97 Thunderbird

[Matt2low]

Ive been wanting to build a Thunderbird for many years and now I'm finally doing it. I was searching craigslist and found one that had already been manual swapped so I jumped on it.

Its a 1997 Ford Thunderbird GT4.6 in Light Denim Blue Metallic

This is what the previous owner already did to the car:

2010 PI engine
coil over plug conversion
Mustang air mass and filter housing and induction tube
98 mustang fuel injector rail
Mustang 4.6 GT radiator fan
Mustang 6G alternator
Supercoupe adjustable front struts
J springs on the suspension
Mustang wheel/hub conversion
2010 mustang GT wheels
Clear corner turn signals
Mustang – GT 150 mph dash gauges
96 Mustang GT ECU which has been reprogrammed
Mark 8 front seats Mark a rear seat
Cobra rear brakes with cobra rotors
Mark 8 vanity lit mirrors

My plans are:

Swap front end from 89-93 thunderbird
swap rear end from 89-93 thunderbird
remove cladding on the sides
make coilovers
buy wheels with good offset
clean up wiring that previous owner did
fix cracked interior
mold in 8" pioneer head unit
find Super Coupe center console
install hand brake
convert interior to black
wire tuck engine bay
exhaust
cams

[Matt2low]

I did some photoshopping to show what I'm visioning

[Matt2low]

pulled the seats out and cleaned up the carpet

[Matt2low]

Planning on going through and painting all the raw metal parts that ford leaves.

[Matt2low]

just ordered some wheels, tires, and lowering springs. Eventually I will make some coilovers.

wheels are 18x9.5 +20 offset
tires are 255/45/18
and springs are 1.6" lowering springs

[Matt2low]

Found a 93 in a junk yard to get the parts I need to do the swap. I broke the header panel getting the bumper off oh well Ill deal with it for now till I get a new one.

Car is going to get worse before it gets better

[rice4life]

Dope! I always thought these were FWD ahaha. I'd love to see this thing do a burnout.

[Matt2low]

Thank you, yeah the reason I like the car is because most people won't know what it is. haha but its v8 rwd with good chassis/suspension.

[Matt2low]

The wheels and tires got here!

[Matt2low]

Tried them on real quick before work.

[Matt2low]

Got the lowering springs. side by side they don't look any shorter.



First time using a spring compressor, pretty nervous at first but I got the hang of it.










Here is before and after, still too high I know but it will have to do for now.

[saturnstance]

This is promising. Super interested to see where this goes.

[saturnstance]

Not sure if this is helpful but I think QA1 has coilovers.
https://www.supercoupeperformance.co...ion-chassis-32

[Asshole Bicycle]

I had a 1990 Thunderbird Supercoupe in High School. It had the supercharged V6 and a 5 speed. Loved that car.

[Matt2low]

Thank you, yeah I'm probably going to get those.