Vintage Thunderbird Club International

If it is sitting on dirt, hopefully it is in a fairly dry environment. If it is in a wet place, the soil holds moisture and normal day/night temperature cycles cause condensation on the metal which leads to rust. Rust is by far the most expensive and difficult thing to "fix". Hopefully you...

First, there is the reason it was parked. It might have been something simple like a dead battery, or something really bad like a blown engine. Since this is your great uncle's car, he is an excellent source of information on this that a lot of people trying to resurrect a car from decades of storag...

Yes. Best to have the secondaries contributing during idle, particularly if you have a 4-corner idle set up.

Why can't you get the bores resleeved? Depending on the shop, once you get past two sleeves, it is probably cheaper to start with a different block. If it is something rare, like a 427, or if it is a numbers matching 428 cobra jet Mustang, then it is certainly worth it to do multiple sleeves. This ...

While 0.060 is the Ford limit, a sonic check will tell you the wall thickness. At 0.080 over, 428 pistons will fit.

Yes, the casting date is on that marking below the oil filter adapter.

Here is the decoder:
https://www.fordification.com/tech/datecodes.htm

You will need to use other clues to figure out which decade it is from, but it isn't that hard to tell the 1950's from the 1960's from the 1970's

I ended up putting an electric vacuum pump on the car so I would consistently have 20" of vacuum, but I still have the problem of running out of boost. I don't think used the push rod extension that came with the kit, which is about an inch long. When I first installed the MC, I made the push r...

The casting numbers don't tell you much. It looks to me like 49 DIF. DIF stands for Dearborn Iron Foundry where all the blocks were cast. I'm pretty sure my block cast in 1974 has exactly the same marking.

First, An F-150 from 1970 would have an FE motor. FT engines were used on bigger commercial trucks, and it would be a problem because the crank snout is bigger and it wouldn't fit the belt driven stuff. A lot of F150s had 360 engines, so you may want to double check the bore and stroke to confirm it...

Thanks for the info on the reproduction boosters. That big one is amazingly cheap. I'm looking to get the bigger Midland booster which is correct for a 1966. Hopefully it won't push my MC so far forward it crashes into the brace. I'm pretty sure I've got clearance to my valve cover for it. This is a...

You can see it pretty well in this picture

I think the weird booster I have in my 1966 is actually the "small" Midland which was used on earlier drum brake cars ('61-'64). I know in the last couple years people have been looking for alternatives because of a lack of rebuildable cores. Has that situation improved? If not I think I'm...

Speaking of the concours manual, I can't seem to find the VTCI store. Where can I buy a new one? In the case of 1961-1963 and 1964-1966 versions, we are in a prolonged revision period that has taken much longer than we originally planned for. Much of what you're seeing in the VTCI Forum dealing wit...

There are a few vendors who make retro looking tires where you can shop. I don't have any personal experience with any of these, so maybe someone else can provide testamonials. Coker Tire http://www.cokertire.com Diamondback Tire http://www.dbtires.com Lucas Classic Tires http://www.lucasclassictire...

It has been a while since I've seen jute backed Burtex. There was a Burtex kit with a more modern backing available for a while, but now all I see are the vinyl kits.