Minuit

I don't know, but AMP is the OEM for the version used on the radios. If you look close at the connector body molding you can even see the "AMP" molding in it. I've never personally heard it refererred to that, but you read a lot more documentation than me.

Radio connector from 88 on is an AMP MIC Mark II. I was actually able to purchase some new pins but not bodies a while back. They can be de-pinned with a thin screwdriver.

If it does it again, unplug the tape mechanism.

Outside air temp sensor. That's the only thing in that area that uses the Chrysler Wedgelock connector. I have spotted part of the wiring for it on my 91 as well. Can't remember if it goes all the way down to the mounting location as seen here. It was offered on higher trim XJs starting in 1990. There are lots of unused connectors such as this for XJ only features. Can make your life easier if you ever want to add that.

I was curious as to the source of the column shifter as well.

Should be a nice diagram in the FSM. My access is currently limited or I would pull it.

I think a random stranger gave the OP the gift of Jeep parts.

Life's struggles have a way of making us better people.

One of these days I need to just sit down and make a video on the 15205238526 ways you can handle adding an (insert media type here) input to these radios. By far the easiest way with the Chrysler tape decks is the "snip VR71", pre-amp signal with NO DC BIAS (in other words, AC coupled) into TP371 and TP471), the two TP pins being left and right pre-amp input respectively. This is not something unique to Jeep tape decks, by the way. Everyone who's ever added an after-the-fact input to a sound system has done more or less the same thing. Whether this be done by simple means of a headphone cable or by hiding a multi-input Bluetooth receiver inside the radio, powered by the radio's internal power supply, is up to the needs, wants, and skill of the individual performing the task. There are several points inside the radio in which 12V can be found. A good place to tap into would be on the downstream side of the fuse header (which takes some disassembly to get to) - 95% of these radios are fused at 7.5 amps - you'll be fine adding the minuscule amount of power that a properly designed wireless receiver draws.

Follow up information: The only deviation from stock I have is that I have added "The Cure" the tie rod end boot. Everything else is just stock replacement parts with about 15,000 miles on it. Steering damper is an OME unit which made a surprising amount of difference in the steering feel. I am very much interested in the best steering feel I can get. Even if I have to replace some "already replaced" parts to do it. My truck has about a 30 degree slice of on-center play where turning the wheel does a little bit, but not much, and yes, I did adjust the box per the FSM procedure before putting it in. It's just a clapped out junkyard unit with unknown mileage.

Borgeson appears to have the market cornered for new (not remanufactured, new) Saginaw-style steering boxes, and as the owner of an MJ which lives on the street, I'm big-time interested in that. They get good reviews (claims of "feels like rack and pinion") in the muscle car circles, and I see at least two highly positive reviews from people who've put them on TJs. My question - has anyone here coughed up the $500 for one? They promise "modern steering feel" - I know what that is, and I know my truck ain't anywhere close to it right now, but I do know that I would happily pay $500 for it to have it. It mounts with the 4-bolt pattern rather than the 3-bolt pattern our trucks use, but that 4th bolt hole appears to not foul on anything and just in free air. They have the same 12.7:1 ratio as the ZJ box (I have a worn out one in my truck now, it's a minor but noticeable improvement) and all other key dimensions appear the same (pressure/return port size, input/output shaft size) - one thing that I'm not sure of is fluid demand, but my pump is tired after 193k miles so I'd probably be changing it at the same time as the box anyway. If nobody else sees any reason I shouldn't, I might just be the guinea pig after payday next week. https://www.borgeson.com/Borgeson-Street-and-Performance-Series-12.7-1-Ratio.html

#8 sheet metal screws of various lengths and head types (standard pan head and washer head) make up a majority of the interior screws in the cab. Mostly 1/2" to 5/8". Black oxide was the original finish for most of them. https://www.mcmaster.com/products/sheet-metal-screws/steel-phillips-rounded-head-screws-for-sheet-metal/ https://www.mcmaster.com/products/sheet-metal-screws/phillips-flanged-extra-wide-rounded-head-screws-for-sheet-metal/

If AMC era, one is a speaker (typically the right front negative) and one is ground. What kind of radio? Post pics if you are able. Here is '86 and '87 typical as a quick guess. '84 and '85 have different connections but colors are mostly the same other than negative wires being shared between both speakers on the same side of the vehicle. Minuit checks occasionally, has time to respond infrequently. Hope to change soon but work schedule shows little sign of letting up. Minuit needs to get better about letting go at quittin' time. Bright side: I re-charged the AC on the '91 today and it works awesome.

What I'm saying is, you may have an excessive high side pressure causing your compressor to experience too much resistance. It's more likely to be something with the clutch, but checking pressures is such an easy first step that it should never be ignored.

May also be worth checking pressures to make sure system pressure is not excessively high relative to temperature.

Good options too. Shame about no A/C though.

I've seen one set installed on FB. The fit looked pretty close to OEM, certainly much better than the prototypes.

Reminder: I'm still waiting on someone to send me a failed ECU and/or TCU for investigative purposes.

Looks like it.

Also known by their less PC name... Sex bolts

That's fluid "bleeding" in the LCD. Replacing the LCD glass is about all you can do, but it looks like yours isn't too bad yet. Want a parts radio?

Fun fact: Thus far, in the entire process of stripping the interior: I have broken 0 pieces of plastic! Anyone remember when I used to photoshop people's trucks for them? Not horrible for 15 minutes. I'm a bit rusty, and the source image was a bit crap, but you get what you pay for. I need to get a Thunderbird center cap to try on one of these '97 Mustang wheels, but I'm 99% sure it would fit. So before I carry on with my plans with this thing, I want to address the elephant in the room: why in the blue hell would anyone plan to put a $4000 6-speed transmission, custom clutch hydraulics, a 7000 RPM, 340 HP (estimated based on the "recipe" I plan on using - a mix of OEM parts of various years) engine, leather seats, killer stereo, custom HID headlight retrofit, and more stuff I haven't told you about yet into Grandma's 1996 Ford Thunderbird with self-removing paint? And by the way, it may photograph nice, but that paint is as self-removing as ever. There's a reason I don't show you the roof or the trunk. You see, when you look at this car you may see an overweight, over budget, "bleughhhh" church cruiser with a plastic interior and a lot of obsolete parts, and corners cut at nearly every opportunity. And you'd be right about every single one of those things. What I see is about 60% of a really cool thing. And it's one we don't get much of here in the US. A true GT car in the fashion of something like a Ferrari 456, but with the advantage of a truly usable back seat, even for someone of my not insubstantial frame. A sporty, yet luxurious car you can load up with suitcases and go on a cross-country roadtrip with. Why the hell would I think that? Think about it for a second. This thing was, at a certain level, designed for extended time at speed. This car has a very clever double-wishbone front suspension, a just as clever rear suspension (the Mark VIII version even lowers itself at highway speed), a just-aggressive-enough rear gear ratio that still allows good cruising RPM, an absolutely massive cooling duct under the bumper and a simply ridiculous electric fan, let's step over the pitifully undersized factory front brakes, truly excellent aerodynamics, a pretty good cockpit layout that generally puts relevant controls where you want them, great seats, wonderous visibility (seriously, this is a car you can SEE out of!), and a fairly soft, quiet ride. But Ford, in their infinite wisdom, bean counted and "value engineered" the absolute $#!& out of it! By '97 you couldn't even get a power passenger seat in your "luxury" car unless you got one of the final edition Cougars. Any attempt at high achievement was gone by the later years of this car. Actually, they made three of basically what I'm going to make (except they used a T45 transmission - what they had at the time), but they crushed them. That's without mentioning the sentimental attachment I have to this car. Those Coke stains in the carpet that contributed to me throwing it in the trash? Woops, sorry. I've found stuff between the back seat cushions that I'm pretty sure I left there when I was 5. This car rolled off the assembly line 7 days after I did, so I suppose we're joined together in that way. This