85 Ford Thunderbird 5.0.....Swapped in a mustang 5.0 HO and T-5 Tranny.
Ever since the swap my speedometer hasn't worked. Lights up just fine and everything just shows 0 mph. Sometimes when in reverse I notice it registering 1 or 2 mph.
I tried replacing the speed sensor with a borg werner one from Oreilys but did not change the situation.
Any ideas on what to look for or how to troubleshoot this? Thanks guys. Jason.
Tryn to get the tbird going after sitting about a year. Got plates and a battery for it. Problem though. Hooked up the battery but the fuel pump don't run, power windows don't work, no windshield wipers, no radio. Car has been sittn a while so I'm sure its something with a ground or wire somewhere. I relocated the battery to the trunk years ago when I did the 5.0 HO swap and everything had been working for years. I checked the ground at the battery. Sanded it all up etc and it sparked when I hooked it back up so it's got good connection there.. It cranks fine, dash lights all work, interior lights work, cluster lights work, but fuel gauge doesn't show fuel level upon putting the ignition in run position. All the head/tail lights and signals work. I checked a few of the fuses and they were good. Not sure what's going on exactly. I was wanting to drive this thing this weekend to knock some of the rust off and get her purring nice again. Darn it!! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Jason.
What do you guys recomend i do to fix this? And to prevent it? I am thinking I used the wrong end links. Maybe they are too short and put too much strain on the brackets...??? This wouldn't be the first time my fix caused another problem. lol. All well, live and learn I suppose. Your help is greatly appreciated. I am starting now to get the little fixed on this car so I can go to cat-jam this year. I went looking expecting to find a broken shock cause I heard thumping but found the broken sway bar mount instead. YUK!
Well, I sort of fell off the face of the earth the past year and a half due to the fact I was going through divorce. It was final in September of 2007, and I now feel like I finally got my life back. The poor T-bird was functioning as my family car day in and day out to tote my 2 kids around in. Certainly not ideal in stop and go traffic with the stiff clutch behind the 5 speed and poly bushings making the ride very rough and no AC. But it held up and started every day, though in desperate need of brakes and struts and a host of misc maintenance that has been getting ignored for a long time. On the bright side I'm now fully functionally, past the stress related heart condition and firing on all cylinders again. I'm currently checking my dates to see if I can make Cat Jam. Problem is that it usaully interferes with my family reunion and with a couple of relatives that might not make the next reunion due to illness and general old age, I am reluctant to skip it. If the dates work out I'll have to get busy getting the bird in shape. Looks like the format of Cat Jam might be changing a bit from the last time I went to acoomodate the growing attendance. Kuddos to Eric and his helpers for keeping the ball rolling. Thanks. Jason.
I am having trouble getting my speedo working again. I haven't had it working since I swapped in the 5.0 HO and the t-5 tranny. I broke the speed sensor in the original AOD transmission upon removal of the old engine so I tried just hooking up the mustang speed sensor no luck, so I bought a new one, no luck. Then I took the upper portion of the original t-bird AOD sensor and swapped it into the lower shaft portion from the mustang sensor but that didn't work either. I have used the plastic gear from the mustang each time I put a sensor in. Occasional I will see the speedo go up to like 2 or 3 mph and a tenth of a mile will register on the odometer but thats it. What could cause the digital speedo to not get a signal? How can I troubleshoot this issue? As far as I know I have not touched any of the wires going to the sensor. I checked them from the grommet to the sensor and the wires looked good. Any help would be much appreciated. I am taking the car out of town next weekend and would like to know how fast I am going. Thanks, Jason.
I have an 85 T-Bird 4 eye, and my headlights are going out and I was wanting to put in something brighter. I like the looks of the ones in Eric's convertable. Where did they come from? And is there rewiring required. Thanks, Jason.
