New Owner, looking to learn!

[owenmcculloch04]

Hello all!
I am relatively new to the auto word, (and world I'm 20), and I'm hoping folks on here can help me restore some parts of my T bird. I just bought it from a single owner, 90,000 miles and it was really taken care of, and its going to be my daily while I'm in college. I am currently in the process of trying to track down a compatible CD player to replace the one in the rear (f4sf-18c830-bb), replace the OEM head unit with a working OEM unit, and rebuild the passenger side mirror, and if anyone can point me to people, I should be reaching out to for questions I'd greatly appreciate it! I listed some initial questions below and if anyone has information on any of them I'd really appreciate the help!


What manuals should I be looking for repairs and wiring diagrams?

Is the f4sf-18c830-bb compatible with any 18c830, or Sony player? (Or if anyone knows where I can buy a working part)

Would it be possible to replace the internals from one side mirror into the housing of another? (I have a pearlescent paint job that I can't find a passenger mirror for, and bought a white side mirror that's working off of super coupe performance, I just have no idea where to start for replacing the mirror)

Is it normal for my amplifier to sound like its not functioning when the CD player has been removed from the rear? (Radio got real quiet)

Any recommendations for combating "floaty steering" at high speeds? I go 90 on the highways in Houston typically and find the steering to feel very disconnected if that makes sense, not sure if I should bring it to an alignment shop or if its just age.

Thanks in advance and apologies if any of these are real stupid questions, Im real new to this stuff.


Best,

Owen

 

[Vicinity]

Welcome aboard! Youve found yourself the perfect first car. Mine was the bird as well

CD player in the back isn't a common option, thats neat.

From what I've read, I don't think these cars are built to go 90 until you get a beefier driveshaft. It could be your tires too, if the car had been sitting a long time

 

[Kenz]

Make sure you get it to a good shop and have the suspension, and the steering linkage checked out! Especially the lower ball joints, they are notorious for failing on these cars and can cause serious damage when they let go. These cars are not hard to work on but do need special attention to the alignment once everything is sorted on the front end. Again, most average shops won't know how get the alignment right because of the uncommon suspension design. So make sure you find a real shop and not just a tire and oil change place to work on it.

Once everything is tight and dialed in it should cruise fine at 90 and not feel floaty. The shocks on the front will need replacing if they haven't been, they alone will improve the ride a lot.

By the way, nice looking Tbird! Looks clean... the chrome factory wheels go well with that pearl white

 

[Bobs21x]

Welcome aboard! Lots of great info. and good folks here!

 

[Kenz]

From what I've read, I don't think these cars are built to go 90 until you get a beefier driveshaft. It could be your tires too, if the car had been sitting a long time

Good point about the tires, check the date code on them as well.

As long as the driveshaft is in good shape, the factory speed limit of ~105 should be just as smooth as 65. I think the driveshaft issue is more for people who put in higher gear ratios or get tuned and go over 105

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Welcome!

 

[Grog6]

90 will kill the driveshaft eventually. They vibrate badly when they go. A one piece aluminum ds from a 93 mark 8 will swap in, otherwise, aftermarket. PST sold me one for each car ~$450 10 years ago.
The glass in most mirrors is attached with double sided tape; tear the damaged one apart to see.
There's a pdf service manual on the web that also includes the evtm, google for it.
Floaty is often the shocks; test them by 'bouncing each corner, and see if it keeps bouncing.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Welcome to the best and ONLY AMERICAN owned and member operated Tbird and Cougar community on the planet!

Nice, clean Tbird you have there!

So glad you found us here! Floaty steering and suspension feel are all suspension related. Probably needs new shocks.

Take care of the suspension first, make sure the brakes are in good shape and, of course your tires. The driveshaft will be fine. As long as it’s not vibrating I wouldn’t worry about it.

Check and change the oil and trans fluids. So you can reset the clock on them and you know how many miles are on them. Test and top off your coolant. To add coolant in a Tbird just drop it in the coolant reservoir. Make sure you fill it when the engine is cold. Don’t open the reservoir when the engine is hot.

