new owner with a couple problems and questions

DickH

Registered User
After a couple months of casually looking for a car for my girlfriend, we found a 93 supercoupe for 1500. She wanted a car that was only a few k, had some balls, 2 doors, rear wheel drive and it was supposed to be for her to learn how to drive a stick. Not the easiest requirements to fill but we found this thunderbird and it drives fine and doesnt seem to have any major mechanical problems. It does however have a small handful of problems, a couple I need help with. First is the previous owner is a bit taller than her and the power seats dont work. I checked all the fuses and they all checked out, however I also noticed there was a few fuses missing. Also missing is a diagram or something that says whats what so if anyone could let me know where the fuse for the power seats should be that would be awesome. Second problem I have a question about is the shifter is pretty loose, is there anything I can do to tighten it up or is that just how they get? And on the topic of the transmission, what are replacement options? The car has 140k on it, and although the suspension is good, motor seems to be running just fine and there is nothing wrong with the car, I do accept that ill be the one to be fixing stuff when it does go wrong. What are problems I should watch for?
 
First, power seats. The "gears" in the power seats were weak to start with and only get worse. I don't which fuse it is but I can check my manuals when I get home and post here.

Second, the shifter. Check out this link: http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103770&highlight=shifter+rebuild
Your best bet is to find someone selling the B&M Short Throw Shifter for our cars. It is a lot better shifter than the factory piece.

Third, transmission. There are no "direct bolt on" replacement manual transmissions for these cars. Others have put other Ford manual transmissions in but it is not an easy project.
 
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The seat motors rarely break in my experience, but the gearbox cases (made of plastic!) break often.
 
Well I believe the seat issue is a fuse or something electrical. All the buttons on both seats are non responsive. This leads me to believe there is no power to the seats and most likely just a fuse.
 
The transmissions are quite durable. If they need rebuilding at some point then that is an option.

Rebuild the stock shifter. These cars shift very nicely when everything is right.
 
So does anyone have a fuse diagram or know where the fuse is that the power seats run through? I am not having much luck searching google for it.
 
do the power locks work? They are on the same fuse in my 90 I don't know if it is different in 93. Can someone confirm?
 
windows work, not sure if the power locks work. Where is that fuse located? I have about 6-7 empty spots and the car had a few fuses laying around and im betting it blew, they pulled it, and never replaced it.
 
Looking at my 93 owners manual it says #2 fuse under the dash is your culpret -also controls door locks.

I'll post a picture of the manual for you briefly.

-Tim
 
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By not working, do you mean they don't travel forward/back or the bolsters don't move; lumbar won't inflate; height N/A...?

My wouldn't move forward/back when I got the car - after cleaning and lubing the tracks, all was normal again.

You may have more than one issue of course. Good luck in any case.
 
We went to autozone after work and picked up a couple fuses, threw one in and it got hot fast so I took it out. Went back to work so I could get my tools to mess with the car and found a few spots where it could be shorting. Threw the fuse back in and the seat would only move about 1/4 an inch if that forward and back. After some gentle persuasion it moves freely and we got the seat forward enough for the woman to drive it. Car seems to drive fine, however we found out the tail lights dont work so now thats on my to do list. She really doesn't like the shifter and thinks she wants to spend the money on the B&M depending on how much the stock replacement costs.

Just because I enjoy a quicker car, will the m90 off of a newer gtp bolt right up on top of the super coupe? Can i just swap the snout and call it good?
 
You can use the rotor pack from a GTP (Which are coated) but you will have to move the locator pins which will require a minor bit of drilling, and you will still have to use your case, snout, and intake............Dan
 
When I have a car with slow seats, I do the following:
- Remove seats from car.
- Remove base/track assemblies from seats.
- Scrub seat tracks and mechanisms with mineral spirits or other degreaser.
- Power-wash seat bases and tracks.
- After drying, re-lubricate with white lithium-type grease.
- Re-assemble and install.
This usually takes care of the seat issue.

Regarding the shifter, the B&M is now obsolete, and you'll have to find a good used one. I think they're fairly expensive. You can rebuild the factory shifter for a few bucks, and they shift really well when they're all tightened up. You can do a search on here for the part numbers and procedure. It's easy, and can be done without getting under the car.

You can increase the boost by replacing the factory pulley with a 5% overdrive pulley. They're available in steel and aluminum. However, you then run the risk of blowing the head gaskets if you don't free up the exhaust system to reduce back pressure. Do the exhaust first, then the pulley.

There is also a 10% overdrive pulley available, but you then begin needing additional pieces to make it work well. With a 10%, you'll need a larger intercooler, or everything you gain in boost, you lose with additional heat in the intake charge.

My advise is to just fix the few things it sound like are needed, and enjoy the car. Performance enhancements can start to run into quite a bit of money.

JD
 
We went to autozone after work and picked up a couple fuses, threw one in and it got hot fast so I took it out. Went back to work so I could get my tools to mess with the car and found a few spots where it could be shorting. Threw the fuse back in and the seat would only move about 1/4 an inch if that forward and back. After some gentle persuasion it moves freely and we got the seat forward enough for the woman to drive it. Car seems to drive fine, however we found out the tail lights dont work so now thats on my to do list. She really doesn't like the shifter and thinks she wants to spend the money on the B&M depending on how much the stock replacement costs.

Just because I enjoy a quicker car, will the m90 off of a newer gtp bolt right up on top of the super coupe? Can i just swap the snout and call it good?

I don't think a stock replacement shifter is available. Rebuild parts can be scrounged.

I also don't think a B&M is available anymore. You might be able to find NOS ones.

The blower snout is fairly cheap and simple to rebuild. However, if you have high miles, I would suggest that you get the whole thing rebuilt. You can talk to Embree Specialty Machine or Magnum Powers. Prices are usually under $400 to get all bearings replaced, including ones that are very difficult to tackle yourself.
 
Well car was running just fine for a couple hours of driving but now we have a few more problems out of nowhere. The brakes don't work very well at all, added fluid, worked for a while and is low again. Is there a common place for brake fluid to leak out from? I also have very very low oil pressure, how hard is it to change the oil pump?
 
One place that fluid can leak (at least on 89-91 cars) is from a brake line junction block on the driver's side inner fender.

For the oil pressure - how do you know it's low? Are you going by the stock gauge, or did you add a proper gauge?
 
The gauge on the cluster just barely moves up when driving. Been at work and haven't had any time to look into it. Checked the oil level and the car is not low so I know there is oil. Is it very common for the oil pumps to fail? I am not sure how long it has been like that, We drove it around a bit last night and I know it read fine for the first half of that as I was in the drivers seat. When driving to work today I noticed it didnt look like it moved, and just prayed it survived the 30 minute drive. The AC also just quit working out of nowhere, incase the oil pressure gauge and whatnot and AC is connected electrically in any way.
 
The oil pressure gauge on the dash is almost useless. Plus the connection to the sending unit can loosen. If the connector is loose, you should get a light also. There are posts on this site to convert the factory gauge to analog, but you still won't know the real pressure....it will however move as pressure goes up and down. The only way to know the real pressure is to install an aftermarket gauge.
 
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