New car - 1996 Ford Thunderbird LX

I've spent time in several Old's, Pontiac's, Ford's, and Chevy's from the era. My sister's third gen bottom basement Cavalier has a better interior than some of the Ford's I've been in, new or old.
 
I've spent time in several Old's, Pontiac's, Ford's, and Chevy's from the era. My sister's third gen bottom basement Cavalier has a better interior than some of the Ford's I've been in, new or old.

Where you in a model T? :lol:

I know a guy with the same era sunfire...and its an absolute hunk of garbage.
 
4th gen Taurus along with a new Escape. The Escape was by far the absolute worst interior I've ever had the displeasure of being surrounded by. About 5 minutes before that the worst ever was a Saturn Aura that I rode in on the way to the Escape. The Taurus outclassed both of them by a mile.
 
Wait, 145hp? That's what, 110kw?

My old Falcon had a 4.0L I6 engine with 157kW, and it was two years older than that Thunderbird.
 
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145 hp at 4200rpm from 3.8L.

hey, my Grand prix is right around 160hp from 5.0L. (stock)

I must have some of the best Hp/L on Finalgear. lol
 
I've spent time in several Old's, Pontiac's, Ford's, and Chevy's from the era. My sister's third gen bottom basement Cavalier has a better interior than some of the Ford's I've been in, new or old.

4th gen Taurus along with a new Escape. The Escape was by far the absolute worst interior I've ever had the displeasure of being surrounded by. About 5 minutes before that the worst ever was a Saturn Aura that I rode in on the way to the Escape. The Taurus outclassed both of them by a mile.

Now that is some extreme bias and ludicris statements. Your Buick is not "all that" either. That's all I'm going to say.
 
145 hp at 4200rpm from 3.8L.

hey, my Grand prix is right around 160hp from 5.0L. (stock)

I must have some of the best Hp/L on Finalgear. lol

Powah!

Nice T-Bird, friend of mine had one few years ago, it was the supercharged pre-facelift model, nice car, and comfortable too.

If i remember correctly, some of the 80's early 3gen firebirds had around 140Hp from the Low Output 305 V8. Luckily the 5.0l in my firebird has got a healthier 230Hp stock (LB9)
 
Now that is some extreme bias and ludicris statements. Your Buick is not "all that" either. That's all I'm going to say.

I'm not including my Buick in this since it's a luxury car. I'm talking simply about stuff you'll find on the cheaper end of the scale. While the Cavalier and Taurus are ugly as sin, they are at least padded in most places so it has some semblance of comfort. The Saturn and Escape were nothing more than hard plastic created by satan himself. It's amazing that they were able to replicate the feeling of grade school gym bleachers with "foam".

Anyway, this isn't the place to keep going back and forth on this issue, it's a topic for another thread.
 
Powah!

If i remember correctly, some of the 80's early 3gen firebirds had around 140Hp from the Low Output 305 V8. Luckily the 5.0l in my firebird has got a healthier 230Hp stock (LB9)
Yup. And at the same time you had the 2.8 V6 making ~130hp, which shows how pathetic the first 5.0 were.
That said, not as pathetic as the Iron Dukes...
 
Yup. And at the same time you had the 2.8 V6 making ~130hp, which shows how pathetic the first 5.0 were.
That said, not as pathetic as the Iron Dukes...

Yeah, The fourbanger Dukes were painfully slow, excpecially when equipped with the ?ber sporty slushbox... :D
 
Looks like a good find. I was originally looking for an SC or V8 Thunderbird when I ended up buying my Mark VIII.
 
Yeah, The fourbanger Dukes were painfully slow, excpecially when equipped with the ?ber sporty slushbox... :D

Oh the Iron Duke. More suited as a boat anchor than an engine. "Required 16 seconds to reach 60 and understanding from fellow motorists while merging on the highway."
 
What? Buick has always been pegged right below Cadillac on the luxury scale, and Olds used to be behind Buick.

The older ones were big and really soft (too soft) but they never seemed to be worth the asking price. I've been in a few higher end Park Avenue's and they really didn't seem to be $40K cars.
 
First, I want to say to Night_Hawk that I'm sorry. I had no intention of dragging things off topic like this.

The older ones were big and really soft (too soft) but they never seemed to be worth the asking price. I've been in a few higher end Park Avenue's and they really didn't seem to be $40K cars.

The older C body PA's were not worth the money. The later G bodies, like mine, were. My Buick had almost all of the same options it's Cadillac Deville brother had, but a fully loaded PA ran you about 10 grand less than a base Deville.
 
First, I want to say to Night_Hawk that I'm sorry. I had no intention of dragging things off topic like this.



The older C body PA's were not worth the money. The later G bodies, like mine, were. My Buick had almost all of the same options it's Cadillac Deville brother had, but a fully loaded PA ran you about 10 grand less than a base Deville.


No worries about the hi-jacking, Ironically I was in a non supercharged Park Avenue a lot like yours the other day doing some fast town driving as a passenger. I was impressed at the epic interior and the way the car never even broke a sweat hustling around sharp turns.
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But back to the Thunderbird, I've got an exhaust leak right where the headers (apparently) meet the Y-pipe and the sound is horrible, Driving around town around 1000rpm it sounds like an old tractor. Nothing like a muffler leak at all. I know how to fix the problem, Just thought I'd mention it.


But my question is about another slight problem, I'm noticing a fair bit of suspension knocking coming from around the front passenger area and I'm pretty sure it's because the (very old) bushings are worn out, does anyone know a way to tell the problem without taking it all apart or getting a mechanic to look at it? Thanks to the Grand Prix my garage has been unusable for anything more than oil changes and stuff for like 2 years and I'm on a tight budget.

also both front seats are squeaking all the time from regular movement and the doors are groaning but all I have to do there is find the appropriate hinges and oil/wd-40 them until they're quiet.

Overall the car is doing alright, This may seem like a lot of problems but It's over the course of like 4 months they have been popping up. It's also got 309,155km's on it now.
 
Given the age and mileage, it's probably best to figure the bushings are gone period. Time to fit some Energy Suspension or Prothane bushings. Also check the shocks.
 
shocks are good as far as I know, But new bushings all-round are on the shopping list.


Also, I just thought of something.

I'm pretty sure I don't have a LSD, But is it normal for the drivers side wheel to spin one day and the passenger side wheel to spin more other times?
In the Buick the wheelspin was pretty much confined to the drivers side front wheel but with the T-bird it seems to change here and there.

Unless I'm tripping and both wheels are spinning
 
Cool buy...

Now you can tell people you have heard about the Bird, before randomly bursting into dance while singing Bird is the word :lol:

And 90's Buicks are no more luxury cars then a Grand Marquis...

Hell the Grand Marquis is probably a better car to drive being it's RWD :nod:
 
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