In anticipation of a new COAL subject coming soon, I plan to update my fleet adventures of the past year or so. Given the propensity for my mind to wander, we’ll see how it goes.
In an essay to his son titled “On Duties,” famous Roman orator and senator Marcus Tullius Cicero said that “no phase of life…can be without its moral duty.” While keeping a ’63 Thunderbird on the road has nothing to do with morals, it has everything to do with phasing, as I discovered during a marathon tinkering session over the 2022 driving season.
About a year ago, I wrote about a fun trip down to the home of Ford Motor Company with my Bullet Bird, and the ensuing debacle that proved that it is numbered among the malcontents of my antique car fleet. Burned distributor cap contacts and high tension leads conspired with a ripped brake booster bellows to ensure I almost didn’t make it home. As you may expect, the problems took some sorting out.
I began the brake booster rectification project by purchasing a rebuild kit from Harmon Classic Brakes in Georgia. Unfortunately, upon reassembly, some clearance specifications didn’t check out, and not wanting to take a chance with my brakes, I sent the booster to them to repair. They confirmed that someone along the way (the booster was a remanufactured unit) had installed a pushrod from a newer booster, and they couldn’t believe it worked correctly. This was obviously a fairly new booster, as the previous owner had apparently had it installed before he passed away (bad parts are a theme of this car).
As I mentioned above, the substantial vacuum leak that killed cylinder number three on my way home last fall was caused by a torn bellows, which bled engine vacuum straight to atmosphere. Harmon’s did an excellent job on the booster rebuild and it works as it should.
The next and perhaps more troubling issue to tackle was the ignition system. Upon my return from Dearborn last fall, I aimed the parts cannon at the car and replaced plugs, wires, Pertronix module (I always carry a spare), coil, and distributor cap. Still, the distributor cap terminals started to burn almost immediately upon driving the car again this past spring. Commenter JimDandy did me a huge favor by bringing something up that I hadn’t yet thought of, saving me a bunch of time. He mentioned that the distributor might be out of phase; in other words, the distributor is being fired (by the points or module) when the rotor is not quite lined up with the corresponding terminal on the cap. This is where I made a mistake by not using the tools I have at hand.
I would have been able to test firing voltage at the spark plug (large air gaps between two points will raise the firing voltage at that cylinder because the spark is forced to jump that larger gap) in five minutes using my gigantic old Sun oscilloscope…if only I would have thought about doing that when the old distributor was still in the engine. Long story short, I had bought a new, not remanufactured, distributor when I bought the car back in 2018, and instead of using the Sun machine to verify that it was out of phase, I simply ponied up 60 dollars and bought a remanufactured distributor. And that solved the problem. Again, one can never count out bad new parts.
This is what an oscilloscope image might very well look like.
This summer, I did use the Sun machine to verify firing voltages with the new distributor, and they were well within the normal range. (Watching the oscilloscope, I also discovered that my two Pertronix magnetic “rings” fire certain individual cylinders a couple degrees out of time compared to the others, and that individual cylinder changes depending on the ring, but not enough to make much of a difference in how the engine runs. It’s not something you’d even know about without an oscilloscope, which may or may not be a reason to get an oscilloscope.)
After fine tuning the distributor’s mechanical and vacuum advance rates (remanufactured distributors are usually set conservatively for safety from detonation on almost any engine), the T-Bird has more power and less terrible mileage. I can brag of 15-miles-per-gallon economy on a 200-mile trip this summer, which sounds bad until you remember that this is a ’63 Thunderbird.
There are still problems, such as a perennially-leaking-but-only-at-freeway-speeds distributor o-ring and a seeping radiator that I paid a ridiculous amount of money for three years ago (more bad new parts!). But a man’s work in the garage is never done, and Cicero might agree that it’s a classic car owner’s duty to keep his heaps on the road, regardless of cost or frustration, simply because it’s the right thing to do. Thus, Cicero may even say that I’m doing my duty, if he were alive today and his mind weren’t fixed on greater things.
A much more appealing and attractive Thunderbird than the next several newer generations (all thru 1976) were.
Tastes vary, but I agree with you, Mark. I think they lost the plot a little after ’66, although I like the ’80s “Aerobirds.”
The 1983 model got my money that year.
I obviously like aero and MN12 Tbirds quite a bit, but none of them ever screamed “Thunderbird” to me the way the 55-66 era ones do, a European inspired scientifically aerodynamic coupe doesn’t quite have the fantastical exuberance of the 63s with space ship afterburners for taillights, it’s just a little too grounded. For me the Aeros may as well be called Gran Torino or LTD II and I’d like them just the same.
That spectacular ThunderBird is more likely to take flight than the aging, dirty cargo plane.
Wouldn’t that be “fun, fun, fun, till her daddy takes the T-Bird away”?
I regret to say that looks to be not a cargo plane (except in the most sinister possible sense), but rather a B-52 Stratofortress, colloquially known as BUFF (Big Ugly Fat, er, Fella) — a pre -G model, judging from the shape of the vertical stabilizer.
This may just be an old man reminiscing about the cars of one’s youth (I was 19 in 1963) but the bullet bird was, and still is, drop dead gorgeous.
There’s such a sense of optimism in the swoopy exterior and interior that one could image back then that all goods things would be possible in a new and exciting world where daily drivers looked like this.
But alas, 1963 was the beginning of dark times for Americans; actually dark times for people all over the world.
And by 1970 the T-Bird was a brougham-ed up mess, hard to work on, not that great to drive, and IMO just plain unattractive. (Below my son next to “his” donated/handed-down T-Bird).
Aaron65: Thank you for keeping this beauty on the road.
My mom’s cousin had a “69 , 4dr”. Triple “dark green”. Always thought it was “cool”.lol
My brother bought a “semi restored, 64” in 1978. It was a good looker, fun to drive.
A large bill revolving around the transmission came “not that long” after the purchase.
Heater core was a “the other side of deaths door” issue though.
In western PA, not a sustainable platform.
Any day “below 45ish”, things got waay rough.
By keeping blower going,windshield was relative clear; the cold air blowing was pure misery though..
He sold it off in 1982 I think.
It’s a beautiful car, and thanks for both keeping it on the road and for being willing to share your travails with us—educational and entertaining. Here’s hoping the situation improves, and that you’re getting some more miles in before winter rolls around!
Oh, yes, 15mpg cruising is something to be proud of—good for you.
You’re welcome! The ‘Bird’s out in storage now…the weather’s been great, but winter can hit at any time, and I have to plan ahead so I don’t have to drive them in the salt. Plus, the radiator’s leaking pretty badly, so I’ll have to do something about that in the spring.
Very cool that you have a Sun oscilloscope! I’d love to add one of those to my shop as ignition and distributor tuning is definitely a lost art. I can also relate to the unfortunate experience of new bad parts. I am wiling to pay more for good quality parts, but these days it seems harder and harder to find any decent quality parts.
I have run rebuilt distributors in the past but there quality is hit and miss. For my ignition system build I actually have a custom one off distributor, a Ford Duraspark distributor that use a GM HEI module, so the quality is very good. If it ever acts up though, I won’t be able to buy a replacement.
Thanks for the update on the T-Bird and I hope you can get the other issues tackled this winter so it gives you a trouble free run next year. FWIW, I think 15 MPG on the highway is pretty good for a 390 T-Bird. Looking forward to the new COAL project….maybe you finally got that Riv. It would be the perfect companion to the ‘Bird.
I’ve never been good at keeping a secret, Vince.
Wow, what beauty!! Congratulations on the purchase! I can’t wait to hear about it. This may be my new favourite in your fleet.
You did it! Congratulations. Looks very nice, not surprisingly.
Thank you! I can’t wait to write about it. It just showed up on a trailer Friday, and I spent about 50 hours (OK, that’s an exaggeration of an hour or two) in the garage this weekend. As you also might expect, it has a very long to-do list. I’ve already become friendly with members of the Riviera Owners Association, who have been very good with parts and advice.
Ooooh! I think a giant comparison test with the ThunderingBird is required!!
I can already say that the Riviera feels like it has 100 more horsepower than the T-Bird. If you put the Dynaflow in Low, it is surprisingly fleet from a dead stop.
That does not surprise me. I expect it handles better too.
Late to the party here, but what a beauty! Congrats!
That B-52 sure is an eye catcher, along with your T-Bird.
