Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

As much as it breaks my heart it looks as though I may have to drive the T-Bird for at least a portion of the winter. The rear end is going south in the Cherokee, getting noisier with every mile. I checked the fluid when it first started getting noisey and it was empty (took 1.5 liters of 80W90). Unfortunately topping it up didn't help.
 
If it was in better shape I'[d fix the rear, but given that the engine has a whole lot of blowby, the floor is rotted out, the rocker panels are completely missing, the front driveshaft is worn, the front axle joints are bad, three of the four doors don't open from the outside, and I've already repaired the frame on one side the ol' girl just isn't worth fixing anymore. I'll just drive it until it stops driving, then throw it away. In the meantime I'm trying to gather $2k together to replace it with another 4X4 beater (gonna try for a compact pick-em-up this time), and with Christmas it's hard to save. It all boils down to this: If the Cherokee gasps it's last breath before I scrimp up enough dough and find a suitable replacement I'll be forced to drive the Thunder Chicken in the salt :yuck:
 
Of course, this unforseen expense is also gonna cut into my plans on getting the 'Bird painted this winter, and driving it in the salt will accelerate the need to do so. Everything sucks :mad:

mines been out in the snow for the first time since ive owned it tonight, so i know the feeling...but its so fun!

I've literally driven through a hurricane.. I've driven in monsoon-like thunderstorms that had people crashing near me.. but I'm absolutely petrified over the thought of driving on ice and snow.. worse with a RWD car now. Last time I came close to it was with a '78 Corolla 5-speed (also RWD) driving up to visit family, and the temperature was hovering just around freezing while it was raining. I hated that trip.

I honestly don't know, so please forgive me if this is an idiotic question, but.. is there anything you can apply to the car to minimize the effects of the salt?

i have heard form friends that moved out to chicago that cars dont last verry long bc of the salt. but you can get them treated withsomething like they drill holes or something (hard to rember it was a while ago) but what ever they do i know it makes them last longer than untreated.   

i was thinking of bringing the cougar on a trip and get it treated and the so the car would last longer. bc nj we dont get lots of the snow but we do sometimes. the car would last for a longer time. but i dont know now i have to play this waiting game.

My bird was my driver the first 6 or so years I owned it (1988-1994) and it included all weather.  It has no noteable rust.  I would say just hit car washes as much as possible, and hopefully get a beater as soon as $ lets you.

I've heard a crazy theory about putting diesel fuel all over the car, sticky, and resists rust due to the fact of it's petroleum nature.  Don't wanna try it, though.

Shawn, fun driving in the snow?  Take my car for a drive, then we'll see how much fun you have.  I have mismatched tires on the rear, a 15" 255 and a 14" 185.  In addition niether has good tread, it's a peg-leg, and to top it all off, the car won't idle down at a normal idle speed, the high-idle is stuck on making it near impossible to stop or make turns.

That sucks man! I drove the Cougar last winter and I did not like it!

I'm not rubbing it in or anything, but my Cougar has been sitting in the garage since winter set in and will do so for the remaining of winter! I hope so anyway; as long as the '91 Bronco holds out. lol

Wow I live next to chicago.  we had about 1/2 inch in the past two days, but they must have though it was going to be a blizzard, bc the streets are white whith all the salt.  My cat is covered.  Living around here my hole life has made me expect this.  I dont know of any special treatments to prevent rust other then good old rust proofing out of the dealer, however always having a couple of good coats of wax on the car always helps.  For having 140,000 miles all around Chicago, my cougar is not very rusty.  The underside is typical, and there are two spots by the passenger wheel well about the size if my fist, and some at the  bottoms of the doors.  it is all just surface rust.  As for driving a RWD in the snow and ice, it just takes some getting used to and some patients, because the is NO getting somewhere in a hurry.

4" of snow here and coming down wet, it's so fun!

Oh, lots of people do that back east. It's a shame too. Not diesel fuel, though, just motor oil around the door jams and rocker pannels. It looks like . Super lazy, when all it takes is regular washing.

I've heard of guys putting spray on bedliner on the underside of there cars.

I'd wash my car more regularly in the winter if it didn't freeze up the door seals and everything inside the doors. (Handles, windows)  Garage?  What's that?

