What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

XR7-4.6 said:
As an aside the NOS manual climate control head I found was a bust. I assumed the light outlines around the lettering I noticed in the listing must have been a protective film but upon inspection, nope it seems to be the textured lamination delaminating from the printed layer, bummer. It didn’t cost much at least but I’m going to see if I can get my money back, this is godawful has a few nicks in it too so even though it’s NOS it must have been tossed in a cardboard box with a bunch of other junk

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Attempt 2…

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Much better! Rolled the dice on a used one on EBay before I just gave up on this project idea for good. It’s a keeper, faceplate is near mint, red mark is unfaded and miraculously the square release holes weren’t oblonged by the salvage yard that sold it….

Also gross 🤮

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Whaat how did the font stay
 
Vicinity said:
Whaat how did the font stay
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The printed text is underneath the outer layer so it won’t rub off from cleaning it. Nevertheless I would avoid submerging it in water as I suspect that is what de-laminated the NOS one I since returned.



Speaking of text I’ve still been playing around with the Power Acoustik’s background. In spite of being a Luddite I did use AI to cartoonize this pic into this creating this😆

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XR7-4.6 said:
I actually have that pick but I just didn’t like how narrow it is, prying or not it’s a stress riser, the wider you go to push down on the spring the less risk.

Vis a vis vibration, I never had it with a conventional mirror, the Gentex in my car is the only time I encountered it in any car I’d been in. I’m not convinced it’s an issue with the base personally, it was quite a firm grip on mine. I think it’s the weight of the mirror itself
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I broke one of them off a windshield at pick n pull a couple weeks ago. My son has an '13 Edge and from the day we got it the damn mirror vibrated violently no matter what I did.. having a reacement I figured out the clip but the clip is attached to the mirror with 2 little pot metal points like a rivet. Replacement mirror was sloppy but not as bad as original. I wound up cutting a short piece of a zip tie and positioned between clip and body to prevent the wobbling. So far it is working.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Attempt 2…

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Much better! Rolled the dice on a used one on EBay before I just gave up on this project idea for good. It’s a keeper, faceplate is near mint, red mark is unfaded and miraculously the square release holes weren’t oblonged by the salvage yard that sold it….

Also gross 🤮

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Ok, warm (not hot) take. I like it better when a bone yard pard is dirty and needs cleaning for 2 reasons.
1. I get the satisfaction of cleaning it and feeling like I got a "brand new" part for the cost of a dirty used one.
2. It means no-one has, at all or at least in a very long time, tried removing it or fixing/changing it so that means the chances of it working correctly are increased and if if doesn't work its only because its old or some other unknown cause.
btw amazing job cleaning this one up, it turned out fantastic!
 
XR7-4.6 said:
In spite of being a Luddite I did use AI to cartoonize this pic into this creating this😆
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I always assumed I was the only person that used that term to describe themselves.

I would much rather have the manual HVAC controls as I worry about the auto HVAC controls as they age, but I don't want to think about all I would have to change behind the dash to make the swap happen.
 
Drove around a lot in the rain in circles to try and replicate an intermittent popping or binding up sensation.

Tired of this front suspension lol. Never had this much of an issue on any other of our cars but this is also the first time ive had to replace oem strut rod bushings with the "improved design" jack
 
KevinVarnes said:
I always assumed I was the only person that used that term to describe themselves.

I would much rather have the manual HVAC controls as I worry about the auto HVAC controls as they age, but I don't want to think about all I would have to change behind the dash to make the swap happen.
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That’s why I’m doing it. Last two summers I had failures of the head, the blend door actuator and the blower PWM. I have no more working spare heads which is my main anxiety of late. Rather than find more to hoard up in mystery condition I’d rather just be rid of it.

Retrofitting it to manual is doable without being intrusive. I’m making an adapter harness to plug and play into the existing dash harness, and there’s not even much it needs, basically just power and grounds for the blend door and blower. I’ll post up how I do it when I’m finished gathering bits for it
 
XR7-4.6 said:
That’s why I’m doing it. Last two summers I had failures of the head, the blend door actuator and the blower PWM. I have no more working spare heads which is my main anxiety of late. Rather than find more to hoard up in mystery condition I’d rather just be rid of it.

