What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

Good article regarding fog lights. I don't think it applies entirely because, again, these lights shine into the same direction as the high beams, just at a slightly wider angle.

Further down in the article, there's the following paragraph, albeit about old-fashioned low beams, though the sentiment applies exactly to my high beams:

In the past, many US-specification low beam headlamps tended to provide relatively low, arguably inadequate levels of light in the foreground and to the sides. They created the impression of a "black hole" in front of the car, with essentially the entire beam concentrated in a narrow band or ball of light thrown into the distance. With headlamps like these, a decent argument can be made for the use of fog lamps to fill the "black hole", that is, to add-back the missing foreground and lateral-spread light when driving at moderate speeds on dark and/or twisty roads. Of course, lamps to rectify inadequate foreground light must be thoughtfully and carefully selected, correctly aimed and properly used. Otherwise, they're useless at best and dangerous at worst.


I think it really boils down to the use case. I'm primarily concerned about night time driving on dual lane country roads on hilly terrain with frequent twists, driven between 35 and 45 mph. Seeing far into the distance isn't a main concern because you cannot see around curves, yet low beams, even properly aimed, do not illuminate far enough. Glare for oncoming traffic also isn't a concern because these are wired in with the high beams; so they're turned off anytime there's oncoming traffic.

The first mod I did on my 97 was adding fog lights - for this reason. After I installed the HID projectors they became obsolete... but for a solid year, they were always on at night. They really helped illuminate the lines on the road when it was wet (or foggy!) which was a huge plus.

No fog lights:
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With fog lights:
IMG_2028.JPG
 
I added a mechanism to my last truck so that I could run the fogs with high beams. I thought it was awesome on country roads. Mostly just so there was some light at the edge of ditches. It was more for peripheral view that actual direct sight, which is down the road further.
 
My positive terminal is barely alive since Ive got the bird. Not thrilled about it

@theterminator93 been meaning to ask about the mark's e-brake. Is it normally unsatisfyingly quiet and difficult to engage? Im guessing so because its designed to disengage at speed
 
My positive terminal is barely alive since Ive got the bird. Not thrilled about it

@theterminator93 been meaning to ask about the mark's e-brake. Is it normally unsatisfyingly quiet and difficult to engage? Im guessing so because its designed to disengage at speed

I retrofitted a 97-98 mark E brake in my Cougar and it is very quiet to engage(no clicks like the MN12 one). Shouldn’t be difficult to engage though, you might just need to adjust your cables
 
Yeah mine is pretty quiet, first time I engaged it I wasn't sure it was working because I didn't hear that satisfying ratcheting sound. OTOH I've had to replace both rear ends and the adjuster is pretty badly rusted; despite me adjusting it as much as I can it's barely got enough holding power to keep the car from moving at idle in drive. :leftright:
 
I don't think I've tried testing the brake in drive yet. Will do.
That makes me nervous for the bird because sometimes its on a steep driveway. If I park it on an angle, it at least stays put in drive unless I put in neutral. Even on subtle grades on P, the bird brake will crunch when I get in the car but I've read that its normal
 
As long as the “threads” and clip of the adjuster are in reasonable shape they generally are salvagable. My original one(as with my IRS subframe looked like it came from the titanic, but after pulling the adjuster off, wire wheeling it and briefly soaking it in phosphoric acid it was good as new, if not not a little hideous(which black paint fixed lol).

Currently I have a brand new cables from the footbrake to the adjuster, a rust free adjuster I got with my rust free subframe and the still stone stock original cables to the calipers and it is actually very strong. I had a SC handbrake before with its own new cable and this adjuster and the footbrake feels like it has twice as much leverage with no slip engaged(or I just have way more lower body strength than upper body strength)
 
What is this with the Mark VIII parking brake? I've never seen one. Does it automatically disengage when the car is shifted out of park? I always thought that was cool on the Crown Vic.
 
Yeah and its loud to disengage and hard to predict. Either because I don't use it enough, or maybe its tied into the speed sensors

It also locks the doors (I like that part) and tells me that traction control is off because theres a problem with a speed sensor. The mechanic didn't bother telling me which one is bad and said he couldnt find a new one. Done going to that guy for few reasons
 
Speed sensors? It shouldn't have anything to do with that at all. It disengages when shifting into D; that's how my '06 Crown Vic was. And I always had my foot on the parking brake pedal when shifting into D so to avoid the loud disengage.

Not sure how exactly it's set up, but the Mark has a vacuum line going to the shift interlock solenoid on the column which the MN12 doesn't have; I imagine that's what drives the disengage (?). Someone please chime in.
 
The parking brake is released by a solenoid, no vacuum line. I removed that from mine and just use the cable release to release it
 
Speed sensors? It shouldn't have anything to do with that at all. It disengages when shifting into D; that's how my '06 Crown Vic was. And I always had my foot on the parking brake pedal when shifting into D so to avoid the loud disengage.

Ooh you're right. That's more familiar. That's a faint memory of struggling with it then. I'll pay more attention
 
Thennnnn what's the advantage over stock MN12?

And what's that vacuum line in the column for? Or did I dream that?

Specifically for me marks have removable pedal pads that accept one for a Dodge Challenger, and it matches my Cobra pedals…

IMG_4406.jpeg

Benefit two which I didn’t even realize at the time I installed it, modern auto transmission cars with a footbrake(again Challenger) uses the normal push on/push off type MN12s use for automatics, but manual transmission challengers use a release lever, with the purpose to prevent rollbacks on hills (set the brake stopped on an incline, and modulate the gas/clutch to get the car moving where you can then release the brake by hand). I’ve driven stick long enough where I don’t use the e-brake on hills, but it does serve an accidental purpose the stock one can’t.


The only vacuum line I can think of would be the cruise line on 89-95s that goes to the brakes
 
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Is this dash emblem actually have something behind it or is just for show? Can I put a microphone behind it for my cell phone for hands free?

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