What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

Grog6 said:
I'm out pumping gas. Can #3, lol. This one seems less syrupy ,lol.
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At what point do you say enough old gas varnish has been removed from the tank that you can dilute what's left with fresh gas to pump out more quickly? :)

Chingon1 said:
Got the bird running today, finally got the correct BOV spring and grounded the coil pack to the starter. Runs waaaay better. Still needs tune tho.

Question, i somewhat remember you guys sayin it’s better to tune one thing at a time? Like tune mad first then install injectors and tune for that after. On the SCT program it has value files for both the MAF and 47lb injectors.
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The reverse is true; if you intend to upgrade MAF and injectors, get a tune for both at the same time, and install both at the same time.

When tuning it can sometimes be advantageous to install one part at a time to help dial it in better, but with better value files for the parts it's not super necessary.
 
Chingon1 said:
@XR7-4.6 what you got going on?? Looks dope. Your running coil packs??

Got the bird running today, finally got the correct BOV spring and grounded the coil pack to the starter. Runs waaaay better. Still needs tune tho.

Question, i somewhat remember you guys sayin it’s better to tune one thing at a time? Like tune mad first then install injectors and tune for that after. On the SCT program it has value files for both the MAF and 47lb injectors.
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what blower and cams are you using that need 47# injectors?
 
Grog6 said:
what blower and cams are you using that need 47# injectors?
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I'll be running 60# on my NA setup. Better to have a little extra overhead than barely enough injector.
 
It's also advantageous to have an oversized injector, within reason (do the math to calculate the minimum fuel delivery required by your engine combo and compare that against the minimum deliverable fuel of your injector). Doing so allows you to get all the fuel required at WOT delivered at the most opportune time during the intake stroke for optimal atomization and mixing ahead of combustion.
 
I went thru all the calcs on the pi, and went to 24's. I bought a set of 39's to use with the eaton blower; both are overkill.
When I threw 24s on Lazarus, with pi intake and cams, it was too rich even at minimum open duration. on both the eec, and the wideband. 47's are a lot of fuel, thus my question.
 
My SC came with 36# and that's on a V6. 🤣

My SS runs LS9 52# with a 2.3L SC on top of a 6.2L. 🤔
 
seems reasonable, for blown engines.
I saw a gto with a blown 455 at the track; dude said his injectors were 250#. He was on the wheelie bars until he shifted.
Beautiful 4 eyed goat. He was running 10's.
 
Grog6 said:
I went thru all the calcs on the pi, and went to 24's. I bought a set of 39's to use with the eaton blower; both are overkill.
When I threw 24s on Lazarus, with pi intake and cams, it was too rich even at minimum open duration. on both the eec, and the wideband. 47's are a lot of fuel, thus my question.
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I’m putting #39s in when I put the engine back together this weekend(🤞) I’ll be playing with the injector delay table in the tune so bigger injectors to spray more fuel in less time is the goal to keep it all from being sucked out the exhaust during overlap
 
Grog6 said:
I went thru all the calcs on the pi, and went to 24's. I bought a set of 39's to use with the eaton blower; both are overkill.
When I threw 24s on Lazarus, with pi intake and cams, it was too rich even at minimum open duration. on both the eec, and the wideband. 47's are a lot of fuel, thus my question.
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Something else must have been going on to cause the overrich here (e.g. sticky injectors that didn't respond/close right away or predictably).

A factory 4v, or an npi, or a pi 2v all suck about the same amount of air (and requires the same amount of fuel) at idle, meaning the idle pulsewidth of 19s, 21s, 24s etc. gets progressively shorter and proves that any of these injectors are sufficiently "small" to run on any of these engines. None of the factory engines with those injectors run rich at idle, so again I postulate another problem must have been the cause of your experience that was not "injectors too big for application". 🤔
 
I'll have to look carefully at those tunes. I agree, fueling is timex flow, so something was off with one of the two. I'm using a different set of 24's on the pi, so if it works fine, the injectors may have a prob. I only measured them at 80%, when I cleaned them. I also have a later set, with the dual pattern to use on the 4v heads. Put one spray on each valve. :)

I'm working on a set of bike carbs for a buddy today; buggered phillips screws; I'm going for the dremel at this point.
Did I ever mention, I hate carbs? :)
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Yeah, at some point during the production run, they eliminated the turquoise feet. My emblem is PlastiDipped in black, which is surprisingly durable.
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I actually have a 96/97 bumper on my 94 SC with no grille / emblem ( weight savings 🤭 ) it had a chrome emblem. Also, a 96/97 SVE replica front bumper on my 90 DOHC with turquoise feet emblem. 😉
 
