1994 Thunderbird

[Basement Paul]

After a disappointing stint with the LeSabre (what a boring car), I looked and looked for a V8 Cougar. I had a deal closed on a '96 w/100k miles on it when I decided to check for V8 T-birds too. What I found was the car shown below. It was a 69k mile, fully loaded car that didn't need much of anything. I got the car out the door from a local dealer for $2000. Compared to all the others I looked at both from private sellers or dealers, this was a steal.
This car has working A/C, climate control, sunroof, leather, etc. The interior is nice. The exterior needs only to have the front bumper painted, and there is a small patch of rust in front of the driver's rear wheel (only surface). The brakes are all like new, but have a modulation problem (someone blamed on cheap pads). I thought it was a master cylinder, replaced it, but didn't fix the problem. I've bled and checked all slides, etc, to no avail. I'm getting used to it though, so I probably won't do anything about it.
The car already had a K&N drop in filter, so someone has taken decent care of it. I did have to put a DPFE sensor on it a couple weeks after I got it to cure a new check engine light, but otherwise the car has been good.
It's giving me a consistent 23mpg, which is more than reasonable.

I'm working on getting a price on a posi unit installed to help winter traction, and maybe change the gear from 3.08 to 3.27 at the same time.

Anyway here's some current shots:















-bp

[MostMint]

posi? u need blizzaks for that bad boy. Tire sale on 11/16.

[markss327]

Leather, Buckets, console shift, V8 AND IRS.....
Nice. Any 1320 predictions?

BTY, congrats on the 13.9!

[Basement Paul]

Price me some 205/70-15 Blizzaks (whichever ones are cheapest per the sale) I intend to find some 16's come spring anyway.

I'd say it should be good for a 15.5 at about 88mph. It's a little sluggish off the line, but pulls like crazy once rolling. Not to mention it rides real nice and handles well for 3700 lbs. Sadly though, it has a 108mph shut off switch (found that out on 90 a couple weeks ago). In OD, the car is barely doing 3000 rpms at 108...

-BP

[markss327]

How 'service friendly' is the differential?
I know your big on fuel efficiency and all, especially if you're gona be driving it to work.
But, wouldn't some 3.55s wake it up?

[Basement Paul]

I'll probably have to have someone take care of the switchover, unless I could find a complete differential to replace it with. I would think a 3.55 would help the acceleration quite a bit, but I love being able to kick down to 2nd gear at 70mph. I fear the 3.55s would take me out of the sweet spot.

-BP

[Fred32v]

There was no talking BasementPaul out of eliminating the yellow on the left front fender today.
Basement said what ever happens it will be close enough. So, after a cold, damp, wet,
November Saturday afternoon in the garage, we need a new picture of the left front fender.
With the wrong 80 degree temperature reducer (garage between 50-60 degrees close enough),
air pressure through a 25 foot hose to the water seperator then another 50 ft. hose to the spray gun,
and the gage on the compressor at about 75 lbs. (should be 40 to 60 at the gun, close enough),
paint can indicated 4:1 reduction but 2:1 looked thin (close enough) so we used that,
and added a cap full of flex additive for good measure (close enough).
Considering the possibilities, the results were worth the effort. (close enough)

[Basement Paul]

I'd say it looks pretty good for a couple of amateurs. We figured total cost, not including the afternoon of time watching paint dry and trying to breath in a not so well ventilated garage, was about $40.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

Four new Indy 500's installed a few weeks ago seem to be working well, even in the slop.

Since the new tires quieted it down some, now I hear a small clunking in the RR. Last Sunday I investigated the noise and found the spring broken in two places. Tomorrow the ebay purchased springs should arrive on my doorstep for a Sunday morning replacement.

I also currently have a bid on a posi center section from a '96 with a 3.27 gear (one better than the 3.08 open). This would allow me to replace the whole thing with a non leaking, better geared, posi version for less than the repair of the current leak (hopefully).

-BP

[Basement Paul]

After investigating the clunk in the rear and finding a broken spring, I ordered new springs. While replacing the rear springs I found both of them were broken. With some difficulty 32v and I got the new rear springs in place, and now my car has the rake of a 70's Camaro with air shocks pumped up to 80psi. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that the springs are brand new, so for now, I'm carrying around a couple hundred pounds of weight in the trunk to bring the ass down some, and help the springs settle out a little in the process. Since it was snowing for the last couple days, the extra weight hasn't hurt my traction either.

The ride has firmed up some, but the handling is quite a lot better too(duh).

-BP

[Basement Paul]

Well, the 'Bird took a step in the wrong direction today on my way to Home Depot. A snowy day and a crappy plow truck decided to cut me off while he pulled into McDonalds and... POW! a good paint job ruined. The driver of said plow truck was driving on an expired license, and hopefully his insurance is still current so he can fix my car, or at least get me a check. He got sited.

Anyway, here's the aftermath...







Any guesses as to how much the estimate will be? The front bumper cover, the fender, the headlight, the marker light, the header panel, and the hood all sustained damage. The temp at impact was 13 degrees, so that didn't help anything either.

More to come as the story unfolds.

-BP

[MostMint]

Bummer. Looks like at least $2500 to me - depends on if there is damage to the core support - could go higher.

[markss327]

Well, that sucks....
I agree with MostMint. $2.5k+ in wrinkles.

A plow truck, and on an expired license. So, here's a guy, trying to make some money, where a valid license is required, AND insurance, and he's out of date.

I'm angry just thinking about it.

[Fred32v]

Take that thing to the Classic Dealer Autobody Shop for the repair and it will certainly go
Totalled at about $4K. Aside from the springs, shocks, brake work, new CD player, original repair
of the left front, wax job, detailing, new tires, rear end, Tune up, etc., I'm not sure that $4k covers it.
Sure looks like a possible loss. I'd insist that they fix it or give me the check and the car.
Wonder what the insurance folks will do?

[Basement Paul]

Being MLK day, I was unable to get the other driver's info from the Mentor police dept (administration was closed today). I saw a guy I used to work with at Classic's body shop and the initial estimate using new parts was $2890. That's dangerously close to a total. Now what the plow truck driver's insurance adjuster will say is another thing. Keeping in mind the estimate did not include any rental car either.

My actual dollar investment in the car is under $2700 right now, but that does not include any time spent in getting it to it's current state (pre-accident, of course). I've done some searching on line and have not been able to duplicate this car for under $3900 on line, and that's not including any repairs the next car might need.

I'm thinking that if the insurance company would offer me something over my current monetary investment, and the car back, I would accept that (assuming thier plan is to total the car). Or just fix the car and call it even.

Part of the problem though, is that most parts are not available new anymore, so I'm thinking they might really try to total it and eliminate the hassle of finding used parts.

More to come...

-BP