I just found this thread and damn what a kick ass car you have there! Great work getting it back to it's former glory too!
Black Gold 380R's 1957 Thunderbird Thread
- Thread starter Black Gold 380R
- Start date
Another fantastic job, you’re also much more dedicated to taking pictures and posting than I am. It’s just something I don’t often think about. I get involved in doing something rather than thinking about taking pics and sharing my story.
What a difference on the door (inside). Night and day different. That T-Bird is really coming along nicely. Beautiful car, Glenn!
If your engine temp might be a little high, throw a bottle of water wetter in the coolant.
It breaks down the surface tension of the coolant and allows better surface contact with inside of the system.
It is not snake oil it works.
No bad side effects.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you Bird-Dog. It's funny how that happens. I look at the new posts lists all the time. However, there are some posts I click on and it's already like 4 or 5 pages deep. I'm like how did I miss this? LMAO!!!
Thank you Bullitt. Although I like to post and share with you guys, to be honest, I'm actually documenting the build or project for myself as much as for posting. I like to see where I started and document the process and then see the end result. It's fun to see how bad it was compared to how it looks afterwards. It also helps me have a visual of my mistakes so I know how to avoid them or fix them next time around.
There has been a few times I get into the project and completely forget to take pictures though LOL....
Thank you Bob! Always enjoy hearing your perspective on things my friend.
Great minds think alike railroad. I bought a case of this from Amsoil and plan on putting it in the cooling system of the Thunderbird once I finish flushing the system out.
Let us know how the Coolant Boost works for you, temps wise.
Will do Bob. I haven't poured it in yet and It's getting cooler here, so it may be a while to see any results.
Glenn,
Would a 25F deg delta be enough to show on an analog gage? Or will you be monitoring it by some other method?
Okay Everyone,
I was asked about taking the top off the Thunderbird a while back. My Dad has a hardtop removal system that attaches to your garage ceiling and allows you to remove the hardtop by yourself, but we have not transferred it to my house yet. However, he did give me a hardtop stand.
So, I asked my wife if she would help me remove the hardtop this weekend. Man, it looks really good with the top off and man, it's much easier for me to drive as well. No need to crunch down LOL.
Here is the hardtop on the stand with the strap in place to keep it from falling forward.
I covered it with some blankets to protect it while I have it off the car.
And lastly RIP Suzanne Somers. She made the Thunderbird famous in that movie scene.....
I was asked about taking the top off the Thunderbird a while back. My Dad has a hardtop removal system that attaches to your garage ceiling and allows you to remove the hardtop by yourself, but we have not transferred it to my house yet. However, he did give me a hardtop stand.
So, I asked my wife if she would help me remove the hardtop this weekend. Man, it looks really good with the top off and man, it's much easier for me to drive as well. No need to crunch down LOL.
Here is the hardtop on the stand with the strap in place to keep it from falling forward.
I covered it with some blankets to protect it while I have it off the car.
And lastly RIP Suzanne Somers. She made the Thunderbird famous in that movie scene
.....
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is that amsoil stuff somehow different than say water wetter?
ive fought like hell with air flow on my mach thanks to the big A2A intercooler up front. I thinned my anti freeze mix down so its good to around 10 degrees or so (I wanna say ~25%) with some water wetter it may have helped a few degrees but definitely nowhere near 25 degrees (im monitoring using an Aeroforce gauge via OBD2)
ive fought like hell with air flow on my mach thanks to the big A2A intercooler up front. I thinned my anti freeze mix down so its good to around 10 degrees or so (I wanna say ~25%) with some water wetter it may have helped a few degrees but definitely nowhere near 25 degrees (im monitoring using an Aeroforce gauge via OBD2)
I'm not sure Lambeau. I will be using the factory gauge and I'm not sure how it will react. I do have an aftermarket gauge that "should" show a 25 degree difference.
I'm mainly looking for the car to run cooler and use my laser temperature gun to measure any difference.
I know driving it in the cooler temperatures we have been having here is making a difference. So, the cooler temps are helping a lot. I'll have to wait and see if the water wetter type stuff actually helps once triple digits return next year.
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I don't know yet DSG. I've been flushing the radiator a lot since the block had so much rust in it. So, I have not put any in yet.
As mentioned, now that temps are dropping I probably won't know how well it works until next year.
Hello everyone,
Well the work/upgrades continue on this car.
I ordered a Carb Cheater kit back in July and I received it last week (NOTE: if you don't know what a Carb Cheater is look for it on YouTube. Plenty of info there). However, on a short note it is supposed to adjust your AFR's in order to help your engine run more efficiently. I even had to install an O2 sensor LOL. And I use an app on my phone to turn it on and off. It even has a data log function. Funny having newer technology on a classic car.
So, I installed it this past weekend. It actually works really well. You can actually hear the engine adjust when turning it on and going back to normal state when shutting it off.
It consists of an O2 sensor, a computer box, IAC valve/MAP and a carb spacer plate. First thing I had to do was determine where I wanted the computer box and IAC valve/MAP mounted. So, I picked this spot on the inner fender apron.
