On my '85, the front bumper cover had a recessed place for the trim, which was chrome on most birds, red on the TC cars. I installed mine in '87 and used the chrome trim for a regular '85, it was sticky backed.
I never saw another set of polished 10 spokes, I did mine on the '85 back in 1997, about once a year I'll take 20-30 minutes and some Mother's Aluminum Polish and retouch by had .... all 4 that is. Just did it on the 4th of August again.
I did them the first time after stripping them, then mounting them one at a time on the right rear with no stem, no tire, car on a stand, engine running at idle, trans in D. Worked them until I had them looking good, then sprayed the primer and paint in holes and recess, then cleaned excess off smooth aluminum.
That picture was taken just a day ago.
I have since done a set of 7 spokes for my'92 Sport as well.
I posted something about them over on tccoa.com sometime past. Hadn't heard of others doing it yet, but happy to see some have.
anyone with CFI applications needs to eventually remove the carbon deposit on the base of the CFI.
i have a write up in my diy link below. Basically go buy the cfi gasket kit (conssts of two gaskets) and remove the cfi and egr base.
locate your gold vac fitting on the rear driver side of the cfi. Up inside there is where the bottle neck is.
Its pretty simple,, if the egr diaphram can not get vac signal due to blockage at the egr base, the EVP sensors range of motion can not send a good voltage to the eec, which ends up being a circle of madness eventually causing fuel consumption problems.
while you are at it,, replace your injector screens or just yank them out. Doing this will fix the often complained about "hesitation" issue.
Hmmmmm.
Well, I replaced the TPS, it runs smoother, mileage helped a little .... but tomorrow I'm going to stop by either NAPA or Ford and get those gaskets and clean that bugger out too! :bowdown:
Thanks for the tip. :cheers:
I did do a search before asking, I guess I overlooked it or I used the wrong search terms. What you say may well be a big part of it at 143,000 plus miles.
Need a little help. Car is '85 Thunderbird with 5.0 CFI and auto, stock. I've had it since it was new, been a great car. Has 143,000 miles on her now.
Several years ago put new oxygen sensor on it, also replaced TPS some 10 years ago for some reason. About three years ago the EGR kept getting stopped open with carbon deposits I think related to faulty oxygen sensor, I eventually blocked the EGR altogether as going to have to remove intake and clean it good to alleviate carbon deposits blocking EGR open.
No oil use problems, trans is in great shape, TV cable is OK.
Anyway, been running OK, mileage in mid 20s on the road.
Lately however, mileage has dropped to 19-20 mpg and at light part throttle she seems to shift and the engine surges. Idle is not always steady either. At heavy throttle or wide open she seems OK.
I suspect the TPS.
Was wondering however if any need or point in overhauling throttle body, having injectors cleaned, new oxygen sensor along with it????
I bought my 92 T-bird 5.0 in September, since then have conversed with people getting 200-300,000 miles on the motor. It's a GT motor with a slightly lower profile upper intake, quieter exhaust, etc ... and several hundred more pounds of car to move than a Mustang.
Our Regatta Blue '85 T-bird. We purchased it Feb. 1986, it now has 141,000+ miles. 5.0 with AOD and 2.73 rear, I added the TC front bumper cover, A&A Fibreglass brand rear spoiler, 15x7s and P225/60R15s, and Konis early on. It's been a great car, minimal repairs needed but I have gone through some maintenance supplies in that time. Paint is original.
This is our '92 Dark Plum Met. T-bird Sport. 5.0 HO with AOD and 3.08 rear, etc. Just purchased it from original owner a few miles up the road, lady about 52 (or about our age), she babied it. Have a set of 16x7 7 spoke wheels to go on it in spring. Paint is new, but original color. We like it so far.
My 85 has a 302 CFI which is stock and lately it's been getting varying gas mileage and the idle has been higher than normal, but we found that by cutting it off and restarting it would come back down ... for a few minutes until we next accelerated and it would stay high again. This would go on for about the first 15-30 minutes normally, and if it was really cold out, it would re-occur.
Not vaspoogee lines.
Not PVS.
Not EGR.
Not throttle kicker.
Today, found wire leading from alternator back broken right at wire loom at back of alternator, and other end feeds up through plastic loom to what would be the electric choke if it had a carb, but it doesn't. Same function though, not sure of terms. I was able to splice on a new wire, soldered connection, feed throgh loom, spliced nice factory connector other end, soldered, taped up, secured, started and it runs mighty near perfect now!
Not sure if wire broke due to fatigue or if maybe I unknowingly broke it while changing front right side plugs back in the fall.
It's been aggrevating and a bit costly in terms of lousy gas mileage to say the least.
Commerating Bill's 212.239 MPH qualifying speed at Talladega May '86...
Yeah, I remember it well. Darrell Waltrip commented that his car was running 212 down the back straight too .... as it was overheating.
I seem to recall Bill at Daytona having to pit while a roll of duct tape was applied to his right front headlight and fender to satisfy NASCAR so that he would loose two laps, and he then went out and under strictly green flag conditions, ran Cale Yarbrough down from 2 laps back (over 5 miles) and Cale was in a Waddell Wilson (always top notch equipement) preped car. Awsome Bill he was, as was his whole team!
