Pretty much stock, the only engine mods are 19# injectors and 65mm TB. Some year it will need another date with the paint shop (had it repainted in 1996). Could use a vacuuming, too. Took a few shots before day 2 of my keyless entry upgrade.
Couple more pics:
Nice Seats!!
Ditto! Im jealous of the power passenger seat. Wish mine had it.
Love the leather man, are those custom
The fronts are, the back is straight out of an XR7 that was put into the yard way before it's time. The only reason I had the fronts done at all was because, while the passenger seat was immaculate, there was no driver seat in the XR7 and I had to get one from a TC that was in bad shape. There's a shop at PA420 and US13 that does upholstery, mostly on boats. Leather was out of my price range at the time so the front seats are vinyl, but the gray inserts are a different kind with a really smooth texture. They don't feel like vinyl or leather, really, they're sort of in-between and feel kinda cool. I didn't like the all-red look of the originals and settled on charcoal gray inserts to break all that red up a bit (and my original cloth seats had a gray pattern in the inserts so I had an idea what I was looking for).
Reguardless, those are a NICE set of seats man. Kinda like a mix between pornstar adn raven on seats
Nice lookin' bird!
Why the switch to 19's on a basically stock motor?.
That's a very nice looking T-Bird. Other than lack of a moonroof, which isn't that big of a deal, that is exactly what I would look for in a bird.
Nce. and yeah why just the 19's?
Engine mods are beyond my skill, unfortunately, though a friend up the street is a mechanic. I tried to go to 24#, but he said it ran way too rich and he wasn't able to make a MAF conversion work (he runs a race car on dirt tracks but modding cars like mine isn't really his thing). So I left it at the 19's, the 65mm TB, and an adjustable fuel pressure regulator that my friend said he needed to use to make it work (he ground out the upper intake manifold to match the TB inner diameter, as per the instructions). Basically I just wanted a bit more hp, felt it was too sluggish like stock. For a while I considered putting it on a dyno to see if there was any real benefit but never got around to it. It definitely feels faster.
The mods I do are mostly around the interior or electrical in nature, e.g. door ajar sensors, washer fluid bottle with sensor, tripminder install, cupholder, voltmeter where the ride control switches go, fog lamps in the air dam, passenger power seat, electrochromic mirror, keyless entry (the last is in progress, nearly done). I wish I had the skills and the garage to do things like MAF conversion or 11" brakes but those are just a bridge too far. I'd pay a shop to do those things if I was fairly sure that they knew exactly how to do it.
Well nice Thunderbird overall the seats look nice as well i can't wait till i got the money to get mine custom Blue and white centers.
Something to make me feel a bit better until my brakes are fixed...
The inners are used, though they look new. I still need to score a NOS driver's side parking light. The rest are new-in-the-box.
I'm still waiting on a price from the paint shop, too...
Edit: I've gotten a driver's side one too (not shown in the pic) so they all look new now.
Very Clean looking.
Thanks! I'm still awaiting word from the body shop if the cost of paint will be covered since it's supposed to be guaranteed from last time. So I have to ask: what's everyone's opinion: TC hood or smooth? I have a 5.0 so the AC bracket would have to be ground down in the usual way...
smooth
Finally got word from the paint shop. The paint manufacturer will cover the materials, but not the labor. I suppose it's better than nothing. Thursday I'll take the car over for an estimate...
I swapped these in yesterday (Mike, those C panels turned out great):
I think I agree that a smooth hood looks better. Okay, what about this quick photochop: which looks better, grille or TC?
i like the tc nose, but thats just me
By the way, I got the word from the paint shop. $4610, full repaint, including bumper trim, and fixing all rust and dings. I have dings on both sides as well as on the hood and roof (hailstorms suck). Rust is in the usual places as well as in a couple of spots below the rear window, and he'll fix all the rust on the inside of the trunk lid (not much, just a little, but will be fixed). He *might* remove the side trim and paint beneath it, depends on whether he can find replacement trim and/or pull mine without destroying it. I told him to use his best judgement (it's a family business, he's *very* reputable and I trust him -- he repainted the car before). The finish will be factory (paint + clearcoat), not sanded to showroom, but it's a DD so I don't want to get really crazy.
I checked out another shop that's been there forever and does similar quality work (perhaps better). They couldn't even come close. $5k minimum, with no rust repair.
I think I like the TC header a bit more...for what it's worth, I have one in mint condition that looks like it should match your paint just about perfectly.
