Not a panther but still a Ford

[PainFisted]

I miss driving a T-Bird.

[purplebomb302]

Got it from super coupe performance. It's 75mm.

old TB




New


The only thing I didn't like about it was the linkage. It was kinda loose. Kind of like it needed another washer on the end or the screw was either too long or not put in far enough. I tried to take the screw off for the linkage and it would not budge and I ended up rounding it off. So when I get some time i'll have to swap the linkage off of the old one onto the new one. I did put over 100 miles on it with the way iot was and it seems ok.

I noticed a slight increase in the 'seat of the pants' feel. Other than the linkage I'm happy with it.

[King_V]

I don't know if you've had to do this or not - but how's accessibility overall, even for something as simple as the spark plugs?

I had an 89 Cougar, and my brother had a 90. V6s, as they didn't offer the V8 in those years. Both developed issues, but my dad really liked the cars and encouraged us to buy them.

I do remember saying to people that "Yeah, it's a V6. I can see three of the spark plugs, and the other three are, uh, somewhere." The V6 looked like an absurdly tight fit, so I was wondering how the 5.0 fits in there...

EDIT: and then, in later years, I wondered how on earth they managed to squeeze the modular motor in those engine bays...

[88Vic]

Probably not as bad at the 4th gen f-bodies, literally half the engine is under the cowl in those. Same with my 02 Town & Country, to change the plugs I just reached around and hugged the engine, did it by feel. Transverse mounted engines, especially V6's suck. My buddy has an 04 DTS with the Northstar, I won't touch that junk. Sure it's a quick car, but no amount of free pizza would get me to do serious work to it.

[gadget73]

The mod motor is a fat bastard, but the plugs come out through the top. They're actually quite easy to change in a Tbird. A 5.0 OTOH, that probably sucks. I don't believe they are much, if any, roomier than my Mark VII. That thing is sort of a pain to deal with, but on the upside there is no big ABS monster in the way on the MN12 so it may not be much worse.


F bodies of all generations blow to do spark plugs in. Even in the 80s the back couple were hidden under the AC stuff. My friend had a '79 Trans Am with a Pontiac 400, and that was also a pain in the ass to tune up.

[sly]

changing the plugs on the 305 in the pontiac parisienne was actually easier from under the car for the rear most ones.

[purplebomb302]

I've never done a tune up to the bird so I honestly don't know. I'm not sure if the past owner even did it. It looks tight in there. Especially on the pass. side. I can't even see the exhaust manifold on that side. I thought about getting new valve covers for the car but I don't think they're worth it since they wouldn't be seen. The drivers side seems easy.

A co worker of mine has an '89 firebird formula 305 and he just did his plugs and wires 2 weeks ago. He said it was easier from under the car. The W bodies I owned in the past weren't that bad. You can roll the engine on those to get to the back plugs. Almost all the GM front drive cars were like that.

[King_V]

I can say from experience that the late 80s/early 90s FWD GM fullsize were pretty easy with the 3.8/3800 V6. Plenty of room.

Strangely, the smaller FWD A-body was difficult with the 60-degree Chevy V6, but easy with the 90-degree Buick V6, though less roomy on that smaller car. If I recall, some repair manual even stated that, only with the Buick V6, some of the work could be done in the engine bay or without unbolting the motor mounts, where it wasn't possible to do so on the 60-degree engines. Weird, but I guess the 60-degree engines had wider, or oddly designed heads or something.

I hated doing tuneups on the 2.8 V6. but no problem with the 3.0 or 3.8.

I had an 86 Caprice with the 350 cop engine (which was crappy, in retrospect). Like the 305, some of the plugs were just way more manageable from under the car.

The mod motor is a fat bastard, but the plugs come out through the top. They're actually quite easy to change in a Tbird. A 5.0 OTOH, that probably sucks. I don't believe they are much, if any, roomier than my Mark VII. That thing is sort of a pain to deal with, but on the upside there is no big ABS monster in the way on the MN12 so it may not be much worse.

Hmm, yeah, I imagine the plugs are easy - are there other things on the mod motor in such a car that you do have to get to the lower part of the heads, etc? Or do those just wind up being easy from underneath?

If I recall, the MN12 is strangely less roomy under the hood than the Fox Tbird/Cougar. I had a 1988 T-bird sport, and, weirdly, it seemed easier to get to things than my Crown Vic. Some are equally difficult, but I think I remember the Fox being slightly less cluttered somehow. Or maybe that's just senility.

[sly]

The only thing on the lower side of the heads in a mod motor is the exhaust and oil filter adapter. Everything else is valve covers and intake side. Even sensors. The exhaust manifolds are the hardest things to get to according to Zach. General maintenance on a 4.6 is pretty much cake (especially plugs) until you get to the CoP engines. But it's not hard to remove the coils. the water pump is absolute cake compared to a 302. Especially if it has an e-fan. The hardest thing I've had to do on my mod motor was change the AC compressor. It's mounted to the down side of the passenger side block just because you have to do it from under the car.