What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

That happens to all the D size non-fake hooters by age 35. It's depressing when they disappear into the armpits. :(
It's also depressing to see an awesome set of c-cup hooters turned into a lumpy,scarred , dd sized mess.
"You killed the twins!" Is not a popular reaction,lol!
 
I got one of these milkhouse space heaters from the hardware store on sale for $29. Works great and heats up the garage pretty fast. I could not have worked in my garage without it. I do turn it off before I start welding. :P

​

1737496551029.png
 
20250121_160835.jpg

20250121_160954_001.jpg

New fuel pump going in soon! Removed the exhaust today, might change the exhaust setup while it's apart. :unsure:

Little bit of rust showing but it is pretty clean. I bought the car 2014 in New Jersey. Pictures show the Cobra aluminum diff, poly sway bar and diff mounts, Vogtland lowering springs.
 
@SC_Shi Guess yours spent some time up North too. If I ever find a nice Florida only MN12 for sale close by I will be buying it.

My Firebird has 150,000 miles on it, but it always been in Florida. It doesn't have a spot of rust on it anywhere, thing still looks brand new underneath. Even when I took the factory exhaust off everything just unbolted without any trouble 8-)
 
Kenz said:
@SC_Shi Guess yours spent some time up North too. If I ever find a nice Florida only MN12 for sale close by I will be buying it.

My Firebird has 150,000 miles on it, but it always been in Florida. It doesn't have a spot of rust on it anywhere, thing still looks brand new underneath. Even when I took the factory exhaust off everything just unbolted without any trouble 8-)
Click to expand...
Sounds like a dream! I never really looked too far into the cars history but I would assume yeah some up north time, couple of rusty spots, but I do know that it sat for awhile up in west palm beach before I got it, maybe it was close to the water.
 
Well hey, all MN12s were made "up north" - depending on when it rolled off the line, it may have been road tested on lovely NE Ohio salt-covered roads. :zpuke:

Anyone want to take bets on whether they were washed properly before being sent to the dealerships after that? :)
 
Kenz said:
@SC_Shi Guess yours spent some time up North too. If I ever find a nice Florida only MN12 for sale close by I will be buying it.

My Firebird has 150,000 miles on it, but it always been in Florida. It doesn't have a spot of rust on it anywhere, thing still looks brand new underneath. Even when I took the factory exhaust off everything just unbolted without any trouble 8-)
Click to expand...

Be careful, Florida cars that spent time around the coast can be as bad as cars from around here in Chicagoland, that salty sea air is no joke!
 
That is true to a point, especially for cars that have spent time near the beach. I do think it is somewhat exaggerated though.
Like @SC_Shi said areas like West Palm Beach may be a prone to rusting.

My cousins Jeep from Tampa had rust, but he actually bombed around on the beach with it, and got the thing stuck in sand lol..

Used Florida cars mostly have a bad rap for other reasons though. Title issues and flood damage.
 
Kenz said:
That is true to a point, especially for cars that have spent time near the beach. I do think it is somewhat exaggerated though.
Like @SC_Shi said areas like West Palm Beach may be a prone to rusting.

My cousins Jeep from Tampa had rust, but he actually bombed around on the beach with it, and got the thing stuck in sand lol..

Used Florida cars mostly have a bad rap for other reasons though. Title issues and flood damage.
Click to expand...


That same thing is true of CA cars, coastal cars there get it bad too, maybe worse in some ways than rust belt cars, but the way population centers are CA vs FL it tends to be more inland for the latter on average.

Driving along the beach isn’t good for sheetmetal but it’s not going to be the death kneel for it on a few skirmishes out there any more than driving a car through a salty Chicago winter or two will either, as there are simple effective measures on these cars to prevent or prolong corrosion. In both cases if you wash it off right away you’ll prevent the most severe effects.

I think when it comes right down to it the miles/exposure/maintenance ratio is what matters, a unwashed FL car can be as bad as a unwashed rust belt car, and vice versa. I’m just saying it’s best not to make assumptions, I know of a few people who picked up FL cars that looked like about average Chicago cars once the carpets and whatnot were pulled up. Perfectly fixable or even livable as is but not worth the premium paid.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Not the most glamorous project
Click to expand...

That's how I felt when I removed that horrible, shoddily installed remote start system. My car lost a few pounds from removing all those wires!

Tidying things up is always nice.

Fun fact about the Antiblockiersystem: when I was looking for Thunderbirds, ABS was a must-have feature for me, to be comfortable daily driving an older car. Texted the seller; he said sure, it has ABS. I got there only to find out it didn't. But I liked the car otherwise.

Now I'm grateful for the simplicity (less stuff to break), but in anything other than dry conditions, I drive particularly carefully.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
That's how I felt when I removed that horrible, shoddily installed remote start system. My car lost a few pounds from removing all those wires!

Tidying things up is always nice.

Fun fact about the Antiblockiersystem: when I was looking for Thunderbirds, ABS was a must-have feature for me, to be comfortable daily driving an older car. Texted the seller; he said sure, it has ABS. I got there only to find out it didn't. But I liked the car otherwise.

