So, this is my first post here, I found this site from google. I was trying to find some information about my car, not too much to be found sadly. I did find this site, and from what I've seen, I like it! So, this is my 1984 Thunderbird Elan. I bought it for 300, I can't drive it yet, since it's not registered, insured, and that thing called a license...I'll get it soon though. Money has been the biggest issue. Nevertheless, I have put at least 300 back into the car for repairs, and with about 300 more, she'll be road ready! :burnout:
I've replaced all the brake lines and hoses, the rear shoes and cylinders, the brake booster (that was fun...) the oil/filter, and I'm gonna give her a good tune up soon. It's an 84, meaning it's 25 years old, so it no longer needs to go through emissions in Connecticut. :rollin: I pulled the cats (or what was left of them, There were no pipes left after them!) and I'm gonna get a smog pump delete pulley. I also got it an air filter and 2 lers. I also fixed the tape player. It didn't play tapes, so I pulled it out, opened it up and found a belt had fallen off due to being stretched over time. Simple fix, really. I recharged the AC too, it uses the older type of gas and my dad had a tank of it. Pretty cool stuff.
It still needs the rest of the exhaust system, tires (I want to go with white walls again), and a tune up. Not so high on my priority list is the headliner, paint, hubcaps/rims, headlamps (they have water in them), the passenger side door lock motor, driver side window motor(works but it's in its way out), new speakers (all ped the bed, tons of rattle), and eventually add some more power into this beautiful car. Oh, and the motor for the antenna. I think it might be a gear or something, because when I flip the switch to raise and lower the antenna, I hear the whirring of a motor, but the antenna doesn't rise.
Oh, by the way, does this thing really have only 140 HP? That's just pathetic quite honestly. Why is it so low? Government limiting? Is there anything to let this V8 have to power of what a V8 should have? And don't say swap engines...though I do want to switch it over to manual once I get the money. I was reading a bit, and a T5 from a fox body mustang oughta work just fine, right? It'll just bolt it?
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1162.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1163.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1167.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1168.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1170.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1158.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1172.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1149.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l280/dragon574444/1984%20Ford%20Thunderbird/100_1156.jpg)
I love my car. The odometer reads 45K, but the service records I have show that it rolled over. Whose idea was it to make a 5 digit odometer? I have records from 1987-1997, and I think it's been in minor front end collision. A new fender, coat of paint, hood alignment, and pinstripe seems like it, eh?
Welcome, All the info you can think of, is here at your fingertips.
Welcome! Looks like a solid foundation to make whatever you want out of it. My vote would be for white letter tires instead of whitewalls.
Heh, my dad said the same thing. I think I'll go with white letters then :D
I had white letters on my car back in the day and really liked them. White walls are for old dudes...lol. (no offense old dudes).
Welcome aboard and thanks for your T-bird Elan Photos. :birdsmily:
oh the sarcasm lol Welcome and make yourself at home
forget the smog deleate pulley. Its a waste of money, you can just run a shorter belt.
yea that motor is LOW power. its a CFI motor, they pretty much suck. I BELIEVE that should be a e6 head motor so thats part of the problem. You can do a HO swap to it,not sure about on the harness what needs to be changedm but get the top end and cam from a mustang gt, or lincoln mark VII and swap it on. That with msutang headers and duel exhaust will net you around 225 at the motor. Yes t-5 from the mustang will bolt in. Good luck with the car!!
You have a real nice start, to a good project.the car looks to be pretty solid.......................good luck with it.
Welcome, your car looks solid! Have fun with it.
Great Car!
For the option experts~What's with an '84 having Electros? i thought they were Heritage only?
Also the seats look like Heritage style...
First time i've seen that style insert on the front emblem (black border w/ white or silver middle).
Maybe an end of the '83 year heritage turned elan at the factory? Or maybe its my first time seeing an '84 elan and they all look like this?
Just curious.
83 was the last year for Heritage name 84 it became Elan. I noticed the emblem also, I have a few of them but never seen that one.
To the o/p nice car, welcome to the board its a great site and go with the white letter. My sons car is your car but a 83. Not the best pic but heres one where you can see how it will look with white letters
also if you have your heart set on a smog delete pulley I have one. These cars are great for building power easy as they have a great platform. I would do the rear end and 5 speed swap then do the motor. That way you will be happier with the end result, and can really enjoy a proper 5.0!
You are my hero...look at all those bird's. :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:
Thanks for the kind comments everyone. I think your Heritage turned Elan theory might be correct, Romeo. The car was manufactured in January of 84 if I recall correctly. I'll double check on that for you later tonight. What do you mean by electros though? It's got a digital speedometer/gas gauge...Oh yeah. It has no temp gauge. How am I supposed to tell if it's running hot? Those white letters do look great, I'll definitely go with them once I get the money. I love that blue too, I plan on repainting it that color.
daboss, how much are you asking for that delete pulley? I do want to keep the stock belt size, it'll make things easier for me or anyone who might own the car after me (I plan on keeping this car though).
well useing the pulley still leaves drag so leaving the pump is the same. But I bought it for 75, never used it, id sell it for 45 plus shipping.
"Electroluminescent" Emblems, on your pillars.
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/Aesthetikz/eBay/electros01.jpg)
If they work, They will light up~But it's very common for them to go bad.
That's awesome! Mine don't light up, I assume there's a bulb in them? I'm gonna replace the bulb as soon as I can. I wondered why those were there...
*edit* Well, that's definitely no light bulb...I 'm guessing I'll need to replace those. Ebay maybe...
