5.0 HO 5 speed, super-cpe seats, mach460 sound with 10 disc changer in trunk, mustang GT spindles/calipers, exhaust, etc.
Whoa! Love the paint job! Any interior/engine shots?
I will take some interior and engine pics tomorrow.
nice
Wow... super coupe seats. I always thought that couldn't be done. I had the same seats in my SHO and they were awesome. VERY nice car. Reminds me a bit of Crystal's Sport.
Wow, that is one clean bird. Very nice man. Paint looks uber nice. I want to see your interior and engine. Post more pics! Post more pics!
Bryan
Super clean ride you got :)
although I'm not a fan of center stripes going lower than the bumpers.
sweet. nice job. and welcome...you kinda came out of nowhere...
i checked your profile....into rc aircraft...whatcha got?
I just found this forum tonight, but I have had my t-bird since 1990, It was the catalog vehicle for the 1988 factory brochure. I have a abel hobbies "adrenaline" profile 3D, model tech "Magic" and a dual motor slow stick (nowhere near slow), traxxas revo truck, nitro rustler buggy, and a couple of boats as well. I have been reading alot of posts, seems like alot of good people. Hope I can help some people out or contribute in some way.
We're the same as any other community (internet or not), you get your mix of good and bad. Welcome.
awesome...so your car was the one they took pics of for the 88 catalog? what color was it originally?
i currently am messing around with a potenski cobra, 60 size cap 232 and an hobbico avistar. i sold my RC10GT/novarossi .15 fully converted to aluminum, t-maxx moderately modded, nitro hawk, midwest cap 232 (never built it), ultimate bipe, telemaster. im looking into getting a ikarus piccolo pro or some sort of micro heli.
Very Beautiful!
Oh so purdy and clean. I wish I could get my car to look that good.
It was one of a handfull that we used for the catalog, I will post a picture of it. It was originally twilight blue with a grey interior. Here are a couple more pics, although it is raining.
As far as the interior goes, I gutted the original grey cloth interior, installed the black interior and super coupe seats, I recovered the rear seat with the super coupe seat covers, removed the powerseat controls from the center console and installed backlit powerwindow switches and a one touch down relay for the LF window. I just installed the original electronic cluster back in the vehicle, I had a mustang white face buttstuffog cluster in it for the past 6 years, I had to make a custom meter hood and wire it up, but it worked as it should. I also installed a factory mach 460 sound system, complete with the cool double bubble speaker grills in the package tray, morphed in a town car 10 disk changer in the trunk. I am planning on removing the changer and adding the factory equalizer and a hard wired IPOD plug. I removed the chmsl because the rear wing already has the 3rd brake light built in. I have the original EVTM, shop manuals, and engineering electrical blueprints, so all of wiring has been a breeze.
As far as the engine trans swap goes, back in 1991, we had a prototype mustang that was used for fuel evaluations, the gt was plucked from the line and sent to our shop in Romulus Michigan, they removed the engine and sent it to Fords engine research lab in Southfield, MI, where they ported and polished the heads, and balanced the bottom end, they sent the motor back to our shop where we re-installed it. Then the vehicle was shipped to Fords fuel research lab in denver Colorado where they did the final tuning and fuel mileage calulations, the numbers were then reported to the EPA for listing. The mustang was then shipped to us in Palm Springs where we used it for a year for catalog photography. In the spring of 92' I got to use this mustang for my donor, I used every thing I could, from the charcoal canister to the spindles, and everything in between, also the car had less than 200 miles on it. The engine swap was easy, I used the computer out of the mustang, the engine harness out of the mustang, and kept the t-bird chassis harness, I only had to re-pin a couple of connectors. I used all of the mustang exhaust, had to legthen it of course. Pedal assembly and center console were from a turbo coupe. Since the swap in 92' I have logged only 15k on the car, it has plenty of power and it passes our smog test out here better than a new car. Here is a scan from 95' after I had finished everything.
shame302, quite a collection of rc's. I am slowly building up mine as well. I had 2 aerohawk helicopter's that I was learning on, but the mixing boards went out on both of them, so for the moment, I am without a helicopter. As far as my revo goes, I have done some minor upgrades, but is it mostly stock, I just painted a 70' cuda body to match my real 70'cuda, I will post a pic, although I don't know if it is appropiate as this is a t-bird cougar site, but I will see if anyone has a problem.
