Welcome to 2010, the year of the Thunderbird

I am so looking forward to Spring to get all of this stuff installed. The 3.73s, driveshaft and the UDP gives me something to look forward to. Hopefully all of those V6 Mustangs and V6 SHOs will be seeing tailights this year at Milan!

2011 Ford Ranger Concept - Designed in Thailand!

Thats right! The rest of the world gets the Thailand designed 2011 Ranger and we are still getting by on the old school version from 1983. I love my truck, but I would like to see a little more then what they are offering now. The current design is proven, tough and mighty, however, it would be nice to see an updated version. The current Ranger is the most fuel efficient American truck sold, lets see it develop more into a truck that the masses are looking for.

Rumor has it, the new Ranger will be powered by the Ecoboost 1.6L I-4. I don't have any horsepower numbers on it yet, but I would bet it would beat my Duratec at the race track. I would love to upgrade to one of these in the future. Hopefully Ford will bring this truck here for us to enjoy. They should continue to call it Ranger as well, the F-100 thing would be too confusing.

New 2011 or 2012 Cougar, They should do this!

This concept car was something I found on another forum. I can see this Cougar being made from a Mustang with more luxary features and interior appointments. Maybe throw some shiney 20" wheels, chrome everywhere in the interior and some other items to compete with Cadillac coupes. A big Ecoboost engine would be nice as well. Its time for another personal luxary coupe, hopefully Ford will listen to people who would like to see this.

Too bad Mercury may not be around much longer.

Cash For Clunkers Thunderbird!

Here is something that I was afraid of, a 1993 Thunderbird with a sign for Cash For Clunkers! It looks like a V6 model, which doesn't qualify for the program. Its pretty much just a prop for them.

Video of my 1995 Thunderbird at Lapeer Dragway!

Here is my 1995 Ford Thunderbird in action at Lapeer Dragway, July 2008. The other car is a Pontiac G6 GXP.

Get the whole story at http://www.v8thunderbird.com

Done for the season! Driveshaft and 3.73s coming!

Its been awhile since my last update, I have been out having fun with the Bird! We went to the Downriver Cruise, Milan Dragway and other madness. She is running good, she has came a long way since I bought her a year ago. She got some new Autolite Platinum plugs before I put her away for the year. She is sitting under a Dupont tyvek cover now, waiting for spring.

We picked up the above at the end of the season. She is getting 3.73 gears and a 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII aluminum driveshaft installed when Spring rolls in. The gears are Ford Racing (made in the USA) and a Timken re-build kit. The Mark VIII driveshaft was from a cash for clunker car. Before I found this one, I bought a two peice version that is on the 1994-1998 Mark VIIIs. For one reason or another Ford decided to change the design of the driveshaft after a few months to a two peice design. While I still think that the one piece would have worked, I couldn't resist buying the more desirable one piece. A lot of people think that a driveshaft change is not needed, but as I learned, our driveshafts are very long. After the gears are installed, the shaft will be spinning faster, which could cause some vibration and eventual failure. After this is installed, I am hoping for low 15s or high 14s. We will see if I can get any traction out there.
I have looked into body work and will be saving up for that after this is done.

Ford Mustang Dual Piston PBR Upgrade For Ford Thunderbird

Over the last few months, the Thunderbird has been getting a lot of repair work done. We started out by replacing all brake components other then the lines. We used 1999 Mustang dual piston aluminum calipers made by PBR, Monroe Mustang ceramic pads, new drums for the rear and Morse Ceramic brake shoes. Before the upgrade, I had air in my brake system, so I can not asses the improvement. I can say that I am satisfied with the result of this upgrade.

My front suspension was totally replaced with all new hardware. I used Moog strut bushings, Moog Ball Joints, Moog control arms and Monroe Sensitrac Quick Struts due to the excessive cutting to get the old parts out. The whole setup was never changed before (from 1995?!?!), so you can imagine that getting bolts out was a real treat. I am very happy with the Moog componets, I just wish I bought their endlinks. The middle of the road endlinks I bought worked but they were kind of odd.

For the rear, we used Monroe Sensitrac shocks but left the rear stock springs for now. The rear springs will be done in the future. We also replaced the rear stablizer bracket.
Rounding out the upgrades, new Ford OEM floor mats was added to the interior.

All of the pictures are at http://www.v8thunderbird.com ! Check it out!