[Trunk Monkey]

Personally, I wouldn't feel safe driving one of these MN12 platforms at 140+. The fastest I've been in my car is ~130 and that was pretty crazy. So, having a speedo that shows 145 or 150 is good enough for me. I don't need to peg the the needle on a speedo that goes that high. Although I could. 😁

 

[dDUBb]

Personally, I wouldn't feel safe driving one of these MN12 platforms at 140+. The fastest I've been in my car is ~130 and that was pretty crazy. So, having a speedo that shows 145 or 150 is good enough for me. I don't need to peg the the needle on a speedo that goes that high. Although I could. 😁

These cars are very smooth at 90+ MPH .. Cruising speed. Pegging the Speedo at 145 mph is sort of disappointing when you look and the tach still has room to climb. 😂

 

[Muscle&Thunder]

I suppose the easiest prototype would be a 96/97 with a 4.6 SVO / FRPP supercharger. It was more of a "proposal" for a 96 super coupe, the only prototype part on that build was used to make the SVO / FRPP kit for the Mustangs.

On the SVE .. There is the "concept" which is the magazine article.

There have been several "clone" attempts based on variations over the years including my own.

The actual test mules which were 95's with Eibach springs, T45 transmission and a 4.6 DOHC which I am near convinced was a 97 Mark 8 / Cobra variant style manifold ( there was a prototype of this engine in 95 )

Then there is the car that made the 97 Hot Rod power tour owned by the guy in charge of SVE at that time .. Same deal except it had the body package and a prototype 4.6 DOHC with the chrome valve covers and M90 supercharger.

Do have a guess on why the MN12 model thunderbird oem parts from 1996/97 was intentionally discontinued while countless oem parts for other cars still exist from these years? You think it was personal or something? For example you can't even find hub caps for the cobra T-bird wheels lol....

 

[dDUBb]

Parts are subcontracted most of the time. They had a run of the Cobra style wheels made in Tbird bolt pattern and when the program was cancelled, they were sold through FRPP. Manufacturers are usually required to provide most essential OEM parts for several years after production stops. In the case of my Australian made GM, parts are becoming extremely hard to come by since they shut the factory down even though the car is only 3 years old now. 🤔

 

[Wile E. Coyote Jr.]

Because these cars are forgotten. Like hilariously forgotten. And that means theres no market.

Guarantee that if you went to a parts store and said you wanted something for an 89-97 Thunderbird, theyd hit Pontiac in the make slot before they hit Ford. Happened twice to me. Just get stuff from RA and Summit now.

And even if you talk to most "die hard" Ford fans they couldnt tell you any true facts about these cars. Theyd say these cars were based on their precious ******* mustang, the probe, or the crown vic. Had some dude tell me that at a car show. "Get underneath it and youll see the frame rails". Wanted to kick his teeth in.
Sorry for the rant.

And most normal people who drive these cars couldnt give a **** about finding oem parts like hubcaps or bumpers or handles. Might as well be a dodge neon to them. Beat them up, throw them out.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Ford Racing used to sell those center caps up until 10 years ago or so, that’s actually a pretty good run for a non-production part all things considered. Odds are if it actually made production it probably would have used SVT caps like the Mustang, Focus and Lightning did

 

[Muscle&Thunder]

Parts are subcontracted most of the time. They had a run of the Cobra style wheels made in Tbird bolt pattern and when the program was cancelled, they were sold through FRPP. Manufacturers are usually required to provide most essential OEM parts for several years after production stops. In the case of my Australian made GM, parts are becoming extremely hard to come by since they shut the factory down even though the car is only 3 years old now. 🤔

Damn.. reality suck sometimes. Unless a huge revival takes place, the remaining parts are all tht remain in circulation. If it was 2010 we would be having a different conversation smh.. so I guess I better buy all trim and accessories pieces while I can.. the hardest parts to come by is actually the non performance pieces lol... Like molding and cluster panels lol.. hell I saw cobra wheel caps that cost over 100 dollars for a set.. what kind of pokemon original 151 cards is that lol?

 

[dDUBb]

hell I saw cobra wheel caps that cost over 100 dollars for a set.. what kind of pokemon original 151 cards is that lol?

