What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

Ericv8thunderbird said:
Put a bunch of it back together, and before you say “I tint my headlights so they work less” they look sh*tty and a good set goes for north of $400, so it’s a temporary look for now, it’s only film that can be removed.

It needs to be lowered…a lot. lol.

But there still a lot more to do.

As for my 94, I’m waiting on a new fuel rail that I ordered from eBay over a week ago now. 🙄

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Great Googly Moogly!!!
 
Ericv8thunderbird said:
Put a bunch of it back together, and before you say “I tint my headlights so they work less” they look sh*tty and a good set goes for north of $400, so it’s a temporary look for now, it’s only film that can be removed.

It needs to be lowered…a lot. lol.

But there still a lot more to do.

As for my 94, I’m waiting on a new fuel rail that I ordered from eBay over a week ago now. 🙄

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👋👋💦💦💦💦🚬
 
White Lincoln said:
Thanks for the feedback. You were lucky to pick up the JL speakers, they are not cheap, at least the ones that sound good. Well, when I win the lottery, I might upgrade. :P
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Well my son bought them from Crutchfield I think. Think they were $100 a pair?? Not horrible.
 
Ericv8thunderbird said:
Put a bunch of it back together, and before you say “I tint my headlights so they work less” they look sh*tty and a good set goes for north of $400, so it’s a temporary look for now, it’s only film that can be removed.

It needs to be lowered…a lot. lol.

But there still a lot more to do.

As for my 94, I’m waiting on a new fuel rail that I ordered from eBay over a week ago now. 🙄
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Did you convert to 5 lug hubs to fit those wheels? They look amazing and did you repaint them? I love the finish, if you don't mind me asking what finish is that? Because this summer I'm gonna be painting a set of those and am still figuring out what color I want to go with.
 
Jae 'Bird said:
Did you convert to 5 lug hubs to fit those wheels? They look amazing and did you repaint them? I love the finish, if you don't mind me asking what finish is that? Because this summer I'm gonna be painting a set of those and am still figuring out what color I want to go with.
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Those wheels were 4 lug from the factory, 5 lug actually used to be really hard to get
 
Jae 'Bird said:
Did you convert to 5 lug hubs to fit those wheels? They look amazing and did you repaint them? I love the finish, if you don't mind me asking what finish is that? Because this summer I'm gonna be painting a set of those and am still figuring out what color I want to go with.
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They're 4 lug, they’re brand new from LMR.
 
Revised the cubby illumination.

Previously, I had a light strip installed inside the cubby, which made the cubby a bit tight (especially when using the 12V outlet).

I now installed the lighting above the cubby. It's quite dim, which is to say it has the same brightness as the switch illumination on the radio/climate above. It used to be much brighter. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about that...though the previous brightness was almost distracting.

20250302_113609.jpg20250302_184736.jpg

While I was in there, I routed the audio jack through a proper grommet (phone holder is directly to the right of the radio). In the Aux-in thread, I described how I can now use a cassette adapter without the whirring noise from the cassette deck.

20250302_134128.jpg20250302_134145.jpg

And yes, I know I need to wash that rubber mat.

Oh, and I also did some zip tie surgery to eliminate the center sag/bend that these cubbies are prone to. A tie pulls the centers up/down respectively, so that the cubby edges remain straight.

20250302_191344.jpg
 
In my never ending quest to track down noises in my car, this Saturday I put the front end up on ramps and today I put the rear end up on ramps. I thought I had seen upper control arm boot torn. After pulling the wheels, it was only grime and grease covering the boot. Once I cleaned it and inspected the front end, I could not find anything that might cause a clunk sound in the front.

On Sunday, I put the rear end up on ramps and did find a few things that were concering. Both rear sub-frame stabalizer brakets were missing a bolt to the frame. They require 2. I found a couple bolts that fit right in and tightened them down since I could not find the torque amount for these bolts in the service manual.

rear subframes stabalizer braket.jpg​

In my inspection of the rear end, I found one of the sway bar links was lose. The service manual said the lower bolt to suspension should be 8-10 ft lbs, so I went ahead and did the right thing and tightened them with an impact driver.

sway bar link.png

Then I noticed my weld of the exhaust pipe to muffler was not that great so I brought out my welder and filled in some holes.

