UPDATE!!
04/05/2007
Well, things are going well. I've gotten the true duals from the LE put on the GT. I also swapped over the Cold Air intake. I discovered the intake was leaking antifreeze, so I had a PI intake put in then installed the Ported, Polished, and Half-Shafted TB and Intake Plenum. The biggest (and most visible changes) are the paint and wheels. I managed to get a good polish on the car, then found a guy to make a set of LE style stripes for it. Except these say "Thunderbird GT" instead of "Limited Edition". He also made a decal to replace the "Thunderbird LX" trunk emblem with one that says "Thunderbird GT" and a Thunderbird logo to go on the windshield. I'm going to try to get the Eibach springs and KYB shocks put on this week.
UPDATE
2!!
05/07/2007
Things are proceeding nicely for the GT. I've got the PBR Brake calipers on with a set of drilled rotors. The Eibach springs and KYB's are on and the car drives beautifully. We also managed to get the PI cams installed. Give me another couple weeks and I'll head for MoKan to see just how much difference they make. ALL the parts are removed from the LE and are just waiting to be installed on the GT as time permits. I've decided to just transfer the entire transmission from the LE to the GT, as we managed to remove it from the LE today. We have to remove the transmission from the car to put the Mark VIII Torque Converter in anyway, and I really like the way the LE shifted.
I'd like to take this time to thank my very good friends from TCCoA for coming down this weekend and helping me to strip the LE and get the cams into the GT. It was tiring but worth it, and I couldn't have done without all of you.
UPDATE 3!!
05/26/07
A lot has happened with the car since the last post. The car was running great then on May 9th the engine went. I don't know what went wrong with it, but it overheated, and stopped running. If the weather holds out this weekend I guess I'll have to open it up and see what I can find. If its toast, I still have the engine and tranny out of the LE. I just have to get some guys down here to get it installed. So since then I've been riding my bicycle everywhere. Saves on gas, I've toned up the leg muscles and lost weight. But I want my car back!
UPDATE 4!!
09/18/07
Wow, what has been going on since the last update. We replaced the engine with the engine (and tranny) one out of the LE. We installed the PI cams and all was well. There was rattle coming from the timing cover, but I figured I'd fix that when I got time to diagnose and fix. Well that proved to be a big mistake. The cam sprocket bolt loosened and put too much strain on the keyway. So the sprocket ended up turning, but the cam didn't. Piston to Valve contact resulted, bending the valves. So I had to scrape up the funds for new heads. If I had to buy new heads anyway, might as well get PI heads right? I bought new heads, and got them installed (Thank you Tommy). But it wouldn't run right. I tried everything I could think of but it still missed out, and had coolant in the #5 cylinder. I (We) finally pulled the head off and found a huge "channel" running from the combustion chamber to a coolant port. Problem found! The person who sold me the heads said he'd send a new one. WooooHoooo! Now I am just waiting for the new head to arrive so it can be installed. I'll post as soon as it is!
UPDATE 5!!
Well, the heads were installed, the car started, and it still kept missing out!! It had a "popping" in the exhaust. I took it to a mechanic friend of mine and he listened for about 1/2 second and said its a misfire. Named off a list of things it could be, most of which I'd checked already. But when he mentioned an injector, my ears picked up. All that coolant being leaked into the cylinder could have fouled the injector! I popped a new injector in ( I had extras anyway) and it runs smooth as silk. WooooHoooo! I drove it a bit, then installed the new MAF and the new chip. Now it runs great, but isn't shifting right. I need to look into that tomorrow. But at least its running!