What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

Test drove it after a MAF cleaning session and battery disconnect. It had been pinging intermittently. Works great now. Why is it that the pinging occurred on days with less clouds, and why does cleaning it improve the situation, I wonder

Silly me hadnt realized I accidentally disconnected the intake when putting the air box back in, so I was pretty alarmed when the engine would turn over and it would slowly die. Thought I was too rough with the sensor :leftright:
 
You don't have to disconnect the batt; yank fuse 15 under the hood, and try to start it, it clears the computer instantly. Put the fuse back in, and do the drive cycle.
Dry, cool air has the most oxygen, hot humid air the least. Lazarus rattled like hell on my morning winter drive until I got the temperature enrichment right.
 
A dirty MAF is insulated from the air flowing over the element, thereby falsely indicating less airflow than reality. This causes a lean mixture as well as too much spark advance - a perfect combo for pre-ignition.

As Grog said, fewer clouds = lower RH and a higher O2 content per mass of air. This amplifies the lean condition.
 
I was overdue for some shiftknobbery... I'll post the result in my shift knob thread tomorrow. Meanwhile, who are the auto geeks who know which vehicle this knob came from?

My stitching isn't entirely flawless. It was harder to match this shape than I anticipated. Overall, replacing the leather on the stock shifter is easier.

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...the shift knob installation will have to wait as I decided to paint the release black, which now needs to fully dry.

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Meanwhile I treated the new leather with some conditioner.

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I used this product. It's great on the steering wheel, too, though the consistency always reminds me of...well, you know.

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I got the ol' bird started yesterday and she sounds good, its been about 6 months in storage it'll be a little bit till I can actually pull it out but starting it is a good start to the season. I also installed these to test em as I didn't know if they would work and turns out they work great, I'm super happy. I'll post a photo later once I get a good one.

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XR7-4.6 said:
Whiteness =/= brightness. Whiteness = trendiness.

I went backwards with mine, ditched the LEDs, ditched the zevos and am back to incandescent/halogens.
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Yesterday, I went through Walmart's clearance aisle, and they had a pair of Sylvania Silverstar 9007s (non-Ultra) for $14. New unopened package; normally $35.

I figured I'll give them a try for the price. Anything will be an improvement over my ancient, base model General Electric bulbs.

I was really looking into ordering a pair of LED bulbs. Philips Ultinonsports have good reviews and are from a reputable brand. But I'd spend $50. I think I saw a seller with free return shipping if I don't like them; so I might still try.

Now what's  really difficult is finding a flat surface with a white wall to aim my lights.
 
Grog6 said:
You don't have to disconnect the batt; yank fuse 15 under the hood, and try to start it, it clears the computer instantly. Put the fuse back in, and do the drive cycle.
Dry, cool air has the most oxygen, hot humid air the least. Lazarus rattled like hell on my morning winter drive until I got the temperature enrichment right.
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I didn't actually know about the fuse 15 thing, but was finally able to clear my check engine code. Would have cleared it sooner, but my ODB-2 scanner can't read my 95 XR7 that has the ODB-2 port.
 
Yeah, leakage there means new waterpump. Be sure to get the closed vane mustang pump.
 
dDUBb said:
The weep hole ?
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Yep, turned it upside down when I was masking the flange and a greasy coolant started dripping on my boot. Not a huge surprise it’s a reman I got in probably 2012, quality was always a little suspect

Grog6 said:
Yeah, leakage there means new waterpump. Be sure to get the closed vane mustang pump.
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It is a closed vane mustang pump 😆

Based on what I’m seeing motorcraft consolidated all their pumps into closed vane with the only variance being long snout and short snout. I’m getting the latter since I have a pulley for it and it has the plastic stub cap I’ve been looking for lol
 
I can't wait to hear the new setup! I'm wondering how lopey the new cams are. even the kooks should change the tone some.

I just realized, It's been 20 years since I put the pump in lazarus. It lasted 400kmi+, and the stock one died in 5 years<120k mi. It's usually the other way around. I replaced the one on the pi motor, with a closed vane one;I have its original one as a spare. It's an 03 with 725 mi, and is open vane.
 
