I just started doing body work again after a ten year break. My first project is a semi with a busted fiberglass fender unfortunately. For whatever reason I can not get the fiberglass filler to stick to the fiberglass fender, it is sticking to the paint however.
Fiberglass never was something I worked with much ( I was a technician at a Chevy/Cadillac dealership). I'm completely confused as to why it is sticking to the paint but not the fiberglass fender, I've prepped them both the same so I must be missing something......
Tore apart two separate 2.3T over the past week. One of them I have owned for 6 years and have put about 70,000 miles on, total miles on car was 187,000. The other I just picked up a couple months ago as an extra. Come to find out it was rebuilt 11/08 according to the bearings.
I was pleasantly impressed with the 187,000 bearing wear and very disappointed in the rebuilt bearings wear. Here is the picture of the bearings. The top bearing in both pictures is from the 187,000 engine.
Was ordering some Energy Suspension pieces for my sway bars, rear control arms, and such. I wanted to order an Energy Suspension trans mount to but the image Summit shows doesn't look compatible with the t-5 TC mount.
Anyone tried it or have any other suggestions for a trans mount?
I wondered what a murdered out TC would look like? I searched Google for satin black Thunderbirds but didn't come up with much. If you have any photos of a Thunderbird that is satin black please share! :D
IS the new post button working for anyone else? It hasn't worked for me at all today. :( I use that button all the time and don't know how to browse the forum without it! lol
Working on some headlights and can't decide what color to paint the shroud that goes around the light. Here it is mocked into place, all of the pieces are clear with protective film on them.
I am leaning towards an aluminum/silver color or maybe some kind of satin/flat/gloss black.
The one from AZ doesn't fit, the tubes are spaced too far apart and even if you bend it over, it still rubs the firewall. I can't imagine aluminum lasting long rubbing against steel.
The one from Advanced is a about an inch too short (see picture below).
In the picture is three heater cores. The center core is the factory core, the left core is the short core from Advanced, and the one on the right is from AZ and its tubes are too far apart to fit through the firewall hole.
The title isn't completely accurate, but will work until a better title comes along! [Big Grin]
I despise the fact that to remove the dash speaker grilles that you take a chance on cracking your dash. So I wanted to come up with something better/different.
I removed the drivers side grille by taking out the cluster and squeezing the metal clips from the bottom side. I removed the passenger side by taking a thin strip of metal (2"x 8" x 1/8") and placing it below the grille and prying on it to help spread out the pressure. This made me nervous but it worked.
BlueStik is a reusable adhesive putty, it is a lot like working with chewing gum. You pinch off some of the putty, ball it up, and place onto a clean surface.
Just like with any adhesive you want to make sure that the area is clean and dust/dirt free. The putty may not be the prettiest but neither is a busted dash, and this isn't viewable when the grilles are in place.
I was able to easily remove and replace the grille multiple times today without any complications. Because the putty is reusable it should remain pliable and therefore rattles should not be a concern.
I completed this today and took it for a spirited drive through the country and it seems to have worked fairly well. The grilles stayed in place and absolutely no rattles or shaking.
I can't speak for long term durability yet, but with there really being no pressure on the grilles i believe it will hold up well.
There was a tech article written about painting seats recently that got me to thinking about how much I despise the bright red interior in the latest black bird. I was wondering what it would look like to paint the center section of the seats and door panels black to try and break up some of the red. Here is the results so far.
