1995 Ford Thunderbird
| Owner: |
Angela Everett |
| From: |
SLC, UT, U.S.A. (Other registries in UT) |
| Year, Make, & Model: |
1995 Ford Thunderbird (Other Ford Thunderbirds) |
| Nickname: |
TBird |
| Mileage: |
130000 |
| Engine: |
4.6L SOHC, bone stock. |
| Drivetrain: |
4R70W 4spd automatic (with the infamous JMOD done), stock rear IRS Ford 8.8 axle with 3.08 open differential. |
| Notes: |
I bought the car in November of 2005 with 127k miles. The initial test drive had included almost every driving situation I could think of (stop-and-go traffic to notice any overheating, bucking, rough idles, etc; on-ramps and off-ramps to test acceleration and braking; freeway passes to test shifting characteristics; etc., etc.) and I did not encounter one problem with the car. The price of $1999 it had on the windshield was hard if not impossible to believe. This white Thunderbird LX was completely loaded to the gills. Leather, power everything, V8, etc. And everything worked except for the driver's side lock actuator and the radio. They even dropped the price to $1850 when I complained about the radio. What a steal. I signed papers on it that day.
It wasn't until after two or three days that I noticed a shudder when driving uphill at speeds of 25-35mph. It only happened in third gear, but it was a constant shudder. And over the weeks it seemed to get a little worse. Great. I bought a car with transmission problems. I searched the internet for any helpful information and stumbled onto tccoa.com. It turned out to be a goldmine of information for my car. I read up on a transmission modification (called the JMOD) that could help reduce shudder, reduce temperatures, and improve shift feel all for less than $200. Now I consider myself mechanically inclined, but the thought of tearing into an automatic transmission scared the hell out of me. But after reading the technical material over and over again, and reading other people's experiences with doing the JMOD on their car, I was anxious to do it myself.
So I bought the parts, a case of Mercon V tranny fluid, an auxiliary transmission cooler, a quality snap ring pliers set, and set off to do my JMOD. I didn't run into any problems except that I broke a bolt into the main control (valve body) because my torque wrench was faulty. So I had to go buy a new torque wrench and a set of drill-out bolt extractors. The other problem I had was installing the updated accumulators (they wouldn't go in far enough to install retaining covers and snap ring), but thanks to someone's advice on tccoa.com, a floor jack and a foot-long steel pole fixed my problem. The rest of the installation was as smooth as butter. And the end result was amazing! It's fun to light up the tires shifting into second gear! No more shudder either. I wish I had taken pics of the modification, but didn't think of it.
Other than that, I had my windows tinted and an aftermarket radio installed. I bought new tires the other day as well (the ones on front didn't need replacing as they look new, but the ones on the back were especially worn). I'm getting ready to do a tune-up soon.
Future Mods:
-Custom intake using aftermarket Civic intake tube and K&N filter.
-all exhaust components replaced with aftermarket (but not sure where I'm going with this)
-Computer chip
-MSD ignition
-18" rims with summer tires
-3.51 or 3.73 rear gears with Trac-Loc or something similar, a set I could pull out of a wrecked TBird would be ideal
-supercharger? Mmmm... |
| Last Updated: |
12/29/2005 |
| Hits: |
1334 |
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