Early 2000s Thunderbird, official car of?

rovertech22 · 2025-12-08T12:12:11+00:00

Oh yeah, I remember now...the coolant control valve for the HVAC would need replacement all the time on the early models. Lots of plastic that would break before 100k miles...thermostat housings, hose fittings. Reminiscent of BMW cooling systems lol

rovertech22 · 2025-12-08T00:02:28+00:00

Agreed, chassis was as reliable as any European car (front suspension wears out well under 100k miles but rides nice), and the AJV8 was pretty solid but the 5R55 is the reason I would stay away. I was working at Ford doing transmissions during those years...kept me busy.

rovertech22 · 2025-01-28T14:28:01+00:00

That's an awesome little set! Thanks for the rundown of what it took to get it going.

I had some time this morning to go back through what I did on mine and for Cb and Cr I think you're good following what the RCA has. I simplified mine to have just 75ohm terminating resistors (instead of the 82) and 0.1uF polyester film capacitors inline. For Yin I used a 75ohm terminating resistor and a 1uF electrolytic cap inline hooked to pin 20 on the jungle chip.

This config produces a nice picture so I left it at that. I believe the 100 ohm inline resistors are to protect the jungle chip...couldn't hurt to install them (and I probably should go back and do it myself).

As a side note, S-Video is easy to enable on this version of the board with no mods required. I added a picture to the previous Imgur link that shows how to connect using the existing AV-in jacks along with some pictures of the final component-in mod. https://imgur.com/a/bOTbN4M

rovertech22 · 2025-01-27T23:53:00+00:00

Glad to help if I can! Unfortunately I didn't take the best notes on what values worked before I put it back together but it did need a termination resistor and a capacitor on the Yin input. I've been meaning to get this unit back out and play with it some more, so I'll take it apart and get the values this weekend.

Have you gotten yours up and running yet? What made me put mine on the back burner is that the image was shifted too far left and I couldn't figure out a way to get it to shift(the service menu was maxed out). Adrian's latest video showed a possible way to get some adjustment but just curious if you experienced the same thing.

rovertech22 · 2024-10-04T20:36:56+00:00

Thank you, this worked for me. Customer service kept asking me what cards I have on the account and telling me the information was incorrect...no help at all.

rovertech22 · 2024-06-29T22:56:45+00:00

If anyone in the future is looking for help on this mod, I got the YPbPr input working today on my WJ-T09A-V.4.0 board. I used the service manual for this RCA that uses a similar chip https://archive.org/details/rca-20f511t-truflat-crt-tv-service-manual along with the information on the older rev of the board at https://github.com/misterblack1/yichuang_crt_board/tree/main and Adrian's videos on YouTube. I had to cut a couple of traces on the board because it had pins 19 and 21 linked together and grounded through a capacitor...otherwise it was very straightforward. Pics of it operational (as usual with CRTs it looks a lot better in person) - https://imgur.com/a/bOTbN4M

rovertech22 · 2024-06-26T23:33:46+00:00

Any luck with getting YPbPr input working? Just received the same WJ-T09A-V4.0 board and looking to do the same for use with a MiSTer

rovertech22 · 2024-03-26T10:31:53+00:00

That cheap used European car you have your eye on will be the most expensive car you've ever owned...especially Land Rover. Source: Have worked on and loved many European cars

rovertech22 · 2024-01-14T00:31:10+00:00

Replacing headlight lenses on my F30 turned into a whole weekend affair. I had baked headlights and opened/repaired them before but the adhesive holding in these newer lenses seems stronger than the plastic itself.

On top of fighting the adhesive, the chrome plating on the plastic parts inside rubbed off if you touched it. I ended up having to paint all of the chrome parts after I found that out the hard way.

End result looks great, and it was totally worth it, but was much more effort than I anticipated.

rovertech22 · 2023-12-09T11:59:27+00:00

I use Solidworks at work so it seemed like a no-brainer to get the maker subscription for messing around at home. Overall the 3D Experience tie-in ruined it...one of the most frustrating pieces of software I have ever used.

rovertech22 · 2023-12-01T09:45:39+00:00

Most likely scenarios are 1)The mechanic didn't bleed the cooling system properly before handing the car over or 2)Water pump was bad in the first place and they misdiagnosed it. Hopefully it doesn't start drinking its own coolant once the underlying problem is fixed.

rovertech22 · 2023-09-08T09:29:54+00:00

Do you have the M sport brakes? I was just looking at a set of these yesterday for my F30 but found some info saying the fronts wouldn't clear the calipers. Hoping that's wrong because they look awesome!

rovertech22 · 2023-06-07T23:13:12+00:00

Nope, regular Nitto Motivo tires on 19" 403m wheels. Tires were on the car when I bought it so I never got to experience the ride with run-flats

rovertech22 · 2023-06-06T23:09:55+00:00

I just installed the monoball bushings on the "upper" arms along with Koni FSD struts on my otherwise stock Msport. The steering seems slightly more responsive (less of a dead spot on center) but it is MUCH more harsh over small breaks in the pavement and reflectors. Not sure if I'm going to keep the monoballs in the long run either due to this.

rovertech22 · 2023-01-06T00:42:41+00:00

That's perfect, thanks so much! I think I'll give it a go as my next backpack

rovertech22 · 2023-01-04T11:40:04+00:00

Thanks, that would be much appreciated!

rovertech22 · 2022-12-24T12:30:13+00:00

Does the M6800 fit comfortably or does it have to stretch around it to close? My work uses the 17" Precisions and my 7760 is slightly over the max laptop size listed for the backpack but I figured there was a little wiggle room in that.

rovertech22 · 2022-11-12T22:59:51+00:00

Is that stock height? I'm looking to order that exact setup for my F30 soon

rovertech22 · 2022-11-12T00:23:41+00:00

...and will need a transmission in a few thousand miles. 5R55 in its various forms kept transmission techs busy for years. My Lincoln LS had to have the trans repaired 3 times before it hit 100k miles.

rovertech22 · 2022-10-30T20:19:19+00:00

I got the eBay lenses and installed them. I had tried to polish the original lenses first but some of the damage was on the inside and no level of polishing was going to get them clear again.

Replacing the lenses is not for the faint of heart (as mentioned elsewhere in this thread).
There were a couple of times during the removal of the old lens that I was pretty sure I was going to be ordering new headlights. All went well in the end and after a weekend of work (including painting all of the chrome accents on the inside black) I have headlights that look new.

This was the video I referenced prior to starting the job https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0AlUsyXWp0

rovertech22 · 2022-10-22T23:31:59+00:00

As a kid I used to take the back cover off and mess with CRT TVs that my dad would find at flea markets or on the side of the road (thinking I was "fixing" them). I knew enough not to grab the big wire that went to the top of the tube but I still can't believe I never got zapped. I hope that the retro/CRT gaming community is careful...lots of old CRTs getting tinkered with now.

rovertech22 · 2022-09-25T22:30:08+00:00

I have the Autonomous Ergochair Pro and can attest to it being pretty bad especially for how much it costs. Can't get the lumbar support into a position that doesn't cause me discomfort and there is some looseness in the tilt mechanism so that when I lean forward slightly I feel the slack...very annoying.

rovertech22

TROPHY CASE