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Topics - Chuck W

2
Other Vehicles / Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
As if I needed another project, but here we are.

I've been wanting to get rid of the F150 but wanted to replace it with a Fox wagon (which will eventually get a hitch). I've never been much of a truck guy, no matter how hard I've tried.

Found this thing on Marketplace a couple months ago, but wasn't in a place to do anything about it at the time.


After some talks with the owner and working out some logistics on my end, my buddy and I made the 6 hour trip to southern MO to check it out.

It has been sitting under a group of trees since '05-'06, when it was parked for what looks to be a HG issue.

The interior could best be described as "moist", due to a bad door latch striker leaving a minor door gap, and a window slightly cracked.




.

Checklist was-
- Check strut towers/frame
- Check underneath
- Check cowl

Popped the hood. Towers and frame were clean.  Got a jack underneath it. Greeted by perfectly straight pinch welds and a surprisingly rust-free floorpan. Pulled up the front carpets. No evidence of standing water, so the cowl is good. There may be some rust inside in the rear floors, but nothing was evident from below and it seemed solid. It's definitely in nicer shape, body-wise, than the LTS was.

I struck a deal with the owner and we pulled it out of its resting spot and got it ready to travel.


The first stop before a quick bite to eat was a carwash



Still needs more scrubbing, but there is no body damage, no body rust, and only a couple small spots on the hood where the paint has given up.

Right now it is tucked away in a relative's pole-barn until I get it moved to the house. Hopefully that will help dry the interior out a bit. It's not getting touched until after I finish up a couple of house projects that MUST get done before tearing into this.



The plan right now for it, aside from getting the interior sorted, is pretty basic for the time being.

It will get the '11 3.7/6R80 combo I have in the garage. Will stay 4-lug for the short-term, but will get at the very least 11" Fox brakes. Tow hitch. General refresh to get it road-worthy.

More details and pictures when the car is at the house and I'm tearing into it. For now, it's just planning and organizing when I'm not tending to my other needed projects.
3
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars WANTED / Looking for stock 5.0 EFI parts
Hey all.

I'm looking for some EFI port injection stuff, like from an 86-93 Mustang.

Interested in stock items. Not looking for anything fancy.

The list:
- Upper and lower intakes (Don't have to be Mustang or Fox, so Tbird, SN-95, etc would be OK)
- Throttle body
- fuel rail and injectors (19#ers would be fine)
- set of stock factory Mustang tubular exhaust manifolds.

Let me know

Thanks!
Chuck
4
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars WANTED / Wanted - Rear Seat Belts
As I evidently tossed mine years ago, I'm in need of some rear seat belts for the Tbird.

Would prefer the charcoal color to match the interior.

Starting here before I cast a wider net out in the wilds. I'm in Indy.

Thanks!
5
Other Vehicles / Wife's new toy - 1976 Beetle
So, my wife has wanted a VW Beetle since she was a little kid. We've been saving up a bit of money the past few years and we finally snagged on for her a couple weeks ago.





It needs a little mechanical help, but the body and pan are solid enough. It was originally a FI car, but the engine has been replaced with a carbed engine from a '71.

I need to put an exhaust on it, fix the shift linkage, get the carb and a couple irritating electrical issues sorted, then she'll be able to noodle around town in it while we sort out more of the details.
6
Electrical Tech / Source for dome/map light connectors?
Anyone have a source for the insulated connectors that the dome/map lights screw into?

One of them in the LTS is disintegrated and I would like to get the light working. They're the same as used in a bunch of other stuff, but my search isn't yielding any.

Pic of what I'm talking about (grabbed from the webs)

7
Lounge / Hot Wheels TBird
Was at a car show over the weekend and found this in the swap meet.

8
Other Vehicles / Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS
So, this wasn't the original plan. The past few months, my wife and I discussed picking up another vehicle (which would stay automatic). Being the weirdos that we are, we narrowed down to an 83-86 LTD or Marquis wagon, and then eventually opened it up to an option for a sedan.

Had been casually scanning for something for the past couple of months. No rush to get anything. Even inquired with the owner of a Marquis wagon that was in the neighborhood. Figured something would pop up.

Then a couple weeks ago, an ad on FB appeared for an '85 Marquis LTS with an LTD LX parts car in western PA. Both were kind of rough, but there was plenty of bonus stuff included.  With no way to get 2 vehicles moved, I kind of sat on it for a week or so. Then after someone asked the seller about just purchasing the parts car, I went ahead and messaged them about the LTS.

For those that don't know, the '85 Marquis LTS is the one-year, Canadian-only, Mercury equivalent of the LTD LX, which was the "hot rod" of the Fox LTD line-up. They made 135 LTS's, total.

After a phone convo with the seller about it, he basically said he didn't want to bother with the guy interested in the parts car, and if I were to buy the LTS, he said I could take whatever I wanted off of the LX. He then sweetened the deal with offering to bring the car to me.
So, on a Sunday morning, I hopped in the car for the 5-ish hour drive to check things out and to hopefully make a deal.

Got there, looked things over, made a deal and got to stripping off the parts I wanted from the parts car. I was on limited time and wasn't *really* concerned with drivetrain/suspension stuff, as it's a Fox-chassised car after all. But I did grab some specific items, like 4 better doors, and hood, along with some LX-specific items (console, cluster).

Also included in the deal were a bunch of LTS-specific NOS parts.

