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Messages - Old_Paint

1
Engine Tech / 86 T-Bird 3.8L V6
No, you do not need to remove the pan on the '86 3.8L.  I know, I've done it twice because of TC/Block coolant leaks.  But you DO have to remove the crank pulley.  There are some bolts that go through the pan into the cover, though, and those have to be removed.  When you put the T/C back on, there is a corner where it makes up to the block and the pan on either side of the crank that has to be sealed with RTV.  There is absolutely NO reason to remove the pan to remove the timing cover, though.
2
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars WANTED / WTB - LH Tail Light Assy.
Need a tail light assembly for a 1986 Base Bird, chrome trim, LH side (or both if you want to sell only a pair) Gotta take the car off the road until i can replace the tail light, or pull one off the purty bird for the old blue bomber that I let the kids drive. No way am I letting them drive the red bird.
 
Please e-mail if you have one LH or a set you're willing to part with. If you have photos of the part(s) please send that with the e-mail, or a link where I can see them. Willing to pay a fair price.
6
Engine Tech / Sputtering while driving *update*
Umm, yeah, I would say Gasoline/Water slurry is usually not exactly the best to run in one.  But, to chime in on the plug wire routing issue ....
 
There are two firing orders on the 5.0L.  HO, and non HO.  The Non-HO firing order is 15426378.  Can't remember the HO order, but notice that 7 and 8 fire back to back on the non-HO cam.  When you install the wires on the LH side (driver's) of the engine, as they leave the dizzy, make sure to keep #5 and #6 wires between #7 and #8 as long as you can, and then separate 7 and 8 as much as possible after 6 drops out of the bundle.  When you take 7 down to the cylinder, make sure it crosses #8 at a right angle (90 degrees) so that the wires are NEVER close together and parallel to each other.
 
This sounds like a bunch of hooey, but there is actually a Ford TSB about this, and I actually experienced the problem with my '92 F-150.  If 7 and 8 wires are not separated, when 7 fires, it can actually induce enough current in #8 wire to fire the plug.  When 7 is on the power stroke, 8 is on the compression stroke.  This will cause SERIOUS detonation, and even destroy #8 cylinder.
 
As for the plugs.  DO NOT use Bosch platinums in a Ford engine with a Ford TFI ignition.  The TFI will EAT those plugs.  The ceramic around the electrodes will shatter. Guess where that ceramic goes.  Stay with the Motorcraft coppers, you won't regret it.  They last longer, and perform better.  Again, I speak from experience at the School of Hard Knocks (excuse the pun).  For all your ignition parts, STAY with MOTORCRAFT parts.  I've tried MSD, Bosch, and a few other things, and ALWAYS wind up coming back to Motorcraft.  I'm not saying Bosch is a bad plug.  It works WONDERFULLY in a VW Beetle air-cooled engine with an old school breaker points ignition.  Just not in a Ford with TFI.
 
Just my .02 worth.
7
User Rides / My daily driver Thunderbird: the "Red Bird"
Quote from: sarjxxx;327642
I also replaced one of my broken taillights and shined up the headlights cause they were all nasty and yellow like all of ours.

This is EXACTLY what I like best about my 4 eye Foxes.  NO YELLOW PLASTIC HEADLIGHTS.
8
General Fox T-Bird/Cougar Discussion / 86 Tbird value?
I recently picked up an '86 with original paint, only mods being a sawed off exhaust behind the cat, tint, and ground effects kit. Interior is all but flawless, albeit a bit faded as red is wont to do. One tiny little ding in the chrome trim on the passenger door where someone put a rock through the window to steal the PO's $50 MP3 player, so that one is sans tint. Oh yean, Bullitt wheels with centers painted black. Sounds odd, but looks pretty good actually. Check in User Rides section (find me in there). It's posted.
 
Gave $2000 bucks for it, and put another $600 worth of rubber on it. Drives sweet, runs good. Old C5 tranny works/shifts like a champ. It IS a V6, but the ground fx are what I was after. BTW, it had less than 50K original miles on it too. Averaging less than 2K/year on the odo. Even has the original factory AM/FM/Cassette player.
 
HOWEVER, all that said, check NADA because it is now a vintage vehicle (>25 yrs old). My blue one (with over 150K) was popped by some stupid old bat, and her insurance company tried to total it for $700 dollars. I had a few choice things to say about what they could do with their $700, because it only had a bent fender. OP's car was MUCH worse for the contact. Got a lawyer involved, and wound up getting a check for $4800 outta her insurance company because of them trying to hoodwink me, as well as the value of the car ($5300). Your paint job may lower the value some, though. Sounds stupid, but original paint, regardless how bad a shape it's in, is worth more than a re-paint to NADA when setting price. The kind folks that repaired my Impala after a WhiteTail tried to mate with it taught me a few things.
 
