Mods you regret

[XR7-4.6]

In fairness is there a single vehicle where riding in the back seat is enjoyable to you? I’m calling shotgun whether it’s a Mustang or a MN12 or a damn Escalade.

 

[Irv]

This is indirectly reminding me of my freshman year in college when we stuffed one of our friends in the trunk of a sedan because we had one too few seats in the car.

To tie this together, given that we have phones now and thus 5G, entertainment options, and a source of light, I would be more comfortable in the empty trunk of a Panther platform car than the back seat of an MN12, especially after emergency trunk releases were mandated.

 

[Irv]

In fairness is there a single vehicle where riding in the back seat is enjoyable to you? I’m calling shotgun whether it’s a Mustang or a MN12 or a damn Escalade.

Yeah, actually.

 

[theterminator93]

Nobody who has a choice wants to ride in the back seat of an MN12.

When I was 10-12ish and my dad still had his '90, sometimes my younger brother and/or I would go with him on the weekends to get groceries. One particular day I recall both of us went - I rode in the front, and he rode in the back. On our ride home, my brother wanted the front seat so my dad had me sit in the back. My (very) ADHD brother got into the front seat first, leaned forward so I could crawl into the back, then as I was turning around to sit down and pull my right leg into the car, he slammed the door onto my shin. Ouch!!!

 

[MadMikeyL]

I have to say I’m not exactly small at 5’10” and 225lbs, and I don’t find the back seat of an MN12 uncomfortable at all! Getting in and out of it is annoying, but once you are in, it’s more comfortable than most midsize SUV or 4-door back seats, and I wouldn’t have any issue going for an hour+ ride in the back of an MN12.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

 

[XR7-4.6]

Yeah, actually.

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The neon lights, sense of motion and having my view obstructed by the front seats is making me queasy just thinking about it lol

Perhaps enjoyable is the wrong word, but no matter how accommodating and luxurious the back seat space is it’ll never be my first choice. And like Mike said for most sedans and smaller SUVs the MN12 isn’t much worse, both can be adequate or miserable based on the height of the driver/shotgun passenger and where they position their seats. The middle seat is a joke though with the huge driveshaft tunnel, I’ll say that

 

[Vicinity]

I had a friend drive the bird, and let another ride shotgun so I got to sit in the rear passenger side for a bendy country road. It really was a cool little event. Hard to find a friend that you'd trust to drive it though.

The reason was that I had a transmission shop tell me the tranny was bad, and I doubted him. Still, being the only car I had driven by that time, I wanted an experienced 90's car nerd to confirm that there was nothing abnormal happening

 

[Irv]

The neon lights, sense of motion and having my view obstructed by the front seats is making me queasy just thinking about it lol

Perhaps enjoyable is the wrong word, but no matter how accommodating and luxurious the back seat space is it’ll never be my first choice. And like Mike said for most sedans and smaller SUVs the MN12 isn’t much worse, both can be adequate or miserable based on the height of the driver/shotgun passenger and where they position their seats. The middle seat is a joke though with the huge driveshaft tunnel, I’ll say that

The brightness of the interior lights is completely customizable and can even be turned off. In this case, I don't think the owner knew how to do any of that, so the lights were all left at the factory settings.

On a long road trip where there's absolutely nothing to do or see in the shotgun position, and there's time to stretch out and I don't feel an obligation to talk to the driver, yes, the back seat is where it's at in a Mercedes-Benz S580. Those were the exact conditions I experienced, not riding to the restaurant with your family/friends/coworkers for 30 minutes or less. Given the right situation for only a handful of car models in the world, I will opt for the back seat.

I wasn't even in one with all the back seat upgrades to compete with flying in first class on a premium Gulf or Asian carrier either.

 

[Irv]

As far as the MN12 back seat experience goes, ingress and egress is a bigger deal than you might think for people who aren't familiar with your car or are less flexible.

When I was younger, I found it mildly amusing watching a back seat occupant try to figure out optimal front seat belt routing and how to tilt the front seat forward. I would find all of that annoying now. The only reason I knew all of this before I got mine was because I spent multiple summers as a teen riding in the back of my sister's ex-husband's '94.

I've been in the back seat of a 3rd gen Camaro, a 1st geh Chevy S-10 extended cab jump seat, and a 3rd gen Toyota Tacoma extended cab jump seat. They're all orders of magnitude worse than the MN12's back seat, but still, nobody would ever choose to sit back there, and therein lies the point: for a spot where nobody willingly chooses to sit, the only thing adding headrests back there accomplishes is reducing your ability to see in the rear view mirror.

 

[theterminator93]

Maybe 10 years ago I had to sit in the back seat of the mother-in-law's 2001 GT for an hour. That was miserable. Give me an MN12/FN10 back seat any day!

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

I was just thinking, remember my power lumbar retrofit? Maybe if I install power lumbar in the two outboard back seat positions, then people will want to ride there?

Nah...

 

[Rodeo Joe]

J-Mod, I'm not saying I regret it because I love it, but the harshness of the shifts was getting old. I did the low power settings, leaving out the bottom 1-2 spring and the 2-3 spring. Jerry did a tune on the car about 20 some odd years ago and that probably made the shifts harder. Last year I did a fluid change and added put the springs back in.

