The Unofficial "Ask a Stupid Question" Thread

Ah, interesting, I thought I remembered trying (not much effort) to get the apron off one junkyard car and those little plastic pins not budging (I didn't have any kind of tool that would help, of course). I think all the holes for those inserts are blowed out on my bumper (broken at the edge so they look like Cs instead of Os now), whoever had the car before me used screws to hold everything together, 2 of them just failed. Is there a part number for those inserts that I could use to buy replacements for? I'm guessing nobody makes them anymore, I mean how often does anyone remove that apron, right?
 
2 11mm nuts holding each side of the bumper to the fender
11mm nuts to remove the corner lights, which will expose a 5.5mm bolt going into the fender
Phillips screws holding wheel well liners to the bumper, both in the wheel well and underneath
The rest should be plastic clips that can be removed with a pry tool, or I like to use a pair of diagonal cutters to get underneath the head and grab the center then pry them out.
 
Anyone happen to know if the cluster grounds through the EEC? I had to ground the fuel pump relay at I didn't have the EEC to ground that circuit. Before I go digging through my wiring, I was hoping someone knew off hand.
 
Zep5.0 said:
Anyone happen to know if the cluster grounds through the EEC? I had to ground the fuel pump relay at I didn't have the EEC to ground that circuit. Before I go digging through my wiring, I was hoping someone knew off hand.
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The cluster grounds to a ground junction on the dash frame, the EEC grounds separately to an eyelet directly on the cowl/kick panel
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Still carpet cleaning, but this spot puzzles me. The foam (or rather a sort of pressed fiber type insulation) here is soaked, but only along the horizontal portion. Further up it's dry. It's completely colorless and odorless.

Any idea where this comes from? I would think a leak in the cowl would soak it from the top down.

Apparently it's impossible to remove that insulation from the car with the dash in place.

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Rain yesterday, not even that much rain, and today there's a puddle. I punched a small hole into the rubber plug so it can drain better until I find a fix.

Not sure where it comes from, but the floor and center tunnel toward the front are wet, so it much enter somewhere toward the middle, or make its way to the middle from wherever it enters. The insulation going up the firewall is dry (as far as my hand can reach). Driver side floor is completely dry.

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To save me rolling around on the driveway, can anyone tell me what material the fuel tank is made of? I think it's metal??
 
Don't listen to that blather. Put your full trust in Google AI and the information shall be granted to you. Here you go:

The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) fuel tanks for cars built on the Ford MN12 platform, such as the Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar (1989–1997), were made from terne-coated steel. Terne is an alloy of lead and tin that resists corrosion.
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In case you were wondering, yes AI is wrong here (gasp) and 1997ThunderbirdLXV6 is correct. The tank is plastic.
 
I removed the violin case today to be out of the way for engine bay cleaning. To my amazement, my 1994 Bird seems to have the original intake manifold, part number RF-FIAE-9425-C24K is visible under the fuel rail hose:
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I though all of these were supposed to be gone by now.

Now the proper stupid question, is this yet a sign of the infamous coolant crossover leak? 🤔

20250929_182725.jpg

Also, do we have some comprehensive article which would summarize everything relevant about the intake manifolds on these cars :p I see there are pieces of info scattered everywhere on the web from the past 20 years. But has anyone™ suffered to write an article that would answer all the questions on this topic?

P.S.: All advice welcome on dealing with the rust spots on the fuel rail :( I'm manually waiting for my car to catch fire during a spray of fuel penetrating through the rust one day. I though the rails were supposed to be made of stainless steel ..
 
The 94-95 intakes don't suffer from the infamous crossover leaks like the 96-97s did because of the all-aluminum design. What you're seeing there is the intake manifold gasket. :)
 
theterminator93 said:
The 94-95 intakes don't suffer from the infamous crossover leaks like the 96-97s did because of the all-aluminum design. What you're seeing there is the intake manifold gasket. :)
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I see. So the real trouble with these is the brittle coolant nipple I discovered when replacing the heater core hoses a few months ago :p
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Well at least that doesn't seem to leak yet. But I suppose this will eventually lead me to a new manifold anyhow, sooner or later.
 
theterminator93 said:
That and the "sucking through a straw" performance potential, and their proneness to clogged EGR passageways. ;)
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Hmm.. are the EGR trouble related to the manifold too? I got CEL and P1406 a few months ago as well, but it went away with a reset and had been away since. I knew that some tubing somewhere gets clogged, but is it how much related to the intake manifold itself?
 
It's mostly the intake. There are these large baffles in there and only three tiny holes through which gases actually flow and they get clogged really easily.