Used ?? I must have spent at least $45 for each Cobra R center cap on my Tbird 17x9 replicas. 🤔

 

[Muscle&Thunder]

Used ?? I must have spent at least $45 for each Cobra R center cap on my Tbird 17x9 replicas. 🤔

I thought they were 17x7"? Prototype size maybe.. but they where brand new... I'm thinking about buying them... I haven't made up my mind lol.... There are others but the difference is so obvious in the area of longevity

 

[dDUBb]

I thought they were 17x7"? Prototype size maybe.. but they where brand new... I'm thinking about buying them... I haven't made up my mind lol.... There are others but the difference is so obvious in the area of longevity

I would need to look in my @2000 Ford FRPP catalog, cant recall all of the specifics. There have been several cobra replicas made for the Tbird bolt pattern with slight variations in width, offset and the bore for the center caps. Cobra wheel caps will only work if they fit in the wheel - I can not remember if the bore size on the FRPP Tbird wheels would accept the Cobra center caps.

 

[Muscle&Thunder]

I would need to look in my @2000 Ford FRPP catalog, cant recall all of the specifics. There have been several cobra replicas made for the Tbird bolt pattern with slight variations in width, offset and the bore for the center caps. Cobra wheel caps will only work if they fit in the wheel - I can not remember if the bore size on the FRPP Tbird wheels would accept the Cobra center caps.

I found a very close look for the cobra style: Amazon.com: Petrol P3B Custom Wheel Gloss - Silver - 17" x 7", 38 Offset, 5x108 Bolt Pattern, 72.1mm Hub: Automotive.

Bore is 72.1

 

[dDUBb]

Found it.

 

[Muscle&Thunder]

View attachment 41238

Found it.

Man I tried many different methods to get google to kick the link I need to buy them based on that part number. Unfortunately those tires is like a mj collector's edition baseball card lol... There are replicas but unfortunately the center cap diameter or offset always comes up being the main concern. I'm to the point to where I might get cobra like wheels but big ones in the back and smaller ones in the front along with the cobra center cap..

 

[XR7-4.6]

I never understood why they were only 7” wide when even regular Mustang GTs of the time used 17x8”, the MN12 chassis fits them fine 🤷‍♂️ Honestly other than being an interesting artifact I’d rather use 17x9” Cobra R replicas for the look and actually get some tire worth the extra unsprung weight rather than skinny 225s the originals are meant for. I don’t know if anyone makes 5x4.25” Cobra R replicas anymore(they used to be everywhere) but you could hubswap and use Mustang ones from LMR or something, center cap bore is the same as OEM.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Ford Racing used to sell those center caps up until 10 years ago or so, that’s actually a pretty good run for a non-production part all things considered. Odds are if it actually made production it probably would have used SVT caps like the Mustang, Focus and Lightning did

So Dan got me curious if those wheels were in my 08 catalog disc, so I did some sleuthing. Turns out I was probably thinking of the 98 Cobra wheel which came with the Cobra center cap in the catalog. From the factory however the 98 Cobra came with the SVT caps

Funny enough they are also shown on the polished 99 Cobra wheel, but those too in production formused SVT caps

(I bought my old 10th anniversaries from this catalog btw🙂)


I did remember right though, there was a whole section dedicated to the available center caps

 

[Thunderstruck95]

It wasn’t from Ford as far as I know, but you could clone a “Kenny Bell” equipped car. There was a picture of on for sale in New Mexico on here about 2 years ago. I thought it was pretty cool. It had special badging if I remember correctly.

And someone here posted some Kenny Bell front end bracing for sale here recently.

 

[XR7-4.6]

It wasn’t from Ford as far as I know, but you could clone a “Kenny Bell” equipped car. There was a picture of on for sale in New Mexico on here about 2 years ago. I thought it was pretty cool. It had special badging if I remember correctly.

And someone here posted some Kenny Bell front end bracing for sale here recently.

You mean kenny brown?

 

[Thunderstruck95]

Yup. Kenny Brown. My bad.

 

[Muscle&Thunder]

It wasn’t from Ford as far as I know, but you could clone a “Kenny Bell” equipped car. There was a picture of on for sale in New Mexico on here about 2 years ago. I thought it was pretty cool. It had special badging if I remember correctly.

And someone here posted some Kenny Bell front end bracing for sale here recently.

Interesting. I been splurging on t-bird trim and bezel accessories from the boneyard. Alot of the pieces I don't need but I'm saving it from some bone head that would just break the old pieces or use it to out together a car for buy here pay here lol..... As for the clone project, I'm taking pieces of 96 and 97 t birds and modyfiying the bezels to house current tech. I wouldn't mind seeing the kenny bell car though.

In all of google search, I only see three 97 part code for the instrument cluster bezel. That a da*mn shame and unbelievable.. you can find stuff for cars that's not even in production from 60 years ago but I guess when you make 35k or so parts and most cars have been crushed or broken, I can understand lol... Which comes the next question.... 3D 🖨 anyone????

 

[Muscle&Thunder]

My chosen spoiler for the SVE project: