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Topic: My First Car (Read 8378 times) previous topic - next topic

My First Car

Reply #15 –
Haha plus it's a project so i get to spend some quality time with my dad so it's a win win.
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My First Car

Reply #16 –
Dual exhaust with smaller tips would be great. Nice  turbo lers and it'll be a nice sounding car. On a 3.8 you have to be careful about exhaust tone. It's easy to go overboard and have a funky V-6 sound that isn't so cool. Nice work so far. Are you swapping wheels? What exterior mods are on the "to-do" list?
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

My First Car

Reply #17 –
Quote from: vinnietbird;357664
Dual exhaust with smaller tips would be great. Nice  turbo lers and it'll be a nice sounding car. On a 3.8 you have to be careful about exhaust tone. It's easy to go overboard and have a funky V-6 sound that isn't so cool. Nice work so far. Are you swapping wheels? What exterior mods are on the "to-do" list?

 
It got sent to get painted this Saturday so I'll post more pictures of the finished product. I'll be either picking up some turbines or 8 holes (wish our cars were 5lug would make life so much easier). I got a spoiler off a 85' trans am and I will tint the windows that's pretty much it for exterior mods. I was thinking of Flowmaster 40 series for the lers because they seem to sound good on v6 mustangs but im not sure, going to have to do a bit more research.
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My First Car

Reply #18 –
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My First Car

Reply #19 –
Between the 8 holes and turbine wheels, always choose the turbine wheels. They look great. 8 holes are smaller and a lot more....lame.

What color are you going with? New door handles are very affordable on Ebay in chrome, or black, and they are metal. I have the black on my car since it's a Sport, and came with the Turbo Coupe black handles, locks and window trim. Take time to really think about any mod your doing. Patience can really pay off in the end. In the long run, you have to build it for yourself. We're here to help in any way we can. Ask questions and opinions, and listen to what everyone has to say, take what info you like and leave the rest. Sometimes a good honest opinion from a forum member can really help out. Sometimes we don't see the big picture, and it takes a friend to point out a different way to look at something. Keep up the good work, and keep us posted on the Bird.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

My First Car

Reply #20 –
[/IMG]          [/IMG] Garage is so empty now.
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My First Car

Reply #21 –
Welcome to the site! It looks like you're going to fit right in with us. It's great to see you're enjoying your time with your Dad, not many kids these days appreciate that.

My First Car

Reply #22 –
nice work... if you having problems chasing the highs and lows on those bigger panels... try these... the best sanding blocks ever... I use the 17" blocks on flatting all my large panels, hoods, trunklids, etc
http://dura-block.com/durablockline.html
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
***** Project "EVOLUTION" 1987 Cougar LS  & 1985 Cougar Convertible *****
[/COLOR]
5.0 HO 306 roller block, machined GT-40P heads, Wiseco dished forged pistons, Eagle forged floating I-beam connecting rods, Lunati pushrods, ARP bolts, Scorpion aluminum 1.6 rockers, Comp Cams Magnum 266HR, Explorer intake, 65mm TB, MAF Conversion, 19# injectors, Ford Racing stainless P-headers, 2-1/2" cat-less exhaust w/ Flowtech Afterburner lers , SC AOD with 2800 BDR torque converter, 3.73 T-Lok rear, CHE rear control arms, full 2-1/2" frame w/1" jacking rails & seat supports, Rear disk brakes, Turbine wheels, All original interior w/ floor shift upgrade .......
Pretty much every panel on my 87 is new, rebuilt, or re constructed. :D
Join us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_137541156293768&ap=1

My First Car

Reply #23 –
Car went off to paint this Saturday will be back in my hands on Friday so I will show you how it looks then.
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My First Car

Reply #24 –
Quote from: vinnietbird;357669
Between the 8 holes and turbine wheels, always choose the turbine wheels. They look great. 8 holes are smaller and a lot more....lame.

What color are you going with? New door handles are very affordable on Ebay in chrome, or black, and they are metal. I have the black on my car since it's a Sport, and came with the Turbo Coupe black handles, locks and window trim. Take time to really think about any mod your doing. Patience can really pay off in the end. In the long run, you have to build it for yourself. We're here to help in any way we can. Ask questions and opinions, and listen to what everyone has to say, take what info you like and leave the rest. Sometimes a good honest opinion from a forum member can really help out. Sometimes we don't see the big picture, and it takes a friend to point out a different way to look at something. Keep up the good work, and keep us posted on the Bird.