Was the trim on the doors removed for the official ford photos? If so I've never noticed that. Sweet 'Cuda also.
I have a big soft spot for 'Cudas. Very nice. I think you'll find most of the people here have a pretty good appreciation for other cars (except horribly done rice).
On a few of the press cars we removed the body side moldings, but not for the catalog's. Also, I had installed a set of HID headlamps from a 98' mark VII, I replaced them this time with new original headlamps. When I did the conversion, I morphed the reflector/ballast/bulb from the mark into the rear of the tbird headlamp housing, and mounted the transformer to the center radiator support.
Nice toys, what is the gunmetal grey color on the bird? Looks good.
Do you have any pictures of the HID setup? What did you do with them when you went back to the originals?
The colors are from a 2005 Ford GT-Lt. gunmetal grey with satin silver pearlcoat stripes.
:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
Nice! A GT and a Fox T-Bird in the same shot. Both look amazing!
Here are a couple of pics of the hid lights, sorry about the quality, the fluorescent lighting in the shop is not very good.
how was that seat install? and what kinda rocker switches are they on the console? not the normal 6way power seat switch
wow! that is one of the cleanest looking TBirds i have ever sawed! VERY nice. ^_^
Ok it's bad enough that your bird looks as good as it does. But that pic of it with the GT in matching paint makes me sick. :D Do you have any of the two side by side as opposed to back to back? They really look awesome together.
the pic of you have of youre tbird and the gt is so frickin awesome it makes me sick.
how well did the hid headlights work in the tbird? i assume not all that good being as you went back too a stock headlight setup...
WELL DONE.
If I had a Thunderbird instead of my '88 XR7, I would have done it exactly like that... I mean, exactly. Very good taste.
Can I have it?
im not even sure what to type,, what to say.......
anyone got any ideas ?
i can not come up with any words that even come close to what needs expressed.
and the story behind it,,,, what a lucky bird.
It once hung among other frames waiting for assembly , added touches to things and people and machines placing parts here and there. "keep the line moving!!, they're all the same!!" she heard one man say,,,,,,,
Such a young little chicken with scared eyes big and round , not so sure of whats going to happen next having already heard rumors about something called a junk yard......
then you came along. :bowdown:
great job,, yeah we kind of take our cars serious around here.
Holy cow man. The pic with the GT is mint. What other goodies are you going to pull out of your hat? Geez! Nice man. How'd you like the lights with the hids in them? Have you done anything to the engine since the swap?
Bryan
Thanks everyone for the great comments! I love this car, and always have, as far as the hid's go, they worked great, but they were yellowing and even though I bought a new set of headlamps, I did not want to re-cut the reflectors out and re epoxy them in, and I was heading down the "back to stock" road. I wanted the automatic headlamps to function (no high beam with the HID's). I have not done anything at all to the motor, although it won't run with my cuda in a straight line, it handles excellent, stops on a dime, plenty of power pulling out of the corners, and passes the smog test without a hitch. Front seats were easy to bolt in and wire up, as far as the rear seats go, I stripped the covers off of the super cpe seats and installed them on my frames. I replaced the pwr seat switch plate with a blank, cut out the openings for the power mirror switch and the illuminated power window switches from a 92' taurus.
i hadnt got to read this complete thread until now... but all i got to say is NICE!!!!! :D very clean and unique, i really like it
Frank
Great car and scenery!
I am very impressed.
I'm seeing this for the first time too, very nce gunkle04! glad you found us :) I love what you did with the SC seats ;)
Beautiful bird you have there gunkel04! What vehicle did you get the backlit powerwindow switches and a one touch down relay from? I saw a pair in a Windstar that may fit, but didn't pull them because I wanted to be sure. That's a great mod!
