I met up with my insurance appraiser.
1963 Thunderbird – Happy Birthday!
One year ago to this day I drove my 1963 Thunderbird home. It was a cloudy and rainy day, I really didn’t know what to expect getting a car that was only a year younger than me. Throughout the year I had spent countless hours fixing and repairing issues that cropped up or already had. It was a learning experience for me but also added the confidence to work on anything.
It was fitting that I purchased a couple of NOS tail light setup for Josie this morning, sort of a birthday present!
I plan on keeping Josie until my golden years. Hopefully by that time i would have done most of the work and restoration I set out to do.
1963 Thunderbird Tail light lens…
Woke up this morning to get an early start at the swap meet held at the Lodi Grape Festival facilities. I’ve been hunting for a rear tail light lenses assembly for a couple of years now. I have gone to several car swap meets but never gotten lucky until today!!
I was able to fund a set for Josie brand new inside of the package and to top it off I got a set of the lens center trim piece that fits inside! All this for the price one NOS replacement lens on EBAY. What a freaking score. It also shows that you need to come early to these shows and at least have a first crack at something if it is being sold.
1999 Caddy… Clean up…
I had installed an Alpine amplifier attached to the rear seat back side panel but really didn’t like the way it was mounted.
1963 Thunderbird Squeak Continues…
Well, I jacked up the front of Josie to gain access to the upper A arm inner shaft and bushings. On different variations the end caps will have a zerc grease fitting. I was hoping I had a plug and would be able to install a right angle 90 degree fitting. No luck. The damn inner shaft was an older type and no fitting access.
Since I had the car up in the air I went ahead and greased up the zerc fittings that were available and accessible.
1963 Thunderbird – Matching Skirt…
Yup. My hula dancer skirt matches Josie’s interior. This is a cool centerpiece for Josie since I will be attending a Luau in mid-July time frame. A unique one that will be held locally.
1963 Thunderbird Squeaking…
My wifey and I went for a ride for a cruise and coffee at the local Starbucks this morning. Somewhere during the ride Josie developed this squeaking sound from the front right of the car.
I jacked up the car and removed the front right tire and hub. I was able to duplicate the squeaking sound by pushing the front end up and down. I was not able to repeat the sound by shifting the car side to side. I applied some grease onto the stabilizer shaft as shown below. This stopped the squeak for now but I expect it will return once the grease has come off or dried. I’ll need to replace that piece later on.
One good note is the brake pads are still good and have a ways to go. I’ll need to check out the rear brakes to see if they are the cause for the humming noise when the brakes get warm. It sounds as if it is coming from the right side of the car braking system but I’m not certain.
Back at it…
Well… took some time off going out for my lunch walks. It started out as it was too cold, too much rain, yada yada. I decided to go for a walk after I ate and did the normal path and speed as before. I’m feeling it now.
EDIT: even though it caused some d
2006 BMW E46 330ci oil leak…
I jacked up the BMW this afternoon trying to find the source of an oil leak. It seems to be coming from the driver side of the car but the leaks I’ve seen on the garage and driveway indicate a passenger side motor leak. It may be such that the path of flow down to the ground is being channeled towards that direction.
After further research there seems to be a common leakage on the left side valve covers that will eventually make its way down to the floor. I will see if I can get into it this weekend, start looking at BMW valve gasket kits.
1999 Cadillac Deville Smog Passed!
I stopped by a local smog shop that I’ve gone to before in the past. I figured they would be the best chance for me getting it done as a drive in.
No problems passing smog. It seems the older the cars are the faster the smog test.
