Put $50 in the tank, then proceeded to do the grocery shopping...

Changed Oil, Filter, cleaned my MAF Sensor and put in a new Air Filter, reset the PCM and Dang!!

It has been running great but after the above it smoothed it out so much more.

I love this Car!!!!

Best Wishes to all for Safe and Happy Holiday Weekend!

Ordered new O2 sensors. I've been getting an inefficiency check off of bank 2, but it comes and goes. Haven't noticed any issues regarding a possible catalyst failure (140K seems really low for it, but it could happen) so I'm just going to take a bet on a lame sensor. If worse comes to worst, so be it.

I just hate having that Check Engine light glowing at me. Doesn't help that the speedometer needle points at it most of the time (right at the 50 mark) just to remind me what I know.

Installed a Gatorback belt, and bought more parts for it.

Had 4 new (to me) Yokohamas installed for $150.
Fixed the TC shudder with some instant shudder fix(good stuff).
Touched up the paint.
Put in a new fuse to get my dome light , power mirrors, under hood light, and surprisingly the spotlight, working(still need to figure out the door lights).
Filled it up for the first time and took it out with the family to see some fireworks.

Put the gutted airbox back on, because I had the airbox out to look at the air ride compressor.

This all started with me tracing the source of a clunk in the front end, which is exactly what I expected it to be, its eaten another sway bar link. But this time on the drivers side. While under there I noticed the compressor looked like it was sitting funny, poked it with a screw driver thru the drain holes under it and it moved as if it wasn't even attached. So I popped the hood and peeled back the layers of stuff over the compressor (airbox, washer reservoir, some wiring, and the actual cover panel), and sure enough, there is exactly nothing left of the isolator bushings that are supposed to hold the compressor. Tried removing the compressor, but the bolts are so rusted that they would only go 1/4 turn either way, so I settled for tightening them that 1/4 turn. This put some pressure back on the bushings and the compressor does not move around as freely. As a result its much quieter and sounds less sickly. Still going to have to eventually fix it. I have an idea for the bushings if I can ever get the thing out.

I hope you slathered the area with WD-40 or something similar...

Picked up a few things at the junkyard like a proper fitting engine cover and some illuminated door reflectors from a '96.

oh yeah. PB blasted the thing. Plan to do that a few times and attempt to pull those nuts off, but I don't have high hopes to get it out without breaking something, but I'm sure I can figure something out if/when I break one of them. This compressor is pretty sickly sounding, but it does work.

Made it look like this. Headlights arent worth saving. Once I can find a 3/4 wrench, I can pull the rest of the interior. Trying to sell for a demo car now, but no luck yet.

I cleaned up the tops of the pistons

New intake manifold. Took just under 3 hours between draining the coolant and firing it back up. Not too bad. Really. Its an easy job, its just annoying because of everything that needs to move out of the way. I replaced the old style (and leaking) Dorman NPI with the newer style Dorman NPI, so of course I took a few pics of the 2 while I had them off. I took a few pics along the way of the swap, so I'll probably put together another little write-up tomorrow.

It seems to be running fine, but it sounds like there is a big vacuum leak. Ran out of daylight, and energy, so I'll have to find that tomorrow. Going to be VERY annoyed if I have to take the intake back off...

I did notice that the new Dorman NPI intake has very PI looking intake ports. The runners on it are also very differently shaped than the old one. The overall volume looks to be smaller, but it may not actually be since the runners seem to be larger.

Blew #4 spark plug out of the engine. Spent 2 hours in a auto part store parking lot helicoiling it.

Well, not today, but on Friday I took the car from Hungary to Germany to a selected TÜV mechanical station in order to get its first European registration - however, not the 'good' guy was on site but another who took himself too seriously and finally didn't let it through because of the not-eurospec-headlights.

Got a ride back with the others who organised the whole registration stuff, so I left the car there in hope that this week I'll get a ride back to Germany and get this finally done.

I admit this whole story must be confusing, but this is how European Union works.
Anway, incredible, that despite spending the same amount as the car itself only to get a numberplate, it is still this difficult.

Finally got a proper fitting engine cover for my car.


Also, re-adjusted the horns a bit for clarity. '64 Thunderbird horns (probably any period Ford horn) are absolutely massive.




I know that the high note is cracked at the bell, I got it like that, however it has not affected its operational function.