What did you do with your Thunderbird Today?

I used a glow in the dark paint, and added a uv led that lit the whole area. It pops. It won't photograph; it's too dim.
 
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I installed the Kenwood KFC-D681C as new rear speakers to replace the Pioneer TS-A6857 speakers I had previously, one of which was I thought was blown as I described in a previous post. As it turns out though, present-day me is once again disappointed with past me; this time for a shitty speaker wiring job that was the real culprit of the speakers cutting out. It doesn't explain why the dead channel changed sides when I swapped the old speakers left and right, but that could have been a coincidence. I cleaned, re-spliced, soldered, and heat-shrunk the rear speaker wires on both sides of the car running to the amp.

Since I'm using these as rear fill, these aren't really a big functional upgrade despite being much better quality speakers. Since you can still see the speaker cones in bright sunlight through the OEM grille panels, at least they match the interior?
 
Today I installed some sound deadner on the package tray and, inside the c pillars as much as I could reach and also on the outside and inside of where the passenger sits behind the arm panels. Couldn’t remove the OEM sound deadner on the inside panels so I just put some around it.

The product works pretty good, no smells adheres nice no complaints so far. It’s the siless 120mil, of the 24 sheets I have 10 left. IMG_4314.jpegIMG_4317.jpegIMG_4318.jpeg
 
Well, I actually did it with my belt on the car but fully extended.

I unscrewed the floor bolt. Then I put as much belt as possible into a bucket with warm water and laundry detergent. Soaked and washed by hand. Then I rinsed several times.

My belts came out looking like new, and they roll up much better since.

Also clean the shoulder anchor. A lot of gunk settles there. I used wet wipes for that.
 
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1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I unscrewed the floor bolt. Then I put as much belt as possible into a bucket with warm water and laundry detergent. Soaked and washed by hand. Then I rinsed several times; I added a small amount of bleach on the first rinse though some people advise against that (?).
Click to expand...
Instead of chlorine bleach, even though the amount you used for the short amount of time you used it probably shouldn't hurt much, I'd recommend OxiClean (sodium percarbonate) instead. Bleach is not recommended for this task because of how it weakens the fibers of textiles such as nylon or polyester.
 
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if possible that will also be on the list for the weekend work.

I have a heat gun, is that all you need to remove the factory sound deadner? Besides the spatula
 
Chingon1 said:
Today I installed some sound deadner on the package tray and, inside the c pillars as much as I could reach and also on the outside and inside of where the passenger sits behind the arm panels.

The product works pretty good, no smells adheres nice no complaints so far. It’s the siless 120mil, of the 24 sheets I have 10 left.
Click to expand...

How much would you guess the 14 sheets you’ve put on weigh?
 
Which sucks adding weight, I think the pros outweigh the cons tho.



IMG_4319.png
 
Irv said:
View attachment 2209

I installed the Kenwood KFC-D681C as new rear speakers to replace the Pioneer TS-A6857 speakers I had previously, one of which was I thought was blown as I described in a previous post. As it turns out though, present-day me is once again disappointed with past me; this time for a shitty speaker wiring job that was the real culprit of the speakers cutting out. It doesn't explain why the dead channel changed sides when I swapped the old speakers left and right, but that could have been a coincidence. I cleaned, re-spliced, soldered, and heat-shrunk the rear speaker wires on both sides of the car running to the amp.

Since I'm using these as rear fill, these aren't really a big functional upgrade despite being much better quality speakers. Since you can still see the speaker cones in bright sunlight through the OEM grille panels, at least they match the interior?
Click to expand...

Good choice. I like the tighter frequency response range on the Kenwoods. Make sure to run a high pass filter on the signal to them. Personally, I'd cut them off at 80 or 100 hz. What are your plans?

Here are some specks I found after a quick google search.

Pioneer TS-A6857
Released: Circa 1997
frequency response 30-28,000 Hz
recommended power range 2-50 watts RMS
peak power handling 200 watts
sensitivity 91 dB

Kenwood KFC-D681C
frequency response 58-24,000 Hz
recommended power 81 watts RMS
peak power handling 360 watts
sensitivity 88 dB
Weight of Magnet (Woofer) 0.5 lb
 
Chingon1 said:
Today I installed some sound deadner on the package tray and, inside the c pillars as much as I could reach and also on the outside and inside of where the passenger sits behind the arm panels. Couldn’t remove the OEM sound deadner on the inside panels so I just put some around it.