 

[bowez]

Give me some time and and I know where you can get the Original Ford Service Software. Only draw back is it was wrote for Windows 3.1, meaning XP is the last thing it will run natively in.

So if you're comfortable setting up a Virtual Machine or have an Old PC, let me know.
This goes for anybody.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I don’t think any my aftermarket head unit will support the factory 10 disc changer even though it’s made by Sony. The premium sound cassette head is the only one that controls it, not the premium CD player oddly

 

[theterminator93]

Looks like a nice find. Speaking of finds, glad you found us here. Welcome.

As others have said, it's probably got all-original suspension - crumbling bushings, floaty shocks, tired ball joints etc. You can rebuild the whole front end using parts off RockAuto for a few hundred bucks then get it aligned and be ahead a couple grand over shop prices.

I also agree that you're best ditching the factory audio hardware in favor of a decent aftermarket head unit with an amp bypass cable, and some nice 6x8 (or 5x7) speakers. Even though the integrated amps in aftermarket head units aren't a lot to write home about, they're all better than any amp (premium sound or otherwise) that came in the MN12 from the factory. Unless you're looking to keep the stock interior aesthetic, this is the way to go.

Otherwise, take some time to flip through the tech articles section. Lots of FAQs and info is tucked away in there - especially Jerry's Thesis, which covers the transmission and was the claim to fame of the club for many years.

 

[White Lincoln]

Welcome! Pizza and beer are free on Saturday here, but you will have to download it.

 

[Grog6]

Bowes, most of the old programs will work on the 32 bit versions of win 7. I've got my old programming stuff working on win7 32 bit. under dosbox.

 

[bowez]

I'm running it under 7 also but in XP virtual mode. Hadn't thought of trying DOSBOX that might be simpler if will work.

 

[massacre]

Welcome

 

[Vicinity]

What was wrong with the CD Player? My disc charger seems to favor the first and last two discs in load time

 

[owenmcculloch04]

What was wrong with the CD Player? My disc charger seems to favor the first and last two discs in load time

It refuses to play any of the disks, I found a shop whos willing to work on it though in the Houston Area.

Looks like a nice find. Speaking of finds, glad you found us here. Welcome.

As others have said, it's probably got all-original suspension - crumbling bushings, floaty shocks, tired ball joints etc. You can rebuild the whole front end using parts off RockAuto for a few hundred bucks then get it aligned and be ahead a couple grand over shop prices.

I also agree that you're best ditching the factory audio hardware in favor of a decent aftermarket head unit with an amp bypass cable, and some nice 6x8 (or 5x7) speakers. Even though the integrated amps in aftermarket head units aren't a lot to write home about, they're all better than any amp (premium sound or otherwise) that came in the MN12 from the factory. Unless you're looking to keep the stock interior aesthetic, this is the way to go.

Otherwise, take some time to flip through the tech articles section. Lots of FAQs and info is tucked away in there - especially Jerry's Thesis, which covers the transmission and was the claim to fame of the club for many years.

Do you think that I can keep the stock head unit and disk player while upgraded the amp and speakers? Or is it a all or nothing deal?

Give me some time and and I know where you can get the Original Ford Service Software. Only draw back is it was wrote for Windows 3.1, meaning XP is the last thing it will run natively in.

So if you're comfortable setting up a Virtual Machine or have an Old PC, let me know.
This goes for anybody.

Would I be able to reprogram the door code with this? Id love the software regardless.

 

[theterminator93]

The head unit does all the audio processing and sends an analog preamp output signal to the amp, so I suppose it's technically possible. I don't know the spec of the output on the factory head units, but you could splice into the cable at the factory amp and solder RCA outputs onto it to use an amp of your choosing. Assuming you don't intend to push >50W RMS through each channel you can probably just splice into the factory speaker harness from the amp output as well, and swap to the 5x7 or 6x8 speakers of your choice.

I know with the Mark VIIIs, when using an aftermarket head unit and the factory amp, a line level voltage converter is required to adapt the output of the head unit to be compatible with the input of the amp. On my 96 I used a Scosche FAI-3 which seems to have been replaced by the SLC4. You might need to so something similar if you plan to do the reverse.