Chatbox Thread

CDsDontBurn said:
Anyone ever have so much work that they feel that they can't catch a break to get stuff done that they really want to get done but can't because everything else is a priority that shouldn't be a priority, but because it's coming from the biggest boss it gets bumped to #1 on the priority list? Oh, and then there's the meetings that you gotta do with clients too that eat into your project / task time for these other priority projects.

Yeah....

It's all good though.
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At some point you just give up trying. Ask me about my Tbird. 🤣

Yeah .. you want to talk about work ?? I'll be gone all next week staying in a hotel to do a job up North North. It's like a work vacation except it fucking sucks.
 
dDUBb said:
At some point you just give up trying. Ask me about my Tbird. 🤣

Yeah .. you want to talk about work ?? I'll be gone all next week staying in a hotel to do a job up North North. It's like a work vacation except it fucking sucks.
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I'm not sure I've reached that point yet where I just give up trying.

What's it like?
 
So no more junkyard crawling posts from me - what's happening?

Well, I think the source of MN12s and Marks has finally dried up. I check inventories regularly, locally in Richmond as well as Virginia Beach, Fredericksburg, and the RDU and Greensboro areas. Nothing noteworthy has come up recently. It's a shame, but I had a great run; I was pretty lucky.

My dream find is still a pristine '98 Mark VIII Collector's Edition interior in Light Prairie Tan. I'd swap steering wheel and seats over; it would be great.
 
there's a mark with tan leather seats in sc, according to car-parts.com. I was lookin for control arms. I may strip the ones off Lazarus. I have a rebuilt set of mn12 ones, that came off it, and were replaced with mark arms and poly bushings. idk.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
So no more junkyard crawling posts from me - what's happening?

Well, I think the source of MN12s and Marks has finally dried up. I check inventories regularly, locally in Richmond as well as Virginia Beach, Fredericksburg, and the RDU and Greensboro areas. Nothing noteworthy has come up recently. It's a shame, but I had a great run; I was pretty lucky.

My dream find is still a pristine '98 Mark VIII Collector's Edition interior in Light Prairie Tan. I'd swap steering wheel and seats over; it would be great.
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I’m really surprised you had the run you did, the supply here dried up several years ago. Two of my closest go-to yards since closed down to boot.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
Anyone ever have so much work that they feel that they can't catch a break to get stuff done that they really want to get done but can't because everything else is a priority that shouldn't be a priority, but because it's coming from the biggest boss it gets bumped to #1 on the priority list? Oh, and then there's the meetings that you gotta do with clients too that eat into your project / task time for these other priority projects.

Yeah....

It's all good though.
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Never give up! I've got a '68 Ranger that I built a 5.0 w/ Australian closed chamber heads... I've had it parked in the garage since '03 and can't get time to finish it up. Life is what it is. You have to survive till tomorrow. I call it my retirement project. In 5-10 I hope to have all the time(but no budget I was told) and make something special. I've even thought of sneaking in a 4r70w in now that US Shift makes it easy. Leave the manual shifter on the column and clutch pedal as a theft deterent.😆
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I’m really surprised you had the run you did, the supply here dried up several years ago. Two of my closest go-to yards since closed down to boot.
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I'm hoping that some sort of "irony" thing kicks in now: I just posted about no more good cars in the junkyards, and suddenly they show up!

Seriously though, I'm grateful for what I found. Some highlights include my "new" PCM, a collection of four genuine wood shift knobs in varying shades/grains, the white Windstar needles, rear floor mats...

I have one local-ish yard, which is not linked to any chain, which keeps cars for an extended amount of time (2+ years). They have two Thunderbirds and one Mark. But I pretty much picked and sold all the good pieces. I may go back though.

Another thing I'd love to do: get pre-96 bumper covers. Especially the front end looked better with the big nostrils. Problem is, it wouldn't look right with the body side cladding, and I'm not up for closing all those holes.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Another thing I'd love to do: get pre-96 bumper covers. Especially the front end looked better with the big nostrils. Problem is, it wouldn't look right with the body side cladding, and I'm not up for closing all those holes.
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It actually doesn't look bad if you get the rear bumper to match

D1 (157).jpg
 
So my kids named the T-Bird "Dirty Bird". My wife, back when it was her daily up until we got the Taurus 11-ish years ago, had named her "Pearl".

So now, it's full name is "Pearl, The Dirty Bird".
 