Contended with a water leak in the Thunderbird. Also one in the Fusion. Yesterday went to reposition the cars parked on the street so the heavy rain forecasted would wash away some of the sand underneath them. Got in the Fusion to move it and saw water slowly dripping from the headliner. Got in the Thunderbird to move it to find a big puddle on the front passenger floor. Had to clean those up today. Luckily I found the obstruction on one of the Fusion's sunroof drains. Almost looked like a piece of landscape fabric. T-bird won't be as easy, have to dig into the cowl area and see what's plugged. Got it mostly dried, went for a long ride with the heat blasting, now its in the garage till I can get to it. And I was supposed to be getting started on doing the taxes today.
20250412_090646.jpg20250412_091017.jpg
 
In the process of degreeing cams. Never doing this again with the engine in the car lol


IMG_6553.jpeg

That was the only possible way to position the dial indicator over the exhaust valve retainer! I can’t even rotate it to base circle because the plunger will hit the wire harness guide!
 
Jim3inVirginia said:
Contended with a water leak in the Thunderbird. Also one in the Fusion. Yesterday went to reposition the cars parked on the street so the heavy rain forecasted would wash away some of the sand underneath them. Got in the Fusion to move it and saw water slowly dripping from the headliner. Got in the Thunderbird to move it to find a big puddle on the front passenger floor. Had to clean those up today. Luckily I found the obstruction on one of the Fusion's sunroof drains. Almost looked like a piece of landscape fabric. T-bird won't be as easy, have to dig into the cowl area and see what's plugged. Got it mostly dried, went for a long ride with the heat blasting, now its in the garage till I can get to it. And I was supposed to be getting started on doing the taxes today.
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My Fusion leaks from the trunk lid seal around the rear window. I've tried everything to fix it. Not even the dealer could (would) when it was under warranty. I've just kept a towel under the rear window since.

Real comforting knowing that giant battery is back there.
 
Mine is an early build 2013. I don't know of any later ones who had that problem.
 
IMG_20250413_162817592_HDR.jpg
Installed a new header panel, painted the fender, repainted the bumper, and installed new corners. All parts from the White car so didn't cost anything.

Also fixed the brakes on my gold car. Lost a caliper bolt. Fun times.
 
Jim3inVirginia said:
Contended with a water leak in the Thunderbird. Also one in the Fusion. Yesterday went to reposition the cars parked on the street so the heavy rain forecasted would wash away some of the sand underneath them. Got in the Fusion to move it and saw water slowly dripping from the headliner. Got in the Thunderbird to move it to find a big puddle on the front passenger floor. Had to clean those up today. Luckily I found the obstruction on one of the Fusion's sunroof drains. Almost looked like a piece of landscape fabric. T-bird won't be as easy, have to dig into the cowl area and see what's plugged. Got it mostly dried, went for a long ride with the heat blasting, now its in the garage till I can get to it. And I was supposed to be getting started on doing the taxes today.
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Check the seal of this thing to the sheet metal cowl under it. The sealant dries out and cracks and causes leaks when it rains. I don't remember if you have to take the cowl trim off to get to it. It is on the passenger side.

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Anybody ever had a window motor break like this? The external gear itself spins independent of the internal mechanism. Whatever bonds the dissimilar metals of the gear failed.
 
@Kurt K
Did you open it up? Usually the plastic bushings inside fail. That does allow the gear on the outside to spin somewhat freely, yes.

If your problem is unrelated to the bushings, could you show a picture of what exactly separated?
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
@Kurt K
Did you open it up? Usually the plastic bushings inside fail. That does allow the gear on the outside to spin somewhat freely, yes.

If your problem is unrelated to the bushings, could you show a picture of what exactly separated?
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The plastic bushings (pucks) are fine, and I had actually just replaced them.Screenshot_20250415_093940_Gallery.jpg
From the picture above, I can spin the gear by hand, while the internal gear/bushing assembly doesn't move. Well technically, I can only wiggle the top gear by hand, it will turn freely with a wrench.
 
:unsure:
So the top gear and the part that sits squeezed between the three pucks aren't one and the same piece? Or they are the same piece, but it split somehow?

In either case, it sounds like you have to replace that top gear. Seems like a non-typical failure.
 
The top gear is a dissimilar metal to the bottom piece between the pucks. Not exactly sure how it is bonded from the factory. Luckily, I had a few spares of the of the driver side window motor.

I was just curious if anybody else had seen this issue.
 
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