The B-52 is kept near the Yankee Air Museum in Ypsilanti, MI, in case anyone’s interested in looking it up. 🙂
Interesting article. BTW, what kind of plane is that?
As moparlee has noted above, that is a B-52, first put into service in early 1955.
Needless to say, the personnel who have crewed these 8 engine, steerable landing gear monsters were not born when their aircraft were already in service a long time.
After 2013 and 2015 upgrades, the remaining aircraft are expected to serve into the 2050s.
The very last built BUFF is older than this ‘Bird.
26 October 1962: The very last Boeing B-52 Stratofortress was delivered to the United States Air Force. B-52H-175-BW 61-0040, which was rolled out at Wichita, Kansas, 22 June 1962, was the 744th B-52 built by Boeing at its Seattle and Wichita plants.
“were not born when their aircraft were already in service a long time.”
In fact, some grandchildren of the original B-52 crews now fly these beasts:
https://www.minot.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/264580/three-generations-of-b-52-airmen/
On further investigation, it’s a B-52D, an earlier model (the survivors are the final B-52H) built from 1956 to 1957. That model was refitted in the sixties to carry a very large conventional bomb load — the B-52 was conceived primarily as a nuclear bomber — and used extensively for airstrikes in Vietnam.
The -D differed a fair bit from the new B-52H models, still using J57 turbojets where the -H had TF33 turbofans. (The surviving -H models are supposed to be getting more modern engines soon, although plans for doing that have been floating around at least since the ’90s and kept falling through because of the upfront costs.)
Dad bought our lightly used beige on beige 65 Thunderbird in spring of 67 and I remember we often got single-digit gas mileage out of the 390 so indeed you are doing well. I love the Bullet and Flair Birds, the last of the really beautiful models. It makes me happy that your car is still on the road. Hope you can get it sorted to the point of more easy road trips. Thanks for the updates.
Lord! That’s a pretty thing!
I don’t know if you’re talking about my car or CA Guy’s dad’s car above, but thanks either way!
I have story upon story about bad new parts while trying to improve the roadability of my1969 Mercury Marquis. The Pertronix ignition was one. Wasn’t firing cylinder one at all which almost led me to think my timing light died. It was a defective magnetic ring. Pertronix replaced it for free once I convinced them it was their fault. Right now I found out I have a bad brand new rebuilt water pump installed, and will now have to redo that whole job with another entirety new one I found. Bad new parts is a scourge and a plague infecting the old car hobby. 😮
You’re absolutely right. It’s getting to the point where I’ll use old parts that may be worn out of spec before trying new parts, which is too bad because it hasn’t always been this way.
I can’t tell you how many have encouraged me to replace the points on my ’66 F100 with a Pertronix. Yet I keep reading about these units failing, quite commonly. Aaron even keeps a spare in his trunk.
In over 50 years of driving a number of points-equipped cars and trucks, I have never ever had them fail! My first car, a ’63 Corvair, was given to me, and I set off on a cross-country road trip without ever looking at them, and after 1,000 miles or so, it started missing and bucking some. I finally pulled the distributor cap and…yes; the points were utterly gone. Who knows how old they were. So I stopped at the next Pep Boys and spent maybe $1.50 on a new set and it ran like a top again.
I will never buy a Pertronix or any other electronic replacement for my Ford’s distributor. They’re bullet-proof!
To be fair, I don’t think Aaron’s Pertronix failed. I think he replaced it when trying to diagnose his ignition issue, which turned out to be the distributor out of phase. I’d say for the most part Pertronix modules are reliable and don’t fail if installed correctly. However if they do fail, like most other electronics, they do without warning. Since they are not stocked in most parts stores, carrying a spare is probably not bad practice if you travel on highway trips like Aaron.
That said, sudden failures don’t happen with points. They wear out and go out of adjustment but rarely fail suddenly. Even when they do fail, often a roadside fix can get them operating again. The issue with points is that they don’t hold a tune well and they don’t work very well at higher RPM or in high performance engines. Electronic ignition is far superior in those regards, and there are many other options to use in a vintage engine beside Pertronix. For a truck like yours that sees the use yours does, points are perfect; I wouldn’t change them out either. Just hope the replacement set is decent as most are poor quality today.
Vince is right; I’ve been using Pertronix in several cars (going back to 1996), and they’ve been very reliable (knock on wood). I also have no problem using points, but as Vince mentioned, their quality has been poor to very poor for years, which is why I started using Pertronix in the first place.
I once carried a spare set of points in each trunk in case a module failed, but the thought of spending more time on the side of the road reconverting a car to points made me just get a spare module. Plus, I’m paranoid. 🙂
I think old cars can be like children – there are days when you could kill them if you didn’t love them so much. 🙂 I remain envious of anyone who has a really nice one of these cars. This one certainly counts.
For those of us without the right equipment, trying to chase down an oddball electrical issue is one of the worst possible problems.
Ha…the good thing about having “car children” is that I can banish one to time out for weeks or even months without being considered a terrible person. 🙂
That shot of the Bullet Bird and the Ford glasshouse is absolutely the one. Tempted to make it a desktop background.
Thanks Roger…I’d be honored. 🙂
Interesting that you had a ‘remanufactured’ distributor work better than a part that has not been subjected to those abuses. It’s certainly not impossible—people get struck by lightning every now and then, too—and I don’t at all doubt you, I’m just saying ‘remanufactured’ parts are much more often the cause of problems than they are the cure (viz your brake booster).
I notice your distributor cap, at least the burnt one, appears to be made of black bakelite. Those were adequate for points-condenser ignitions, but marginal at best for the hotter spark provided by an electronic system. You might want to put in a good quality cap made of a higher-grade material like glass-filled alkyd or glass-filled thermoplastic, and with brass or copper inserts, not aluminum.
I’m not using a hotter coil or even a non-resistance coil wire, only the Pertronix module to replace the points, so the spark isn’t likely any hotter than stock. Right now, I’m using a cap that probably came off my ’65 Mustang back in 1997. 🙂
My rationale for using a remanufactured distributor is that I know Ford produced the points cam and distributor shaft. The rebuilders only rebush it (maybe) and give it a sorry curve. Plus, the distributor can come out of anything from a ’58 Fairlane to a ’76 F250. I got a little lucky; mine was set on the 10* advance slot (for 20* total mechanical advance at the crank). I bent the adjustable spring tabs inward to bring the curve in at about 3000 rpm or so, and set the initial at 13*, which gives it a little more snap down low where it needs it. Now I have a conservative 33* total, not including around 12* with vacuum advance.
You get a hotter spark with electronic vs. points, coil swap or no coil swap, on account of the faster/cleaner primary switching –> greater coil saturation –> hotter spark. Do move your cap and rotor further up the it-matters list.
Oops, meant to include a link to this period piece about transistor ignitions—take a look at the “Personal Use Report” on the bottom of the page, then move on to the next page and read the rest of the personal use report.
I love those old survey tests from “Popular Mechanics” and the like, but what’s interesting to me is that despite the benefits of transistorized ignition, it didn’t catch on for another 10 years from the publication of this article. I read somewhere that the take rate was in the hundreds for any given model.
Honestly, I find some of the author’s data hard to believe, such as his acceleration and top speed improvements. I wonder how worn his points were.
Interesting about the bad Pertronix Ignitor reluctor .
Back when I was running ‘A’ Model Fords some of the older Machinists got to fooling with the easily removable points cam and measured then, turns out more than a few had slightly retarded lobes, this makes more difference than most realize .
Good to see the ‘Bird doing well .
Crappy not to spec. re man parts have been an issue for more than a decade .
-Nate
Aaron said :
” I read somewhere that the take rate was in the hundreds for any given model.”
That’s because they were horrendously expensive ! .
I wanted to try a CDI ignition in the 1960’s but the dang old truck wasn’t worth but $75 and the kit was north of $100 IIRC .
You have to remember that back then few had dwell meters and / or timing lights, even the Veteran down at your corner Service Station usually didn’t have these important tool, many used a vacuum gauge connected to intake manifold vacuum , it was a bit of an art form .
Allison had a really nice one in the early 1970’s that used a light and shutter wheel, this meant your old worn out distributor with loosey-goosey bushings could still be accurately timed .
All those 1930’s through late 1960’s engines were very sensitive to proper ignition timing if you wanted any sore of performance .
-Nate