Foolhardy Tropical TBird Project
David sent me an update on the Tbird tonight. They had it out on the road today and are very, very pleased with it! Here is what he had to say and a few pix.
"Hi Steve and Ray, A successful visit today! We took the 'Bird on her maiden voyage! After all the changes, adjustments, corrections and improvements, Dan and I took the car out for a quick, successful ride around the block!
Engine is running excellent. I'll pass on a few videos one email at a time.
Engine is silky smooth and is significantly more responsive than before! Although Dan was driving, I could tell it was much better than when I brought it in.
Note that we don't have new exhaust in the car - just a cut-off version of the 2" pipes that were on the car. The new exhaust will be 2.5" with an "X" crossover and have high-flow mufflers - much less restrictive than the current setup, so I expect further improvement.
The new cooling fan is a monster! We couldn't get the engine over 108F after ~45 min of idle and the quick drive. It pushes some serious air! We were trying to trip the thermostat to get the bubbles out of the radiator but were unsuccessful. We even tried running the heater full blast and revving the car a bit but we couldn't get it to trip (it was a relatively warm day here at about 55F).
The interior is mostly together now. Seats, new steering wheel, AC, dashboard, the new gauge, etc. are all in.
Steve - the inside liner/box for the center console armrest "glovebox" has a crack in it. If you can track one down, we should replace it. (I have since given them the information on ordering one from the Bird Nest, so that should fix that problem... Ray).
The car's ride is awesome. No wallowing around and it feels quite grounded, and that's without an alignment. The stance is quite good too, even without final suspension adjustments. I feel the rear height as-is will be good. I didn't get pictures of the stance this week but I'll get pictures next week on this.
The transmission issue was that it had a bad seal near the pump. Also, the clutch plates were all re-stacked and re-centered. Luckily nothing significant there. It shifted perfectly up and down the gears.
Four things found:
- There was some rubbing in the back area when moving but we believe we pinned that to the driver's rear brake that is adjusted too tightly.
- We can hear the new fuel pump more than we wanted, especially as the tank was 7/8 empty, so it cavitated a bit. They will put a rubber mount on it.
- After the ride we put the car up on the lift and found an engine oil leak. It appears to be coming from the gasket that connects the oil filter housing to the crankcase. This is the seal the car came in with so it hasn't been touched yet. It will be looked at in detail and we don't believe it's anything major.
- We spotted a touch of steering fluid around the steering box. That will be looked at, too.
Dan did address the rear brake line attachments. The original metal tabs on the top side of the axle had to be removed to mount the rear sway bar, so they fastened the lines to the sway bar mounting U-bolt with rubber and zip ties, on both sides. That should prevent any fatigue all around, especially as the line splitter/coupler (sending fluid to each side) is bolted directly to the differential case so it will all move as one unit.
We are expecting ~10"-14" of snow tomorrow. That will put a damper on getting the car out the rest of the week. That said, I'm very encouraged that the car rides and ran so well for a maiden/shakedown voyage!
I did not pin down a shipping timeline with Dan today although I noted to him we want to do that. Dan - maybe you can respond with? I'll touch-base next week again! David."
So you can see they are getting much closer to finishing her off, loading her onto a ship and sending her to Steve in the Dominican Republic! She is gonna really turn some heads once he gets her on the road there!
David sent me an update on the Tbird tonight. They had it out on the road today and are very, very pleased with it! Here is what he had to say and a few pix.
"Hi Steve and Ray, A successful visit today! We took the 'Bird on her maiden voyage! After all the changes, adjustments, corrections and improvements, Dan and I took the car out for a quick, successful ride around the block!
Engine is running excellent. I'll pass on a few videos one email at a time.
Engine is silky smooth and is significantly more responsive than before! Although Dan was driving, I could tell it was much better than when I brought it in.
Note that we don't have new exhaust in the car - just a cut-off version of the 2" pipes that were on the car. The new exhaust will be 2.5" with an "X" crossover and have high-flow mufflers - much less restrictive than the current setup, so I expect further improvement.
The new cooling fan is a monster! We couldn't get the engine over 108F after ~45 min of idle and the quick drive. It pushes some serious air! We were trying to trip the thermostat to get the bubbles out of the radiator but were unsuccessful. We even tried running the heater full blast and revving the car a bit but we couldn't get it to trip (it was a relatively warm day here at about 55F).
The interior is mostly together now. Seats, new steering wheel, AC, dashboard, the new gauge, etc. are all in.
Steve - the inside liner/box for the center console armrest "glovebox" has a crack in it. If you can track one down, we should replace it. (I have since given them the information on ordering one from the Bird Nest, so that should fix that problem... Ray).
The car's ride is awesome. No wallowing around and it feels quite grounded, and that's without an alignment. The stance is quite good too, even without final suspension adjustments. I feel the rear height as-is will be good. I didn't get pictures of the stance this week but I'll get pictures next week on this.
The transmission issue was that it had a bad seal near the pump. Also, the clutch plates were all re-stacked and re-centered. Luckily nothing significant there. It shifted perfectly up and down the gears.
Four things found:
- There was some rubbing in the back area when moving but we believe we pinned that to the driver's rear brake that is adjusted too tightly.
- We can hear the new fuel pump more than we wanted, especially as the tank was 7/8 empty, so it cavitated a bit. They will put a rubber mount on it.
- After the ride we put the car up on the lift and found an engine oil leak. It appears to be coming from the gasket that connects the oil filter housing to the crankcase. This is the seal the car came in with so it hasn't been touched yet. It will be looked at in detail and we don't believe it's anything major.
- We spotted a touch of steering fluid around the steering box. That will be looked at, too.
Dan did address the rear brake line attachments. The original metal tabs on the top side of the axle had to be removed to mount the rear sway bar, so they fastened the lines to the sway bar mounting U-bolt with rubber and zip ties, on both sides. That should prevent any fatigue all around, especially as the line splitter/coupler (sending fluid to each side) is bolted directly to the differential case so it will all move as one unit.
We are expecting ~10"-14" of snow tomorrow. That will put a damper on getting the car out the rest of the week. That said, I'm very encouraged that the car rides and ran so well for a maiden/shakedown voyage!
I did not pin down a shipping timeline with Dan today although I noted to him we want to do that. Dan - maybe you can respond with? I'll touch-base next week again! David."
So you can see they are getting much closer to finishing her off, loading her onto a ship and sending her to Steve in the Dominican Republic! She is gonna really turn some heads once he gets her on the road there!
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