Well I bought the car not knowing anything about thunderbirds but I am pretty happy with the purchase. I have learned alot from this site. So here is my 1988 Thunderbird Sport:
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird002.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird004.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird005.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird008.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird009.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird014.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird015.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird016.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird017.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird019.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird020.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird023.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird022.jpg)
Well there it is! For $800 I think I got a pretty good deal. It is bone stock down to the smog pump. It does need some things like a center console cover, headlights, smog delete, new rims, headliner, waxed and buffed, and carpet cleaned. I see many more birds in the future, I like this car alot! Hope you enjoyed the pics and I will post more in this thread as I improve the car.
Nice!
Those are the seats I wish I could find in a junk yard for my 83. I just have the base-model "short seats". Tan sport seats are a beeotch to find. I can find red ones all day long.
CoogarXR
Thanks! I was suprised the drivers seat wasnt all torn up
Hey,that's a good looking car.I like it a lot.My car's sister.That's what mine looked like when I got it (O.K.,mine was ugly).What are your plans for it?
Here it "was"........
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/100_1807.jpg)
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/100_1729.jpg)
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/100_1732.jpg)
man they are like twins! lol
Sell me the rims! jk it would cost more than I paid for my car to ship them!
Plans so far are cobra intake, gt40 heads, set of headers, BBK lowering springs in the front, 3:73's in the rear, and a set of rims. Possibly a supercharger down the line but for now until i get my mustang running its a daily driver.
Car looks to be in very good shape. Kinda funny, though; you have the EXACT same rust spot under the corner of the passenger side tailight that I have. Can't wait to see some progress on it!
Aren't they just Mustang GT seats? They sure look an awful lot like the seats in my '89 asc.
Shiny Side Up!
Bill
No those are the same seats they put in the xr7's too,.. i have them....i think most 5.0 cars had them
All the sports do. Not necessarily all of the v8 cars. lol
I think the mustang seats had the halo headrests (not too sure)...
CoogarXR
My '84 TC had halo headrests. I think it was a feature of the earlier fox cars only.
Looks clean man.
My fr500's would look awesome on there(no you can't have them lol), it's amazing what a set of wheels will do for a car.
Somebody on here must have a console lid for this man lol.
dang the engine's pretty clean, same for the rest of the car, wish my 96 xr7 looked that nice lol
The engine is really clean but the valve covers leak some so it has a little oil on them. You can smell it burning off the manifolds too. Not ready to tackle that project just yet! lol
Escort GTs also came with them. Forgot which years though.
You should be able to polish those headlights and get them back to normal.
Nice project.
Valve cover gasket are easy easy on 5.0L's.
Pull the upper intake then remove the valve covers.
1hr 1hr and a half tops.
Those wheels are loooooong gone.I have chrome Cobras on the Sport now.She's a totally different car since those pics were taken.You have a good plan going for yours.Keep us posted on the work and progress.
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/DSCF0373.jpg)
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/000_0509.jpg)
I just had back surgery though so its hard to lean across the fender to do all that.
Any suggestions on what to polish them with?
There are plastic polishes out there that work well in your local auto parts store. You need to take the lenses off to clean the inside. See coolcats.net for details
thanks. im used to just buying a new set for my mustangs. never tried to polish them before. ill give it a shot this weekend. any particular brand that works better than others?
I used a polishing kit I got from Autozone.It worked great.It requires a drill,and if you follow the instructions to a T,it has excellent results.Take care of that back my friend.
Will do! lol Guess I need to make a trip to Autozone
After you polish them, keep an eye on em after it rains a couple of times to see if any water is getting inside. My driver's side headlight was leaking, despite being basically brand new. Used some clear silicone around the seam between the lense and backing and let it sit out in the sun to dry the water out. Hasn't leaked since.
Thanks for the tip
Those plastic polishes work but you need to get the surface smoothed out first. Use some really fine Sandpaper or get some Steel wool. Go over them first with those then go onto the polishing. Also make sure you wax them to protect your new polish job.
Stuckman
I usually put the headlight lenses through a multi-stage wet-sanding process before I even start polishing the plastic.
It depends on how bad they are.
My asc seats actually have Thunderbird headrests (that's how asc's came) but the rest of the seat, , switch, etc, is the same. Thus, a Mustang seat should work, though you would have to switch the headrests.
Shiny Side Up!
Bill
Not all mustangs had Halo headrest, only some Saleens and the pre-87 mustangs.
On another note, I picked up a Meguiars Headlight Restoration kit. My Popular Hot Rodding mag came in the mail yesterday and it has a article on this stuff and they say it works great and its well worth the $20! We shall see! lol
Will post pics to show results....
Here is the results from the Meguiars Resto kit....
The passenger side light has a brown line in the bottom of the lense from where water sat in it for so long. I'm happy with the lights though, not bad for $18. They look better in person and they are SOOOO much brighter I can see the road again! lol
BEFORE:
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird004.jpg)
AFTER:
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird026.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird025.jpg)
(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z79/jay102189/thunderbird024.jpg)
pics of my 88 turbocoupe...w/ chevy 350
more pics of my bird
He He... But you should have started your own new thread...
Hey Chuck when you gonna start building motor mounts for this swap????
Not to cause any trouble, but why would you put a chevy in your T-Bird? I know street rodders do it all the time and I can't understand them either. If you want chevy power buy a chevy, same thing for ford, dodge, and so on. I personally don't think it's right. I know my opinion doesn't account for much but it's just my two cents.
Hey my name is Jay too! lol
I dont understand the engine swap either but what I really dont understand is why did you post the pics here? lol
LOL!! That's cool!! My legal name is John, but there was too many John's in my family so I got nicknamed Jay.
I don't know why he put them here either but he was already told he should have started his own thread.
Looks like you have a good list of things to do to your Bird. Make sure you let that back heal up so you can enjoy it.
My legal name is James butr grandma nicknamed me jaybird when i was little so its kinda ironic that i know own a thunderbird. tried to get "jaysbird" on my tag but its not available.
Idk why he put them here but whatever. Yeah my girlfriend wont let me get under the car yet because of my back but she said the day I can get down on the ground and then pick myself back up w/o a problem I could get under any car! lol getting down there is the easy part! haha
Awhile back in this thread, someone said something about seats with Halo headrests...
The headrests are removable, with a little bit of work, and a hacksaw blade. (no don't cut the f*cker off....lol)
Slide the blade in there, and with a little jiggling around in the right spot, the 'rest will slide completely out.
I had Motorsport seats in the asc/Mclaren Capri I once owned...they're about to find their way into the Sport in my sig.
The Halo 'rests on them were on the seats when i bought the Capri.
I have no idea what year they seats were made, but a member here told me they were rather rare.
One last thing, you can use Mustang seats in a Tbird/Cougar...just remember to use your Tbird/Cougar brackets, since Stang brackets won't fit our floorpans. Just a heads-up ;)
(now back to the regularly scheduled thread-in-progress lol)