Switches were from a old Taurus, I believe around a 92' or 93' and the one touch down module was from an old mustang, I believe around the same vintage. Thanks again for the great comments. I have been driving it pretty much everyday now since the repaint and build. Only problem so far it that the rear view mirror fell off. I had installed a compass/temp mirror from a 00' Lincoln, which entailed installing the new "bigger" mirror button, but since I changed everything back to stock, including the headlamps, I wanted to install the original mirror with the headlight dimmer module so my auto headlamps would function. I glued the old small mirror button onto the new button, needless to say, it did not stick. I will try some 3m minuite bond next, the ca/activator style did not hold up to the heat. Thanks again!
Have you tried the 3M Rearview Mirror Adhesive?
http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/auto_marine_aero/automotive_aftermarket/node_GSYQ2TWC20gs/root_GST1T4S9TCgv/vroot_GSLPLPKL4Xge/bgel_JXJNDV1FRWbl/gvel_WWR6DCKBSPgl/theme_us_aad_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html
Works great.
That adhesive works great when you are re-attaching the mirror button directly to the glass, but I am trying to adhere the old small mirror button to the new larger mirror button, our local glass man directed me to the minute bond. Thanks though for the link and advise!
What do you think of the automatic high-beam dimmer? Since I bought my car in 1992 I don't think I've ever used it save to see how they worked. I found that every time I drive by a new, highly-reflective road sign, my own headlights trip the sensor (even when it's set to minimum sensitivity) and make the high-beams kick off until I pass the sign...
All I can say is OMG. That car is shockingly beautiful. Does the wing come from an SC too? How does the width compare to the width of the car? I've never been fond of wings (the fastest I've ever gotten my S.O 5.0 to was 105 and it was pretty much maxed out at that point -- and I don't drive fast anymore anyway -- I certainly don't need the downforce), but I have to admit that yours complements it nicely.
What's your opinion on the wheels? I presume that your T/C originally came with snowflakes. Mine originally had the 14" plastic wheel covers and they rattled so badly that I upgraded to turbines (Tradin' Times is a wonderful thing), but I've always been jealous of snowflakes :) Yet looking at yours and tryimg to imagine snowflakes, I'm wondering if the turbines look better (though they are a PITA to keep clean).
For whatever reason, I get on this kick to make things work. You are correct about the auto dimmer's functionality, and them being finicky, but I just wanted to make it work, along with the auto-head lamp delay, and when I had the HID's installed, neither would operate correctly. So, when I started going bact to somewhat stock, I wanted everything to function as new. The wing was from the accessory catalog from I believe 94' or 95' at one time I had the taurus sho wing on the back, but that did not have the chmsl in it. The wheels that came on the car were the 8 round hole alloy wheels, problem was that they were 14" and of course, I wanted to put 15's on it, they are a pita to keep clean, but I use mother's wheel mist, and that seems to work the best. Thanks again for the great comments!
Old hotness = chrome wheels
New hotness = stock wheels same color as the car
I like your spoiler gunkel, but what do you think about the new 05 'stang spoiler? I think it'd look great on any 88 cat. You need to get a nose to nose photo of your cat and the gt on a dry lakebed setting. That would be sweet.
personally, ive never used the auto dimmer. its more of a pain in the butt. people think you are flashing to pass all the time. ife found that the stock sensor location is a pretty slick place to mound a radar detector, running the wires under the headliner and down the pillars. the only headlight feature i do like is the auto on/off.
Holy !
dude, that's awesome.
And you're right in there with Ford to boot.
Wow, am I glad you found us.
Your recent post in the desktop thread made me search for more pics of that bird and that is how I landed here, hence the old thread revival. I totally missed this thread when it was first created.
So is your car the twilight blue Thunderbird LX in the center spread of the dealer brochure for 88?
Wow you guys brought this one back to life!
sweeeet.
whoa nelly...that thing is amazing:bowdown:
i am now extremely jealous:shoothead
Karl brought it back to life, no complaining.
What great creativity in paint job. Do you do any of the work yourself. That car looks great.