-Don
P.S.
Are ya making good use of the TC sway bar yet? lol
Tempting, tempting...I just might make another road trip :D
As for the sway bar, hell yeah! It will get even better when I stick new sneakers on the rims. I'm on Z-rated Bridgestone Turanza-Z Revo's and they're down to the hard compound. I'm still trying to see if I can first score some snowflakes before making a visit to tirerack.com.
Edit: Turanza-Revo has apparently been renamed the Turanza-LS. The review below shows why I originally bought them -- among grand touring tires (and possibly more than that), they were the best in wet weather.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/TireTestServlet?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle+ResponsEdge&tirePageLocQty=
I made a small switch last night (thanks Don):
I've always likes teh TC nose better then the grills on the 87-8's. Then again. I still prefer an 87-88 cougar to even that. It looks great man. Good job!!
WOW, that is pretty close to our paint color...maybe a hair lighter...I might be able to set you up with a set of the mustang pony rims if you're interested...I'll have to make a phone call...the guy I bought the cougar off of still hasn't given them to me...they would be bare though and obviously need tires...but you're looking to do that anyway.
Give me a call if you'd like to try that route.
-Don
P.S.
Your panel alignment job with that header panel looks pretty good!
Actually I picked up a set of snowflakes on the way back from CJ. They're sitting in storage until I can find a shop to refinish them.
The reason my paint looks lighter than the header panel is because my clearcoat is beat-up. I can't wait to get the car painted (the guy at the paint shop says he can't do it until October at the earliest).
You might be able to use a little rubbing compound to freshen up your paint, it'll help remove the loose oxidized clear coat...did wonders for my buddy's '71 maverick and he had all sorts of burned into his paint.
Can't wait to see it all painted up again with a nice set of snowflakes...are you going to get them powdercoated? or just natural with clear?
the snowflakes def need refinishing but only one small spot of curb rash. Tc nose looks great man!!! cant wait to see the snowflakes on there
Are you going to be selling the Turbines?
Almost certainly but I want to wait until the snowflakes are on the car before I commit to selling them.
Nice t-bird looking awesome with turbines on there
Not sure. Can you explain the difference to me? I don't know anything about refinishing wheels.
I stopped by the paint shop and we agreed on starting it as soon as we hit October (as there's a tiny chance I might need the car before then). There's a shop near the airport that does rims for him that he'll hook me up with when I'm ready.
natural finish is just taking the peeling clear off, and having them re cleared. Powder coating is a very durable finish, and you can have them done in a wide veriaty of colors
Did you ever get the center cap? I never heard back from you?
Jim
Alright, drop me a PM if/when you are selling them (I dont need the rubber either).
Yeah...I've been debating between 10 holes and Turbines, and now I've chosen the Turbines after seeing them on your car. My Uncle has tires I can use too (275s hehe).
For the wheel I bought from you? Yup, I picked one up at Carlisle.
Whoa, everyone hold your horses. I haven't even hooked up with the shop that will be refinishing the snowflakes. And then, once the rims are done, I have to order tires and get them mounted. I haven't even decided if I'd even be willing to ship the rims, but most likely not.
Ok, good.
Hey man, I think you need a shift kit and trans-cooler installed in that monster of your...hmmm...I seem to have both that I can install for cheap...pro-long the life of your trans...interested?
give me a ring and let me know...other wise i will probably just sell to whoever wants it.
-Don
For the longest time I've been having voltage issues. I already have a 130A Ford Racing alternator (at least that's what I had told the mechanic to put in all those years ago), and yet when I have the lights and AC/Heater on I have a hard time staying above 12V while driving. The fog lamps are really what kill me: two 55W bulbs up front. So I decided to try out LED lights to see if I can reclaim some wattage. I got some lights from http://www.autolumination.com and put them in:
- 2 small 194-type replacements around the license plate, 2 on the inner tail lights, 4 illuminating the instrument cluster, and 2 illuminating the speedo
- 4 larger lights for the brake lights (but one was bad/burned out so I have a normal bulb in there)
I took some pics. Around the license plate they're really bright, which looks kinda cool. Around the instrument cluster they're about normal illumination, maybe just a touch brighter, but a cleaner bluish white. A side-effect is that the normal deep green is now a bit more aqua and is a lot closer to the tripminder color. I find that I really like it, as it takes some of the edge off that green. I snapped some pics to show the results.
The downside? They're expensive. The upside? 0.4-0.5V improvement.