Retrofitting it to manual is doable without being intrusive. I’m making an adapter harness to plug and play into the existing dash harness, and there’s not even much it needs, basically just power and grounds for the blend door and blower. I’ll post up how I do it when I’m finished gathering bits for it
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I'd love a how-to on that. For some reason I have visions of adding/splicing vacuum lines and other parts that I cannot find.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I'd love a how-to on that. For some reason I have visions of adding/splicing vacuum lines and other parts that I cannot find.
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The vacuum lines don’t have to be altered, the only difference is the cold engine lockout solenoid in the defrost line but it can be left in place. Hardest part will be swapping the blend door actuator to the manual one, but I’ve found removing the passenger airbag makes it possible to fully access without moving the dash
 
Gentex auto-dim rear mirror added, backup light bar installed, and a complete front headlight swap: Morimoto 9.0 projectors and clearer corners, both in all-new housings, wrapped in protective film. Figure I should make it so that I don't drive this giant pile of modifications and sunk dollars at night into a truck or back it into a pole.

As always, thanks a ton for the advice provided here which made this possible (and apologies for being instrumental in driving up the cost of 96-97 corners). Here's a before and after.

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That looks great! A lot of projector retrofits stand out to me but that looks clean!

I take it you got the 96-97 clears *used* ? Sad thing is 20 years ago they were all over eBay for less than $20! For some reason cheaper than the 89-95 clears that are still produced… which is why I bought a 96-97 set for my 94 then(close enough 😆). Wish I bought 5 in hindsight
 
Stanley said:
Gentex auto-dim rear mirror added, backup light bar installed, and a complete front headlight swap: Morimoto 9.0 projectors and clearer corners, both in all-new housings, wrapped in protective film. Figure I should make it so that I don't drive this giant pile of modifications and sunk dollars at night into a truck or back it into a pole.

As always, thanks a ton for the advice provided here which made this possible (and apologies for being instrumental in driving up the cost of 96-97 corners). Here's a before and after.

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Did you have to cut your housing to fit the projectors??
 
XR7-4.6 said:
That looks great! A lot of projector retrofits stand out to me but that looks clean!

I take it you got the 96-97 clears *used* ? Sad thing is 20 years ago they were all over eBay for less than $20! For some reason cheaper than the 89-95 clears that are still produced… which is why I bought a 96-97 set for my 94 then(close enough 😆). Wish I bought 5 in hindsight
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I got them new in box last year, which accounts for the expense. They were perfect. I paid a lot, but my choice was that amount or not having clears at all, because no others were on the market (in any condition), so I took them and consoled myself with having superb examples.

Chingon1 said:
Did you have to cut your housing to fit the projectors??
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Yes. I had a local guy do that: he does great work. They're new Eagle Eyes housings.
 
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Adding the LED to the mirror switch was all the rage like 15 years ago. And since then, I think this might be the first time I've seen it brought up again. :)
 
theterminator93 said:
Adding the LED to the mirror switch was all the rage like 15 years ago. And since then, I think this might be the first time I've seen it brought up again. :)
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May as well since I brought it up the first time 😆
 
Swapped out the winter tires for the all-seasons on the Mark VIII and patched a minor exhaust weld leak that developed recently.

Then I decided to see where an intermittent belt drive squeak was coming from. Turns out it's the A/C pulley, and both UCAs are shot, again... :facepalm: :sad:
 
Stanley said:
Gentex auto-dim rear mirror added, backup light bar installed, and a complete front headlight swap: Morimoto 9.0 projectors and clearer corners, both in all-new housings, wrapped in protective film. Figure I should make it so that I don't drive this giant pile of modifications and sunk dollars at night into a truck or back it into a pole.

As always, thanks a ton for the advice provided here which made this possible (and apologies for being instrumental in driving up the cost of 96-97 corners). Here's a before and after.

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Looks really great. Sometimes you see projector retrofits (not necessarily on these cars) and it looks like the Terminator when he has to remove his fake human eye. Those aren't obtrusive at all and look very nice. Hopefully the increased light output helps. Any trouble aiming them?
 
Installed a new shift knob. Details forthcoming in the shift knob thread. In the meantime, any interior geeks want to guess what I'm working with?

Hint: it's genuine wood, and judging from the design of the inner structure, it came from the same supplier as the Lincoln LS knob; but it's not FoMoCo.

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1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Installed a new shift knob. Details forthcoming in the shift knob thread. In the meantime, any interior geeks want to guess what I'm working with?

Hint: it's genuine wood, and judging from the design of the inner structure, it came from the same supplier as the Lincoln LS knob; but it's not FoMoCo.

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Jaguar XJ8
 
Went to take mine on an errand run and the brake pedal was softer than Liberace in the Playboy mansion. There's a drip from one of the drums so I've probably got a bad wheel cylinder. That's a problem for tomorrow.
 
Changed oil and air filler. I used the recommended motocraft that’s smaller in diameter and was much easier to get in there.
 
Hmm can you paint/dip the bulbs? I wonder if a mesh screen would look tacky
 
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