Vintage Thunderbird Club International

That's part of the problem now a days. Note the size of the insulator compared to the original switches and the rheostat coil is as small. These were for something like a Falcon and now flogged as suitable for our Birds. Count the number of bulbs in your car as compared to a Falcon.
Terry
64HT

The rheostats are a coil of wire that a contact rubs on it as you rotate the knob. They are not very good and often burn through, killing the dash lights. I've attached a photo of an original light switch, you can see the coil and the contact arm to the left of the big ceramic insulator. What you ca...

When replacing ignition wires, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. The firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8. The 7 and 8 cylinders fire in sequence, so you need to se3parate them by routing the number 6 cylinder wire between the wires for 7 and 8. That means you should use wire separators to ke...

64zcode makes a good point. The stock autolite carb was rated at about 600 cfm and the air cleaner housing has one horn that's not much more that an inch in diameter at the tip. I don't wat to think about the velocities the air would have to achieve as it enters the horn to supply enough air to the ...

65 and 66's had disc brakes on the front only (as did many other cars for a lot of years) and they perform markedly better that the all drum models. I've done the front only conversion on my 64 and it's like a different car. Front conversion kits are readily available, easy to install and much less ...

I'm pretty sure it's a 1445 miniature bulb. Sylvania still markets them and they are easily available at most auto supply stores.


Terry
64HT

Welcome!
You will find this is a great community with a wealth of knowledge in many aspects of these cars. We are always ready to help (if we can), so feel free to ask.
Post photos of your car, especially the interior that makes it unique. We all admire the examples out there.

Terry
64HT

Here's a photo of the interior mechanism of one of my doors. As you can see, there's not much to it. If the outside button isn't working well, things are almost certainly gummed up at the elongated slot at the bottom of the rod. Once you clean it and get it working, don't glob it up with grease. It'...

jt, I saw in your post that you said a TSB added a relay to the horn circuit. I believe it was for the brake lights. The draw for the 6 rear brake bulbs was too much for the hydraulic switch so a relay was added. Not all 64's got it though. The horns always had a relay and the horn switch on the ste...

Ag

I don't know what is available in your area, but around Ottawa Ultramar, some Shell and some Canadian Tire still say the premium is alcohol-free. You pretty well have to go and check the stickers on the pump. Don't get me started on government interference....

Terry
64HT

Almost all sealant on these cars was butyl as opposed to the urethane used now. Be aware that the two are not compatible. Butyl sealant tape is readily available online as well as at RV supply houses. It generally comes in either white or black, although I have seen grey. It is easy to apply and doe...

The provinces I'm familiar with all have similar requirements. No emission tests needed for our cars.

I also use zinc additive in my oil and alcohol free gas. There are a number of brands that have alcohol free high test.

Terry
64HT

This is looking to be a great restoration. Good luck.

Terry
64HT

I can't speak to your specific problem, but on my 64 (I assume the inner fender panels are the same), removing the panel wasn't difficult. Have a look at the bolt pattern in the Osbourne Body manual and you will see it's not really a difficult job. Digging the gunk off is straight forward, it seems ...

Scott, I feel badly about hijacking this thread. but I think we're done with vinyl and back to painting anyway. The outer ring was done with silver argent paint, it just doesn't show well in that photo. You can see on the right hand side that the paint line did not turn out cleanly when I removed th...