rear suspension

[capt'nben]

I found the comments on rear suspension re. air shocks interesting,I once owned an elcamino that came from the factory equipped with air shocks, worked fine and you could easily compensate for what ever you were hauling. I'm thinking, re furbish the existing rear springs, bushings pads paint etc and install a set of couier air shocks and a rear sway bar, the fatman front end already has an upgraded sway bar. that should be a pretty fair setup. where did you put the air filler nipple for the shocks?
I've read every post on this forum and picked up a number of good hints and "food for thought", I was surprised that there is not more activity on the forum though, my favorite mustang forum will have between 4 and 10 posts a day and lots of responses to all of the questions. This is a really nicely designed site and easy to use and the only early bird forum I have found, If enough folks find it and get involved it will be a wonderful tool.
Ben

[nomadbird]

capt'nben,

That's an interesting observation you made about the activity level on this forum compared to others. I think there might be some correlation between the usage of the car for daily transportation and board activity. It seems where brands and models that have daily use and the owners have more rigid budget restraints, they talk more about 'em. It might be due to demographics also. Anyway, your project sounds very interesting and I hope you share your experiences with us on the forum. Have you spoken with Gil about the car a former CTCI President built? It's a '57 with a DOHC 4.6 out of a Lincoln and its' front suspension/steering is also modernized. I only got a quick look at it in Dallas in '98 at a CTCI National Meet. It was so ungodly hot that I didn't spend nearly as much time looking it over as I would have liked.

About your air shock installation; one of the neatest installations I've seen had the valve attached to an "L" bracket that was mounted with one of the trunk lock striker plate bolts. The line ran under the trunk mat to the fuel sending unit access cover. Another relief bend was put in the cover similar to the one for the sender lead, to accomodate the air line exiting the trunk. The line was then sandwiched between the tank top and the trunk floor as it ran towards the crossmember that serves as the upper shock mount. Very neat with no drilling.

Another method of stiffening the rear suspension is to install 6 leaf rear springs out of a '57 or '58 station wagon. The distance between bushing centers is the same as our 5 leaf springs.

Good Luck & keep us posted on your progress. Tom

[capt'nben]

Thanks for the reply Tom
I havent joined the club yet but I will get to it soon, I heard about the lincoln from Gil and talked to the fellow who did it, but the 5.0 is lighter and much simpler, by the way there was one of those lincoln 4.6 engines right next to the tbird 5.0 that I bought and not much more money, I considered it carefully but the 5.0 is a natural and much much easier to do.
There is a fellow in the SanDeigo area that redoes the stearing wheels and makes them a little smaller, I found him through Gill and I think I'll have that done too, my wheel needs work anyway and a smaller wheel would be nice with the rack & pinion stearing kind of pricey but its involves a lot of work, I've seen a 40 ford wheel he did in a 32 streetrod and it looked pretty good.
I talked to the gas tank guy that was mentioned in the forum and that looks promising too so as I said this is a great tool.
I agree with you that the mustang forum is more active for the reasons you mentioned but the potential is there for this one if a few guys get interesting things going, modified or origional there is a lot of things to share with eachother.
Thanks Ben

[stephen]

Who is the steering wheel guy? I'm a bit taller than many owners, so the wheel gets in the way...big time.

Regarding the demographics, you may find this interesting. I'm a member of Jerry Wotel's newsgroup as well, and there's a good bit of traffic (8-15 posts per day). The issue of demographics has actually come up a couple of times. While there are a solid number of age 60+ members, many of them are DIY guys. Several are doing frame off's themselves, and there is of course the ongoing "original vs. 5.0 drop in" discussion, even among these guys. There are several female owners (and shade tree mechanics), but quite a number of younger owners. Many in the 25-35 year range, and one guy who's 20.

I think the demographics are changing a bit.

Regarding this site, I like it's layout a lot. I keep using it because I hope it catches on, for that reason.

And Nomad- I agree on the too hot to look in Dallas comment. Spent 26 years there. If it's a solid July, he'd have to be promising to give the thing to me to get me to stand there for over 5 minutes!

