Thinking about getting this 97

CDsDontBurn said:
it's looking like we will still be keeping the Honda for my kids' to drive as they are starting to get close to that age of driving.
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Tell the wife the tbird is actually for the kids .. if / when they drive. I know .. kids these days. It would be much safer, more reliable, and less likely to have "fun" driving.

The honda was going to cost $1k already, so you're only really out $3k on the purchase. This is just temporary until you find a newer Honda.

Stucco is not that expensive either .. just buy a couple bags, mix with water and slap it on the walls. 😉
 
dDUBb said:
Tell the wife the tbird is actually for the kids .. if / when they drive. I know .. kids these days. It would be much safer, more reliable, and less likely to have "fun" driving.
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No, she knows it's for me. And between both my kids, my daughter (14) has no interest in driving, but she knows that she will have to learn how to drive. My son (11) however, he wants to learn how to drive already. He just can't see over the dashboard. He asks to go go-karting all the time and I know that helps in that regard.

dDUBb said:
The honda was going to cost $1k already, so you're only really out $3k on the purchase. This is just temporary until you find a newer Honda.
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That's definitely another way to look at it. And my wife and I agree not to keep it and end up selling it for $1k as-is, that's another $1k "saved" there too.

dDUBb said:
Stucco is not that expensive either .. just buy a couple bags, mix with water and slap it on the walls. 😉
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I know it's not, but stucco is not something I've ever done beyond a small patch job with the red stucco repair bag. All I know is that it's three different coats: scratch coat, brown coat, and finish coat. I don't know how to apply these myself.

I guess if I have to, I can YouTube University that shit...
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Just to get us up to speed, what's the status now? Have you told the seller anything?
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I have not told the seller anything.

The seller has reached out to me letting me know that the car has passed smog and that the front tires have flat spots from my brake check test where I found out that it doesn't have ABS.
 
Oh so thats why I have flat spots? No ABS option on mine. Wait a minute... the old Toyos never had that problem...

Also, probably more likely that they have flat spots from sitting more than one brake event
 
I don't really have much to add cause I do not have any experience in this regard but I just want to mention how standup I think it is of you to be thinking about the money and putting other needs above your own needs/wants.

I know I'm young but most people my age are making terrible money choices and would simply buy the car without a second thought and think about consequences later, even your wife is supporting the purchase but you are not throwing reason out the window and I think that is very cool, I hope whatever you choose to do is right for you and you feel justified in either choice.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
I have not told the seller anything.

The seller has reached out to me letting me know that the car has passed smog and that the front tires have flat spots from my brake check test where I found out that it doesn't have ABS.
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Just rotate them to the back and do a nice smokey burnout. Problem solved!
 
Vicinity said:
Oh so thats why I have flat spots? No ABS option on mine. Wait a minute... the old Toyos never had that problem...

Also, probably more likely that they have flat spots from sitting more than one brake event
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It was a pretty long skid, lol. Picture from the seller from earlier today. LMK what you guys think.

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Jae 'Bird said:
I don't really have much to add cause I do not have any experience in this regard but I just want to mention how standup I think it is of you to be thinking about the money and putting other needs above your own needs/wants.

I know I'm young but most people my age are making terrible money choices and would simply buy the car without a second thought and think about consequences later, even your wife is supporting the purchase but you are not throwing reason out the window and I think that is very cool, I hope whatever you choose to do is right for you and you feel justified in either choice.
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Thank you for this. It means a lot to me right now.

MadMikeyL said:
Just rotate them to the back and do a nice smokey burnout. Problem solved!
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That one wheel peel will be pretty awesome 😎 😂
 
You didn't touch the wear bars, they're fine. :zwall:

In all seriousness, I think they'll be fine (aside from the discomfort) for driving around town for a few months if you need to postpone a replaement set. The greatest discomfort/safety issues will arise at higher freeway speeds - both in terms of the lack of tread in that one spot as well as the age.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
It was a pretty long skid, lol. Picture from the seller from earlier today. LMK what you guys think.

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Omg. Don't ever test drive my car!

For future reference:
  • To check if ABS is present, just check for the hardware (e.g., wheel speed sensors)
  • To check if ABS is functional, go to a gravel road or drive on grass
I'd be pretty pissed as a seller if a potential buyer skidded my car on asphalt.

But since the tires are old and require replacement anyway, I guess you're in the clear.
 
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Those tires must have been DOA. ABS is disabled on the LSC too, the tires are old, I just won't take it on wet surfaces until theyre replaced. Several people have told me to keep running them in and out of the business. Its out once a week. Tread is still totally fine, no rot

Seems like a PSA for cheap tires
 
How are the tires on the sport wheels you have? You have other wheels earmarked for peak anyway, right?

