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  • scumdog
    Super-Experienced

    • May 12 2006
    • 1528

    My Weekend

    Well, to start; my wife and I are a members of Harley Owners Group (HOG) and the Deep South Chapter is our chapter.

    So this weekend was the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the Deep South Chapter and they were having a 'birthday' party at a Place called Clyde, and old gold-mining town.

    Part of the day was also a ride of 150 miles called the Ghost-to-Gold (I won't bother explaining!).

    But as is often the case here in the south of NZ we were forecast with non-stop heavy rain and snow - despite it being spring.

    And the forecasters were not wrong, it bucketed down with a temperature of about 40F. - so Chris and I 'woosed'-out and took the Thunderbird!

    We had a great cruise through very scenic country, the car was admired a lot by the other HOG members (some who also chose to turn up in a car!) and we partied well!

    We carried on today (Sunday) to another town called Cromwell (or 'Cromill' as the locals call it!) and Chris did some shopping and then we turned for home, part way back through the Cromwell Gorge the faithful 'bird had a moment when the engine died, I coasted to a halt into the safest location I could get to and found out that while the motor would crank over it wouldn't run..hmmm...

    But after some 'diagnosic experimentation' I located a push-on connection on the ignition relay was not (pushed on that is!) to re-attaching it everythign worked

    So five or so minutes later we were on our way and 45 minutes later we stopped at Roxburgh for gas - $133 worth of 95 octane and we were on our way again and got home safely.

    Ah, the life of a Thunderbird owner...:-)
    A Thunderbirder from the Land of the Long White Cloud.
  • Anders
    Super-Experienced
    • Jan 19 2008
    • 2213

    #2
    That white little cheramic "thing" on the firewall? It made me phone for a flatbed once...

    Sound like a fantastic ride though!
    sigpic..."Lil darling Ruth":)
    http://www.tbirdregistry.com/#33158

    Comment

    • YellowRose
      Super-Experienced


      • Jan 21 2008
      • 17191

      #3
      My Weekend

      Tom, I enjoyed your report on your outing! What it cost you for gas to fill up your tank was interesting! Yesterday, I drove Rose up the road to Fredericksburg to Street Dreams car museum, along with other South Texas Tbird Club members in their Tbirds. It was about a 2 hour drive and I left about 8am and got back about 3pm. I filled up my 20 gallon tank with 93 octane gas to the tune of $51. I think gas was $3.89 per gallon at that station I gassed up at, or close to that. I must have had about 6-7 gallons of gas in the tank when I did. Otherwise, with it empty it would have cost me about $77. I am glad you were able to find the problem quickly and fix it. Anders that must be the ballast resistor on the firewall that you were talking about.

      Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
      The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
      Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

      https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
      Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
      https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

      Comment

      • scumdog
        Super-Experienced

        • May 12 2006
        • 1528

        #4
        Originally posted by YellowRose
        Tom, I enjoyed your report on your outing! What it cost you for gas to fill up your tank was interesting! Yesterday, I drove Rose up the road to Fredericksburg to Street Dreams car museum, along with other South Texas Tbird Club members in their Tbirds. It was about a 2 hour drive and I left about 8am and got back about 3pm. I filled up my 20 gallon tank with 93 octane gas to the tune of $51. I think gas was $3.89 per gallon at that station I gassed up at, or close to that. I must have had about 6-7 gallons of gas in the tank when I did. Otherwise, with it empty it would have cost me about $77. I am glad you were able to find the problem quickly and fix it. Anders that must be the ballast resistor on the firewall that you were talking about.
        Hi Ray, thanks for the positive comment on my wee report!

        Yep a fill-up here is not cheap and I wasn't on 'empty' when I topped up with that $133 worth.

        Our gallon is the Imperial unit and 95 octane is NZ$10 a gallon, 98 even more. (when you can find it!).

        A complete fill of my hot-rod F100 would cost $320+!!! - and it get 17mpg or a little more on a good day, the T-bird 13mpg..

        The terminal that I mentioned was the 'hot' wire that attaches to the relay I installed to supply a full 12V to the Pertonix ignition. (Pulling that lead would make a good anti-theft measure huh!)l
        A Thunderbirder from the Land of the Long White Cloud.

        Comment

        • YellowRose
          Super-Experienced


          • Jan 21 2008
          • 17191

          #5
          My Weekend

          Hi Tom and I thought $3.89 was high for 93 octane! I can't imagine shelling out $320 to fill a car! A big motor home, probably! People in California are screaming about paying $5-$6 a gallon now. I wonder what they would think about having to pay $10 a gallon! I am about to post a link to a bunch of pix that I took at Steet Dreams on Saturday. I think ya'll will enjoy seeing them. I was the only Squarebird amongst a flock of Flairbirds this weekend on our clubs trip up and back. If you click on the link to Street Dreams in the webpage I am about to put up, you will see what they are asking for a lot of those classic cars. That '59 Chevy Impala Convertible, with Tri-Power and stick shift show car goes for like $140,000. No, I did not put in an extra zero or two!

          Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
          The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
          Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

          https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
          Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
          https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

          Comment

          • Anders
            Super-Experienced
            • Jan 19 2008
            • 2213

            #6
            Originally posted by YellowRose
            I filled up my 20 gallon tank with 93 octane gas to the tune of $51. I think gas was $3.89 per gallon at that station I gassed up at, or close to that. I must have had about 6-7 gallons of gas in the tank when I did. Otherwise, with it empty it would have cost me about $77. I am glad you were able to find the problem quickly and fix it. Anders that must be the ballast resistor on the firewall that you were talking about.
            Yes Ray, It was the ballast resistor. The connection just popped out and killed every life in the car.
            Talking about gas prices.... We are 7.50 $ per gallon here...
            sigpic..."Lil darling Ruth":)
            http://www.tbirdregistry.com/#33158

            Comment

            • Guest

              #7
              Hi All

              I thought we had it bad here in OZ with petrol prices. 95 octane is about AU$7.00 per imperial gallon (4.5 litres). I never use the 91 plus ethanol mix even in my lawnmower. I just don't trust the stuff. I run my daily driver, a Toyota Hilux, on LPG and so it's pretty cheap to run even though it's a bit of a guzzler. I figure that whatever I save on the Hilux I can splash out on the T-Bird when it gets here.

              I used to say that petrol is the cheapest thing you put into a classic car. I'm starting to reconsider.

              Cheers

              Mark

              Comment

              • kuusamon
                Experienced
                • Feb 14 2009
                • 306

                #8
                yes the good old gas prices, I remember when I moved to Denver in 1977 I paid about 40 cent per gallon, could fill up my car for less than $20. People arround me were upset because the gas price had recently gone up, they told me they were paying only 25 cents per gallon not long before that. I belive if I remember the octane was 89 or 90 at that time and it was leaded?
                Now here in Europe it is about €1,77 per Liter!
                Last edited by kuusamon; October 24, 2012, 02:58 AM.
                sigpicGreets,
                Ronald
                Kuusamo
                http://www.tbirdregistry.com/viewdat...tryNumber=1741

                Comment

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