project will address as many of the shortcomings of the stock MN12 chassis as I can, while also boosting the fun factor without harming general usability. And no, I'm not lowering it. So we get to the three main themes you'll see popping up all the time in this project: Ford had a cost target for each car, and they sold these things super cheap. I get paid every two weeks, and so long as this build continues to bring me enjoyment, I'm not keeping score. I have access to way better technology and parts than Ford did in 1996. Except front shocks. I don't have access to front shocks. I actually have the desire to do something cool with it. It's not a question of ability, because as you're going to see, I'm going to be using many parts straight out of Ford's late 90s parts bin to make this car way better! Ok Minuit, now that you've written half of a dissertation about nothing, what are you going to use it for? I have discovered that I greatly enjoy taking extended road trips. In fact, one of the inspirations for this project was this one last month: (Someone who didn't know me at work called me "that guy with the thick Northern accent" - which I found absolootly hilarious) ... and how much I'd rather be doing that absolutely gorgeous and sometimes challenging drive in a car that was actually fast, fun, and engaging to drive rather than a Jeep Cherokee. Sorry Jeep guys. So to cut it short, I want to build a reliable, fun to drive, comfortable, reasonably luxurious, and reliable car to go on vacation in. Hopefully that goes some way to explaining my component choices so far. Jeremy Premium Sound The radio I showed earlier already outputs a pre-amp level signal, so that's taken care of for me. There's loads of room inside the cassette model for additional modules, which in my case would be Bluetooth. However, there's a second option I haven't told you about yet: I have this nice, but not NOS, CD player, also out of a '96 Thunderbird. As far as the car is concerned, this is interchangeable with the cassette unit from last post - with the exception of external CD changer controls. This one has a little less room inside for a Bluetooth module, but is basically the same electronically. So it's just a matter of which slot for outdated media I'd rather have. For what it's worth, I do slightly find myself preferring the looks of the CD player. There is the small matter of how the car is configured currently. If you remember, it is an "in between" car options wise, with the standard sound system, standard suspension, no ABS or traction control, cloth seats, but rear disc brakes, automatic temperature control, power antenna, automatic headlights, and V8 engine. The standard sound system cars have an entirely different audio harness than the "Premium Sound" cars that used the two radios I've shown you in these two posts. My original radio which I put a new faceplate on a few years ago, is one such "Standard Sound" radio. It's a totally traditional radio with an internal amplifier wired straight to the speakers. The Premium Sound setup used a headunit with no internal amplifier, with the amp mounted in the trunk and, in some model years, a subwoofer with its own amp as well. So, in order to "correctly" use one of these Premium Sound radios in this car, I'll need to re-wire this car as a Premium Sound car. So that's exactly what I'm going to do - essentially lay in all of the premium sound harnesses to get the correct plugs in certain places, and then use the Premium Sound wiring to trigger much beefier wiring for the modern audio gear I'll be installing. The sound system on all 1996 Thunderbirds consisted of four 5x7 (or 6x8 depending on who you ask) speakers: two in excellent locations aimed directly at the passengers in their own small "enclosures" in the doors, and two in less-than-excellent locations below the rear quarter glass. Due to the very open layout of the interior, the rear speakers being fed a full-range signal kill any chance at good stereo imaging even if they weren't 30 years old. Fun fact: Right before I bought the '08 Volvo in 2021, I had a Crutchfield gift card and used it plus about $150 of my own money on a set of Morel Tempo Integra 6x8 speakers for the front, so this car has speakers in it worth as much as the whole rest of the car right now. The factory headunit isn't even CLOSE to enough power to run them By 1996, the option to even have a subwoofer was gone, but when it was still around, it was a single 6.5" in a tiny box bolted to the underside of the parcel shelf area. I have one, and I was going to use it for originality's sake, but I think I can improve on that concept