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Topic: Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12? (Read 3577 times) previous topic - next topic

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #15 –
I had a 95 before, mine had the 4.6. I think it must have been worn out before I got it though, the tranny had the typical shutter. I was constantly putting in some kind of additive to help it stop for a while. Plus it came with a few other problems. It had alot of miles on it but the guy I bought it from said they where mostly highway miles. He was an insurance salesman.  But the body was in great shape, the front end was chipped up a bit but I put a bra on it to hide them. It was definately a beautiful car.

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #16 –
What a shame about the rust! And to think around here in North Carolina I see MN12 cars in salvage yards with great bodies perfectly intact. Rust sure is not kind to these cars in Northern climates!

It would drive me absolutely crazy to have a rust bucket for a car. This is why my 84 is worth saving from a crusher because there is only a minor spots that need to be repaired.

I would say try find a good southern car and have it transported. You could even keep the one you have now and use it for parts.

Or you could do like someone else said and get what you can for it now while the drivetrain is still worth something.

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #17 –
Quote from: 50tbrd88;316900
Look at it this way, if you sell it now you might get something out of it.  If you drive it until it rusts away or the head gasket blows you aren't going to get anything out of it.  I would strongly consider selling it and finding something a little less rusty. 

How 'bout a Lincoln?  I think it would be sweet to have a Mark VIII as a daily.



Mark VIII's are sweet!

I remember seeing that car for the first time at an auto show and I was romanced with it's radical shapes. The way it looks it really looks more like an evolution of the original Aerobird design. Take off the tire hump and change the grille and that could have been the next four seat Tbird.

Back when it first came out I like it so much that I wished the Tbird and Cougar followed suit with a related design that worked out the slab sidedness and lack of interesting details. I even worked up a Tbird version of the Mark VIII via photochop. I guess the fun in that was removing the spare tire hump in the decklid and making the taillamps full width with a dropped center like classic Birds. The front though I simplified by swapping the grille for a black one with a bird logo centered in it. I had fun playing with quarter window variations including a completely blind quarter panel with no window, a porthole window and even a 1977-79 inspired basket handle roof and quarter window design. I'll find those pictures sooner or later. They are saved somewhere on a disc..

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #18 –
I had a 93 Mk VIII, and I must say, it was expensive to maintain. It had great power, and was fun to drive... But man, it was kind of a POS.

Every time anybody talks about a MK VIII, I say yank the drivetrain and stick it in a better car :)

Maybe mine was just a lemon, but I had nothing but trouble with it.
CoogarXR : 1985 Cougar XR-7

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #19 –
Those MN-12s seem to rust out faster than the fox bodies. I've seen alot of MN-12s with huge holes in the rocker panels here in Michigan.  Even though there are some really beat down fox bodies here too, but they don't seem as rusted out.
1988 Thunderbird
306 HO w/ A9P processor
AOD w/ Transgo Reprogrammer
Full Digital Dash w/ twin Cyberdyne A-pillar gauges 
245/50/16 Tires on Snowflakes
Engine swap - CA smog compliant

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #20 –
Oh yea, that reminds me.  I still have a pair of brand new pre-stamped rocker panels for an MN-12.  If you want them, make me an offer.
My car is a gravity hybrid.  The gasoline engine gets me up the hills, and gravity gets me down.

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #21 –
I found this today. Too bad it's a V6 or I'd be all over it. It's blue, which is my color of choice. If it had a V8 I would be buying it tomorrow as it's a 15 minute drive from me. http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=277633627&dealer_id=84103&car_year=1996&rdm=1270701429466&lastStartYear=1981&model=TBIRD&num_records=25&systime=&make3=&make2=MERC&highlightFirstMakeModel=&start_year=1989&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&engine=&certified=&body_code=0&fuel=&awsp=false&search_type=both&distance=50&marketZipError=false&model2=COUGAR&search_lang=en&sownerid=565083&showZipError=y&make=FORD&keywords_display=&color=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=&drive=&default_sort=priceASC&seller_type=d&max_mileage=&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceASC&address=60638&advanced=y&end_year=1997&doors=&transmission=&max_price=&cardist=9&standard=false
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #22 –
Quote from: thunderjet302;317442
I found this today. Too bad it's a V6 or I'd be all over it. It's blue, which is my color of choice. If it had a V8 I would be buying it tomorrow as it's a 15 minute drive from me. [/url]


Really all you have to do is take a leisurely drive out the Ridgecrest, Ca., drop off your car at the junkyard and buy my 92 Tbird,  the interior is tattered and worn but the 3.8 only has 30,000 miles and the car drives great.  The front suspension needs an overhaul the brakes have on 5,000 miles and everything works.  $600 will do the trick.  No rust.:D
Armed Forces Car Club
Eastern Sierra Chapter, California
WEB:  armedforcescarclub.com

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #23 –
I want a V8 car ;)
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #24 –
It's kind of a catch-22 living in the Rust Belt and are a car guy.