[capt'nben]

I don't have the stearing wheel guys name with me but Ill post it when I get home, please tell me how to get into this other group you mentioned. thanks Ben

[KruzerZ]

Hi guys

Ive only just found this forum in the last day or two. Ive been reading through some of the older posts and also recognize some names on here as well. When I was reading through this topic that Im replying to I noticed a comparison to the mustang forum and also something about demographics. I think that the reason there is so much more response on the mustang forum is because for the dollar and there availablity the mustang is a great car for people to own at an affordable price. I know that here in Australia you can go for an hour drive in your car and see 3 or 4 mustangs but you might go a year or two before you see a Thunderbird cruising the streets, unless your going to a show or concourse in which case you might see two. Another factor is that alot of Thunderbird owners are alot older like I seen posted earlier 60+ and I hope nobody gets insulted by my questioning but some of these guys probably dont have the internet or aren't interested because they just enjoy there ride for themselves and couldn't be bothered posting, which is a shame because some of these guys are a wealth of information and tips that they could pass on to us young guys that are trying to keep the dream alive.
Im 30 and have just purchased my first 55T-bird and I think that it is great that a few younger guys are getting involved with such an awsome car like the Thunderbird because it will be upto the younger guys to keep this dream alive and pass on all this information to the next generation of Tbird owners. Our cars are a rare bread and so I wouldnt compare the amount of posts on this board to the Mustang board, there is no comparison. Less cars, less owners, more unique. My dad has owned his 55Tbird for 36 years and he used to drive me around as a kid so it has always been in my blood to own one of these cars, Ive grown up with it and the information I get from him is priceless.

Anyway enjoy your cars, we are not here for a long time, just a good time.....

Scott..... :)

[Brian]

I'm am quite the novice, so I read a lot here, as opposed to posting. Clock me in at 45 years young.

On my frame off, all the body panels are tacked in place and ready to lock in.

Engine just got bored to .060.

Moving along slowly, but moving along!

[McNamee]

capt'nben,

I have a 57' tbird that I've spent 2 years restoring to "just about" original. The only non-stock things I have are an 800watt (hidden) sound system, radiator overflow, dual master cylinder brakes with auto-adjusters on the drums, and AC. In order to make this a #1 car, it will need a frame-off, as its been undercoated, and the previous owner didn't do a very good job with repairs/service. In looking into how much it would cost to do the frame-off, I determined I could update the car for about the same price, if I did most of the labor myself. I saw the 4.6l conversion bird in Early-bird magazine and thought it might be a good idea, plus give me something to work on for the next 1-2 years. Here's what I plan to do...

1.) Take it down to the frame, & add a fat-man fabrications IFS front suspension, with power assist rack & pinion, mated to stock steering column/wheel.
2,) Put 6-leaf springs on rear, moved approx 2" inward to allow for wider rims/tires, add roadmaster, gas shocks, etc. to improve handling and minimize wheel hop.
I'll also reverse the trunk hinges, to allow extension of the wheel wells approx. 2" inward, for more clearance.
3.) remove engine, transmission (but keep the ford 9", with posi, c-clip, & disc brake conversion mods), and add a 99'-03' DOHC cobra engine (supercharged) and either a built-up AODE or the T-56 6-speed manual(I have both sets of original pedals/mounts for the T-Bird). The cobra Guages will be converted into a stock-looking, engine turned aluminum panel.
4.) Update interior with lowback bucket seats, power windows/locks, air & heat, but leave it as stock looking "at a glance" as possible
5.) Build it up, test drivetrain, then take it down, fix the extra holes in firewall, etc., paint & rebuild.

The idea is to have a stock looking 57', including the fender skirts, wide whites, etc., but have the conveniences and drivability of a car, with about 400hp to the rear wheels.

I'm looking for contacts of people who have done this type of conversion (302 or 4.6l in a 55-57 tbird), to share information. Anyone who would like to contact me can reach me at [email protected]

I plan to kick-off this project in fall of 2003 and am in the parts (and bigger garage) acquisition stage right now.

P.S. I've already found some 15" x 7" alloy wheels, that will match my old "turbine style" hubcaps perfectly (with a little machining, a center cap fasioned from the old hubcaps, and a rechrome). They have an extra 2" back spacing, allowing them to work with the mods above, and give me 8 - 10" tread width (front & back), to handle the improved suspension and extra horsepower.

I'm also a member of CTCI (look for my "how to" on the drum brake auto-adjusters this spring in "Early Bird" magazine).

Thanks,

Mike McNamee
Roswell, GA
1957 Starmist