20250302_144116.jpg

I also ran my Snap-On scanner and got the same damn codes... but I am lucky, it is not finding anything else wrong.

20250302_153616.jpg

Yes, engine still shows 137 / 173 codes. Maybe a long drive to Santa Fe would blow out anything that is not getting blown out driving back and forth to CVS and Walmart, 1 mile from home.

Thanks for looking.

Adendum. I failed to mention that after doing the fixes in the rear end, I can now hear the bushings making noise when they hit a bump and I believe I have drive shaft issues or differential issues. Crap that can wait.
 
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1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Revised the cubby illumination.

Previously, I had a light strip installed inside the cubby, which made the cubby a bit tight (especially when using the 12V outlet).

I now installed the lighting above the cubby. It's quite dim, which is to say it has the same brightness as the switch illumination on the radio/climate above. It used to be much brighter. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about that...though the previous brightness was almost distracting.

View attachment 10706

While I was in there, I routed the audio jack through a proper grommet (phone holder is directly to the right of the radio). In the Aux-in thread, I described how I can now use a cassette adapter without the whirring noise from the cassette deck.



And yes, I know I need to wash that rubber mat.

Oh, and I also did some zip tie surgery to eliminate the center sag/bend that these cubbies are prone to. A tie pulls the centers up/down respectively, so that the cubby edges remain straight.
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Damn, I don't have a cubby... I want a cubby!
 

What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?​

I kept my Cougar in the garage all day due to the super high winds today that are sand blasting anything in its way.
 
Got around to sending the v brace I had in the rear of the bird as a template to the fabricator. The aluminum is 1.5” 1/8 and 1/4” plates, according to my engineer buddy it’s best to have the bar slotted and the plate sandwiched in the middle. This ones just a test piece to try it out on my car.

Any constructive criticism??




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Chingon1 said:
Got around to sending the v brace I had in the rear of the bird as a template to the fabricator. The aluminum is 1.5” 1/8 and 1/4” plates, according to my engineer buddy it’s best to have the bar slotted and the plate sandwiched in the middle. This ones just a test piece to try it out on my car.

Any constructive criticism??




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That does not sound cheap to be using a fabricator. But I can wish you best of luck, so to speak that this turns out well and solves your issue.
 
Tended to a couple Mark 8 needs today... replaced a leaky air suspension solenoid and swapped the winter tires out in favor of the "summer" (all season) set. Also will be taking it to a shop that claims they used to do rockers on MN12s "all the time back in the day" on Thursday to see if they can clean up the icky bits that have developed over the last couple years.

T-bird weather is just around the corner... :)
 
theterminator93 said:
Tended to a couple Mark 8 needs today... replaced a leaky air suspension solenoid and swapped the winter tires out in favor of the "summer" (all season) set. Also will be taking it to a shop that claims they used to do rockers on MN12s "all the time back in the day" on Thursday to see if they can clean up the icky bits that have developed over the last couple years.
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Be curious to hear more info on this when you get it.
 
Nothing exciting, just went out for a little exercise, rack up some more points on the odometer, early satisfy a requirement to myself to at least drive it every month.
 
Did some more prep work before bringing her in the garage.

CDsDontBurn

Post in thread 'Bringing car out of storage'

Update:

I purchased 2 gallons of fresh fuel and ran the car off of my Milwaukee 18v battery pack. I turned the key to KOEO position several times, hearing the fuel pump so it's thing each time.

From there, I disconnected the fuel line at the fuel filter and I was genuinely surprised about the color of the fuel. I expected it to be an orange-red color but no because of how long it was sitting, but no. The fuel color was a lemon yellow. So despite having been sat for so long, the fuel didn't decompose as far as I'd thought. It must be because of all the extra fuel additives they use here...
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"What did I do to my Cougar today?!"

Yesterday, I went to spray my wheel caps. Sanded them down, washed them and went to spray them. Splatter everywhere. I wiped of the splatter and put them back on the wheels and called it a day.

Then I went to an appointment this afternoon and drove home with the A/C on. How nice is that.
 
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