The Unofficial "Ask a Stupid Question" Thread

[Grog6]

Hey, I have a really stupid question ; Does the cobra pbr attach to the bracket with a rod with a c-clip?
I think when I ordered calipers a few years ago, and these 2004's are not like the 2002's I put on the tbird...
I seem to remember they attached to the bracket with 8mm bolts.
Did I order Cobra '04 calipers?

edit, yes, I bought calipers that will not work with my wheels.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

I believe you’re right, I didn’t look at the username, now I see it’s a 3.8

So then it's not tensioner related?

Fram oil filters cause that, or thick oil.

It's a Motorcraft filter, and the oil is less than halfway through its change cycle, Supertech Advanced 5W30.

 

[Grog6]

The only things that make noise are the lash adjusters/valves, tensioners/chain slap, and the injectors ticking.
I've never seen a ford 3.8 apart, but I'd use the 'screwdriver stethoscope' technique to localize it. If it's the tensioners, it's usually cheaper to look, than to wait for the noise to quit.

 

[XR7-4.6]

What *glue* glues foam together best? I got the bug to recover my original headliner core with Alcantara but after years of storage the foam core cracked on one side between the pillar and moonroof hole.

Epoxy? Barge Cement? Duco? Super glue? I have all those adhesives on hand, never tried them on foam before, I lean towards barge since it’s a little flexible when cured, what ya think?

 

[KevinVarnes]

I've never tried to glue that type of material, but I would lean more toward epoxy or JB Weld. Do you need to support it all the way across the crack the width of the foam board or just reattach that little triangular piece?

 

[XR7-4.6]

I've never tried to glue that type of material, but I would lean more toward epoxy or JB Weld. Do you need to support it all the way across the crack the width of the foam board or just reattach that little triangular piece?

It’s the entire width. The little triangle piece is just the inner surface piece I found hanging by a hair

 

[KevinVarnes]

In that case, my concern with any adhesive would be the very short thickness of the joint. Do you think some sort of backup material could be adhered to the top of the foam board to strengthen it across the crack or does it not really matter?

 

[XR7-4.6]

In that case, my concern with any adhesive would be the very short thickness of the joint. Do you think some sort of backup material could be adhered to the top of the foam board to strengthen it across the crack or does it not really matter?

Duct tape? I had a similar thought but really I only need it to hold together just for the recovering of the fabric and handling it into the car. Once it’s installed it’ll hold together with nothing at all. In fact the current factory black headliner I have now is worse being cracked on both sides as I (stupidly)folded it in half to fit in the trunk when I pulled it from the junkyard, but miraculously the joints aren’t visible installed to this day.

My thoughts with the ideal adhesive would be something that freely flows into the pores of the surrounding foam but remains flexible enough to not become brittle in that localized area or expand/contract irregularly vs the foam over time causing a ripple in n the fabric. Epoxy or cement I fear won’t flow well and Super(CA) glue I think would but fear might dry too brittle.

 

[KevinVarnes]

Ah, I see what you are going for. Is that foam backing closed cell foam? I think it might be hard to get an adhesive to flow into the foam like that. Could you do something with a fiberglass resin repair? It could conform to the surface of the backer and it should be pretty strong.

 

[supergordo]

What *glue* glues foam together best? I got the bug to recover my original headliner core with Alcantara but after years of storage the foam core cracked on one side between the pillar and moonroof hole.

Epoxy? Barge Cement? Duco? Super glue? I have all those adhesives on hand, never tried them on foam before, I lean towards barge since it’s a little flexible when cured, what ya think?

View attachment 15961

I fixed a crack in my sons headliner similar to that. I used the 3M headliner adhesive. I reinforced the spot with a small piece of the same backing material from a scrap headliner I had. There was one spot that was too close to the structure so i glued scrap headliner material to it to keep the crack from spreading.