XR7-4.6 said:
A few but there aren’t many front end shots. It used to belong to @EARLSAYS so he might have more if he’s lurking
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Found him:

Hey y'all....ben a while

So, this year has been pretty crazy for me, moved out of the place I'd been for 2+ years, into a waterfront house with a 40 foot dock, lived there for a month, and found out the house I had just moved out of, was NOT going into foreclosure, so I moved back. However, that's not the main focus of...
audiokarma.org

...and I am intrigued. Getting these bumpers wouldn't be too hard. But I hate the painting part...
 
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I need to make a build thread for my car now.

I can't think of a proper thread name for it.

Taking suggestions and / or ideas for a thread title.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
I need to make a build thread for my car now.

I can't think of a proper thread name for it.

Taking suggestions and / or ideas for a thread title.
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What's the cars name? Something Pearl, right? How about Culturing xx Pearl? (I looked up how pearls are made)
 
theterminator93 said:
First thing that comes to me is something along the lines of "A decade of collecting parts - now it's finally time to install them" :tongue:
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You know what, you gave me an idea on a name for my thread!

And it's been just about a decade! Now that I'm starting to open up my parts boxes, I found an old invoice from RA that had a September 2016 date...

Grog6 said:
You have the most awesome parts in your spreadsheet.
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Thank you! It's pretty detailed, down to the smallest of parts.
 
Just came across this bulb comparison. What are your experiences with halogen bulbs? I'm only interested in brightness = distance; whiteness = esthetics are low priority.

My car came with GE bulbs, presumably GE standard, which are fairly dim though not horrific.

[Ignore the arrow. That was the bulb which was the primary topic of the video.]

Screenshot_20250324_114616_YouTube.jpg
 
I've used the XTreme Vision 130's for years in our halogen cars. Zero complaints. They last exponentially longer than any Silverstar does.

Nightbreakers are definitely the gold standard but they're not always easy to find, especially in American dual filament sizes.

IMO, the only sizes that should exist are H3, H4, and H7. Everything else is just an annoyance.
 
Before HIDs and retrofits, I used the regular Sylvania SilverStar. They're noticeably brighter than stock.

SilverStar Ultras are supposed to be good, but everyone says that they burn out too fast. They hit the market after I switched to HIDs.

I've used the Philips X-tremeVision HIR bulbs in 9011 and 9012 before they added any of these 100, 130, Pro150 designations to their product lines. At the time, they were unparalleled for halogen bulbs, but there's no equivalent for 9007.
 
I agree with the SilverStar bulbs burning out quickly. I have used them in a few cars over the years and they have never lasted very long. But they are a bit higher on the light spectrum and are noticeably brighter than OEM style bulbs.

When I eventually get new headlight housings for the Cougar the plan is to get rid of the HID's I put in, and "downgrade" to SilverStar bulbs.

Edit... Decided to stop just thinking about it and bought new headlights and corner lamps. Got a Kit off eBay, will post some pictures when I get them!
 
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Kenz said:
I agree with the SilverStar bulbs burning out quickly. I have used them in a few cars over the years and they have never lasted very long. But they are a bit higher on the light spectrum and are noticeably brighter than OEM style bulbs.

When I eventually get new headlight housings for the Cougar the plan is to get rid of the HID's I put in, and "downgrade" to SilverStar bulbs.

Edit... Decided to stop just thinking about it and bought new headlights and corner lamps. Got a Kit off eBay, will post some pictures when I get them!
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Headlight housings are very difficult to find now. If you find some let us know
 
Zep5.0 said:
Headlight housings are very difficult to find now. If you find some let us know
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He’s got a 96-97, those are more widely available than 91-95 Cougar which have become unavailable for some reason.

It kind of bums me out losing cats eye parking lights but Grand Marquis housings fit with some minor header panel massaging redoing the wiring and adding an adjuster from your old lights in place of the fixed mount.

IMG_6271.jpeg

Plus the excellent 9011/9012 HIR bulbs @Irv mentioned fit, making 91-95 Cougars with this mod have THE best halogen lighting of any of the MN12s, better than the earlier ones with 9005/9006s with Fresnel lenses! Ngl, it’s a flex as the kids put it :tongue:
 
Kenz said:
Eventually they will be hard to find for 96-7 too. Part of the reason I decided to finally get them.
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it’s an anti-Cougar conspiracy IMO, the 91-95s Cougars are second only to the 89-93 Tbird headlights in terms of model production yet those Tbird headlights are available, even 94-95 Tbird headlights are still available which in total were less produced than 91-95 Cougars. The 96-97 sharing headlights between Ford and Mercury probably helps the aftermarket keeping them available.

Also it was really obvious before the Cougar headlights went out of production, when you last could still buy them they were listed for TWICE the money of the equivalent Tbird headlights!
 
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