Almost like it gives off a more "true" color doesn't it? Sweet!
The 194 ones I got are the ones with the full metallic heatsink, btw...
The instrument cluster pic is a little brighter than it really looks. The camera is a little more sensitive than the mark one eyeball, but it's not far off.
One more. Sorry for the blur, but the engine was running. The point is the color...
Looks awesome i think i need new bulbs in my dash seems like the dont give off well
looking good man!!
Looks good. I wonder how they would work on a full digi dash......
I forgot, now all you need to do is get those snowflakes done up, and put on!! I wanna see them go to good use!
I'll let you know.....LOL!
I'm taking them to the body shop tomorrow. The guy there tells me that he can simply ask the guy from the refinishing shop to pick them up there.
By the way, Don's seen the gauges up-close-and-personal so he can give you an unbiased opinion of them...
The rims are at the shop...and it's expensive to refinish them...$170 a wheel + tax. I don't know anything about refinishing rims, but the guy said he planned to machine them down and fully refinish them. He said they'll be done by the end of next week, so I'm looking forward to seeing what I end up with.
if hes machining them down they should come out good! costs more a wheel then you payed me for all four! Cant wait to see them!
I got the rims back today!
These pictures don't come close to doing justice to how they look (especially since I reduced the size). The guy who did them opened one box to show me the work, and I was blown away. They make the center caps look like by comparison, now. I'll probably have to go back to him next week and turn in the caps to see what he can do with them. The car goes in to the same shop for paint+rust repair+ding repair on Monday anyway.
Anyhow, some pics
(http://i21.tinypic.com/290ssbt.png)(http://i23.tinypic.com/b8v69h.png)(http://i20.tinypic.com/nz15bl.png)(http://i24.tinypic.com/25eyc8i.png)
Awsome dude looks like you could eat off of them now very cool!! :cougarsmily: :cougarsmily:
Whoa, how much did that cost you if you don't mind me asking?
Brian
Those look great.
I'm curious as to what do the backsides look like?
Brent
:cougarsmily:
Lol, I didn't look. I put them in the storage place I'm renting so I'll have to take a look the next time I stop by.
glad to see they are getting good use!!
Haven't seen my 'Bird in over a month, now. It's still being painted. I think I'm going through withdrawal...
It's hard to take decent pictures this early in the year, but I went and took these this afternoon: TinyPic resized them down -- these aren't the original resolution, but they're good enough...
(http://i28.tinypic.com/2ug05rs.jpg)
(http://i28.tinypic.com/2drvt6v.jpg)
(http://i32.tinypic.com/281tug0.jpg)
(http://i31.tinypic.com/v7vzab.jpg)
(http://i30.tinypic.com/xo4gmp.jpg)
What's been done? Complete repaint from front to back, rust repair, and ding repair. The bumper and side trim was also painted, as well as the mirrors and wheelwells. NOS RH taillight and Thunderbird logo as well. I ordered tires for the snowflakes last night, so when those go on I'll take some more. It's hard to tell but there are some water spots on the hood as we had some rain last night, but it's pretty clean. The car needs a little work still, but it should all be done by next weekend.
The bottom of the trunk lid, insides around the trunk latch area, doorjambs, and underneath the front and rear window trim also saw some work, and are rust-free for now. The nose and rear bumper also came off and underneath them are also treated. I don't know much about painting, but the car saw an acid-etch primer (I think), then a full sanding, then a poly primer, then another full sanding, then paint + clearcoat.
It looks awesome,just like brand new.
One more from above...
(http://i31.tinypic.com/ekjjlu.jpg)
Pull off that driver side taillight and tear it apart,polish the ---- out of all of it,reassemble it,reinstall it,and then you'll have two great looking taillights.I just did mine a couple of weeks ago.beautiful.By the way,great looking Bird.You have to be proud,.
!! Came out amazing man!!! Can't wait to see the snowflakes on there!!! O man I'm jealous thats a beautiful bird!!
beautiful... -wipes away a tear-
Looks awesome. Congrats
Great paint job man, thats exactly what my car needs. How much does a paint job like that cost?
The total was $4608 (and five months of waiting).
EDIT: corrected the price. I was adding in other costs in my head that had nothing to do with the paint (e.g. rims)
Soooo Nice! And those turbines look so good on it.
But that paint price makes my wallet cringe. :hick:
Lol. It wasn't just paint, though. They did a lot of rust and ding repair as well.
