What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

Duplicolor has a translucent faux anodize paint that looks killer on bolts, or mark control arms.
 
I did the mark lca's blue anodize, along with the bolts for the Mach 1 intake. IIRC, I did the Valve cover bolts on the PI motor in red engine paint.
 
That reminds me! a few rears ago, mad mikey had a bunch of keychain fobs made out of stainless, with a tbird, cougar or mark design.
Is that something people would like?
I'll see if I can find the pix.
 
Brought the gold one to a paint shop to get a quote on paint.

Currently estimated at 65 hours labor.
 
I went out and pulled all the stuff out of the red cougar,preparing for surgery. It's really hard to decide where to cut.
 
Vicinity said:
Say whaat. Are they including drying time then? Does the air get to take lunch breaks?
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It's a full disassembly of the car, bringing it down to metal where needed, dent repair, multiple filler/sanding/primer/shrinking/blocking stages, and then painting, which will include a wet sand between multiple coats of clear.

Also mixing custom colors.
 
Vicinity said:
Say whaat. Are they including drying time then? Does the air get to take lunch breaks?
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You would be surprised how long it takes to do a proper paint job. To do it right, every piece of trim comes off, side windows come out, bumpers off, lights off, wheelhouse liners out, and everything has to be completely cleaned. Then stripping the paint to bare metal is time consuming, followed by masking, then high build primer, then wet sand the whole car, then wash it again, then any body work, then mask again and another coat of high build primer, then wet sand again, then clean it again, then mask it again then base coat, then clearcoat, then wet sand again, then polish, then clean it again, then reassemble everything, then clean it again…yeah, I’d easily say double that 65hr estimate.
 
MadMikeyL said:
You would be surprised how long it takes to do a proper paint job. To do it right, every piece of trim comes off, side windows come out, bumpers off, lights off, wheelhouse liners out, and everything has to be completely cleaned. Then stripping the paint to bare metal is time consuming, followed by masking, then high build primer, then wet sand the whole car, then wash it again, then any body work, then mask again and another coat of high build primer, then wet sand again, then clean it again, then mask it again then base coat, then clearcoat, then wet sand again, then polish, then clean it again, then reassemble everything, then clean it again…yeah, I’d easily say double that 65hr estimate.
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I'm pulling the windows, trim, lights, and side cladding.
 
Wile E. Coyote said:
I'm pulling the windows, trim, lights, and side cladding.
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Leaving the windshield and rear window? I would never try to remove them again. It was a costly mistake on time and money trying to find a new windshield.

It's an expensive undertaking, but the cost is well worth it. "The price of cool ain't cheap"
 
Zep5.0 said:
Leaving the windshield and rear window? I would never try to remove them again. It was a costly mistake on time and money trying to find a new windshield.

It's an expensive undertaking, but the cost is well worth it. "The price of cool ain't cheap"
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I agree, though on Cougar I’m fairly certain the rear glass needs to be pulled to get the trim out and back in. Windshield and Tbird rear glass though I agree, unless there’s rot in the channels there’s plenty of area to simply mask that the trim will cover anyway.
 
MadMikeyL said:
You would be surprised how long it takes to do a proper paint job. To do it right, every piece of trim comes off, side windows come out, bumpers off, lights off, wheelhouse liners out, and everything has to be completely cleaned. Then stripping the paint to bare metal is time consuming, followed by masking, then high build primer, then wet sand the whole car, then wash it again, then any body work, then mask again and another coat of high build primer, then wet sand again, then clean it again, then mask it again then base coat, then clearcoat, then wet sand again, then polish, then clean it again, then reassemble everything, then clean it again…yeah, I’d easily say double that 65hr estimate.
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Agreed! When my son and I were getting SuperBirdo painted I pulled everything except the windshield and rear glass. They spent around 100 hours sanding and buffing. We saved money a little by installing the doors and other body panels ourselves. Still took a ton of time.
 
Vicinity said:
I understand its a quote and I believe it... but I dont associate that car with any blemish
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Thing is excluding any additional bodywork( dent removal/panel replacement, rust repair) a good repaint requires just as much prep/finishing work starting with rough paint as it does fresh paint, and that’s where the hours/cost add up.

And I agree his car looks fine, but like me I’m sure he knows where it isn’t and likewise it’s been driving him mad
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I agree, though on Cougar I’m fairly certain the rear glass needs to be pulled to get the trim out and back in. Windshield and Tbird rear glass though I agree, unless there’s rot in the channels there’s plenty of area to simply mask that the trim will cover anyway.
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There's rot in the channels. Lower half of the front and both sides in the rear.
 
Vicinity said:
I understand its a quote and I believe it... but I dont associate that car with any blemish
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I appreciate it but i could tell you about 10 spots that have been bugging me, and the body guys pointed out more that I hadn't noticed before.
 
IMG_5153.jpeg

Upgraded the alternator in the Turbo coupe from a 2g to a 3g, they were plagued from the factory with inadequate charging.
I got the whole conversion kit from LMR, I had to clearance the bracket, and do some rewiring, but it’s nice to see the car charging at 14+ volts!

Next upgrade when I get some
time will be the front mount intercooler, the factory intercooler sits right above the exhaust manifold. 🤦🏻‍♂️
As you can imagine, it get pretty hot. It’ll also clean up the engine bay nicely, I think at least.
 
After 2 years I finally tore apart the motor to find out what broke...cam bolt broke, sheared the pin on the cam...then charged the battery and loosened all the rocker arms. Then I cranked it over, at least 3 bent intake valves. #1 is really sucking and blowing so I hope I didn't hurt any valve guides. If work doesn't kick my ass too bad tomorrow I'll start to pull the heads. I found the exact replacement valves so if all looks good I'll replace the bad ones and maybe get lucky to get her going in time for Carlisle...
 
My dad had an 86, with the nice stereo, jbl, I think.
It would dim the lights at night while I jammed on a long drive. My dad never had that problem. :)
I think I have two jbl subs from one. 6.5" maybe. If I find them, I'll post pix.
Edit: we crossposted; what engine sheared a cambolt?
 
AdamG said:
After 2 years I finally tore apart the motor to find out what broke...cam bolt broke, sheared the pin on the cam...then charged the battery and loosened all the rocker arms. Then I cranked it over, at least 3 bent intake valves. #1 is really sucking and blowing so I hope I didn't hurt any valve guides. If work doesn't kick my ass too bad tomorrow I'll start to pull the heads. I found the exact replacement valves so if all looks good I'll replace the bad ones and maybe get lucky to get her going in time for Carlisle...
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I hope there's not a hole in a piston and any other damage. That sounds scary.
 
I don't think there's any piston damage, it cranks smooth except for the cylinder that definitely has a bent valve, it moves too much air, plus it's #1 cylinder so with the timing cover off we heard no air leaking to the bottom end. Looks like this will force me to finally swap intakes as well...for those that don't know my car, I've been running a heavily ported and bored 95 cobra intake with a non egr explorer lower that's port matched to my tfs 205cc twisted wedge 11r heads. I have a trick flow r intake ready to go with matching fuel rails that also match my valve covers. Those are on top of a dart block, 363ci, forged internals and a stage 5 tfs .595 lift cam.20220502_202636.jpg20211202_165635.jpg

My fusion sport is fun and just as fast as the tbird, but I really miss the beast...
 
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