I didn't want to hijack the other thread but I am having the same problem. At cold it revs up and then down to the point of dieing, sometimes does, and then back up again. If you keep the idle up for a few minutes it will eventually idle fine. I attached a pic of a capped off vac line. I don't think it's the cause of my current prob because it's been like that since I put all that in with the HO swap and the prob I am having now is new, but I would like to know where it goes. I did swap out the solenoid that controls the egr with a spare I have and it didn't change anything. I did the same with a spare map sensor and no change. I did put in plugs, wires, rotor, and cap today because it needed them and I noticed that my K & N filter had fallen off. It's prob been like that for several months. I put in a bracket so it won't happen again but what could not having a filter foul up? Can't be good for anything. I don't have a check engine light hooked up so how do I pull engine codes? What should I look at next? I know this is pretty loaded but any help would be great. Mine engine is setup as speed density. Thanks, Jason.
Purple wire connects to a switched dashboard light source. Ex: Any switched light bulb
I got that off the instructions on cyberdyne's web site. I am trying to plan out this install. I ordered the digital oil, temp, and volt gauges. I know I need 12v power, ground, sensor wire, and the purple goes to ????. Where should I hook that up at? I want to run all new wiring seperate from the main harnass so that it will be easy to troubleshoot if there is ever a problem. I am thinking about putting a small fuse block in the engine compartment. What do you guys suggest for a clean install? Just kicking around ideas right now. Thanks, Jason.
After swapping in the mustang HO into my 85 bird, which AC parts do I need to buy. I didn't bring any ac parts along from the 87 cougar donor as I was planning on buying new but I am not sure which to buy. Do I buy the mustang ac lines/compressor or do I buy cougar lines/compressor?? I was planning on reusing my original evaporator and condensor. I had a replacement compressor on my 85 bird that I was going to use but it is too long to fit on the mustang. It interferes with the valve cover. Thanks for your help, Jason
I need a little info on suspension concerning the end links. What are the effects of the length of the endlinks? Is there a recommended distance between the lower arm and the sway bar? Is there room for adjustments or is it always supposed to be the same? How does this distance effect the ride? Thanks, Jason.
Here is the pic as requested by fastcat. It's not a good pic but you get the idea. I should be able to get it painted next year. This years budget is going towards new ac and misc. parts after the 5.0 HO swap.
My 5.0 HO engine will not warm up. It shows right at the first tick mark at the "c" on the temp gauge and the heater puts out no heat. I replaced the thermostat so it shouldn't be that. I am running a manual aftermarket fan without a fan clutch so it's going all the time, would that keep it that cold? I also have a new radiator cap on it, I think 15 or 16lbs. What could be causing this? Thanks, Jason.
I am trying to figure out which gauges to get. I want voltmeter, temp., and oil in the small size that will fit in the cubby in my dash. I was thinking of doing the cluster swap for the non digital speedo and tach. I was thinking about getting the Autogage atm-2327 from summit. Or maybe the summit brand gauges. Are these ok gauges to get or am I being too cheap on this? What about the sending units for the temp and oil, will I have to buy new ones to go with the new gauges?
Just thought I would post a few pics of the PC I just built. Not a speed machine but I left room to upgrade if I want to later. I had fun putting it together. Just not having 50 programs I don't need on it when I finished like you get when you buy one from the store was worth the little bit of extra trouble. The HP I was using ped out a couple of weeks ago so I had to overnight the parts and get a new one back up so my wife could get back on ebay. She was freaked for the few day[/IMG] [/IMG] [/IMG] s without that computer. lol Jason.
I didn't want to hijack the other thread but I am having the same problem. At cold it revs up and then down to the point of dieing, sometimes does, and then back up again. If you keep the idle up for a few minutes it will eventually idle fine. I attached a pic of a capped off vac line. I don't think it's the cause of my current prob because it's been like that since I put all that in with the HO swap and the prob I am having now is new, but I would like to know where it goes. I did swap out the solenoid that controls the egr with a spare I have and it didn't change anything. I did the same with a spare map sensor and no change. I did put in plugs, wires, rotor, and cap today because it needed them and I noticed that my K & N filter had fallen off. It's prob been like that for several months. I put in a bracket so it won't happen again but what could not having a filter foul up? Can't be good for anything. I don't have a check engine light hooked up so how do I pull engine codes? What should I look at next? I know this is pretty loaded but any help would be great. Mine engine is setup as speed density. Thanks, Jason.
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[/IMG] s without that computer. lol Jason.