Hi, I'm a new member here. My name is Anthony. As a first car, I am lucky enough to be the proud driver of a 1988 Thunderbird 5.0L (I'm 17; 18 in August). It's completely stock for now, but it is in very solid shape. Minimal rust, great interior, good paint. She runs great, and I love how smooth and quiet she is down the road. And with the 302, once I upgrade it, I'll have speed too. I plan to keep the car looking near stock; the only external changes being a turbo coupe hood (which is sitting in the garage waiting for paint right now), Cragar Keystone rims, and the paint scheme I plan on doing on the hood will look kind of old school and should look great with the Keystones to match. Without further ado, here are some pics:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/tbirdfrontsmall.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/tbirdrearsmall.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/tbirdinteriorsmall.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/hoodsmall.jpg)
Well, my love for muscle cars had to start somewhere! That starting point would be my father, who is the proud owner of a 1966 Chevelle. It has a Chevy 350 which is currently at a machine shop bored to a 383 (well, 385 to be exact) and he is aiming for around 400-425hp. I love this car too; I've worked a lot on it as well, and I've even had the pleasure of driving it myself (although I'm not too good at manual transmission yet, I like it).
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/Chevelle2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/Chevelle1.jpg)
This theme runs throughout my family too. My dad's brother owns a 1969 Caprice 427 4-speed, and another uncle of mine owns a 1967 Fairlane 289 (I LOVE the 66-67 Fairlanes).
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/petes_hot_rod.jpg)
Well thats about all for now! :)
Welcome aboard!
That is one nice looking T-Bird you have there.
That Chevelle is sweet too. One of my cousin's friends has a '66 that they restored. It's a beautiful car.
Thanks a lot!
It's hard to find lots of good information about my car (and its relatives), so when I found this forum I figured it would be a great place to learn a few things (and I already have).
nice looking cars and welcome a board one of the greatest boards on the net. Keep us updated on the progress and ask any questions you run across about these cars Im sure someone will have an answer or tell you where you can find it.
alright... thats a b-e-a-utiful car dude, nice bird too! now i REALLY WISH my 66 was running....
Thanks so much for the warm welcome.
Yeah, I'll be sure to keep you all updated on my Tbird. Right now I have a new rear axle (the original one is pretty worn) and a set of 3.27 ratio rear end gears ready to go in the bird, but they will have to wait until the Chevelle is put back together. It was a pain to find a good set of gears for a 7.5in Ford rear end! My dad and I believe it will be a huge improvement over the current 2.73 ratio gears that the car has now. We found the gears on ebay, and bought them (for like $65 or some great deal like that), but when FedEx delievered them, they weren't in the box. The box was empty. The shipping sticker on the box showed that the box was 17lbs when it left, so something happened along the way. Out of pure luck, we were dealing with a guy nice enough to take time from his vacation and respond to us about the problem. He had another set of gears in another car that he had taken out and sent them to us (I'm sure you guys know that a set of 3.27 gears for a 7.5in Ford aren't exactly common...). We're not quite done with FedEx, though, but I'm so happy to have my gears!!!
Also, the turbo coupe hood was another deal off of ebay. $36. We just took the hour and a half drive to Charlotte and picked it up (I live in North Carolina). As I mentioned earlier, I plan to have it painted kind of old school style. It should turn out similar to this:
(http://www.graphic-express.com/images2/83-86%206.jpg)
It will have a flat black stripe in between the two body lines just like that. The only thing I'm not 100% sure about is how I'd like it to taper off on the front of the car.
welcome to the board. nice cars. Pretty nice about the guy with the gears, hopefully fedex will compensate you.
how are the carolinas? if you don't mind popping into the georgia thread in the lounge... heheh.
Yeah I think that most everything is cleared up with FedEx now, and I'll be sure to check out the georgia thread.
Welcome :D You have soem nice cars there.
Yeah, those fairlanes are pretty awesome. My dad had one that he brought back from the states, (I live in Canada) and him and my uncle restored it about 17 years ago. It was all red with the white stripe around the bottom of the body. Unfortunately, he had to sell it about two years after that. He was at a Ford car show a while back though, and ended up running into the guy that now owns it. Told my dad if he ever decided to sell he's the first on the list. LOL.
Sounds like your plan for your bird is similar to mine. Mine is currently being restored/painted, and although I'm not allowed to see it until it's finished, I have been told there is going to be some sort of flat black stripe on or around the hood somehow. I will have to let you know what happens.
Yeah! Be sure to tell me how that works out. :) I can't wait to get mine painted.
Nice bird. And Chevelle. I have a set of keystones waiting to take place on my dads Chevelle so I can repaint the SS Rallyes. Nice work on both so far. Work on the Manual driving, its not too hard. Welcome.
Yeah, thanks, I'm definately going to keep practicing manual transmission :) . It's fun.