 
Yeah I think i will go with the turbines. Well Vinnie it's getting painted the original medium taupe mettalic (that brown looking color LOL) and will be accented with black moldings and a black spoiler, maybe a black hood scoop. I have the chrome door handles and illuminated locks  they are in pretty good shape so ill stick with them unless they dont flow but that will have to wait till everything is put back together.
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My First Car

Reply #25 –
The Taupe color is nice. I think a black hood scoop would mess up the overall look of the car. Body color for the scoop....maybe. Same for the spoiler. I have to say, though....I have never been a fan of bolting on scoops and such that have no function. Looks wrong to me. Granted, that's only my opinion, and should be taken as just that, only an opinion. I have a TC hood on my Sport, and can't wait to be rid of it. There's a yard not far from me that has an '86 with Taupe interior...mint condition. I installed the dash in my car, grabbed the minty front floor mats and arm rest. The seats and carpet, still in the car were near perfect. I should grab the steering wheel as well. It was perfect. As I stated about our cars, in the end, you have to do it your way, for yourself. That's how I built the Sport......just for me.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

My First Car

Reply #26 –
Quote from: vinnietbird;357664
Dual exhaust with smaller tips would be great. Nice  turbo lers and it'll be a nice sounding car. On a 3.8 you have to be careful about exhaust tone. It's easy to go overboard and have a funky V-6 sound that isn't so cool. Nice work so far. Are you swapping wheels? What exterior mods are on the "to-do" list?


Definitely agree with Vinnie here.  I experimented briefly with no ler at all and just cats, and unlike a V8 it sounded horrible!  I have been running just a basic turbo ler ever since and it sounds pretty nice...quiet, but just enough of a note that you can hear it.  Sounds a lot better than the vast majority of small CID V6s out there now...though by V6 standards, 3.8L is pretty good size now!

Mine has 240,000 miles on it...take care of it and it'll last you along time.

I run 10 holes and I think they look pretty good.  Turbines are nice as well...both 15" rims...however the rubber is getting very hard to find now...few major manufacturers make that size anymore.  I had BFGs for a long time and liked them a lot, but they changed the tread and I went with Falkens...which I didn't like AT ALL for snow.  Now I'm running Mastercrafts and they seem to be decent in snow and not too bad for noise...they are a little soft in the sidewall, though...my BFGs were the best of the 3 for that, IIRC.

Enjoy!
'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]

My First Car

Reply #27 –
Neither am I a fan of the unecessary bolt ons. I dont want one of those cheapy Ebay scoops for $30 that all the young kids put on their civic's. If I find something that flows with my "design philosophy" LOL I'll throw it on there. I bet people will flame on me because i bought those 3.8 High Performance emblems haha. Ive been to 2 yard near my house and there was only 1 Elan Bird & 2 Cougars. Yeah my tires will need to be changed I believe I have the original Cooper tires and their cracking from sitting in the garage for about 5years What's the biggest wheel you can put on a bird? 17's?
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My First Car

Reply #28 –
I didn't have any problems getting 15s for my car
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
***** Project "EVOLUTION" 1987 Cougar LS  & 1985 Cougar Convertible *****
[/COLOR]
5.0 HO 306 roller block, machined GT-40P heads, Wiseco dished forged pistons, Eagle forged floating I-beam connecting rods, Lunati pushrods, ARP bolts, Scorpion aluminum 1.6 rockers, Comp Cams Magnum 266HR, Explorer intake, 65mm TB, MAF Conversion, 19# injectors, Ford Racing stainless P-headers, 2-1/2" cat-less exhaust w/ Flowtech Afterburner lers , SC AOD with 2800 BDR torque converter, 3.73 T-Lok rear, CHE rear control arms, full 2-1/2" frame w/1" jacking rails & seat supports, Rear disk brakes, Turbine wheels, All original interior w/ floor shift upgrade .......
Pretty much every panel on my 87 is new, rebuilt, or re constructed. :D
Join us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_137541156293768&ap=1

My First Car

Reply #29 –
I have 17x9 wheels up front with 255-40-17's and 17x10 out back with 275-40-17's.  If you like the 3.8 HP emblems, then do it. I'm not big on fender emblems, but some like them. I also didn't want any "High Performance" emblems on my car unless the car can back them up. I bought Cobra badges when I was building the last engine in my other Bird, and once I finally got the car performing well, I decided I didn't want to use them.I added two badges to my car. They are on the trunk. One on the driver side which states "HURST Equipped"....because the Sport is equipped with a Hurst shifter, and on the passenger side, a 2004 (or so) Thunderbird script. Looks factory. I like people to wonder. When ever anyone asks what engine I have, I ALWAYS respond "3.8......and loud lers". LOL. Most actually believe me........most don't even recognize it as a Thunderbird. oh well. LOL.

BUT, as I've said before, you have to build it your way. If you like the emblems, I say put them on. Same with a scoop and spoiler. Build it to make yourself happy. I and whoever else may or may not agree with all you do, but, it represents you, and that's cool. I support that 100%. No flaming from me.We all have our own vision of our cars. Mine is posted in the pics somewhere around here. Just how I wanted it....my vision, my ideas. If someone doesn't like it, or what I've done, I like to hear about it, get outside opinions, but in the end. It stays as it is. Keep working. Look forward to seeing it out of the paint shop.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..