You want to keep your "nice" cars nice buy not driving them in the winter, so you usually have another car for winter use.  If you're not into driving "beaters" (which I'm not), you usually still wind up with something you like/tolerate driving.  Even though you have slated it for bad weather use, it's still painful to watch it die a slow, rotting death.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo - '85 Marquis LTS - '86 LTD Wagon

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #25 –
Agreed! That's kinda where I'm at. My LS was originally a FL car, but made it's way up to WI and I bought it there 10 years ago. When I moved to KS 5 years ago, it was still in pretty good shape, but the old salt demons had started to attack, and I'm still not completely free of winters here. Now all I can do is try to keep ahead of the rust as much as I can...but eventually I know I'll lose and probably will need to get rid of the car. I don't have the facilities (or background) to be doing a major resto, but perhaps before it gets too bad, I'll find someone who is willing to keep her going.
'87 Cougar LS V6 (stock) Daily Driver
'06 Lincoln LS V8
'12 F-150 SCrew FX4 5.0L
'80 Thunderbird V8 (mild 304) [sold to friend]

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #26 –
Quote from: Chuck W;317467
It's kind of a catch-22 living in the Rust Belt and are a car guy.

You want to keep your "nice" cars nice buy not driving them in the winter, so you usually have another car for winter use.  If you're not into driving "beaters" (which I'm not), you usually still wind up with something you like/tolerate driving.  Even though you have slated it for bad weather use, it's still painful to watch it die a slow, rotting death.



It's so true. I like my 95 (not nearly as much as my Fox) but the rust is starting to get to it. I could *fix* it with bondo and some rattle can paint for cheap but that won't solve the problem. I know I could just get some little econo box but I would hate driving it every day. Atleast the MN-12 with a V6 is a little entertaining in the twisties. I've just resided myself to the fact that any car I drive every day is going to rot to death at some point. Like you said it's a fact of life in the salt belt. If I know I'm going to kill something I might as well have fun driving it before it dies.

I know I'm not going to get a Fox as a DD. I couldn't kill one.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #27 –
I gotta say, redneck as it sounds.....my vic is WAY too clean top and bottom to let go. Most of it is perfect steel...never saw a winter before I owned it. Every year I get a bunch of cardboard/wood-veneer paneling that my parents took down out of our old house family room and kept for some reason...park the vic on it, jack up the rear and front one at a time, set the tires down on upturned spare wheels.....and go to town with 2 or 3 cans of WD-40 Big Blast. I let it drip off overnight, then find a nice dirty/dusty road and drive up and down and that right there is some serious undercoating. I watch it religiously and even by the end of the winter stuff still has a little bit of an oily sheen to it.
 
Secondarily. Granted...I didnt have to pay for this becuase its my grandparents and they lent it to me because they almost never use it. http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Outdoor-Power-Equipment-Pressure-Washers-Electric/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xieZbbob/R-100669162/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 Weak as hell and terrible as a real "pressure washer" but very high-pressure in the realm of cleaning salt off of a car. Eleventy-billion times better if you can hook hot water up to it. Pain in the ass in the cold? Yes. Especially if its below freezing, gotta have a day when you wont make a rink out of your driveway. But I wave it around underneath it all over the place for at least 5 minutes straight, blast the engine bay out too, does that thing ever clean. Looks like it just came out of a touchless wash....but no extra salt stuck to it from the ride home. ;) Check ebay too, I bet youll find one of those washers for $30-40. I mean...it depends on what you want. A rational being wouldn't put themselves through the hassle of hauling the hose around and being outside in the cold blasting off their beater car. For me it's worth it. And I'm not gonna sit here and claim to be rational either...I think most of this board knows THAT much :laughing:
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

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #28 –
I don't have a hot water tap outside the house so the car wash is my best bet. I've been doing the blast the underside thing at the wash but I don't know how much that helps when there are clouds of salt floating through the air:hick:
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Is it time to replace the rust pr0ne MN-12?

Reply #29 –
Get a 4.6L Cougar or Bird.  I bought mine with 281,000 KMS, (168,000 Miles) and it now has 302,000 (181,000 Miles) on it and is still going strong.  not the fastest thing out there, and I really miss the '88 that this replaced...  but it is a nice interior.  and sharp looking.