What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

Traveling this next week. To Greece for Saturday through Tuesday then Rome until Friday. Looks brutal to me....1000001335.png1000001336.png
The nighttime temps have me concerned about how bad the humidity will be.

Although I may come back 10# lighter, which would make my car ever so slightly faster😆
 
I plotted.

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I would have preferred to defer this for a while longer, as it hit while I was tapped out from other things, but the rear suspension was going so it had to be done. Parts go in on Thursday.
 
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Zep5.0 said:
Traveling this next week. To Greece for Saturday through Tuesday then Rome until Friday. Looks brutal to me....View attachment 13388View attachment 13389
The nighttime temps have me concerned about how bad the humidity will be.

Although I may come back 10# lighter, which would make my car ever so slightly faster😆
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I hope those forecast Temps are not Celsius! 😉
 
Generalee0527 said:
I hope those forecast Temps are not Celsius! 😉
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Zep5.0 said:
Traveling this next week. To Greece for Saturday through Tuesday then Rome until Friday. Looks brutal to me....
The nighttime temps have me concerned about how bad the humidity will be.

Although I may come back 10# lighter, which would make my car ever so slightly faster😆
Click to expand...
Pretty sure humans melt at that temperature... Or at the very least get third degree burns :LOL: in all seriousness though thats incredibly hot, make sure you drink a ton of water and I learned from my Dad that in intense heat, every 4th bottle of water drink Gatorade to replenish electrolytes so you don't lose all your minerals. Looks fun though is it for vacation?
 
Jae 'Bird said:
Pretty sure humans melt at that temperature... Or at the very least get third degree burns :LOL: in all seriousness though thats incredibly hot, make sure you drink a ton of water and I learned from my Dad that in intense heat, every 4th bottle of water drink Gatorade to replenish electrolytes so you don't lose all your minerals. Looks fun though is it for vacation?
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It is. My son has been there for 4 weeks studying abroad. We're more or less going to pick him up and check out the area. I've been to Puerto Rico in the last year, but otherwise never or of the lower 48 states. Will be interesting since I'm generally a homebody.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I gave the J-hook arms a fresh coat of paint and installed them. They look somewhat cleaner esthetically, but I doubt there's any functional advantage. Now I want that Mark wiper motor that does the parking position dance; anyone know if that's a direct swap?

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I thought the Mark VIII arms had stronger springs to hold them against the windshield better? Sometimes the pin style wiper blade fittings like used on T-Bird/Cougar don't hold very well. The J-hook is more common in later model cars.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I thought the Mark VIII arms had stronger springs to hold them against the windshield better? Sometimes the pin style wiper blade fittings like used on T-Bird/Cougar don't hold very well. The J-hook is more common in later model cars.
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I don't think the springs are any different. But the arms have less flex as they're straight, not zigzag-shaped like MN12 ones.
 
Got my wideband gauge/column pod mounted. Fits fine, quality is good but I don’t know why auto meter designed it to sit on top of 90% of the stock shroud rather than just replace the whole stock shroud. Pretty dumb.

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I need to pick up some translucent green film(or paint) to get the gauge looking how I want 😆
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Got my wideband gauge/column pod mounted. Fits fine, quality is good but I don’t know why auto meter designed it to sit on top of 90% of the stock shroud rather than just replace the whole stock shroud. Pretty dumb.

View attachment 13544

I need to pick up some translucent green film(or paint) to get the gauge looking how I want 😆
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I may be OCD, but the surround would be black of it was mine. Although it does provide an "end" of that gauge before the tach
 
Zep5.0 said:
I may be OCD, but the surround would be black of it was mine. Although it does provide an "end" of that gauge before the tach
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I’m on the fence but I like it, it matches the pedals and hurst shifter. I could always paint it black, the bezel is only held on with two little screws.
 
<ocd>

Why is it showing 14.7 with E10? It should say 14.1 :tongue:

</ocd>

In all seriousness, is there a way to change it to show lambda, or adjust the stoich ratio so the displayed AFR matches reality?
 
Contemplated snatching the engine out od an '03 mercury GM at the jy. For $429 I couldn't screw up too bad. Hell I just bought a timing set, TF lash adjusters and a melling HV oil pump. It's just a lot of sweat and cussing to get it done.
 
theterminator93 said:
<ocd>

Why is it showing 14.7 with E10? It should say 14.1 :tongue:

</ocd>

In all seriousness, is there a way to change it to show lambda, or adjust the stoich ratio so the displayed AFR matches reality?
Click to expand...