And I have never seen flat spots like that unless it was an emergency stop. Holy shit😬
 
It’s also on the core support ID tag, ABS will be clearly stamped into an ABS car. Also clearly visible under the hood would be the rubber hose that runs from the master cylinder reservoir to the ABS HCU in the fender. Obviously non ABS cars won’t have that


I flat spotted my Focus tires in an emergency stop a few months ago, looked just like those. I drove them like that for about a month until the vibration got annoying enough for me to bite the bullet, luckily 15” tires are dirt cheap.


I too wouldn’t brake stand a car I’m test driving, it’s not proving anything to lock up the tires unless you want to see if a brake line/hose will blow lol Not insignificant chance you warped the rotors doing that as well
 
My SC has "ABS" also .. but you would never know it doesn't work until it was needed.
 
theterminator93 said:
If you have to brake stand a car to find out if it has (working) ABS... do it on gravel. :)
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Good advice.... With the base models front brakes, that's usually the only way to find out if they actually can lock up
 
Man, you guys are eating me alive about the ABS thing! 🤣

When I showed up, I didn't even really have a chance to look at the car. The owner was basically, "here's the keys, let's go!"

Even then, I wouldn't have known what to check for at the time for ABS vs non ABS.

Also, using my car's hood tag, I don't think it says anything about ABS, but Traction Control (TC) is listed...?

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Zep5.0 said:
How are the tires on the sport wheels you have? You have other wheels earmarked for peak anyway, right?

And I have never seen flat spots like that unless it was an emergency stop. Holy shit😬
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The tires are from 2008-ish and are pretty badly dry rotted. I wouldn't trust them if the road at all.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
Man, you guys are eating me alive about the ABS thing! 🤣

When I showed up, I didn't even really have a chance to look at the car. The owner was basically, "here's the keys, let's go!"

Even then, I wouldn't have known what to check for at the time for ABS vs non ABS.

Also, using my car's hood tag, I don't think it says anything about ABS, but Traction Control (TC) is listed...?

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The tires are from 2008-ish and are pretty badly dry rotted. I wouldn't trust them if the road at all.
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I’m only being negative because I hate beige paint 😆 Though if I was really curious about it having ABS or not I’d probably look for the aforementioned hose, or the proportioning valve in front of the battery or look under the bumper cover for the very obvious ABS module, or look for the ABS test connector next to the fuse box before taking it on the road and brake standing the thing lol

Interesting about the tag on yours, mine has TC too(and it did have that option), but also has ABS clearly stamped
 

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1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I doubt that "TC" stands for traction control.
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I’m definitely not one of those ID/VIN tag decipherer nerds, but by my logic it’s either that, Torque converter(okay) or Turbo Coupe(nope) 😆


I also see 3 Cobra snakes 🐍 stamped into mine which told me to get a DOHC, so don’t burst my bubble!!!
 
I'll take a picture of my door tag tomorrow.

I know mine has traklok 3.27 gears and IIRC, I remember seeing the ((ABS)). light on the dash.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
I'll take a picture of my door tag tomorrow.

I know mine has traklok 3.27 gears and IIRC, I remember seeing the ((ABS)). light on the dash.
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If it has trac lok it won’t have traction control, so I guess that rules out TC. I know your car has ABS, you just showed off your inexplicably removed intact wheel speed sensor the other day lol

CDsDontBurn said:
You're going to hate me, buuuuuuttttt......

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XR7-4.6 said:
If it has trac lok it won’t have traction control, so I guess that rules out TC. I know your car has ABS, you just showed off your inexplicably removed intact wheel speed sensor the other day lol
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Not inexplicably removed. It's just unaffected by rust allowing for easy removal. Like literally, I just removed the bolt that attaches it to the knuckle and pushed it out. It took me longer to remove the bolt that secured it to the knuckle than it did to push it out of position.

Anyways, does my Pearl T-Bird have ABS then if it has trac lok? The "ABS" is also not on that plate under the hood like it is on yours, so it's leading me to believe that the answer is "no" to the ABS question on my Pearl T-Bird.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
Not inexplicably removed. It's just unaffected by rust allowing for easy removal. Like literally, I just removed the bolt that attaches it to the knuckle and pushed it out. It took me longer to remove the bolt that secured it to the knuckle than it did to push it out of position.

Anyways, does my Pearl T-Bird have ABS then if it has trac lok? The "ABS" is also not on that plate under the hood like it is on yours, so it's leading me to believe that the answer is "no" to the ABS question on my Pearl T-Bird.
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It 100% has ABS if it has the wheel sensors, there’s no other function to them other than to send individual wheel speed data to the ABS computer to determine lockup

Trac lok doesn’t cancel out ABS, only the traction control function of the ABS system is disabled with it.
 
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