What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

Changed ps fluid. Whine is mostly gone. Probably gonna do it again fairly soon because i only drained the res and refilled/ bled a couple times. I probably should of drained the system but i had a pump and thought i could just do the suck it out and refill method
 
I added supplemental rear turn signals/brake lights.

Now I know anything that relies on double-sided tape is at risk of straddling the realm of tackiness, not to mention that I bought these strips for $5/pair in the Walmart clearance aisle.

The result is pretty cool though! First I wanted to integrate something into the trunk panels, but I didn't want to mess them up. So I placed the strips into the gap between the trunk lid and the bumper; they fit perfectly.

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1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I added supplemental rear turn signals/brake lights.

Now I know anything that relies on double-sided tape is at risk of straddling the realm of tackiness, not to mention that I bought these strips for $5/pair in the Walmart clearance aisle.

The result is pretty cool though! First I wanted to integrate something into the trunk panels, but I didn't want to mess them up. So I placed the strips into the gap between the trunk lid and the bumper; they fit perfectly.

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Not a fan tbh it reminds me of how people mod Nissan Altimas with “DRL” strips
 
I wouldn't mind it as much, if the length matched the rest of the trunk lights. But I do think it's a bit overkill..

A cool mod would be sequential thru the entire rear panel
 
Did a little looking around.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Also found exhaust rattle this morning. 3rd resonator/ cat.

Good:
The interior is in fairly good shape besides the drivers side seat, and The underneath is pretty mint for an old car.
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Bad:
i do got new strut rod bushings and had an alignment done, but the front suspension is looking pretty crunchy. Could use some shocks and some other goodies. There is also an emissions related cel and a small coolant leak somewhere. Seems to come and go around the res area.
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Ugly: It could use some paint, the hood has some good spots where rocks came up and hit it, and there is a dent in the rear passenger side quarter.
Corner lights and some weather stripping could use some love too.
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From a distance she looks pretty though
 

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1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
What do these do? They look redundant, no?

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Toe compensators. They’re not strictly necessary but they do serve a purpose. They essentially limit the control arm from excess movement (effecting toe) due to the rubber bushing’s compliance. That translates to more neutral handling/stability, without them the rear end is more prone to oversteer.
 
Kenz said:
Iirc some people eliminate them with a washer stack, when switching to poly bushings. Saw something about that back on the old forum place. It might have been Matt but not sure
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I took mine out when I put in poly bushings, stiffer bushings make them more redundant since they’re essentially doing the same job….


However… I formed that conclusion with the advent of UMMV/Delrins, but having lived with polys only I’d recommend running the toe comps with Polys too, they still have give compared to those and where I don’t think their deletion hurts handling at all, I do suspect their elimination paired with more compliant poly bushings may contribute to wheel hop
 
WEC, any reason you didn't wipe some filler over the welds before the paint?

I am using the compensators with the poly on lazarus; I read somewhere someone mention they help keep the wheels pointed straight under acceleration. Without them the lca's toe in.

edit: This was in a conversation with duffy floyd and dlf years ago, when they were saying NOT to use poly, to use moog, as poly was too stiff. lol.
This was before dlf made the delrin irs bushings. The flex in all that stuff was part of the design.
I found the notes in the notebook I keep.
 
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Grog6 said:
WEC, any reason you didn't wipe some filler over the welds before the paint?

I am using the compensators with the poly on lazarus; I read somewhere someone mention they help keep the wheels pointed straight under acceleration. Without them the lca's toe in.
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His flares will cover the welds so no reason to fill there.
 
Reassembling the engine. Most photo worthy is the new (short snout) water pump, and was curious very if this would fit after the fact…

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With room to spare! Why didn’t I use this style water pump in the first place????!!!!😆

The only reason I pulled the water pump for this project was solely to fit the degree wheel! It turned out to be going bad and needed replacement sooner than later anyway, but still!

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More progress, just waiting an hour for the RTV to get tacky. All 32 followers went in, I thought it was going to be impossible using the screwdriver method with the 4V but I managed where it was tight.

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Btw I don’t know why you guys complain about the oil filter so much, it’s right there! 😆
 
Rodeo Joe said:
Took a ride down to get some TLC done by @MadMikeyL at his shop. Door hinge pin, ball joints, tie rods and endlinks. He did an excellent job and takes pride in his work! 👍🏻
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That's fantastic to have someone who truly knows these cars! I hate to go to any "random" shop...

I'm jealous of your dual exhaust. I never realized you had a blue accent stripe; how was that applied?
 
XR7-4.6 said:
More progress, just waiting an hour for the RTV to get tacky. All 32 followers went in, I thought it was going to be impossible using the screwdriver method with the 4V but I managed where it was tight.
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I'm literally completely clueless as to what you're actually working on...but I will say that everything looks very pretty in there. So congrats on the progress.
 
I took it to a local sign shop who does pretty much everything from store signs to total vehicle wraps. I gave him pictures of the LE stripes and he took it from there. I was thinking of going with the silver stripe like the LE had he thought it would get lost with the lighter blue paint and suggested the darker blue like the interior color. He did this in the original LE font behind the doors.

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Joe
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I'm jealous of your dual exhaust.
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I gotta work on that. With the dual in dual out Magnaflow resonator it's really starting to drone a lot! Plus the pipes are rattling a little too, might need to take it to guy I know and do it again.

1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
That's fantastic to have someone who truly knows these cars! I hate to go to any "random" shop...
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That's why I felt it was worth the drive to let Mikey do it. Meatheads around here don't have a clue what's going on with anything. I went to shop and asked about doing the hinge pin and he said all it needs was to just "jack up the door a little bit, that will take care of it." :facepalm:

Joe
 
Matt just installed some killer cams,I can't wait to see how it runs. Matt,were you able to get the headers on?
 
Grog6 said:
killer cams
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Ok, so just for those of us whose mechanical acumen never stretches beyond our (my) current project at hand, what exactly makes a cam  killer?

I mean I can picture a cam shaft, I understand what it does, I know I only have one deep inside the V of my engine...but I don't know what makes one shaft better than the other shaft. Shaft shaft. Beautiful word. Talking about cam shafts.
 
Killer in this context is high lift, high duration (,and high price,) lol.
Buying cams for a 4v hurts. Which is why we hunt cobra cams.
 
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