So, I got them mounted and ran my wiring around to figure out how to best rout them. I only had to hook up 4 wires (12v power and ground and coil positive and negative) and the O2 sensor. The pig tails for the IAC valve/MAP worked great since I placed it next to the computer box. The kit does come with extensions if you mount the computer box and IAC valve/MAP further away from each other.
I then mounted the carburetor base plate.
The kit comes with 3/8 rubber tubing to run from the base plate to the IAC valve/MAP, but I thought it would look like crap. So, I ordered some 3/8 hard line. I then bent it to contour with the vacuum hard line for my power brake booster. I felt this would look cleaner and "blend" in with the factory components. I even used old style 3/8 clamps to blend in even further.
When connecting to the IAC valve/MAP the port from the front of the carb goes to the main valve and the one coming off what I believe is a MAP type sensor goes to the rear port of the carb plate.
Hard lines complete.
Well the work/upgrades continue on this car.
I ordered a Carb Cheater kit back in July and I received it last week (NOTE: if you don't know what a Carb Cheater is look for it on YouTube. Plenty of info there). However, on a short note it is supposed to adjust your AFR's in order to help your engine run more efficiently. I even had to install an O2 sensor LOL. And I use an app on my phone to turn it on and off. It even has a data log function. Funny having newer technology on a classic car.
So, I installed it this past weekend. It actually works really well. You can actually hear the engine adjust when turning it on and going back to normal state when shutting it off.
It consists of an O2 sensor, a computer box, IAC valve/MAP and a carb spacer plate. First thing I had to do was determine where I wanted the computer box and IAC valve/MAP mounted. So, I picked this spot on the inner fender apron.
So, I got them mounted and ran my wiring around to figure out how to best rout them. I only had to hook up 4 wires (12v power and ground and coil positive and negative) and the O2 sensor. The pig tails for the IAC valve/MAP worked great since I placed it next to the computer box. The kit does come with extensions if you mount the computer box and IAC valve/MAP further away from each other.
I then mounted the carburetor base plate.
The kit comes with 3/8 rubber tubing to run from the base plate to the IAC valve/MAP, but I thought it would look like crap. So, I ordered some 3/8 hard line. I then bent it to contour with the vacuum hard line for my power brake booster. I felt this would look cleaner and "blend" in with the factory components. I even used old style 3/8 clamps to blend in even further.
When connecting to the IAC valve/MAP the port from the front of the carb goes to the main valve and the one coming off what I believe is a MAP type sensor goes to the rear port of the carb plate.
Hard lines complete.
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After all that it was time to install the carb, wiring and O2 sensor.
Got the carb mounted back up (you cant even see the rubber tubbing attaching the hard lines to the base plate now). You can see the 4 wires at the bottom of the picture and behind the carb that need to be taken care of (black, red, green and yellow).
Here you can see that since I followed the factory vacuum hard line nothing interferes with the carb linkage.
Here you can see I got the 4 wires at the computer box taken care of. I used some of the wire loom I had left over from my 65 Mustang project to make this look cleaner and more factree LOL... I then installed the mini air filter on the IAC valve/MAP.
Here is the completed project. I'm VERY happy with how it looks and performs. It does not stick out like a sore thumb and only people with a real sharp eye will even notice it at car shows.
If you look at the bottom right hand corner of the picture and work your way up you will see I connected the black wire to my negative battery cable at the firewall. If you look under the starter solenoid you will see a fuse holder. That's where I connected the red wire for 12V power. And if you look further up you will see the data plate on the firewall. That's were I crossed the green and yellow wires over to the coil.
Got the carb mounted back up (you cant even see the rubber tubbing attaching the hard lines to the base plate now). You can see the 4 wires at the bottom of the picture and behind the carb that need to be taken care of (black, red, green and yellow).
Here you can see that since I followed the factory vacuum hard line nothing interferes with the carb linkage.
Here you can see I got the 4 wires at the computer box taken care of. I used some of the wire loom I had left over from my 65 Mustang project to make this look cleaner and more factree LOL... I then installed the mini air filter on the IAC valve/MAP.
Here is the completed project. I'm VERY happy with how it looks and performs. It does not stick out like a sore thumb and only people with a real sharp eye will even notice it at car shows.
If you look at the bottom right hand corner of the picture and work your way up you will see I connected the black wire to my negative battery cable at the firewall. If you look under the starter solenoid you will see a fuse holder. That's where I connected the red wire for 12V power. And if you look further up you will see the data plate on the firewall. That's were I crossed the green and yellow wires over to the coil.
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Once everything was completed I took it for a test drive. I drove it about 20 miles to my parents house to let my Dad check it out. It's really cool seeing the front screen on my phone. It displays MPH, RPM, Vacuum and AFR.
It looks like this:
After that him and my mom went for a cruise. It was pretty cool seeing them having fun in the car again.
It looks like this:
After that him and my mom went for a cruise. It was pretty cool seeing them having fun in the car again.
Thanks Lambeau! My parents are not ancient LOL, but I'm not sure how much longer they will be around, so I try to take every opportunity I can to spend time with them. After my Dad parked the car I asked my mom if she wanted to go for a ride with me and she said yes. So, I took her to put gas in the car and then for another ride around the neighborhood. She thanked me for taking such good care of the car. That made me feel good.
It was a very cool day for sure!
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