The product works pretty good, no smells adheres nice no complaints so far. It’s the siless 120mil, of the 24 sheets I have 10 left. View attachment 2308View attachment 2309View attachment 2310
Click to expand...

That stuff you're using won't add much weight and will still get the job done. What you're using is much lighter than the Soundskin that I installed. I bought a PRO plus roll (Weight 40 lbs) and treated the whole car with it. It was about $300 a roll in 2020. Damn how prices have climbed since the pandemic!

soundskinsglobal.com

SoundSkins Pro Plus Workshop Kit | By SoundSkins Global

The SoundSkins Pro Plus Workshop Kit is an extra large roll of our SoundSkins Pro designed to improve your cars stereo performance and reduce outside road noise in a single material. A SoundSkins Pro Plus roll covers 64.5 sq ft and spans 29.5" x 315" in overall sheet size.
soundskinsglobal.com soundskinsglobal.com

While you're in there I HIGHLY recommend dropping the headliner, get it repaired/resurfaced and sound treat the roof. I did mine and it helps with both sound and heat. A good radiant barrier under the roof will keep the interior cooler in the summer. Here's what mine looks like for reference.

IMG_6341.jpgIMG_6342.jpgIMG_6344.jpgIMG_6352.jpg
 
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☝️ Plus 1 on this. All of mine was laying on the headliner when I dropped it. It made a big difference adding the sound deadener.
 
@Trunk Monkey Thank you for the pictures! The headliner is pretty beat up so that would give me a reason to pull it off. I’d need to buy a bit more deadner tho, I only have 2 sheets lefts. I did my doors today and forgot to snap some picture’s sorry!

I’m not sure about this, but I’ve seen on other forums people who put some sort of silicon stuffed into all the gaps on the inside of the liner, in this case it would be the perimeter of the roof and on the sides of those inner braces. Do you think this would do anything?
 
Just by curiosity, is the purpose of sound deadening to improve the performance of aftermarket stereo/subwoofer? Or is it literally just to make the interior quieter?

I mean it may not be the quietest car by modern standards, but I don't think it's noisy.
 
Chingon1 said:
@Trunk Monkey Thank you for the pictures! The headliner is pretty beat up so that would give me a reason to pull it off. I’d need to buy a bit more deadner tho, I only have 2 sheets lefts. I did my doors today and forgot to snap some picture’s sorry!

I’m not sure about this, but I’ve seen on other forums people who put some sort of silicon stuffed into all the gaps on the inside of the liner, in this case it would be the perimeter of the roof and on the sides of those inner braces. Do you think this would do anything?
Click to expand...

Don't spray or apply silicone or spray foam into the frame. It's overkill and could cause condensation to set up rust.

Kilmat is pretty good, cost effective stuff. I used it on our RAM 1500 truck under the carpet. I used the Soundskin on the rest of the vehicle.

Here's a link.


If you can afford it, buy the Soundskin for the best product available on the market.
 
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1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Just by curiosity, is the purpose of sound deadening to improve the performance of aftermarket stereo/subwoofer? Or is it literally just to make the interior quieter?

I mean it may not be the quietest car by modern standards, but I don't think it's noisy.
Click to expand...

Both. By making the interior quieter it improves the efficiency of the speakers. Also, when applied on the roof it acts as a radiant barrier and helps keep the interior cooler in the summer so the AC doesn't have to work as hard / works more efficiently. It's an all around great mod for many reasons.
 
It's not a necessary one. Personally the interior is about as quite as I think it should ever be from road/mechanical noise, as I don't really like the idea of tuning that out (both to hear my glorious V8 engine, as well as pick up any odd noises that might be an issue). I wouldn't mind getting some of that stuff for the roof, but then again 1/3rd of my roof is glass :biggrin:
 
Whose shift indicator is still this bright orange?

Ok, this may look like a déjà-vu. Yes, I did this once before, though I applied the orange paint from below the translucent indicator (after removing the faded color from the top).

That ended up making the indicator almost invisible during the day, so I opened it back up and applied the orange to the top .

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Mine's been buried under a boot for years.........so I'm really not sure! :biggrin:

Joe
 
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