Joe

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

J-Mod

I didn't see this coming in this thread. From all I read, people always advise in favor of the J-Mod.

My transmission is stock, and the shifts feel just fine to me. Smooth in normal driving and fairly crisp under hard acceleration.

 

[XR7-4.6]

J-mod’s worth putting up with for longevity alone. But yes, my old auto shifted gears like there was a sledge hammer inside it, I’ve never been able to powershift my stick shift to the level of brute harshness that thing had.

Yet I did get so used to it any other stock automatic car I drive feels worn out to me lol So I’d say on mine I regretted the J mod too, but mostly going lite-J-spec with the max settings, leaving accumulator springs and deleting the wave plates for extra clutches(which also contributed to the harshness). Plus I ran it with a stock marauder converter which was robably too tight for it, higher stall converters will absorb some of the harshness.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

I thought Marauder had a higher stall stock? At least higher than base Panthers.

 

[theterminator93]

Back in the day there was a lot of advice for folks to go heavy-handed on increasing shift strength by leaving out springs or drilling feed holes in the separator plate for a higher-than-recommended rate. I was skeptical and went conservative by keeping the springs in and holes small, and regret absolutely nothing. The shifts are no longer sluggish and imperceptible, but snappy without jerking the chassis.

Marauder/Mk8/GT had the same converter K factor. The smaller diameter (11.25" vs 12") also allows for a 6500 RPM redline, instead of 5400 RPM.

https://forum.birdcats.com/threads/ford-overdrive-transmissions-101-an-article-by-jerry-w.254/#post-4582

 

[XR7-4.6]

I thought Marauder had a higher stall stock? At least higher than base Panthers.

It’s higher stall than the stock 12” converters our cars came with but it’s still a fairly tight converter compared to actual performance oriented stall converters

 

[Rodeo Joe]

I was skeptical and went conservative by keeping the springs in

I was just going with the flow and doing the mod the way everyone else was doing it at the time. As time went on and more and more people were doing the mod and fine tuning it, it looks like leaving the springs in is the way to do it. Shifts are quick but not harsh like they were before, much better for this old guy!

Joe

 

[theterminator93]

I did the same thing with my exhaust - went with the 2nd quietest muffler option available. No regrets there either!

 

[VicRattlehead]

the svo blower.

if I didn't buy that, I probably would have finished the stick swap. so now neither the blower install or the stick swap have been completed

 

[XR7-4.6]

the svo blower.

if I didn't buy that, I probably would have finished the stick swap. so now neither the blower install or the stick swap have been completed

Project creep can be a bastard. I remember you were in the process of the stick swap but never knew you had a SVO going in too.

 

[Generalee0527]

the only MOD i've done that was a bust was when I made my own end link bushings (rear sway bar) from a urethane rod I bought on McMaster-Carr. It was simple enough but the material was not durable and after about a year they were completely gone. Everything else has been good to go. The first hiccup was swapping in the trans from a 2000 Mustang GT (kid was swapping to a manual and I scored for $250) and the bloody pin diagram from thta other site that shall NOT be named was a mirror and I only had reverse and 2nd. Really had a bad feeling until I read some more. swapped two pins and never looked back. J-MOD should have been factory along w/ mustang converter. PBR calipers were a game changer.

 

[Grog6]

I made rear endlink bushings out of some poly bushings from the wall at advanced. ~$10. cut them down with a razor knife.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I made rear endlink bushings out of some poly bushings from the wall at advanced. ~$10. cut them down with a razor knife.

I did something similar but I used my “lathe” (drill press and me using a hacksaw like an artist )

 

[XR7-4.6]

My most recent one: the Autometer gauges. They served the intended purpose in verifying coolant temps, oil pressure and even volts in real time relative to the questionable stock cluster readings, but now that I’m privy to the readings I’m pretty “meh” on them as permanent fixtures. I’m currently debating putting a stock cubby or VMM in place of them next season

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

VMM in place of them

I'm too lazy to look for it now, but I'm certain you yourself called that the greatest waste of space just recently.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I'm too lazy to look for it now, but I'm certain you yourself called that the greatest waste of space just recently.

It is

 

[Kenz]

I’m privy to the readings I’m pretty “meh” on them as permanent fixtures. I’m currently debating putting a stock cubby or VMM in place of them next season

Are those the ones with the Chevy bow ties? They look cool but every time I see them in a car it reminds me of old overdone muscle car, or fast and furious.

Cubby for the win, Perfect spot to store your cellphone.

 

[Irv]

The thing about gauges is that you often don't need them until something isn't right. Otherwise, I kind of don't want them there until I do, but when I do, there's about a half-dozen different gauges I want visibility of, not just 2-3.

In other words, when the time comes, I think I'll go with AeroForce gauges so I don't run out of physical real estate in the stock '97 ashtray location. Two single-parameter gauges won't cut it, and additional steering column and/or dual A-pillar mounts don't look great to me either.