Don't underestimate it's value, but, don't be too disappointed because of location and market either.
9
Engine Tech / Does anyone have a Part# For a shorter Belt?
Ok, so if I have the old style tensioner, not the spring loaded one, same belt sizes?  Is there an aftermarket part or something easily adapted to replace the old screw-down style tensioner?  I prefer the spring loaded ones because if something gets trapped in the belt (rag, tool, etc) while the engine's running, it doesn't snap the belt or damage a pulley or break off a shaft.
11
General Fox T-Bird/Cougar Discussion / Re: Car Accident Recovery
Been there, done that too.
 
OP's insurance wanted to give me $700 and I would have to mail them my keys.  For a bent fender, broken marker light, and broken mirror, they were trying to steal my car.  I bucked up, and then, asked what they based their number on.  Based on '88 model, not '86 model.  Then, they had to go back and do some diggin, and found it under NADA Classic, at $4800 because of low mileage and all factory hardware.  I already knew this because my agent told me the car's value was going back up and I should possibly consider putting collision insurance back on it.  I wound up getting about $1800 out of 'em plus kept my car.  This took some time, and a few threats to report them to BBB, Insurance Board, etc, etc.
12
Engine Tech / Engine codes, how to fix
Quote from: Ductape91;304654
he means the "check engine light", malifunction indicator light(MIL) is the proper way to refer to it. atleast i hope thats the right way to...

Depending on year model, Ford interchangeably used MIL (Malfunction Indicator Light) and CEL (Check Engine Light) terminology for the same purpose.  The CEL was not wired out on the 86 and earlier 'Birds, and the only way to check the codes is with an external light or buzzer connected to the STO pin of the DCL, or re-wire STO to one of the unused indicators in the cluster.  Gotta remember, OBDI and EFI technology was still evolving, and everyone was still trying to get the engineers to agree on what light should be used for what purpose.  If you want 5 ONLY ways to do something, just ask 5 engineers.
13
Lounge / Yet another young death...
Quote from: LittleAngel1198;304601
How about AC/DC or Meatloaf?
 
Those guys are all old now but still rockin.... I do realize AC/DC has a different lead singer now, but he's been with them for a long time.
There is still nothing like the older rock... the new stuff just isn't the same. there are only a few newer bands that I like.....and most of them, it's only a few of their songs.
 
Has anyone noticed that a lot of the newer bands/singers have been taking the older stuff and remaking it? They suck at it BTW! LOL

Now that's a fact!  I can't stand hearing some of my old favorite tunes put through the bubble gum machine and turned in to some kinda new age  just to make some money off the 14 year olds.  I think they call that getting old and cranky.
 
No way could I list all the older bands, but I just popped out a few of my faves.  As for dying young in their prime, or hanging it up when they get old, nah, I don't agree with that as long as they're crankin out good music.  For example, ZZ Top's XXX.  It went back to their roots of blues/funk/rock mix from the late 60's early 70's.  The sound is more advanced because of changes in technology, but, it's still the music they started with.  And XXX is a pretty good name for a 30 year album release, too.
14
Lounge / you know your computer is a little too old when..
Quote from: shame302;303513
Right on. Kind if the opposite of what i was looking for but yeah...
 
That's part of what i wasn't sure on, weather or not each drive has a certain amount of space allotted for "recycling bin" or if information got moved to the main drives RB.
 
Im all set anyway, Managed to get back what i could remember i had on there that had any significance..

Each drive can be set independently of each other. HOWEVER, that will produce different results when deleting files, based on the size of the Bin on each drive. You can even disable the Bin on drives you know you are just gonna toss things off of, and never want to see again.
 
I have a 1.3 TB disk which I partitioned in 100GB partitions. Yes, folks, that's like having ten 100GB hard disks. Here's where some custom tuning can pay off on drive speed.
 
If you want to make your system a little faster, then move your paging file (pagefile.sys) to a different partition from the one the OS is installed on. It seems contradictory that it would be faster, but here's the rub. With it on a different drive, there's less fragmentation of the page file, AND less fragmentation of other files that get written to on a frequent basis (because of swapping out freed clusters). All of this is due to the same old file handling system designed for DOS in 1984. Directory handling has improved, but overall file handling techniques haven't changed a bit.
15
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars FOR SALE / 83 Cougar LS 5.0 V-8/22,000 Mile Estate Car
Gorgeous car, and I'd LOVE to have that 5.0 to swap into one of my 'birds.  I like the bird better than the cat, but to each his own.  My first bird ('86) was that same color blue.  Love that color.  But, alas, if I buy another Fox, Mrs. Paint gonna put a whole lotta hurt on me.