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Topic: The beast lives. (Read 883 times) previous topic - next topic

The beast lives.

My 86 black cat is now semi road worthy. I love driving it. The timing is about 4 or 5 degree's off, it failed emmisions on the NOx test only, which means I am hollowing out my cats, more likely then not. The tranny is shifting way to early, meaning I am in over drive at 1k rpm by 40ish mph. Oh, no door panels, no window switches (Yeah bare wires are awsome) and a ghetto rigged horn. But all said and done,

I love this car more then anything in the whole world right now. I already have insurance, and the temp tag expired two days ago. So I am gonna be busting my balls to pass saftey and emissions asap. Thanks to anyone that has helped me find what I needed.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

The beast lives.

Reply #1
Quote
The tranny is shifting way to early, meaning I am in over drive at 1k rpm by 40ish mph.
Unless you have a shift kit, or you're holding the gas half-way down, that's about right. I drove my 88 like an old lady last night, just barely touching the gas and letting the speed slowly creep up, and it shifted at 15, 21 and 40mph.
Death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth.

1988 5.0 Bird, mostly stock, partly not, now gone to T-Bird heaven.
1990 Volvo 740GL. 114 tire-shredding horsies, baby!

The beast lives.

Reply #2
Yep, that's about the same as mine, 'cept when I get to 40 it can't decide which gear to stay in so it bounces back and forth between 3rd & 4th. Annoying habit. Anyone got a T-5? I hate slushboxes.

The beast lives.

Reply #3
yep EXACTLY what i got---except 40 in JUST not quite enough! gotta go up to 41 then it goes right in. though sometimes if its a real flat road and everything's perfect itll go in at 40, but usually it wont until 41.
 
that brings me to something i was wondering about: i always hear that the AOD "has a weak OD band" and i saw this mentioned on Eric's site. i know a little about autos. is it that the band could snap? or is it like the thing that pushes the band around the "drum" is weak and it wears down or doesnt engage OD very well? howstuffworks.com only does so much!  but...
 
 ..i always let off the gas when i get to 41 mph. it makes a difference--it "decides" a lot quicker and goes right into OD. is this a good or bad idea? am i helping to save my OD band? it should be noted that my AOD works absolutely fine, the fluid is nice and red, no idea when last change was/if one was done.
 
i dont block traffic but im prolly almost borderline on accelerating slower than the average person does, from stuff ive read im very fearful my AOD is gonna croak, thus i drive like the thing's made of glass
1987 20th Anniversary Cougar, 302 "5.0" GT-40 heads (F3ZE '93 Cobra) and TMoss Ported H.O. intake, H.O. camshaft
2.5" Duals, no cats, Flowmaster 40s, Richmond 3.73s w/ Trac-Lok, maxed out Baumann shift kit, 3000 RPM Dirty Dog non-lock TC
Aside from the Mustang crinkle headers, still looks like it's only 150 HP...
1988 Black XR7 Trick Flow top end, Tremec 3550
1988 Black XR7 Procharger P600B intercooled, Edelbrock Performer non-RPM heads, GT40 intake AOD, 13 PSI @5000 RPM. 93 octane

The beast lives.

Reply #4
Well, guess what?, Now I have lost overdirve.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com

The beast lives.

Reply #5
So, is the good ol' TV cable grommet (that we've discussed a million times) still there? Since you didn't mention if the previously-functioning 40mph shift to overdrive happened with the foot off the gas or on the floor, it's kind of hard to make suggestions on what else to look at.
Death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth.

1988 5.0 Bird, mostly stock, partly not, now gone to T-Bird heaven.
1990 Volvo 740GL. 114 tire-shredding horsies, baby!

 

The beast lives.

Reply #6
Yeah I am pretty sure that is what it is. I really didn't want to turn this into a tech thread, but honestly I haven't even had the time to look at it. I was working about 65-72 hour weeks lately. I have just been manualy shifting. I dont do any freeway driving on my commute. Mostly 25 and under, so I have just been leaving it in 1st or 2nd trying to milk it to and from work.

and that was with it floored. It took me a while to figure out that it wasent normal because I havent really gotten it up to speed until about the time I made the thread.
Quote from: jcassity
I honestly dont think you could exceed the cost of a new car buy installing new *stock* parts everywhere in your coug our tbird. Its just plain impossible. You could revamp the entire drivetrain/engine/suspenstion and still come out ahead.
Hooligans! 
1988 Crown Vic wagon. 120K California car. Wifes grocery getter. (junked)
1987 Ford Thunderbird LX. 5.0. s.o., sn-95 t-5 and an f-150 clutch. Driven daily and going strong.
1986 cougar.
lilsammywasapunkrocker@yahoo.com