Meet the TurdBird - My DD

Darkwriter77

Resident Ranting Negative Nancy
5 Year Member
Jul 1, 2005
311
293
134
Apache Junction, AZ
Finally got around to cleaning cars this weekend. Still not 100% done with purty-ing the notch up, but at least the DD is presentable and I can see out of all of the windows, now.

It's a '94 Thunderbird LX with a 4.6L, 122k miles, and ... *gasp!* ... working A/C and heat. Just had to throw a basic tune-up and 1.5 cans of 134a into it, and it's all good. Now, I just need to change out the stupid busted 1-2 accumulator piston/spring so I don't have the annoying hang-shift problem at WOT (I might J-Mod it later on if I find the time). I also need to locate a '94-'95 front bumper fascia and splash shield because the prior owner was a yuppie douche that drove the thing on a bad alignment (worn upper ball joint) until the tire exploded and caused a huge mess. First tank on it got 26 MPG, and (also thanks to the bigger tank) now I can go 300 miles on a tank instead of the 150 I was getting in the notch before refueling. :nice:

Mucho credit to the cleaning process goes to Frankenstang for lending a helping hand with the underhood and wash/wax fun. :cheers:

Can you believe I picked this thing up for $950?
 
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its just a c&l trueflow 76mm MAF system. about $200 for both the 76mm maf and the pipe. some minor clearance issues with the fenderwell, but it's not bad. i ended up putting some silicone between the two so i wouldn't hear the rattling.
 
I had fun helping clean both those cars up. I love doing that kinda stuff. Damn, that car DID clean up nice and yes, I'm STILL trippin' on the fact that you stole it for $950!

Hey, :worthlesb of the Notch!
 
sorry to aid in a thread jack also, but blueovalindustries.com is where i got it. i think it's the cheapest 5.0 site on the net. had one issue (out of 4 seperate orders) with them regarding backorder/shipping, but they eventually came through. for the price, they're pretty good! i live in canada, so shipping and stuff is a big deal to me. i used to recommend them to everyone, but now i just say they are ok after a bad deal.... guy i dealt with was a dick, but i did eventually get my stuff. i had to tell him my $100 worth of parts they didn't send (but told me i had) would cost them 10's of thousands of $$$ in lost business by badmouthing them on the stanget forum!!! :SNSign: i guess it got their asses in gear!
 
I'm not going to pour a lot of mods/money into the TurdBird, being that it's my DD. Besides, I've already got one car I'm way the hell upside-down in, as far as spending wayyyyy more on mods/repairs than I even paid for the car, itself. If someone smashes into this thing on the way to/from work and they don't have insurance, then I'm only going to be out maybe $1500 total, counting the stuff I've done to it and the future cost of tires I'm going to have to invest in it; if someone squashes my notch ... ugh, I dare not even calculate how much I'll be getting hosed out on that. I've seen similar mileage/condition 'Birds go for $2000 or better, lately.

Just for giggles, I might take it to the track this summer to see what it'll run. IIRC, my '94 Cougar with the same motor/gears went something like 15.7, and that was with the broken 1-2 accumulator spring at the time.

Btw, who the hell at Ford decided that the UPPER 1-2 accumulator spring should only be $8 while the LOWER spring is frickin' $57? What kinda garbage is that, anyway? I'm hoping that just the top spring is broken and that the bottom is still kosher when I take it out so I can re-use it, because that's just fuggin' nuts for a coiled-up piece of metal. Hell, the 1-2 accumulator piston, itself, was only $27! :bang:
 
Bent wheel? :scratch:

The second spring is actually optional, according to Jerry's specs, and I left it out when I did the J-Mod to my '94 Cougar in the past. It shifted VERY firm, but not harshly. It got to be really annoying when just driving around in a rather sedate manner because of how it jerked into gear, though. Since I'm not planning to make this a track-duty toy or anything - that title now belongs to the Notch - I'm putting both springs in this time.

WTF is the deal with these springs always breaking on the early 4R70W's, anyway? I've never heard of it happening on AOD or AODE trannies, and they're essentially the same transmission, aside from the electronics and a couple of minor tweaks. Seems like almost every MN12 from '94 to '96 has this problem sooner or later. Were weaker springs someone's idea of an "upgrade" over the AOD/AODE design? :shrug:

I kinda wanna rip the e-fan off my T-Bird to use on the Notch... :D