What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

Grog6 said:
Wait; didn't the 95 come with a 5.0? I thought they cleared...My sis had an earlier than 4.6 , 5.0 version, and I'm sure it cleared. Why the hole?
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1995 MN12/FN10, Continentals, and Panthers had the 4.6L. Everything else with a V8 still had the 302.
 
I drove Lazarus again today; the knocking is louder than it was. I'm afraid to get too far from the house, it will end up getting the "ride of shame" back home, lol. My Great nephew had one of those with his eco-boost 2300 truck, with turbo, lol. The rod piece he showed me was this black sintered powdered metal stuff; totally different than any rod I've seen?!
 
Got in new tires last night... Just stock size, 215/70R15 Yokohama Avid Ascend. I have been concerned about test driving the 96 I bought about 3 months ago. The tires on it currently are completely dry rotted and after replacing the Upper and Lower control arms and power steering system, I've only driven it about 3 miles in 4 different trips, afraid to get too far from home. Going to try to mount these tires in the next day or two and see if I can schedule an alignment. Oh, I guess I have to get insurance and register it first...
 
Fireofficer5 said:
I put tubes into the 'tubeless' type slicks. They kept loosing air.
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The bead shape is critical for holding the bead in the wheel. I converted a set of tube type Cast cycle wheels to tubeless, but I missed a step, lol. You have to machine the tube type wheels to the right bead profile. Otherwise, when you're going between two semis on the freeway at 140, you could suddenly have the tire expand off the bead, and deflate suddenly. I don't recommend it, lol. If you use old-school tube type rims, that could be the deal.
 
I got a really nice taillight in the mail. :) Mikey, let me know what I owe you. Thanks!
 
What I did to Birdcats today!

Hecho en México: Thunderbirds and Cougars south of the border

It may not come as much of a shock to learn the Thunderbird and Cougar didn't quite have the makings of a "global car". Sure, there was much well-publicized global influence, such as the E24 BMW, Audi 100 and many aspects of Mercedes trickled all over the place. All the same, big, heavy coupes...
forum.birdcats.com forum.birdcats.com

I've been wanting to write this up forever, I've had the photos saved as long and gathered some information on them through the years but only recently been confident enough in facts to write it up :woohoo:
 
I heard wbw that mexico got 4.6 cars with a manual, and It's just wishful thinking. :(

Great writeup!
 
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Grog6 said:
I heard wbw that mexico got 4.6 cars with a manual, and It's just wishful thinking. :(

Great writeup!
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It's not true, just the NA 3.8 and SC 3.8. AFAIK major components like some(all?)body stampings, engines, transmissions, and various other parts came from the same suppliers our parts came from in the US but were shipped by rail to Cuautitlán where it was put together, the M5R2 was only built one way with the Thunderbird shifter location, it wouldn't have been economically feasible to build a dedicated cheap transmission for a base configuration of an upmarket engine. 3.8 sure, it's identical in fit regardless
 
Truthfully, there wasn't a good 4.6l manual trans until you get to what you have.
I've tried to figure out how to run our eecs and a 10 speed trans. :)
 
XR7-4.6 said:
What I did to Birdcats today!

Hecho en México: Thunderbirds and Cougars south of the border

It may not come as much of a shock to learn the Thunderbird and Cougar didn't quite have the makings of a "global car". Sure, there was much well-publicized global influence, such as the E24 BMW, Audi 100 and many aspects of Mercedes trickled all over the place. All the same, big, heavy coupes...
forum.birdcats.com forum.birdcats.com

I've been wanting to write this up forever, I've had the photos saved as long and gathered some information on them through the years but only recently been confident enough in facts to write it up :woohoo:
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Nice write up! Babes also came standard






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e46f00Ku9Tc
 
The parts I ordered for the Mark arrived today. Well, sort of.

I ordered 2x sway bar bushings. In the shipping box were two boxes for the bushings. One box had a bushing. The other box.... was empty. :facepalm:

RA strikes again! :zbash: :zbash:
 
theterminator93 said:
The parts I ordered for the Mark arrived today. Well, sort of.

I ordered 2x sway bar bushings. In the shipping box were two boxes for the bushings. One box had a bushing. The other box.... was empty. :facepalm:

RA strikes again! :zbash: :zbash:
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AAAhhh! :zboom:

So, what's your recourse? I think you can report part not received or something like that?

In unrelated news ... I took the Tbird out of the garage today and took my neighbor for a spirited drive in it. We had a great time. First time I've take the car out in months.
 
theterminator93 said:
The parts I ordered for the Mark arrived today. Well, sort of.