Now I'm grateful for the simplicity (less stuff to break), but in anything other than dry conditions, I drive particularly carefully.
Click to expand...

I’m not anti antilock brakes mind you, I’ve just never been wowed by our cars ABS. The 93-97 Teves IV system is actually very reliable, all that really goes bad are the sensors and it’s usually debris buildup that can be cleaned off. For me I’d have kept it but the line under the core support has concerned me for some time and with my wheel/tire combo causing it to throw codes it’s just literal dead weight.

This harness I’ve added a bunch of circuits to over the years; Fog lights cornering lights(now removed) and the oil and coolant sensor feeds to clean up the engine harness. This harness being where it is is almost impossible to fully remove on a 4.6 car so I had to bodge it a little unlike other harnesses I put real effort into, so I corrected some of that too. Still not super satisfied with it but its much better now.

1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
...oh, and what's the color of your coolant?
Click to expand...

It’s green the reservoir just needs another good cleanout to get the sediment off, I’ll be doing that when I put the cams in
 
XR7-4.6 said:
All back together. Not the most glamorous project but it’s tidied up nicely. Next task is to remove the ABS HCU and swap out the brake lines.
Click to expand...
I removed my abs unit aswell, just going to run the crown Vic master to a wilwood adjustable proportioning valve and see how that works.
 
SC_Shi said:
I removed my abs unit aswell, just going to run the crown Vic master to a wilwood adjustable proportioning valve and see how that works.
Click to expand...

Your car is a 89-92, right? I’ve actually found it easier to use the 4 port master for a 92 LX and plugging the fourth with a bleeder screw. If you can get the fittings off without killing the hardline you can simply rebend them to the new master, no need to source the proportioning valve.

Mines a different animal, I need to run the two lines from the master to the metering block, two lines from the block to the front calipers and then two more lines from the block to the rear line fittings under the fender liner. But luckily the booster and master are the same(other than the travel switch and reservoir, which I luckily have a non-abs one to swap on)

White Lincoln said:
That engine bay is TOO CLEAN!!!! Very nice job at keeping it clean XR7.
Click to expand...

Thank you! It could actually use some attention but it’s so damn cold self preservation(laziness) prevailed. I care way more and put way more effort into keeping the engine/compartment clean and pretty than I do the exterior 😆
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Your car is a 89-92, right?
Click to expand...
I have a 93, it had two metering blocks for the rear, I want to have it where there’s a line for each side of the front coming off the proportioning valve and one line for the rear that I’m going to T into the pre existing lines going out back.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I always thought of this is a radical mod when I had it and went back to stock for keeping it original sake, but recently decided what the hell and threw it on. How noticeable is it?

View attachment 9967
Click to expand...
Is that pattern in the plastic or is that a metal wire rock guard grill? I’ve never seen headlights with that pattern. Where did you get it from?
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I always thought of this is a radical mod when I had it and went back to stock for keeping it original sake, but recently decided what the hell and threw it on. How noticeable is it?
Click to expand...
I have thought about going to GM headlights, but decided I like stock better. I've seen some with a much tight grid in them. Not sure I've seen them like that.
 
Zep5.0 said:
I have thought about going to GM headlights, but decided I like stock better. I've seen some with a much tight grid in them. Not sure I've seen them like that.
Click to expand...

They’re all like this. My biggest reason for getting rid of them was because I was on a stock exterior kick down to the cats eye parking lights the 9005/9006 equipped GM lights obviously don’t have. Plus I used to use them with 96-97 corners which while matching in their clearness do not match at all in the lens shape or those goofy horizontal lines, which oddly the 89-95 corners do.

I still have the same header panel I modified for them way back in 2007 so I figured what the hell. With the correct fluted corners they look pretty much the same in factory execution as 94-98 Cobra lights.

IMG_6156.jpeg
 
I like it both ways; I would choose whatever provides the better illumination.

Esthetically, I prefer lights which separate low beam and high beam bulbs. Makes for more conspicuous flash to pass.

Whether it's clear see-through or the older type lense doesn't make a huge difference to me in terms of looks. Your DRL mod is probably more attractive with four amber bulbs though.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I like it both ways; I would choose whatever provides the better illumination.

Esthetically, I prefer lights which separate low beam and high beam bulbs. Makes for more conspicuous flash to pass.

Whether it's clear see-through or the older type lense doesn't make a huge difference to me in terms of looks. Your DRL mod is probably more attractive with four amber bulbs though.
Click to expand...

It’s about a draw with the 9005/9006 bulbs IME but these can be retrofitted with much better 9011/9012 bulbs which I’ll do eventually. My cougar housings were getting very cloudy and one of the stupid LEDs died back in November so I’m back to my roots.

Speaking of bulbs, there’s so much space between the header panel and core support now it’s almost as if MN12s were designed to use 9005/9006 bulbs in the first place😆

IMG_6278.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Back
Top