Finally Joined

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Took the car on its first drive since its rebuild. Tune still needs work but everything seems to be working well. Certainly needs an alignment and a spool diff on the street doesnt like tight turns, which since its the first one Ive driven I need to get used to it. Next couple days are gonna be cold and rainy so itll be parked.
 
Got the car aligned. Since I did full suspension rebuild, it was horrible. Fronts were toed in 3° each, rear driver was 2° in, camber was all over the place, ect.20220327_103117.jpg

I dont think I shared it here, but the plan for this chassis is to be a drift car. Rear is fully zero'd while the front has 7.6° caster, -2.8° camber, and .1° toe in. These are just base numbers that were recommended to me so Ill see how it feels. Already better than it was. 20220327_121414_HDR.jpg
First event is this Saturday, the 2nd. I dont know if itll be ready for the track, still working out the tune and I need to get tow straps hooked up front and rear. But if nothing else itll atleast be driven there to watch.
 
No photos today.

Car wasnt fully ready, but neither was I. My helmet didnt arrive until after I had already got back home, so I was just a spectator. Which is good, cause it saved me $180.

I instead just spoke with the tech inspectors and went over everything done to the car, and it wouldnt have passed.

Cars issue was its fire extinguisher holder. Reason is because it was plastic. Which I understand, but it hadnt occured to me to change that. Its something I had in the car since I first built it in 2019. It holds both the top and bottom of the bottle and does have a latch strap to hold it in place. But I hadnt tracked the car, so gonna go with what tech tells me.

Also, the car is super loud. Its a cammed 302 with long tubes and a full straight pipe that exits out the side. So I will be installing a set of high flow cats, since theyre cheap enough, and Ill see where that leads me noise level wise.

Besides those two issues they said the car sounded ok.

Walked around and spoke with other drivers, got a look of the extra parts and tools they bring. Good thing is, I have spare spindles, axles, diff covers, tail lights, and tires that are already mounted. What I dont have is a truck to bring all those things lol.


Next event is in 3 weeks, so Ill prepare for then.
 
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Saturday the 23rd was the cars and I first drift event. Was a blast. Above are photos of my best run, which as a whole was still not that great.
A lot of the guys there loved the car. Most didnt even know what it was and no one had ever seen one at a drift event.

Still ended up breaking it, my driveshaft bolts at the diff loosened up and the strut rod arm bushing tore apart, but I was still able to limp it back home. Also trying to work out a way to keep the transmission cool, cause after an hour and a half on the track it was baking. Even after letting the car cool down for an hour, the trans was hotter than the cats.
Below are photos of the aftermath from the torn bushing. Again, arm side, not frame side. 20220424_160005.jpg20220424_155932.jpg
 
I ran a diff cooler. That got hot enough to melt the seals and spill gear oil onto the exhaust. I never did anything to cool the trans. The tunnel of the car would get too hot to touch after being on the track all day though, so I’m sure the trans was getting pretty toasty, but it kept shifting, so we just ran it.
 
I think this is really cool so I am going to post it. Here are photos of my 90 SC from 5 years ago, on an old thread here. It was being sold as a parts car then since it didnt pass PA inspection. Front_Quarter-resized.jpgversus now, on its second build with me.IMG_20220415_144431_905.jpg
Obviously much has changed. But what stands out to me the most is how high the ride height is! Ive had lowered Tbirds for so long Ive almost forgotten how they look stock.
 
:cool: It's been a while since I dropped in here. Wile E. Coyote Jr. sent me a PM updating me on what my old car has been up to. Nice work there!

I'm glad someone is enjoying it... Especially carrying on the Thunderbird enthusiasm in the younger generation. I hope everyone reading this is well!
 
With my SC still under the knife for its next event on the 28th, I figured Id post about my other Tbird. Granted its not an SC, but Ive had it the longest (since the age of 13) and its been in my family since new. So it got me into these cars to begin with.
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Here is a shot of the engine bay I took back in October. Not much done to it. Original engine with PI cams and a PI intake with long tube headers. Tried my hand at an engine swap (comp cammed PI 4.6) was when I was 17 and I messed up the actual engine rebuild so it never worked right.

I havent driven this car in about 2 years due to a blown suspension and bad brakes.

Ive started on the suspension rebuild and swapped to sport brakes in front. I painted the calipers body color but Ill save photos of them until the cars on the ground.