Grog6 said:
I can't wait to hear the new setup! I'm wondering how lopey the new cams are. even the kooks should change the tone some.
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Me too! I know exactly how the headers will sound but I’m not sure how these cams will sound where I installed them.
 
Ordered some wheels. It was a tough choice between these and vors sp1. Thoughts?

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Agreed. A 235/45/17 would be 1.5" shorter than the stock size, and correspondingly your car will be actually only be going 56 MPH when your speedo says 60 (unless you swapped in a 17 tooth speedo drive gear).

If you're set on a 235 treadwidth I'd probably go with a 235/50 - it's a little shorter than the factory 215 tire but it's about the same height as the base 205. A 245/50 would be about the perfect height.
 
It used to be that 245/50/17 was a size with very few good tire options. I see that's since changed for the better with Continental and Michelin accommodating that size at the all-season high end now, but that was why I ran 245/45/17 for years. It's a common tire size also used by the SN95 and has a plethora of tire options. However, it's also 1" shorter than stock and clearly looks small in the wheel wells. 235/45/17 would be even smaller.

With 245/45/17, my car is effectively lowered over 2" in part due to the tire size and I don't like it, especially when I have subframe connectors that sometimes bottom out on public driveway aprons as well as speed bumps if I don't go over them diagonally. That's part of my reason for going up to 18" while keeping the same tire sidewall height.

Those wheels look good though.
 
theterminator93 said:
Agreed. A 235/45/17 would be 1.5" shorter than the stock size, and correspondingly your car will be actually only be going 56 MPH when your speedo says 60 (unless you swapped in a 17 tooth speedo drive gear).

If you're set on a 235 treadwidth I'd probably go with a 235/50 - it's a little shorter than the factory 215 tire but it's about the same height as the base 205. A 245/50 would be about the perfect height.
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On a similar topic, besides having higher speed rated tires and a one piece drive shaft whats needed for lets say a speed limit of 120? Idea was to pep it up just a little bit and throw the pi intake from the cougar on it and do the mandrel tru bendz x pipe kit. Then tune. I know it wouldnt be a crazy difference but i like how my 96 revs and sounds with the pi intake.

Ive also heard the 3-4 wot shifts are pretty nasty. (in a not so happily shifting way)
 
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It's more complicated than just one number but the main one to consider is that the speed limiter is capped at the output shaft speed of the transmission. You won't be able to exceed ~4500 driveshaft RPM unless you get the PCM tuned. With 235/45/17 tires that works out to about 104 MPH. If you want the car to be going faster before it hits the limiter on a factory tune you need to go with a larger-than-stock tire height - a massive 29" tall tire would get you close.

That said, don't worry about trying to go faster until you can stop safely. Make sure the suspension is tight, and you've upgraded the brakes to the dual piston PBRs (or better).
 
theterminator93 said:
It's more complicated than just one number but the main one to consider is that the speed limiter is capped at the output shaft speed of the transmission. You won't be able to exceed ~4500 driveshaft RPM unless you get the PCM tuned. With 235/45/17 tires that works out to about 104 MPH. If you want the car to be going faster before it hits the limiter on a factory tune you need to go with a larger-than-stock tire height - a massive 29" tall tire would get you close.

That said, don't worry about trying to go faster until you can stop safely. Make sure the suspension is tight, and you've upgraded the brakes to the dual piston PBRs (or better).
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That is all understandable. Im looking at moog sway bar links, and everything up front is tight but old. So im gonna need control arms, tie rod ends and some other goodies for sure (just for my sanity, but nothing is dangerous as it is. I already have new strut rod bushings installed, and rear upper control - frame bushings. Besides that its really just the sway bar inlinks that need swapped cause i got some cheap ones that didnt fair too well.

I need shocks too just like my 96 did. They're not as bad but i do have some wheel hop now and then.

I do have a rear drilled and slotted break kit with carbon pads but have yet to install them. thought id wait til i have the front kit too. Wasnt really even planned. Was a gift from my mom so i thought i might aswell throw them in and get the other half of the kit.
 
I had to wash my Cougar yesterday. I had to drive in rain on Saturday (we rarely ever get rain). What was funny was I went around a corner in the rain and the car started fishtailing! Dang, that car has some real power now! LOL
 
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