Skip to main content
Topic: Chuck's '83 TBird (Read 70649 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #390
Took apart the MS unit the other day to swap out the old serial port with the USB/serial adapter.




Checked out the ECU to make sure it connected to the laptop fine, and reinstalled the ECU and the battery.

Got it fired up a couple days ago, but haven't had a chance to get it out for a drive yet, but that's coming soon.

Ready for a new season.  :smile:
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #391
Okay, its been a year so I am hoping you have had some drive time.  What is the verdict on the rear suspension?

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #392
Funny you should bring it up. I tried to drive it to work this morning, but the clutch was acting weird, so I turned around and took another vehicle. Either the cable needs to be adjusted, or it's getting ready to snap again. Overly grumbly about going into gear. Especially first when coming to a stop. Pedal feel felt a little "off", so I'm guessing the cable is about to go. Now I have to dig up what one I used 15 years ago or so when it snapped the last time  :crazy:

As far as the suspension goes. I like it. It does need a bit more roll stiffness in the rear, so I'm probably going to look into the MM rear springs they do for their TorqueArm installs. Other than that, I have a "clank!" on the passenger rear when going over bumps when loaded at speed, but I haven't found the culprit yet.
A few more minor niggling things, but nothing that really detracts from the drive.

My goal this year was just to drive it, and not do too much other than a couple of minor fixes and maybe try and dial the tune in a bit better, now that I finally have a WBO2 in it.

Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #393
Well that sucks on the clutch cable and hopefully its just that and an easy fix and you get some quality time with the mistress (at least that is what mine gets called).

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #394
Well, I took a few minutes today to look over the clutch cable and it all appears to be fine.
It did look a little "loose" so I tightened it a couple turns.  It's got a straight-pull bellhousing on it (so no silly dog-bine cable) and it's using the Ford Motorsport AL quadrant and firewall adjuster, with the adjustable cable.

Took it out for a drive around the neighborhood. Clutch felt better, but it gets really noisy is I try and downshift to 1st too soon. I don't remember it doing that before and all other shifts are fine, so perhaps it's a combination of T5 manners and a slightly snarky syncro.

Good enough for me for the moment. Means I can get back to driving it once in a while.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #395
Drove this a couple times over the past week and found new things to fix.

I've noticed the past couple of times that the car has run hotter than usual and has struggled to cool down at idle/low speeds.
I've heard the fan(s) running, but yesterday I discovered only 1 was operating. That explains that. Need to see if the fan motor itself is dead, or a bad connection. Put it in a long while back, so it may be time for an upgrade.

Yesterday I also noticed that the clutch is starting to slip a bit. Hasn't been an issue around town, but on the interstate, cruising around 70 in 5th, when I put my foot into it to pass someone, once the boost comes up to around 12psi, the clutch starts to slip and the revs take off.
I think I have an extra clutch in the garage, so I need to dig that out.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #396
Got the old fans out today and sure enough, the DS one is dead.

I have a bunch of Volvo fans here, so I thought I'd test fit the shroud to see if one of those would work. Actually would fit pretty nice...if the IC tubing wasn't so close to the bottom of the core support. Looks like I'll need to sort another option.
(Plus side, it looks like this Volvo fan set I have will fit the LTS, seeing as there is no IC plumbing in the way)

I'll see what I can dig up, but probably won't mess with it much the next couple of weeks, as we're heading on vacation next Friday.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #397
Car is looking good Chuck, glad to see you are still up to your old tricks.
1985 Turbo Coupe
1988 Thunderbird Sport
1996 F150

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #398
I kind of drug the fan replacement out a bit, as I was working on other stuff.

I wound up picking up a Contour fan setup, and went the easy route with the LMR installation brackets.



I had it all installed a couple weeks back, but didn't get to the wiring until today.


And then I ran into a snag.

Firstly, these fans pull WAY more amperage than my old dual fan set did (It was running on a 20A circuit) and pops the fuse upon start-up.

40A appears to be the max draw, which leads to the second problem. The current wiring and relays I have built in are not enough to handle that much. The relay is a 35A unit and the wiring is maybe 14ga out of the distribution box.

I could possibly separate the fans each to their own power/relay, but I don't have enough room in the distribution box for a second (well 6th) relay, and the 50A 280 type relays are too big to fit in place of the 35A ones. I do have 2 other un-used 20A circuits in there though.
I do have enough room in the MAXI fuse box for another circuit (40A), but then I would need to add an external relay...which kind of bugs me, now that everything is all contained currently.

Additionally, it now seems like the trigger circuit out of the MS box is acting up, so I need to investigate that as well.

Need to dig into it and decide the route I want to take to get it functional again.

Upside, I did find my extra clutch in the garage, so I don't need to buy one.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #399
OK, got the work on the 850 done, so it was time to stick the Tbird in the garage to get a couple things done.


Gotta rework my fuse/relay boxes a bit so I can add a new power lead to the fans and add a larger relay.


I have to shuffle a couple things around, but I think I can get it all to fit.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #400
Well, I decided to take the day off work, seeing as I was in a lull waiting on parts for about 3 projects and the wife and kids were gone for the day.

Got into the fan wiring rework today.


I figured out the plan on what needed to move where and what needed to possibly be removed.

I originally thought I was going to replace my MAXI fuse box feed with a new 4-circuit one, but then I realized that the lugs, etc that I had wouldn't allow me to do that, so I opted to make a 2nd 3-circuit lead for the box.



The box rework wasn't too terrible in the end.


You can see how much larger the 50A relay is vs the 30A. The pin-out was the same between the two, but the terminals were in the middle of the larger relay, so it wouldn't fit in the corner. I needed to move the sockets in the box down a row. This necessitated moving that 10A fuse location off to the left side. Easy enough to move the lead.

The smaller relay was one that the supplier had added to allow for fan control with AC (which this car doesn't currently have). It wasn't being used, so it could be removed, but I needed to relocate a terminal to an unused slot under the new relay.

Since I was no longer using the rightmost 20A fuse to feed the fans, I could remove that feed, but I still needed the 12V for the coil side of the relay (it gets triggered by the MS), so I left part of the circuit in place and just stuck a small (5A) fuse in there for now.

The new feed from the MAXI box now feeds the power to the fan relay, and a new larger feed out to the fans was made up.

Everything there should be good to go now.

Next project is to replace the clutch. Need to get a new TO bearing and rear main seal, but I should have everything else I need to tackle that.

Need to grab a couple door strikes too. The plastic sleeve is gone from both, and the doors require more effort to close (and make a bit of noise). I'd forgotten about needing those until I moved the car into the garage.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #401
So, I was getting the Bird up on stands and found this on the roof...



Probably from some idiot's NYE celebrations.

Glad it wasn't one of us, but this is ridiculous.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #402
As in the roof of your garage?

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #403
The roof of the Tbird.

It was in the carport until about a week ago.

There is a corresponding hole in the top of the (fabric) carport.

Didn't come through the headliner, so the sheetmetal took out most of the energy.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #404
Holy …man that sucks the big one.  That’s literally metal work and repainting the top of the car. mofookie’s that do that BS don’t care about anything until it happens to them and them.

Hopefully you can get it fixed for a reasonable amount.

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp