My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... August 06, 2008, 08:11:00 PM ...The poor thing is falling apart from neglect. It's usually stored inside my garage (except the past few weeks, while I've been working on my trailer project and soon to be rebuilding my Saturn's frame).I went to move it yesterday and the battery was nearly dead, so I put the charger on it overnight. I started it today and let it run for awhile, and discovered the following problems:Valve cover gaskets are absolutely shot. This happened to my 88 Cougar when it was stored for a winter too, but with that it was only a matter of tightening the bolts. Not so with the T-Bird. They're still tight. Looks like my aluminum HO covers and rubber gaskets will be going in. This is a desperately needed repair - I fear that if I were to drive the car even a few miles the thing would catch fire, the leaks are that bad (you all shoulda seen the smoke billowing out of the TC hood vents :hick:)Alternator (which was only a 6 month old 3G when the car was laid up) appears to have a bearing seizing up. The alternator is letting loud squeaks out at idle. I slipped the belt off and spun it by hand - very rough.Engine oil is absolutely filthy with rust . There are no large particles, but the oil has a definite rusty colour (it was new oil last year, I usually change it each spring even though the car isn't driven, but didn't this year). My guess is a thin film of rust had formed on the cylinder walls, which was sed off upon startup and mixed with the oil. Might be from water in the pan, too - there are zero miles on the oil in the car, but plenty of "start it, move it, shut it down" wear, which probably caused a whole lot of condensation.Exhaust is full of water. I'm guessing condensation from idling the car around the yard. You can actually hear the exhaust bubbling through it at idle, and when I rev it up it blows buckets of rusty water out the tail pipes. I'm not particulary concerned over the health of the exhaust, though - I've two brand new stainless Magnaflow lers and tailpipes I removed from the parts TC, just waiting for an excuse to be installed.The brakes are all covered with surface rust. My brand new, zero mile 11" rotors and TC rear discs look like they've spent two years underwater. I've decided to leave the rust on them for now, as it is somewhat protecting them from more rust until I can drive the car.I feel SOOOOOOOOOO guilty for not getting this car on the road this summer as planned. The poor thing is falling apart from neglect, even after all the work I did to it. It still isn't road worthy (the windshield has to be re-glued, trim/mirrors have to be reinstalled) but I think I'm gonna take it for a few-mile blast up & down the road once I get valve cover gaskets in it and change the oil, just to blow some cobwebs (and lots of water) out of it.On the plus side, the A/C still works...Don't mind me, I'm just reading how everyone else is installing their T-5 swaps and HO upgrades and I feel guilty every time I look at my neglected baby... Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #1 – August 06, 2008, 08:59:21 PM Mine's almost as bad... Yet to go to the drag strip and only driven it over to my mom's(3 mi) and back home twice all year... Still has all of last years fluids and even the rubber on the quarter panels from the last time it was to the track in Nov last year...When I do start it, I make it a habit to get the exhaust system hot enough to burn out the condensation... Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #2 – August 06, 2008, 09:12:15 PM I've been there myself, before my car took it's rust nap.would start it every weekend, and move it around the yard until the shifter linkage rusted up, and I decided to put it away and fix everything in a year or so. that was in 03. (I knew it needed bearings too)I'm a little behind schedule, but I'm fixing everything. And then some.... Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #3 – August 06, 2008, 10:51:57 PM I'm SO glad we don't have to deal with rust down hear. Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #4 – August 06, 2008, 10:52:41 PM i take my birdy around the block every time i start it. or atleast down the driveway Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #5 – August 06, 2008, 11:14:55 PM Carm, you've been hanging around the emo board members for too long! Sometimes I wish the most difficult thing we had to do on these cars was changing valve cover gaskets. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? It's not that big of a deal though, you've got your work all cut out for you now. Just one thing at a time. You'll be alright...(next) summer is just around the corner, you have time! :hick:How ironic that probably one of the Northernmost members of the board has working a/c in his non-driveable car...while plenty of others driving in warmer weather south of him wish that theirs worked at all......like in my '84... Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #6 – August 06, 2008, 11:28:55 PM No kidding,109 degrees,no a/c.Crazy...literally.LOL. Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #7 – August 06, 2008, 11:31:14 PM Hey, I feel you. After 4 years, I'm FINALLY getting the 351w in, and I keep getting curveballs. Accessory bolts that no one sells breaking off, nuts and bolts getting lost (my fault...), holes that I have no idea what go in them. It's been sitting in the garage for 3 months now.... Dad's not too happy.../rant Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #8 – August 06, 2008, 11:57:24 PM Geesh I feel bad that I only drive mine once or twice a week. If it sits for more than 3 days little spiders like to make webs between the tires and the floor :hick: Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #9 – August 07, 2008, 12:11:44 AM That sux carm, I feel for ya man. :( It makes me very thankful that mine is a daily driven car (though NO winter) and does so willingly and without hiccups. My A/C worked flawlessly for 3 years and recently stopped blowing cold, so YEP Im on that list too!!!! :hick: but the car DRIVES. So when I start complaining about this little thing and oh that doesnt look right oh I wish that wasnt falling apart, I need to keep in mind that it does what it was made to do, and shut up and drive the thing and be happy I can do that!!! Kinda funny how people in our crowd berate people for letting cars sit and refusing to part with them, especially old classics that could be easily restored in the right hands.....and yet some of us end up doing the very same. Guess other stuff takes priority. I havent had to experience that *yet* but I gotta imagine someday it could happen to me too, when, ya know Ive got REAL issues to deal with like a house or something. :wtf: Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #10 – August 07, 2008, 12:16:07 AM I could drive mine every day in the summer if I wanted to but then I'd have to worry about people hitting it, scratching it, denting it ect. That's why it just goes to one or two cruise nights a week. The 95 deals with the DD duties. I'd rather that get scratched or dinged than the 88 Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #11 – August 07, 2008, 12:28:53 AM i sorry to hear about you saddnest:sorry: :disappoin :2c: that why i have two shops. one for tharpy(left side). one to store or take stuff apart in(right side). after 8 years of collecting and taking cars apart. i took some time this spring about 1 and 1/2 month to get it back so i could park my good projects back inside the shop on the right side..when i do start any one of them up . i alwise let them run long enough to get up to operation temp before shutting the off. i have found that make them last better and longer.when in storage. Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #12 – August 07, 2008, 02:42:57 AM Try reviving one that sat for 5 years!!!!:punchballs: Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #13 – August 07, 2008, 03:04:41 AM that sucks its better to drive the hell out of them sometimes then let them sit. I hope you get back to the T-bird its a nice car and needs some TLC. Quote Selected
My poor T-Bird, dying from neglect... Reply #14 – August 07, 2008, 09:16:42 AM Oh, I'm feeling you, Carmen. My car gets taken out and 'thrashed' a few times in the summer, but I haven't daily driven it in nearly 4 years.I did find out why it was killing so many batteries, though. I found three pennies in my power point. I only thought to look after finding the same thing in the Vue, which blew a fuse. Somehow the wiring in the T-bird survived without shorting anything out.I was going through what you are now last summer.http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=14212&page=3 Quote Selected
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