But Ive also broke out a party piece Ive had for about a year. 20220509_132022.jpg
Just repainted it today. It came off another bird that was wrecked back in 2013. Full kit including brackets, harness, vacuum tree, MAF and 39lb injectors. Very excited to hopefully have both my birds back for the summer.


I know its an LX, but if yall would like more info on the car Id love to post about it.
 
Ok. More on the car.

As stated Ive had this car since before I could drive. It has been in my family since new, first bought in Fort Myers Fl by my great grandfather, who then sold it to my grandfather just a couple years later. He was getting company cars at the time so basically from 2000-2001 all the way to 2015 (when I first got it running again) it sat.

These photos are circa 2014, but I have ones dating back to 2011 on my Nintendo DS.IMAG0031_1.jpgIMAG0032_1.jpg
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Fun fact: the body tag stamping and my birthday are the same date. Albeit 3 years apart, but still an awesome connection.

I swapped it to a black interior, chopped the mufflers, and put the black 17s that are now on my red SC on this car when I was in high school. Also painted the roof gloss black because it started peeling.
IMAG0619.jpgIMAG0669.jpgI also took this rather cursed photo lol. Couldnt figure out how to get the bumper off by itself, so I pulled everything.IMAG0678.jpg
 
Towards the end of HS I started my engine build. It was an 03 Grand Marquis engine I got for $300. Tore it down, went through everything to make sure it was in good shape (was honestly a perfect engine, no wear on the bearings or piston skirts at all. But certainly used conventional oil).

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I didnt do anything with the heads, but I installed a set of 262AHs and a 75MM throttle body. Also put on a set of under drive pulleys that, now that Im older, were better off in the recycling bin.

Also moddified a set of mustang headers to fit. Was both the cheapest, and supposedly the most effective, option there was. Used my fathers shop, and my Mark 8 engine (this was in MI at the time) as a base, to weld them up. Used a flux core HF unit to do so. 20171209_181531.jpg
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So the list of mods for the car at this point is as follows: PI 4.6, Comp 262AH cams, long tube headers, a 96 Mark 8 MAF, a 3000 stall FTI convertor, a Jmodded transmission, and a set of injectors that were sold to me as 30#ers. Spoiler, they werent. And a chip tune from SCP.

Could never get it to run right. Being the kid I was I figured I couldnt have done anything wrong, so i went back and forth with Bill on the tune (who I now know was actually Dalke, so if youre reading this Id like to formally apologize). But the car never ran right after anything, and it wouldnt have. I finally I did a compression test, just to find that both cylinders 6&7 were dead 0 psi. At that point I just ripped the engine out, swapped a couple things over to my original engine, and have been running it ever since. 20180410_192550.jpg

The short block of the PI I sold off for $100 and I kept the heads and cams. They are currently in my shed and the Teksid is still in MI. I plan to use those parts to build a cool SVO blown 4.6 in the future, but for now Im just going to put the car back together to enjoy it for the first time in about 2 years.

Very long story, yes. I skipped a lot. Most of this is documented on TCCoA, going back to 2016.
 
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Looking to clear space out of my garage and shed, and before I make a dedicated thread I want to see if anyones interested in a set of early spindle ABS sensors. Came from my 90 SC after I converted to 93+ spindles and PBRs. Tested with a screw driver and they did make a reading on a multimeter.
 
Wile E. Coyote Jr. said:
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Looking to clear space out of my garage and shed, and before I make a dedicated thread I want to see if anyones interested in a set of early spindle ABS sensors. Came from my 90 SC after I converted to 93+ spindles and PBRs. Tested with a screw driver and they did make a reading on a multimeter.
Click to expand...
Probably worth something to someone as they're discontinued...see an ask for em in the WTB every few months.

I throw nothing away at this point saddly...

-Tim
 
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Tim Groth said:
Probably worth something to someone as they're discontinued...see an ask for em in the WTB every few months.

I throw nothing away at this point saddly...

-Tim
Click to expand...
Only things Ive thrown away are old bushings. I even still have blown out shocks so I can try to either rebuild them or use them for inserts down the road. I have a 10x12 shed filled with nothing but MN12 parts. Name it I have it.

Keep going back and forth about keeping it all or selling it off. I like building cars, so its nice to have a stock pile. But I also need space.
 
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