I ordered 2x sway bar bushings. In the shipping box were two boxes for the bushings. One box had a bushing. The other box.... was empty. :facepalm:

RA strikes again! :zbash: :zbash:
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Good grief, Just about everything this day & time:oops: Ordered my new tonneau cover for my ranger with a 6ft bed, The ding dongs sent a 7ft
 
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I went to report the missing item, but RA doesn't let me do anything because they don't think it's been delivered yet. I've got nothing I can do except wait until their system syncs up with UPS and they see it was delivered. :roll:

Edit 1: A few minutes ago I got the automated email saying everything was delivered, so I reported it as missing and asked that they send a replacement. I was hoping to get all the work done tonight during the tire rotation/oil change ritual, but I guess I'll just have to install the replacement bushing when I take the winter tires off the car next month.

Trunk Monkey said:
In unrelated news ... I took the Tbird out of the garage today and took my neighbor for a spirited drive in it. We had a great time. First time I've take the car out in months.
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Edit 2: You are the favorite neighbor now, if you weren't already. :biggrin:

Got the endlinks and rear shocks replaced. And of course, the LF caliper is getting sticky; it started dragging yesterday...
 
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XR7-4.6 said:
What I did to Birdcats today!

Hecho en México: Thunderbirds and Cougars south of the border

It may not come as much of a shock to learn the Thunderbird and Cougar didn't quite have the makings of a "global car". Sure, there was much well-publicized global influence, such as the E24 BMW, Audi 100 and many aspects of Mercedes trickled all over the place. All the same, big, heavy coupes...
forum.birdcats.com forum.birdcats.com

I've been wanting to write this up forever, I've had the photos saved as long and gathered some information on them through the years but only recently been confident enough in facts to write it up :woohoo:
Click to expand...
Very cool article. Interesting to see how they carried the true XR-7 through to '95 like I wish they had done up here. I wonder how the 3.8 n/a drove with the 5 speed transmission. I have a set of the '92 XR-7 turbine wheels in my pole barn. They came on my '89 when I bought it (now has the correct 7 spoke wheels). I always thought that was a beautiful looking wheel (albeit very time consuming to clean). I'd love to get a pearl '94-'97 Cougar to put those on.
 
KevinVarnes said:
Very cool article. Interesting to see how they carried the true XR-7 through to '95 like I wish they had done up here. I wonder how the 3.8 n/a drove with the 5 speed transmission. I have a set of the '92 XR-7 turbine wheels in my pole barn. They came on my '89 when I bought it (now has the correct 7 spoke wheels). I always thought that was a beautiful looking wheel (albeit very time consuming to clean). I'd love to get a pearl '94-'97 Cougar to put those on.
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Yeah the XR7s blew my mind when I first heard of them. Ford Mexico in general had interesting mashups, one of the more well known is the Fox Mustangs that used used Capri front ends on coupes and bubbletops. One thing to say about the beancounters, they never let any tooling go to waste

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Finished the cooling system and found a bad wiring repair on the ignition coil circuit. Also replaced the fuel pressure regulator and will be doing the spark plugs again, then charging the battery.

I wanted to run the full 94+ cooling system but the explorer PS pump doesn't allow me to move the fuse box far enough away to use the pressurized coolant reservoir. So I am running a system similar to an 04 Durango.
 
...well, I was going to post a lumbar retrofit how-to, but I've run into an odd problem. Though I'm not certain if this is a problem.

I used a pump from a later Panther. It's one that has a power release valve instead of the mechanically actuated release valve MN12s came with.

Everything functions; however, anytime I release pressure, when I let go of the switch, I hear a tick in the speakers.

This is with car and radio powered off. With the radio on, I do not hear that tick.

Evidently it's some sort of interference. What exactly causes it, and could it cause other issues?
 
Finished up replacing the left rear wheel baron last night. It stinks that it chews up the hub like that. Oh well. I didn't think my cheapy wheel bearing press kit was going to hold up, but she powered through. I really need to buy a replacement forcing screw and nut for that thing. OEM bearing was Timken. I bought SKF for the replacement. Made in Korea of course. Decided to do the rear brakes while I was back there. I definitely prefer replacing front wheel bearings on these cars.

I'll replace the upper inner control arm bushings later when I have time.
 
I bought a new battery today from Costco; Interstate 850 CCA. Was $148 w/ tax and the $15 core charge. 36 month warranty.
Installed the new battery. Fired right up. Has been at least a month since I started it. Checked all the fluids, let her warm up and then drove around the block several times. Planning on going further tomorrow!
 
Right, finally time to drive in the NW after all this rain. Hopefully people take off their studded tires
 
Vicinity said:
Right, finally time to drive in the NW after all this rain. Hopefully people take off their studded tires
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Yes, I am looking forward to the sunshine!

Thunderstruck95 said:
I wish the state of Michigan allowed studded tire. Only postal vehicles can run them here.
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I don't use them. I get around just fine with all seasons. I have snow chains in case I have to go over one of the passes and they are required but I rarely use them unless going skiing.
 
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