vin number, for some reason. Or car tags. :)
Click to expand...
The interior is trashed...getting better though, i got until Friday
 

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Nice progress with the headliner. The wrap isn't exactly my cup of tea, but since this is going to be a young person's first car, I think it works.

If you want to wash the seats, the front covers actually come off pretty easily (no O-rings). I washed mine when I first bought the car, and the water turned dark brown.

Headlight restauration I think was already discussed (?). 1000 sandpaper works great, followed by a spray sealer.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Nice progress with the headliner. The wrap isn't exactly my cup of tea, but since this is going to be a young person's first car, I think it works.

If you want to wash the seats, the front covers actually come off pretty easily (no O-rings). I washed mine when I first bought the car, and the water turned dark brown.

Headlight restauration I think was already discussed (?). 1000 sandpaper works great, followed by a spray sealer.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we'll do this tomorrow.
 
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