What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

I took apart my speedo in preparation for new gears. I've done this 3 times and it's the first time I have ever been able to remove the needle without damaging it somehow!

The large gear wasn't even in place but in pieces in the mechanism. By far the worst condition of the 3 I have done!
 

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GRWeldon said:
I took apart my speedo in preparation for new gears. I've done this 3 times and it's the first time I have ever been able to remove the needle without damaging it somehow!

The large gear wasn't even in place but in pieces in the mechanism. By far the worst condition of the 3 I have done!
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Are those gears black? That’s definitely the worse failure I’ve seen but im used to blue or green gears, one of the replacements I got online had black gears, and I think those are what I have in my current speedometer 😬
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Are those gears black? That’s definitely the worse failure I’ve seen but im used to blue or green gears, one of the replacements I got online had black gears, and I think those are what I have in my current speedometer 😬
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They were blue originally. Low light conditions made them look black...
 
Rodeo Joe said:
Didn’t you just do this not too long ago?
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Well, it was an ongoing process, but that leather cover actually dates back to when I first installed the Lincoln LS knob, so it's been a while.

The new leather may end up the same. But it's easy to do, and I had the material handy. I also think the new leather is from a different brand/store.

I tried various alternatives, such as a plastic slider made from an old Buick Lacrosse cupholder cover, and an acrylic slider to match the gloss black appearance. Nothing looked as good as leather.
 
(I know this is stupid, but I could not help but take a pic of my Cougar)

I drove my car out of the garage into the driveway to move the freezer to the edge of the garage (to drain better). I washed out the freezer, no pics cause it was just gross and put it back in the garage by the door. Afterwards, sitting at my bench, I decided I would take a pic cause I feel so lucky to still have this car and how nice it still looks. I suspect most of us feel this way.

Rear of a Cougar small.jpg
 
Went to pick up the powder coated shock tubes, aaaannnnnnddddddd they fucked up.

I took them one of my Bilstein units for them to color match, and instead they made it some whatever random yellow. On top of that, they even powder coated the INSIDE of the tubes.

I had them take it back and redo it. They *should* be ready on Friday.
 
That’s why I would have just painted them IMO. Powdercoat is thicker so when it goes where it shouldn’t it causes fitment issues and is a bitch to remove.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
That’s why I would have just painted them IMO. Powdercoat is thicker so when it goes where it shouldn’t it causes fitment issues and is a bitch to remove.
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But do the shock bottoms have anywhere where it shouldn't go for fitment issues? Won't they just fit right over?

Also, I wanted something a bit more permanent than paint

dDUBb said:
Powder coating isn't really made for color matching either .. you get yellow and that's it.
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I was able to find a color that is pretty close and I'd be happy with on their color palette.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
But do the shock bottoms have anywhere where it shouldn't go for fitment issues? Won't they just fit right over?

Also, I wanted something a bit more permanent than paint



I was able to find a color that is pretty close and I'd be happy with on their color palette.
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The bottoms no, but if the outer diameter of the shock body is tight with the gutted inner shock body an extra layer of coating inside could cause a frustrating interference.
 
The heat cycles would have scared me away. I wouldn't think it would shrink them, but it could. I used spray paint, and they got scratched to shit installing. Lucky I have plenty paint left to touch them up.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
The bottoms no, but if the outer diameter of the shock body is tight with the gutted inner shock body an extra layer of coating inside could cause a frustrating interference.
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Yeah, I couldn't slide in the insert into the shock body. They said they'll fix it by sand blasting it all off, inside as well, and redoing it.
 
You know, is went here because they had great reviews. We'll see how this goes this time. Right now, they're going to be getting a 3* review at best if they don't FUBAR this "resolution".
 
Stanley said:
Very nice. What's the paint on that?
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Thanks so much. It's a Dodge Viper color called Anaconda Green Metallic. In the sun you can see the green. When it's dark it looks nearly black.

It was used on the Vipers in 2009 and 2010. Here's what it looks like on a Viper along with the paint sample that I was shown.

AnacondawithTanSofttop.jpg

Anaconda Green.jpg

anaconda1.jpg

anaconda2.jpg
 
Superb. Reminds me strongly of Alpine Green, but just different enough that I figured it was something else. A real work of art you have there.
 
Stanley said:
Superb. Reminds me strongly of Alpine Green, but just different enough that I figured it was something else. A real work of art you have there.
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Thanks. My car, a 1995, was originally Deep Emerald Green. Alpine Green is a 1996 - 97' color and is a lighter shade of green than the Deep Emerald. When I was looking to get the car repainted I wanted to go with a different, darker, shade of green. I looked at Mustang Bullitt Green, British Racing Green, Epsom Green (a Land Rover color) and Jaguar Racing Green but when I saw this Viper Anaconda green I knew that was the shade for me.
 
Trunk Monkey said:
Thanks. My car, a 1995, was originally Deep Emerald Green. Alpine Green is a 1996 - 97' color and is a lighter shade of green than the Deep Emerald. When I was looking to get the car repainted I wanted to go with a different, darker, shade of green. I looked at Mustang Bullitt Green, British Racing Green, Epsom Green (a Land Rover color) and Jaguar Racing Green but when I saw this Viper Anaconda green I knew that was the shade for me.
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Alpine and Emerald are pretty similar in darkness, the big difference is alpine is more of a teal green. Pacific green is the lighter green in 96-97
 
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