Vintage Thunderbird Club International

Hi Ken, First, as a fellow novice who chose a Thunderbird convertible as his first classic, let me offer some words of encouragement and tell you that it gets better. The first thing my mechanic said to me when I brought him my car was, "I'm never working on that top!" Fortunately, with th...

Aloha Cliff, To answer your question, a caliper looks like a funky little wrench and is used to measure distance. If you're wondering why I named my Thunderbird 62 CALIBER, with a B, I think it's a fun play on words. Since they're called bullet birds, the caliber refers to the size of a bullet with ...

Thank you ortho and RAVEN for the confirmation. That's pretty much exactly what I'm seeing. Seems like every time I look at it, I see more remnants of what used to be the internal threading. I'm hoping to salvage what's left, if not, I'll go with rethreading. I'm very happy with the alignment of the...

As I put the top up today, I noticed some small drops of grease dripping down into the trunk. Closer inspection revealed a threaded pin and bearing in the grease. Based on where this all was in the trunk relative to the deck lid and some similar grease drops on the flipper gear, I'm guessing they ca...

Just spit-balling here, and somebody please call me out if this is bad info, but maybe it's something as simple as the door switch itself?? We're always so quick to say "it's the relays!" or "it's the limit switches!" But I've run into a handful of folks that have spent a lot of ...

Aloha Cliff, I haven't payed that close attention to specific brands and sizes. It just seems like this topic is frequently discussed between here and some of the Thunderbird facebook pages. I plan on getting the Cokers. Despite the cost, I'm very big on originality. Hence my question asking if the ...

Ok, so I've read a lot of threads and online discussions about which tire brands and sizes are closest to original. There's a variety of opinions out there. Is it fair to say the Coker 800R14s with the 1" whitewalls are as true to OEM and are the best fit? But, with their cost being roughly 5 t...

On my 62, the previous owner actually widened the hole and replaced the pin with painted screws. It works, but not my favorite method. Someone else recently rebuilt the hole by filling it with JB Weld then drilling out a new pin hole. He used the old shift lever that was being replaced as a guide fo...

For clarity, I was talking about the process of removing the tool at the end of the process and putting the screw cap back in. Not a typo. He literally suggested being in the trunk and having someone close the deck lid on top of you. Then remove the fill tube and install the screw cap. Again, lots o...

Allow me to do my best Alan Tast impersonation. "Buy the shop manual. The search function in the forum is your friend." Searching the forum revealed this thread https://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10032&hilit=bleed+top which includes a link from anothe...

Thank you Jim. I'll give your method a try. Sometimes it's the little steps that make all the difference.

JP

Why is it every time I read the forum, my Thunderbird thinks, "Oh, what a great time to have that problem!" I'm fairly certain my top issue is air in the hydraulic lines, specifically between the solenoids and the deck lid cylinders. Every so often, after the deck lid unlocks the hydraulic...

Aloha Joe, Do you mean the deck lid will not go up past the screws? I had a similar issue with my 62, the deck lid would lift via the screws and continue to "hop" on the top of the screws but the hydraulic pump would not engage to lift the deck lid further. With the help of some great advi...

As long as were talking about exhaust... I recently replaced my rusting mufflers with ones from a Thunderbird supplier with the tips already attached. Mufflers fit wonderfully, but the tips do a full 90 degree turn and hang down like Gonzo's nose from the Muppets. I'm guessing I need to trim them do...

Thanks for the additional info. It motivated me to get off my tail and get mine done. Glad I did, it's so much better. There's not much more to add but here's a few things I learned: - In addition to slacking the wire to the horn, I had to slack the entire wiring bundle from under the dash to get th...