Vintage Thunderbird Club International

Whatever you do after your lessons, don't discard any of your original equipment. Most of it is rebuildable and worth big $ in the aftermarket if your retrofit works.

If you wish, I still have all the original equipment and it works great. Once you mess with it you open another basket of issues. I wish you well. Newer is not always better.

BJRVentport2 wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2024 9:11 pm You would think that the T-Bird suppliers would have the correct parts for sale. The pointer I bought was suppose to be for a 56 T-bird.

It depends on the supplier and how much they understand the differences for the T-Birds and not just the more available generic Ford car stuff.

There are so many Ford parts that will work but the T-birds were a different breed of cat. Smaller engine compartment which necessitated different configurations for everything to fit properly but standard car parts are more prevalent. The generator configuration as a case in point.

Oh the old story of how much fun it is to tear it down with no plan to put it back together.

Sounds like you are doing it the right way. When done you will have a big smile on your face when wrapping your hand around that wheel for an inaugural drive.

Joe Johnston wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2024 9:33 am This doesn't answer your question about correctness but consider trimming the pointer back the required amount.

A pair of tin snips should do the job. Mine is correct but I took an extra step for bling & contrast, I masked off the tip and painted it white.

Google optima classic battery box. Just remember they are glass mat batteries and have a whole different maintenance protocol.

Maybe the hinge on the leaver is coming loose?

Nice find. As rare as hen's teeth.

I can't remember where I saw it, maybe the restoration manual. Through the three years the filter design changed. It may have been the same with the pumps. I think they changed also but any replacements are of the later style. Maybe compare to '54 pumps and see if some of the design carried over int...

It looks like the one on the left doesn't have the dual action vacuum assist on it and the hex head screws make me nervous. Probably a regular car pump. I'd go with the one on the right in the first picture.

Thanks for clearing that up that the picture was not your car. It may not even be there as not many know about it. Just look for another port on the radio, that looks like the antenna port but on the side It's a simple reactivation but a nice feature at the time. My 2018 Colorado P/U has that featur...

I haven't seen that either. I think the '55s & '56s had a tube from the manifold to the carb on the driver's side. It did not go internally into the manifold but only harvested the heat. The '57s all the choke heater hardware was on the passenger side and inside the intake manifold. If that inte...

That is an easy one. It is for the auto volume control on the radio. The faster you go the radio increases volume to compensate for the added wind noise especially if the top is off. It should be a greenish color. The interior part plugs into the case of the radio and the end just hanging down goes ...