It's ALIVE!!!

[tbird430]

'60 T-Bird 430cid it ran again Sunday 5:47PM 7-6-8 (in case any of u heard something outside)...

[bcomo]

Congratulations Jon !!!!

Glad to hear that the old girl started back up without a problem.

[tbird430]

Well, we still need to make some carb/timing adjustments, but she is very close.....

[Guest]

Great Job I whshed that motor was in my car LOOKS WONDERFUL
Bob M

[tbird430]

Thanks guys....

[tbird430]

Well all I need now is my other 2 new P225/75R14 Coker tires (Fedex tracking says today), and my new upper ball joint boots (having heck with Kanter on their "lifetime warranty" claim). Then my '60 is ready to creep out of my parents garage for her 1st drive in some 3 years....


I'll post a couple pics when she rolls out of the garage with the new wide whitewalls....

[bcomo]

Jon:

What's the deal with the upper boots?

Mine were torn up because the upper bumper was missing, and allowed the top A-Arm to swing down to much and tore the boots.

When the new upper ball joints were installed, I replaced the upper bumpers and no more problem with that. I have Kanter stuff also.

[tbird430]

I really don't know what is going on Bart. I replaced EVERYTHING up front steering/suspension wise (ex. inner tie rods & coil springs), including the upper & lower bumpers, back in 1993. I had the front end aligned with new tires & shocks installed. In 1999 when doing routine maintenance (greasing front end), I noticed my left upper boot had begun to crack allowing grease to come out all around the sides. I called Kanter and they sent me a new one out no hassle nor questions. Well fast forward to the last month were I've been painting cleaning under the hood, I noticed my left upper was cracked worse-completely separated all the way around, and my right upper was beginning to crack and leak grease. Now I'm sure since I had the motor out (no weight up front), it made these boots look worse. But they were going to leak badly no matter what when I had everything back together. This time when I called Kanter the 1st guy literally laughed at me and transferred my to another sales agent. The 2nd sales agent there couldn't find were I had bought a front end rebuild kit from them, so being me (I keep ALL my receipts), I faxed a copy to him. The 2nd salesman called me back and stated that I had to remove both my boots and mail them to him for a review before anything can be done!!!! I was shocked to say the least, but I mailed them anyways last Monday June 30th USPS with signature confirmation. I saw that were signed for on Thurs 3rd of July, so I called this 2nd salesman back. He informed me that the ball joint boots were there and they were being analyzed by his suspension dept. at that time and he would call me later. Well I still haven't heard anything as of today. My father needs a kit for the front of his '59 Ford Galaxie and depending on how they stand behind their product here, will determine where we spend our money in the future...

Sorry for the long post Bart, bird friends. Any ideals? I know since I bought my Bird in late 1992, I haven't logged more than 8,000 miles on her. There is no way something should wear out that fast, even if I were using her in an off road competition (just a funny example).

[bcomo]

That's a real horror story Jon. I hope that they send you new (better) boots.

I checked my top and bottom ball joint boots, and they are fine. BUT, I only have 400 miles on the car since they were installed, so I would expect them to be OK at this point.

Kanter could have changed their source for the ball joints, depending on which overseas outfit gave them the best price, or complaints.

I know that these aren't TRW or Moog ball joints, and we went with Kanter for the best price, but the boots should last almost as long as the ball joints do -- I would think.

[tbird430]

Well, someone on here MUST work for Kanter Auto because the salesman called me less than 1 hour ago. The replacement grease boots were shipped out this AM!!!