Not that I found, zeitronix sells it in both AFR and lambda form but I took it apart to see if there’s any dip switches on the circuit to flip between but there’s none that I could find. I just want the gauge to see if there’s glaring spikes I could take note of, for dead on accuracy I’ll plug it into the laptop

Generalee0527 said:
Contemplated snatching the engine out od an '03 mercury GM at the jy. For $429 I couldn't screw up too bad. Hell I just bought a timing set, TF lash adjusters and a melling HV oil pump. It's just a lot of sweat and cussing to get it done.
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Be wary that there’s a lot of melling knock offs on the market, where did you buy it? Plus you don’t need/want a high volume pump for a SOHC, stock type is sufficient. You’d also need a oil pickup tube from a 96-98 Mark VIII to use it as the diameter is larger on the HV pumps
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Not that I found, zeitronix sells it in both AFR and lambda form but I took it apart to see if there’s any dip switches on the circuit to flip between but there’s none that I could find. I just want the gauge to see if there’s glaring spikes I could take note of, for dead on accuracy I’ll plug it into the laptop



Be wary that there’s a lot of melling knock offs on the market, where did you buy it? Plus you don’t need/want a high volume pump for a SOHC, stock type is sufficient. You’d also need a oil pickup tube from a 96-98 Mark VIII to use it as the diameter is larger on the HV pumps
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Thanks for the heads up on the pickup tube. The pump came from Summit so I'm good with it. Technically those timing parts and pump were bought for the '04 5.4 2v in the Excursion but they can work in the 4.6l. My thinking was a lower mileage engine with minimal change over and have my daily drive back. I would prefer to build it myself but that is not in the cards at this point.
 
Installed the wideband sensor

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Also bled the brakes again since the pedal still felt a little spongy last time I drove it and quickly realized that had completely forgotten to tighten the caliper to spindle bolts!!! I drove it 40 miles like that!:facepalm:
 
I took the white bird to get a new title and tag today! Huge milestone. It’s been nearly 5 years since tag expired while it was in storage.

The ball joints held together, and she cooled well in 93 degree traffic. The AC was barely cooler than outside and only came out the defroster. Adding blend door to the fixit list.

My TC lockup schedule is too tight. Need to find my old laptop and QH gear.

IAT sensor threw a code, and airbag light blinks 1 then 5 times. Got to look that up. Self belt retractor doesn’t really retract anymore. Turn signals don’t blink. More fluid there.

But I’m calling this a win. It was great just to drive her again. Hard to bring her straight home but she’s in rough shape.
 
White Lincoln said:
Last night I changed out my starter and replaced a fog light that ran into a parking bumper (no, I didn't run into the bumper, the fog light did).

In my long project to find out why my key would turn and the starter not engage, I believe it finally came down to the starter itself. The starter would not kick over and was intermittent under any circumstance, but would start on a second turn of the key. I was lucky to find out that RockAuto honored my limited lifetime warranty on the starter I bought 9 years ago. But I bought a different brand a few months ago thinking I would replace it, then recently found out about the warranty on the one in the car. So now I have an extra starter, brand new, never used sitting on my shelf. I put the one I bought in the Cougar thinking that the replacement starter would have the same issues in time.

We will see if the new starter gives me crap and if so, it's back to tracking down the issue.
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"RockAuto Order 314964XXX Refund Issued"

Awesome, they refunded my warranty starter I sent back. SHEW! Thought I would be getting some flack from them on this.

My confidence in RockAuto has been restored. (for now)
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Changed the differential fluid because why not?

The 30-year-old fluid looked very dark and seemed very thin compared to the fresh budget-friendly Supertech 80W90. Pic of magnet below.

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When I changed the differential fluid the other day, the rear was on ramps, so the car was at an angle.

Today, I elevated both ends and reopened the fill plug to make sure it wasn't overfilled. Sure enough, quite a bit poured out.

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Also, I wanted to be extra smart today and used a torque wrench to tighten the plug. Manual calls for 20-30 ft-lb iirc. Set to 20, I never seemed to reach the click, and frankly wasn't comfortable torquing right through the differential cover. So I aborted and reverted to tightening by hand.
 
Point Blur_Aug032025_082520.jpgPoint Blur_Aug032025_082901.jpgIMG_20250802_143554447_HDR~2.jpgIMG_20250802_143624574_HDR~3.jpgPoint Blur_Aug032025_082403.jpg

Not from today, but entered into a car show with the 96.

I am going to ATTEMPT to rush the red car to make one last event before I move. It'll look probably like the biggest pile of trash and probably not run right, and it will for sure have nothing done that I've wanted to do, but if it'll spin the tires and pass tech I'm going drifting.
 
With newly available jack stands in the household, I enjoy plenty of car maintenance time. One of my pass times: power steering fluid change.

I did the turkey baster method, wheels in the air, turning the steering wheel back and forth to pump up as much fluid as possible. This allows you to get about 2/3 of the fluid out without disconnecting any lines.

In the past, I complained about somewhat heavier than my personal taste steering and some pump noise. I tried various ATFs and additives with acceptable results. This time, I went back to basic: I used Mercon. Not Mercon V, just plain old Mercon, in the form of Walmart's High Mileage ATF. And surprise, my steering has never been quieter and smoother!

Super-Tech-High-Mileage-Automatic-Transmission-Fluid-1-Quart_fc5faaaa-2434-4bfa-9895-7dee8bf9...jpeg
 
Wile E. Coyote said:
View attachment 13619View attachment 13620View attachment 13621View attachment 13622View attachment 13623

Not from today, but entered into a car show with the 96.

I am going to ATTEMPT to rush the red car to make one last event before I move. It'll look probably like the biggest pile of trash and probably not run right, and it will for sure have nothing done that I've wanted to do, but if it'll spin the tires and pass tech I'm going drifting.
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That things looking proooopeerrr. How much PSI are you pushing? Those are cobra wheels?? They look pretty nice on the MN12.
 
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