Vintage Thunderbird Club International

This AM it was high 80's here. The needle left the peg after about 6 minutes/3 miles. That's about 140 degrees. Using a laser temperature gun I've shot the temp sender area and the thermostat housing and the back of the head behind the sender several times. The readings I get right on the temp sende...

I have never had that issue. Even on a cool day the needle starts moving within a couple of minutes and the choke pulls off and is at mid range on the gauge within a mile or two and that's with no heat riser valve. My choke comes off within a minute or so. I have the heat riser on the exhaust wired...

I've seen claims that if you use a propane torch to heat the copper washer and then drop it in water you will resoften it and make it reuseable. I've seen it done and it seemed to work.

Hi, In my new-to-me ‘57 Thunderbird (D-Code), I notice that it takes quite a bit of time for the temp gauge to climb off Cold. At least 30 minutes of running. And even then it sits in the lowest part of the “normal” range. It never gets to the middle of normal. This is after driving for an hour or ...

No. On occasion it will have a slight glow when in gear. but otherwise I never see it. All original so no extra loads. 13.5+ at about 1500 RPM. Good enough for me. May tweak the regulator later but I'm happy. From my experience that's too low a voltage if that's at 1500 and you have nothing at all ...

We just did a "tech day" here and a long-time mechanic showed how he sets the valves. He did it with the engine running. When he was done, I checked the clearance and it was right on the spec, 0.019. The interesting part relative to this thread is that at the start he found that most of th...

in three years and 2700 miles my overall average is 13 mpg.

Once you have replaced the rubber parts AND you drive the vehicle fairly regularly, you are unlikely to have problems due to ethanol fuel. Many owners drive they cars less than 500 miles a year and at times not at all for weeks/months. Thats when the issues start to develop. Most "stabilizers&q...

I've done considerable under/behind the dash of my 55 without removing it. However, having removed the steering column, seat, and soft top provided more space. Lighting was less than ideal. Thinking that the factory red primer on the inside/back of the dash was surface rust, I painted it black (my ...

Anybody have any theories why so many of us have car generators instead of T-Bird specific? They are so easy to refurbish with brushes & bearings. Why replace them instead with one off the shelf and not knowing the difference? My theory would be that they usually needed replacement around 40K a...

ward 57 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2024 1:55 pm Does anybody have a proper spare stamped end plate? I don't like having that output stud that close to the block.

Is it possible to grind off 1/16" to 1/8" from the stud and use a thin nut to gain more clearance? would there still be enough "stud" left to do that?

The first "classic" I bought to restore was a 64 Tbird. I thought I'd have all the kinks out and other stuff it needed done in a couple months. By the time I was done it was a year later and I had removed nearly the entire interior... every time I took one thing out I could see I should go...

Oh man. If we all just had our high school rides. I had a Corvair Spyder. Super fun.I got T boned in the high school parking lot. I took off the roof and doors and made a dune buggy out if it. Ralph Nader was dead wrong. I had a 66 Corvair Monza with the 140 engine and 4-speed and factory air. Was ...

The 1956 speedometer that is referenced here is from the 1956 full-size Ford (Mainline, Customline, Fairlane). The 57 Thunderbird dash is basically a modified version of the 1956 full-size Ford. As for the accuracy of the of the speedometer, all of the mid-fifties Ford speedometers were over optimi...

I can't find it now but I thought I read some feedback from someone who did it who said one of the hardest things to get lined up was the glove box button so they recommended starting there and working out. The whole thing sounds like a bit of work.