Page 8 of the History of TPLS 63
"Frustration..."
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continued from page 7, "The Cooker..."
I made a list of all of the parts that I was going to purchase, door and window rubbers, gaskets, front end parts, exhaust, lenses, interior fabric, top, etc., etc.
I faxed the list to about 4 parts suppliers for a lump sum price quote, and I got the best price back from Rich Muck at Thunderbird Parts and Restoration.
I ordered all of the new and rebuilt parts I needed from him. His delivery at times left me a little unnerved, but over all, I am very pleased with him and his products, except his coil and leaf springs.
I got the springs and installed them on the car while it was still on the rotisserie. I installed the rest of the front end and rear end parts so I could get the tires back on and get the shell back on the ground. I put the doors, deck and hood back on the car. With essentially just an empty shell yet, the springs didn't settle at all, and the bottom of the rockers were about 11 inches off the ground.
I didn't think it unusual as there was very little weight on the car. I delivered the rolling chassis along with the cowl, package tray and flip lid (these were loose) to Brad Turnboom who would be doing the finish filler work and paint.
Brad finished the car in about 3 weeks, and I picked it up and brought it back home and began reassembling the rest of it.
When the roof frame was back in, and the engine and running gear in, the car still didn't settle down any. The only reason at this point could have been that I received the wrong springs from TPAR. I called Rick, and he gave me the dimensions that the car should rest at the top of the front and rear wheel openings to the floor. My car was about 6" high at both locations.
Rick said he must have sent me the wrong springs ad he would get them replaced right away.
He sent me another set of coils, which I installed. If you've ever replaced coils on tbirds, you know what a task it is, and dangerous too. When I got the new coils in, and I lowered the car to the floor, it kept going down...and down...and down.
The bottom of the front bumper was 2" off the floor. My brother Ray said it looked like a
"potatoe digger".
Needless to say, the coil springs were again wrong. I still hadn't received the replacement leaf springs. I called Rick, same old story, he'd send out the right ones. About a month later, after calling him 1 or two times a day, I finally got the new front coils.
The were exactly the same as the first set he sent.
I called him and he sent me another set.
Guess what?
The same again...
I finally had to just cut them down myself to make them work. They were about 2" too long. They were the correct size wire, and had the corect amount of turns after cutting, and the end result was the car resting in spec.
A couple of weeks later, the correct leafs showed up and I got them in and
I was ready to road test it.
Back to Index ......Go to Page 9, "The Cooker in the Kitchen..."
Thomas G. Maruska
Duluth, Minnesota