To add to that, the 94/95 heads are also somewhat notorious for valve guides and seals that wear out and cause high levels of oil consumption/combustion, which certainly doesn't help when that hydrocarbon-rich EGR is sucked back in through the manifold. :leftright:

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Manifold options for those are limited, and to upgrade will take JY parts from other cars, and the fuel lines from a 96-97 mn12.
You'd want to find a mustang, crown vic, or gran marquis,1999-2012. You want the intake, heads, fuel rails, valvebody, air inlet, airbox, valley water line, water pump nipple,and maf. some mustang mafs need a tune to use.
That would eliminate the VG, EGR, and fuel rail issues while improving the performance Considerably.
 
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Grog6 said:
Manifold options for those are limited, and to upgrade will take JY parts from other cars, and the fuel lines from a 96-97 mn12.
You'd want to find a mustang, crown vic, or gran marquis,1999-2012. You want the intake, heads, fuel rails, valvebody, air inlet, airbox, valley water line, water pump nipple,and maf. some mustang mafs need a tune to use.
That would eliminate the VG, EGR, and fuel rail issues while improving the performance Considerably.
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That's a pile of parts, I think I need to make a trip to US to gather all that :)

I feel that the only real problem in the stock manifold is the breaking of the heater hose nipple. I wonder if that could be repaired somehow. EGR passages clogging up aren't really nice either, but if they do another 20-30 years after cleaning them up, I don't mind .. Extra performance isn't something I'd seek after in this car, although I wouldn't want to lose any either.
 
That is a pile of parts. You may never notice that your car breathes like an asthematic rhino, and runs out of air about 4200RPM.
The valve guides , the fact they won't fit pi cams. sucks. The valve guides are bad on Lazarus, at 550k miles; 300k of which was done with a pi intake and cams. A 95 will not go 500k without heads and a transmission. That's the next prob you'll run across. When I dusted a head on the Red Cougar, I said fukkit and put an 04 pi engine in it. Way easier than an in-car headswap.
 
SnowyOwl said:
That's a pile of parts, I think I need to make a trip to US to gather all that :)

I feel that the only real problem in the stock manifold is the breaking of the heater hose nipple. I wonder if that could be repaired somehow. EGR passages clogging up aren't really nice either, but if they do another 20-30 years after cleaning them up, I don't mind .. Extra performance isn't something I'd seek after in this car, although I wouldn't want to lose any either.
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I'm not familiar with the 94/95 manifolds at all, but since it is aluminum, is there meat in the manifold to be able to drill and tap to thread a fitting in the old one's place?
 
I've read of people doing that; and people were porting those manifolds from hell. The big thing back then was porting the manifold, machining the heads for better cams; then the 96 changed all that, but had other probs,lol. PI heads and intakes pretty much ended the 94-95 mods, for headswaps and pi intake swaps.
The pi intake and cams run the powerband up to 5500 RPM, from 4200. (that's my 96. 96 will fit pi cams; 94-5 will not.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I'm not familiar with the 94/95 manifolds at all, but since it is aluminum, is there meat in the manifold to be able to drill and tap to thread a fitting in the old one's place?
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I was thinking of this as well. I found some photos online where it seemed like something like this had been done.
 
Someone's selling a 4.6 4V from a 2001 mustang cobra nearby. And a T45 transmission for some extra cash. Would they fit in my Tbird? :p

Downside is the price as he's asking 5500€ ($6458) just for the engine, as they're pretty rare here. I could make an offer of one fifth of that 🤔
 
Is the nipple plastic? Maybe braze/ weld whatever it’s called with aluminum, a nipple on there?
 
Those are solid aluminum. It can be tapped; plastic started in '96.
an 01 cobra isn't any better than a Mark 8, except the manifold. It's more complex than a pi swap. Read Matt's excellent thread.

The good heads are C heads, which the o1 would have, but no forged crank or pistons.
99-05 mustangGT or cobra,99-02. 99 conti heads May contain cobra cams. Mine do.
Matt had the best ones,96-98 cobra, but he upgraded. 4V everything is 2x the price. :)
C heads have the Mach 1 intake available, which Will clear our hoods.
Mark heads.or older cobra heads are B heads, which need a hole in the hood.
 
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Take a look at this web site if you get some time:

Free Service Manuals for Ford vehicles | Operation CHARM

Detailed repair/service/workshop manuals for many Ford vehicles, including electrical diagrams, recommended bolt torques, and estimated labor times.
charm.li

You can go to the Thunderbird (Cougar) for diagnostic info. You can download it as a file as well.
 
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would this wiring harness plug into the sockets under the dash? Those tiny lights that come on when you open the doors?

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Kidd-7 said:
would this wiring harness plug into the sockets under the dash? Those tiny lights that come on when you open the doors?

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Yes. At least they should based on bulb size. The shrink-wrapped part looks a bit thick, but I think that's far enough out to clear the socket.
 
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