Vintage Thunderbird Club International

According to the guys on the FE forum there’s a critical dimension of 3.045-3.050” between the shoulder on the distributor that it rests on and the bottom of the gear. I had planned to drill a new hole for the new gear 90 degrees from the original hole. But after installing the shim to get the end p...

Thanks guys. Not a show car but a nice driver, as was my goal. I don’t do shows much. Just the occasional cruise-in. I get more pleasure from the occasional thumbs up I get on our weekly cruise. All the best.

Bill

Rusty,
My current plan is to install a single 0.020” shim just above the collar. Do you see any reason why this shouldn’t work? Thanks.

Bill

Tony, Congrats to you on your improvements. It’s really nice to reap rewards from working on our old cars. My wheels are aftermarket also and oversized, 15X7, with 225R70 tires and I have fender skirts. The tires are almost the same circumference as the original 14” bias ply. The speedometer is accu...

A few years ago I was able to source a reconditioned rear window motor for my 61 from John Draxler at the Thunderbird Ranch. He has acres of TBird parts cars. Maybe John can help you.

Good luck.

Bill

As I recall, it was Thunderbirds Southwest in Texas. Nowadays I think they’re available from other TBird parts suppliers so you might shop around. Mine are 1 1/8” and 1” diameter, front and rear, respectively. Good luck.

Bill

Bob, Thanks for responding. This is a rebuilt distributor from a TBird supplier installed after the engine was rebuilt 7 years and 9000 miles ago. There is no sign of the collar being pushed up against the housing and wearing the housing. The chipped gear I removed was installed very near the correc...

I pulled the distributor from the 390 in my 61 while replacing the oil pan gasket and oil pump. I discovered a chipped drive gear on the distributor shaft and the shaft end play is 0.045”-0.050” vs 0.022”-0.030” per the shop manual. This was measured with a feeler gauge between the collar above the ...

After being surprised that the made-by-Bilstein heavy duty front shocks purchased from a TBird supply house wore out bushings fairly quickly due to travel being less than the actual travel of the suspension, I noted that Monroe listed front shocks nearer to the actual travel. I wanted something stif...

Raven, There is a gasket between the pump and engine block. The leakage I noted was at the base plate of the pump itself where there is no gasket, only 2 machined surfaces held together with 4 machine screws. Here is Melling’s response to my inquiry about leakage at the pump base plate. “There is no...

Oil pan gasket replacement is proceeding, albeit slowly due to my age, attention span, endurance and life distractions. I’m at a standstill now since I noticed that after filling the oil pump with oil before reinstallation, it leaked from the housing plate. There does not appear to be a gasket so so...

Tony, My engine was modified during a rebuild….larger valves, higher lift camshaft, adjustable roller rockers, headers, larger diameter exhaust with straight through mufflers, larger carburetor jets, Pertronix Ignitor module and Flamethrower coil. The much heavier 80009 damper was recommended by the...

I have the 80009 on my 61. For details of my (and another’s) installation, search for 80009 at the FE Engine Forum. Having to replace the indicator might be a turnoff for some.

I’ve read good things about rebuilt dampers from the Damper Doctor.

Good luck.

Bill

1961 Thunderbird, built June ‘61, green dot. I use the green dot pretty much always.

Bill

My understanding is that type F best replaces type A.

Bill