Its real fun when you can get it to light em through all of the gears. What is your stand point on Vinyl tops? My dad wants to take his off, but I want it to stay, because everyone removes them.
For me, it really depends on the car. On some cars, it looks terribly ugly, but it looks nice on others. As for your dad's Chevelle, I think it would look fine either way. It's a good looking car. Who knows, maybe we'll both get to drive Chevelles to our senior proms? :D
PS - my dad says he'd remove the vinyl top haha
Well I am for sure driving it. How much is another question. But he's buying tires hopefully by Saturday. 20 year old Kelly Superchargers with that much power dont mix. I have no clue how they have held up. I turn 18 next month mooohhahahahaha.
Hahahaha very cool. I turn 18 in August :D
Youngen' I'm turning 21 in 3 months:giggle: . I took my Tbird to senior prom, but mines pretty clean:D
The reason I say this, is kingcars turns 18 in August. I was just doing what bragging I can I guess. No hard feelings to anyone. Its cool that we both like fox tbirds/cougars, and Chevelles.
Hahaha yeah, it's all cool. I like almost any kind of American muscle car. There's nothing like the sound of an old American V8 roaring as it slams you in the seat.
UPDATE: Dad and I just scored our first 5.0 conversion part on ebay: a Mustang 5.0 HO upper intake manifold for $5.50. Woo hoo!
I hate you! I cant even get my 86 running on its own. Some gaskets and an o2 sensor and shes good. Nice buy.
Hahahaha, I guess whatever comes around goes around ;)
Actually, the only problem with the way my Tbird drives is a slight hesitation when you nail the gas (hey...I don't do it all that much...:evilgrin: ). It sometimes gives a slight jerk. Anybody know what could cause that? Dirty injectors or something like that maybe?
EDIT: oooooooo, pretty
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/5.jpg)
U joints, or is that clunk after letting off.
No, it happens instantly for a split second as the gas is nailed
it old and an SO? hehehe.
edit: jealous of both of you youngins driving around chevelles... I HATE YOU!!! /me goes to cry in the corner...
ya'll suck since Ive never even gotten to sit in one much less drive it to prom or even around the block. Im gonna have to go join cricket on this one we can have a group cry or something. On the intake how can you tell its an SO didnt the SO and HO look the same other then the HO has the HO stamped under the plate on the intake? I was under the impression the intake was identical except for the fact that the HO had a larger port to compensate the larger throttle body and EGR plate. Who knows I may have just read it wrong it was pretty late. Either way for 5.50 you cant complain if air can actually make it through it lol .
I'm not mad I just realized that I'm getting old that's all:giggle:
Oh yeah the HO upper has a slightly better opening for a gain of maybe 2 hp over a SO upper.
Do you have pics of the new cragers?
check out the trick flow top end kit, 300ish hp for 2 grand
http://trickflow.com/product/enginekits/pr_enginekits_ford.asp
Wow 2 grand...I'm not even going to spend that much on my whole HO conversion...
As for the cragars, I don't have a set yet, but I want a set of Keystones like the one in my avatar (maybe you were talking to cougrrr?).
EDIT: I feel so hated :( hahaha
oo ok..mine are Cragers too.
You can't go wrong with a set of Cragars. :)
Nice Sport! :)
Thanks :D
UPDATE: Over the weekend, dad and I spotted loads of good deals on HO parts this weekend on ebay, and we've REALLY narrowed the list down. Here's what we've won so far:
HO upper intake
HO Throttle body/EGR Plate & spacer (came with a k&n filter too)
HO 5-speed computer
HO camshaft
19lb injectors
Mustang Shortie headers (not required for conversion, but wont hurt :evilgrin: )
So now all that's left for us to get are the heads, which we're going to pick up from a local junkyard, and the MAP sensor, which we'll buy new from an auto parts store.
When all this stuff arrives, I'll be cleaning it all up and getting it all ready, so I'll update you all on the progress. Unfortunately, it will still be a few weeks before the Chevelle done so this will be held back a bit, but that just gives me more time to prepare everything. I can't wait!
Hey, finally got my car back! WOW! times like 50 is all I can say!! LOL. Check it out if you want.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/492107/5
Jesus BlondeThunder, that car is badass.
Wow nice! That is the EXACT hood stripe idea we have for my TC hood. Anyways, have fun with it!
One of my biggest pet peeves about my Tbird was the broken tailight.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/brokentailightsmall.jpg)
Last summer, a hornet even crawled in there and died in my tailight. Moron. Anyways, it has finally been replaced!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/kingcars/fixedtailightsmall.jpg)
All of these little kids are so rich? Why was I not that lucky! Oh well.
Keep up the good work, good to know your not ricen' it.
"there is no replacement for displacement, though the wallet says otherwise"
enjoy your investment.
Dan