Well in preparation of the onslaught of salt I did the following:
 

• Removed the trunk carpet and sprayed Rust Check in around the inner wheel opening lips and down along the bottom of the quarters
• Removed the back seat and inner rear trim panels and sprayed the rust check in the "dogleg" area and along the rocker-to-quarter panel seam that is so pr0ne to rust
• Removed the inner door panels and sprayed Rust Check inside the bottoms of the doors
• Removed the plugs that were left over from when the original owner had the car undercoated when new and sprayed Rust Check inside the rocker panel
• Removed the front plastic inner fenders and sprayed inside the front wheel openings and down along the bottoms before and after the wheel opening

It took the whole day but I sprayed Rust Check everywhere that i know these cars are pr0ne to rust. Hopefully the salt damage will be minimized, but when I do get it painted the guys painting it are gonna hate me :evilgrin:
 
Now all I've got left to do is replace the wipers with winter blades, get at least two snow tires and a set of pantsaver floor mats. 
 
It sucks that I have to drive it, but at least I feel better now that I know the car is at least prepared to withstand the battle...

My car's never been garaged its entire life, yet there isn't much rust...and here in the NW, we get snow yearly - they just don't salt the roads until its needed. Driving around in the stuff's interesting through. You hope you don't have to stop at any stoplights since it takes forever to get going again. Fun nonetheless. One of these years I should try the thing people call chains or studded tires. They claim it helps :screwy:

i have 3 cars in a barn for winter(85XR-7,91SC and 91 Coougar ls 5.0)right now i am driving a 91 ls 5.0 i just picked up for 400$ Cdn. which is fun cause it has a touchy throttle, but i threw on 4 winter arctic tires.i also get my car under coated for 65$ a year to save the body.
i don't know about u Carm but we have had more snow now then we did all most all of last year. we have been getting about 5 inches a week for the past month we are up to 18 inches with 8 more to come

We had one major storm in November (65 cm or 26"), but it has long melted away. It was major because it was wet and heavy and brought down a bunch of transmission towers, resulting in week-long power outages for hundreds of thousands of people - kinda like your ice storm of '98 but on a much smaller scale.

Right now the ground is 100% bare and the temp has been in the low double digits (or mid-high 50's in fahrenheit) until today, when it was only about 2 or 3 (about 34-36 F). According to the weather forecast it's supposed to be cold tomorrow, then warm up into the teens again on Wednesday and stay that way until Boxing Day. No white Christmas for us, which is fine by me in my 4X4-less state

good send your snow my way then plowing is my only income right now

Looks like you've already made up your mind, but if I had a car that was virtually unreplaceable(in its condition)it would never see the first snow flake. Any chance you could pull the rear drive shaft and just have front wheel drive(yea I saw the part anout the front D/S). If its just too far gone, get something financed and pay it off ASAP. Guess you can tell, I despise any amount of rust.

Tom: One thing that has made the decision easier was the knowledge that come spring the car is getting painted anyway (the paint is very hazy). The FWD option right now is an emergency-use-only thing - if the rear fails entirely I'll yank the rear driveshaft and limp it home on the front. It has a severe vibration at over 40MPH in 4WD because of that worn driveshaft and the worn axle joint, so it's not a long-term solution.

Financing is not an option either. After I bought my '91 new I made a vow that I'd never make another payment on a car and I'm not about to start now. I'm sure the 'Bird will survive a month or two of winter driving, especially considering that aside from that freak November storm there hasn't been any salt yet, and even with that storm the Jeep was still driveable so the T-Bird didn't get salted. It breaks my heart to drive it, but if the snow can hold off like it has been doing I may not have to drive it in salt at all (I've already got about $1500 saved, so I'm in a position that if a decent 4X4 comes along at a bargain I can buy it). I can guarantee that if I see so much as a rust stain the T-bird will be taken off the road immediately and the Jeep will be driven until its death.

In winter you should get your car washed the less as possible.....  :brick:
Wetting all the abbrasive they use on the road will react faster with oxygen and will only accellerate the rusting... Also, any humidity that could enter any cracks will expand below 0C (32F) and amplify the problem (or make it appear)...

TRUST me on that!  :mad:  :mad:

Werd. If you're gonna get salt on a car 'tis better to keep it as dry as possible and the lower the temps the better. Unfortunately it doesn't get really cold here (did I really just say "unfortunately"?), so it's never cold enough to "inactivate" the salt. It's always slushy, which is the worst because it actually holds the salt against the car.