Do a search for coach lamps, you will get a lot of info on them on here. If you cant find it I believe I still have the company name of where you can get the luminescent sheets. If your invertors are bad then you have another issue
scuse me Dansbird , about your sons t bird tires......... what is the size of them and the serie id guess 225/60/15 am i close? thanx im juste verifying how my next set will look
Yes they are 225/60/15's, on my XR7 I went with a 235
Welcome! You'll find out whatever you need to know here and probably some things you don't need to know.... By the way, in those first couple of pictures, that topper won't fit on your bird. Just thought I'd provide some information right away. :D
Heh, thanks, I didn't try to put it on yet :P Thanks for saving me the effort!
I want you to be my Daddy! LOL! You got all those nice Birds! I really like how the Mustang GT turbine wheels look on the 83-86 Tbirds...
Nice 'elan there! It should be easy to put it in top shape!
Sorry dont want to be anyone elses daddy. As for the turbines, I liked how they looked on my 87, it was my son who felt they looked even better on his car.
Yea, must be a transition thing. Maybe it was typical Ford and they kept building 84 Elans w/ electros until they ran out? First time I saw an 84 like this.
Any chance it has the light on the back of the console?
I don't recall seeing that style grille emblem either. 83 Heritage had the blue, what did most 84 Elans have?
Thanks for the pictures and welcome!
Most of the 84 Elan's had the Grill and pillar emblems color keyed to match the paint. I had a Silver 84 Elan that was designed in this fashion. As for the electro pillars on an 84 this is the only car i have seen this on also.....i agree its probably a leftover 83 on the production line re-badged to an elan name...i would be curious as to the vin on the car. The light on the back console would be a good clue to the this as well, i agree. I think the injection might give a hint as to CFI vs EFI? Other than these minor differences, (steering wheel as well) the elan and heritage are the same car.
Huh, I guess my car's unique. I don't remember seeing any lights on the console itself, it does have some reading lights on the C pillar and a button on rear of the console for the passengers to press. Only one works....but...
It has throttle body (unfortunately perhaps) and I'll take a few more (hopefully better) pictures of the car tomorrow. The steering wheel is kinda V shaped, it lets you see all the instrumentation easily and it has cruise control buttons on the V and a horn in the middle. It also has a horn on the end of the blinker, I thought that was odd.
I got a tune up for Christmas, spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor, (and some air fresheners) and it purrs like a kitten and roars like a lion when I want it to. I got a gift card to Advance Auto Parts too, so that will pay for new valve cover gaskets and some headlights. I'll finally have enough money to pay for the license now too.
Oh yeah, I'm gonna order a History 999 Report tomorrow. Maybe that will answer a few questions. I love coolcats.net, so much information...
Any idea what the color coding was? I only recall silver emblems on base models, the lights on Heritages, black emblems (grille and pillar) on 83 and 84 TC's
Yea, it should be very early. What is the build date?
No light..sounds like 84, CFI, sounds like 83? :hick:
Yea, very odd. 83 -and- 84, no transition there! Using up all of the old stalk mounted horn hardware?
The steering wheel in the 83 is totally different than 84, thats what i was referring to in my previous post, and i had an 84 elan that had the horn stalk as well as the horn pad. Strange feature, but not uncommon.
Yea, I know the steering wheels are totally different but never knew the 84's had both stalk mounted and steering wheel horn pad horns.
I wonder if that strange feature was carried through the whole 84 production?
As far as i know, it was only on Elan/Heritage models, and was probably part of the trim package for those cars. I have a 1983 dealer booklet that i can check and get back to you with.
All models of 83's will only have the stalk mounted horn as well as 84 TC's with the sport wheel.
Sounds like all other 84's may be 'hybrids'.
I think the stalk mounted horn was gone by 85.
Well, I was kinda busy today and didn't get around to asking for a history 999 report. I did buy the valve cover gaskets though. I also picked up a can of engine paint, I'm gonna sand and paint the valve covers. Ford blue of course.
My car's vin ends in EH152xxx, so it's an 84 out of the Ohio plant, and was the 152,000ish car off the line. Does that mean it's the 152,000th Thunderbird of that model year, or the 152,000th Thunderbird of that generation/bodystyle. The former would make no sense, this car was sold new February 14, 1984. I have the original receipt to prove it. The latter doesn't make everything add up either. If they were using up the old electros, that means they had 60,000 emblems leftover, and we should be seeing about 30,000 more 84s like mine.
Oh, and about the horn. I looked at my original, 1984 owners manual :) and it does show the stalk horn and does mention how to use it. It continues to say "Your vehicle may be equipped with the horn at the end of the turn signal lever; Push in to sound horn. Or your vehicle may be equipped with the horn on the steering wheel center pad. Check the horn regularly for proper operations." They also show courtesy lights on the back of the console...make of that what you will I suppose.
I think you are right......
[Quote from dragon574444
My car's vin ends in EH152xxx, so it's an 84 out of the Ohio plant, and was the 152,000ish car off the line. Does that mean it's the 152,000th Thunderbird of that model year, or the 152,000th Thunderbird of that generation/bodystyle. The former would make no sense, this car was sold new February 14, 1984. I have the original receipt to prove it. The latter doesn't make everything add up either. If they were using up the old electros, that means they had 60,000 emblems leftover, and we should be seeing about 30,000 more 84s like mine.
Your correct with the E being 84 and H being Lorain Ohio. The number sequence with Ford starts at 100001, so in essence your car is the 52,xxx car built for 84, I believe total production was near 170000+/-. The former Heritage took the name Elan and listed for $12,XXXfor a V6 and $13,XXX for the V8.