The tires came in today (225/55ZR-16 Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position -- after three days of research I've concluded that these are currently the absolute best tires available for driving in the rain, as Goodyear hasn't made Eagle Aquatred's for quite some time). Anyhow, I went and got the rims out of storage, and here are two more pics I took of one (beware: 56K death):
The first is from the front and the other is from the back. They are at full resolution.
http://www.savefile.com/files/1419553
http://www.savefile.com/files/1419557
So I have 4 new tires, 4 refinished rims, and 4 NOS center caps. Unfortunately I'm still waiting on those strut mounts. They were supposed to arrive today (UPS 2-day shipping), but the website for the vendor says that no tracking number has even been entered yet. It took upwards of ten tries to get a voice on their customer service -- I kept getting lots of noise, like fifty people talking, as if someone on the other end had his/her phone on speaker or something. They said they'd e-mail the tracking number, but it's been two hours now and nothing. I doubt I'll ever buy from them again. They claim they should be delivered today, but the business day is over now and no strut mounts. As far as I'm concerned, they officially suck now.
Cant wait to see them on there!!
Nice:D
Makes my good looking 20 year old factory paint job look like :hick:
Nice :D
Makes my good looking 1 year old paint job look like .
Oh wait.... its covered in Hail Damage ;-;
Looks like anyway. :[
I LOVE YOURS THOUGH!
The snowflakes really change the look of the car :D
(http://i25.tinypic.com/abibyv.jpg)
(http://i27.tinypic.com/2yy2w3n.jpg)
(http://i30.tinypic.com/358quee.jpg)
(http://i25.tinypic.com/15wfn94.jpg)
(http://i30.tinypic.com/i3uslu.jpg)
(http://i27.tinypic.com/soxv9y.jpg)
Rims are refinished, caps are all NOS. There are still some odds and ends to do. A button on the instrument cluster was broken and I had to swap in the button set from a spare cluster. I also put in a NOS fuel gauge, and I appear to have correct fuel readings for once. My trunk light isn't working, and I found that the bulb was gone, but putting in one didn't help. Will have to look into that tomorrow. Also need to swap the front license plate holder next week as the one on the car is cracked. As a final touch, I swapped in my modded instrument cluster stencil that has green "SPEED CONTROL" in place of amber "CHECK OIL" as I don't have the sender for that. Installed a wire/connector in the cluster connector for it, and someday I'll put in a relay so the cruise can trip the light (once I figure out the wiring). The strut mounts are finally in, and I scored a rubber distributor cap and NOS coil cover, but my radio amp wire is in the way of the cover so I'll have to figure that one out.
AWESOME!!!
SOOOO glad someone got good use out of those wheels!! They look great man!!
looks great, whats the name of the place that did the seats you meantioned it was on 420 and chester pike?
Much better! Now you need to get some Cragars! lol.
Hmmm. I don't remember, it was ten years ago. It was Keystone-something. If I remember correctly it's next to the gas station that's on the corner. If you're going north on Chester pike, it's on the left just after you cross 420.
Cool I'll look for them, thanks
Here...I found the card the guy had given me when he did the seats:
(typing what's on the card)
Keith's Automotive Service Center
Repairs - Upholstery
751 Chester Pike
Prospect Park, PA 19076
Keith Reid
(610) 532-2881
State Inspection
Emissions Inspection
Complete Auto Repair
"ASE Certified"
Complete Auto & Boat Upholstery
He has a book that contains pictures of his work. It's very, very, good, but be prepared to shell out some cash for it.
Update: I stopped in Keith's to see if I can get some rear-seat work done. He doesn't do upholstery anymore, but there's supposedly a place on US 322 (just past PA 452) that does it. It's actually next door to the mechanic that works on my car, LOL. I'll be stopping in there Monday to see what they can do.
The latest mod: 1995 T-Bird dome light. Two hours to paint, ten minutes to mount. Go figure :hick:
looks good!!
Glad to see I've inspired someone, LOL. That one's MUCH brighter IMHO.
Sweet!
Haha, Yea i picked one up on the last Boneyard run myself, out of a Taurus.
Need to paint it Blue/Black/Silver now. :hick:
I like that you guys are using the cv and all taurus dome lights.... i must be the only one that used the MN12 one
the TC wheels look good and i am sorry you had to wait 5 months on a paint job but all in all the car has turn out looking much better than new. Keep up the work and all the pics look good even the 1st few.