while also taking inspiration shamelessly stealing an idea wholesale from my Volvo: I'm thinking dual 8" shallow-mount subs concealed behind OEM looking grilles inside a custom tuned box (which hopefully doesn't protrude too far into the trunk) should do nicely. The amps will rest in a somewhat OEM location near this box. I'm no basshead, but 4 5x7s are pathetic. I do plan on relocating the battery to the trunk, which will make audio wiring easier, considering all of the audio gear will be in the trunk other than the radio, which will get powered by the factory circuit. It'll also move about 60 lbs from the front to the rear, a nice benefit on this somewhat front heavy car. (FYI: these cars have roughly a 57/43 weight distribution stock. By ditching my cast iron engine block, automatic transmission, and battery from the front half of the car, it'll get at least a little better) Chassis The MN12 chassis, much like any other Ford unibody of this time, is as stiff and resilient as an egg noodle in a rainstorm. Even my car with a blistering 205 horsepower and standard suspension has developed some firewall cracks. While I'm sure the wonderful Nashville roads this car was driven on its entire life had something to do with that, I'm about to significantly up the power and slightly stiffen the suspension, and I want to prepare for that. The MN12 aftermarket produces a number of pre-fabricated braces for various locations, some of which I'd consider relevant and effective for the purpose of this car, and others not so much. One thing that does absolutely make a difference is to add a member tying the front bottom frame rail to the bottom of the front subframe (K-Member in Ford speak): Adding another path for stresses to travel directly to the frame rail will hopefully reduce the tendency of the firewall to stress-crack in the future... I'm not building a high revving DOHC engine and putting a 6-speed transmission in this to drive like a grandma! Another weak area is around the rear windshield. I don't see any cracking in this spot, but with a manual transmission and the stiffer rear sway bar I plan to install, I don't want to chance it. Since I plan on using both a sub box and fold-down rear seat, I want to see if I can make a more elegant design than just a straight bar (gusseted to prevent it tacoing under hard cornering) to take up less space in the trunk. I am fully aware that I am taking a car with a very cluttered engine bay and planning to stuff it even further. The stuffing will continue until no access is possible, with the possible addition of a front shock tower bar, contingent upon me finding one of the very few that got made and/or making one. This is another in the "keep fatigue loads away from the firewall" series of modifications, because I'd like to only plate and weld up the firewall on this car once. Racks on racks on racks on racks (Steering) The steering rack is a curiosity in these cars. First of all, replacing it with the engine in requires damn near removing the K-member from the car. I'm still on my factory rack, and it's not leaking, although the variable assist does act up sometimes. Fun fact time: Guess what parts bin the rack bushings come from? If you guessed Fox body, you're also right, but they were first used in the '76 Pinto! If you guessed first gen Dodge Dakota, you're also right, interestingly enough. The steering feel in this car, true to its late-90s Grandma cruiser goal, is relatively slow, relaxed, and easy without much road feel. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and the steering is very tight and direct considering the car's age, but I can see myself wanting more in the future. What am I going to do about it? Well, here's a Thunderbird rack right next to an SN95 Mustang rack: There are a couple of small mods that have to be done to make this work, but I think you can see where I'm going here. Apparently the best one to get is from the 2003-2004 Cobra, coded SPR-ZM on its body. This is both a steering and exhaust topic, but in order to address a severe lack of clearance for headers on the driver side, it's common to add an extra joint to the steering shaft like this. May not be needed if I decide to go with a "stock" exhaust. Here's the steering wheel I intend to run. I already have a Mustang steering wheel on it now (because the your hands turning gooey every time you drive your car is a big "no"), but this is a reproduction of the old Ford Racing FR500 part. Exhaust Don't put a stake from my heart, but I actually like the stock exhaust on this car. The 94s and 95s had an extra resonator and were way too quiet, but this one is "just right". It keeps its damn mouth shut until you ask for it. It has a nice resonance between 2500 and 3000 rpm and a just barely noticeable rumble at idle, but in cruising situations when you're not in a hurry it's just about silent. That's the kind of character I like, and I'm going to try to duplicate it with the new engine. If I decide to go with a stock-style exhaust, actually putting it in the car is easier. That means I'd be combining Mark VIII components with Thunderbird components. Problem 1: For whatever stupid reason, Ford decided this was a good idea: so a factory driver side manifold is almost $800, and this (the single-exhaust non-LSC version) isn't much better: ... but at least it would come pretty close to being a bolt-in affair for my car. I'm running cats and probably EGR in this no matter what, by the way. Here's the dual exhaust LSC version from the '97 and '98 cars, apparently good for 10 horsepower: I think, based on some reading, the dual exhaust would hit my gas tank. This abomination is the Thunderbird version, along with the typical cast iron manifolds with studs that love to rust out and break: As far as actually getting a "stock" exhaust with cats in the car with parts I can buy off the shelf, I think the optimal solution would be the Mark VIII single exhaust up to the third catalytic converter, and connecting it to my stock exhaust after that point. Best for performance? Surely not. But I have zero tolerance for annoying exhausts and the smooth character of this car is something I'm trying to maintain. Without taking any measurements, it looks like the only actual fabrication required to install the Mark VIII Y-pipe in the car is to add the hangers from the Thunderbird piece, and some posts on TCCoA seem to back me up on that. And then there's these: Expensive, and the only headers that clear the steering shaft in a DOHC swapped Thunderbird. And the downpipes must be custom. Don't kill me, but for some reason I'm gravitating away from a whiz-bang custom exhaust on this build. But hey, if I mod the steering shaft to have an extra joint, I can use any 4.6 DOHC manifolds, factory or otherwise. The best factory option is apparently from the 03-04 Cobra. Bodywork Obviously, the paint is gonna need attention. At this point, there is no panel on the car that has escaped the horrors of SELF REMOVING FORD PAINT , and a re-paint was bound to happen. It's not this car without its White Opalescent Metallic paint job, simple as that. The pearl paintjob was very pretty in its day, but getting it right is beyond my pay grade. I'd rather not think about how expensive this is gonna be. The sport package cars got this rather tasteful rear spoiler with integrated brake light (the one inside the car was deleted): Also, you're very likely to see mud flaps on this car at some point. I'm not against some subtle ground effects, such as the Super Coupe side skirts and rear bumper; see this picture from @91Pioneer's '96 upthread: Fun fact: the tail lights in these cars are LED! Sad fact: After nearly 30 years, one of my tail lights has some LEDs not working anymore. Common problem, and for a while replacement strips were available. It seems those dried up, so once I decide to worry about it, we might be seeing yet another Mad Science Project. After all, only the very end part of the tail light (the part on the car body itself) blinks with the turn signal, and that's just a shame. Speaking of turn signals, I've become a big fan of mirror mounted turn signals, and I feel that something such as that might be needed to boost visibility in an older, loooong, low car such as this. Our solution may come from the last couple of years of Mark VIII: With an integrated turn signal, heated glass, and puddle lamp, they've got all the desired features, with the added benefit of looking a little bit less useless than the stock mirrors. That's pretty neat, but the downside is that the mounting pattern (and possibly door shape) is different from the T-Bird mirrors. I may be able to adapt them by either drilling new holes in the T-Bird doors or pulling the studs out of the Mark VIII mirrors and placing them in the correct place. I might have to experiment with this! So yeah, that about wraps up my thoughts and plans for what I want to do to it right now. Now that I've answered some of the "whats" and "whys", the next question is probably going to be the "hows". Anyone wanna help pay for this? I've just jumped feet first into Mustang world with the added benefit of long obsolete parts and lack of aftermarket support

Well yeah, but in the end it's basically going to have a Mustang Cobra drivetrain