We got everything organized, I loaded the NOS stuff into my car and drove home.
The next day, he shows up with the car and all of the other parts and we get it all unloaded.

In addition to the above stuff, the car also came with a set of Bullitt wheels, a half-installed 5-lug swap (94-95 spindles and 99+ 11" brakes up front), axles and drums for the rear 5-lug. New front suspension components, new fuel pumps and a new windshield. The car was FULL of parts when it arrived. As was the back of his truck.
Now, for those that care. I paid $2,400...total, to my door, for all of this.

Now it's sat languishing for at least a decade prior to the previous owner getting it, and looks "battle hardened", but underneath, the only bad rust spot is right at the front of the passenger floor board. The rest is solid. I have it running, but need to run through tune-up stuff, etc.

Primary goal right now is to get it running and driving and doing some clean-up and minor cosmetic stuff.







9
Body/Appearance/Interior / Good-fitting floor mats?
The floor mats in the TBird are of some generic application, and really don't fit for squat in the car.

You guys have a source for a decent set that fit well?

I don't really need anything on them (I'd only accept a TBird emblem if it was the 83-84 style anyway), just something that works better than what I have.

What do you guys like?
11
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars FOR SALE / 87-88 TC rear disc brake parts
Added more parts I'm pulling from the car.



These have been drilled to 5-lug and have had the center bore opened up to fit the 94-98 5-lug axles. They still have life in them, if you're going 5-lug, but if you're staying 4-lug, you'll need new rotors.

I also have a less crusty set of caliper brackets (No pics, but similar surface rust to the axle in the background of the caliper pic).



[COLOR="#FF0000"]$60 plus shipping[/COLOR] for the lot.

Email me if interested (cwarren@indy.net)

Thanks!
12
LEADS on T-Bird/Cougar Stuff For Sale / NLA -Both my old '80 Cougar XR-7's are available
Yes, both of my old '80 Cougar XR-7's (As found HERE and HERE) are up for potential re-homing.

The guy who has them is going to be out of the country for work for over a year, and he's decided to try and find a home for them. He'll just store them if he has to, but all the better if he can find a place for them.

These are current pics of both, as of yesterday. Both moved at some point back in Jul/Aug.






He hasn't done much to them in the time he's had them (usually busy with work) aside from drive them and put new tires on the white one.

The build threads for each are linked above. The pics for the grey one are mostly gone, but I didn't do as much to that one in the time that I had it.


The white one.

The Good
- Suspension and brake upgrades. (Lowered, 4-wheel discs(12" Vette front/SVO Mk7 rear), SFCs, big sways)
- 17" 94-95 Cobra Wheels with new tires (245/45)
- Manual swap (SROD 4spd and '84 SVO 7.5 - 3.45 rear)
- Rockin' Bittersweet interior, with Recaros and a center console
The Bad
- Very tired 302
- Body not the best
- SROD (very py ratio spacing on these)
- Windshield seal leaking again

The grey one

The Good
-Solid body and non-leaky windshield
-OK-ish interior
-OK-ish 255 V8
-OK-sh Snowflakes
The Bad
-Auto trans getting tired
-Surface rust on horizontal surfaces has gotten worse, but doesn't appear to be more than that.
-255 V8
-Not a whole lot of mods done to it. Pretty basic


In the end, it's probably best to smash both cars into one. If we had room for them, we'd grab them, pull all the good bits from the white one, INCLUDING the Bittersweet interior, and swap stuff onto the grey one, and drop in a different drivetrain. We just have no place for them.

I know these cars are an acquired taste, and not many folks have acquired said taste, but I told him that I'd put out feelers to see if there was any interest. They are located in Indianapolis, IN.

He's asking [COLOR="#FF0000"]$1,000[/COLOR] for the pair. Mainly because the white one has new tires. Nothing fancy, but 17" 45-series tires aren't the cheapest.

As I mentioned above, he doesn't NEED to sell them, and will just store them if need be, but just figured it would be better for them if they were getting attention again, even if that means sacrificing one to improve the other.
13
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars WANTED / WTB- Red front seats
Anyone in a reasonable radius from me (Indy) happen to have a fair-ish set of red buckets sitting around that they want to get rid of?

Looking to swap out the split bench in the Ranger, and it's rocking the porno red interior.

Let me know!

Chuck
14
Lounge / Meet #5
Before someone pokes at me about this, meet Charles C Warren V, born 9/5/17

15
General Fox T-Bird/Cougar Discussion / What to do? (Motor mounts)
So, by now, most of you know that I'm no longer building motor mounts, of any sort.

As much of a thing as it was for me, I just do not have time in my life for it these days.

Over the 15 years that I built them, I was kind of surprised that no other options sprang up, as I'm sure folks had alternative ways to do things.

Anyway, where I'm at is I'm not sure what I want to do with all of my information. All I do know is that I really have no time to put to these any more, at least not outside of anything for my own personal use. I barely have time for my own projects these days, much less those of other people. I get 1-2 emails a week still from people looking for mounts, and I feel bad having to turn them away.

At this point, if someone was interested in taking over building and supplying these to our weird little niche of enthusiasts, I'd be happy to entertain an offer for the exchange of information (drawings, dospoogeentation, weld jigs where applicable, etc).

Anyway, that's where things are with me on this, so if you're interested in carrying the banner forward, get in touch.

For all that have bought mounts over the years (and I have a record of EVERY set of mounts I've sold), thanks for your support.

Chuck