1969 Ford Thunderbird build

I bought this car from my uncle for 1$. no engine, no trans, and no driveshaft. It had been sitting in his shed for goin on 15 years. it has 78457 miles on it. I bought a 1977 ford f250 camper special(base model, 2wd) with a 460 big block and an automatic trans. I stole the engine and trans out of it and bought a driveshaft for the car. the 460+trans have 260852 miles on it. Now is where the challenging part comes. It has power windows,( of course none of them work) it is mice infested (but they didnt touch the vinyll seats, those are in great shape) there are cut wires, broken wires and wires that have been chewed on dangling from the dash, i have to convert it to internally regulated cause i dont wanna buy a new externally regulated alternator( since im on a limited budget) Someone put a sound system in it (the mice made nests in really nice JBL speakers and woofer) but all the wiring they added added so much complexity. theres wires running every direction and truthfully i dont have a f****** clue what they go to. i need the windows to work, but i cant find any reproduction parts for it. The windshield wipers are hydraulic(run off of the power steering pump- everything is hooked up and they still dont work) and the vacuum system doesnt work. I was really wanting to make this car go...but i think im in over my head. Any suggestions? I have 2000 in the car already.

i would personally take the entire interior out of it (if you havnt already) and get some wiring diagrams. Wiring can be tricky, but if you have patience it isnt bad. they might sell a wiring harness for the car but usually they are $500-$800, but it is out there. Whatever you do, dont start cutting, ripping, ect wires out, because it is 100% easier to figure out how to trace bad wires and replace then to go off nothing. Sometimes a Haynes book is well worth the money.

Hey buddy, you forgot to mention that the 460 is the PI engine.

I have a few suggestions.

For the power windows. pull covers off all doors. pull plug off motor and using a battery and jumper wires, test the mechanics first by using battery to see if motor is working by directly wiring motor to battery by touching jumper wires to plug prongs on motor. Doesn't matter which wire goes where but motor will work both ways by switching wires. listen to see if motor is even working. Window tracks, if lucky, just needs greased. Any other mechanical issues, fix when found. If motor doesn't work, pull it and take it apart to see if you can fix it. The door motors are very simple motors and I was always able to fix them, usually just seized up. I do alot of door repairs, windows especially, and 99.99 percent of the time you don't need to buy parts. If windows work at this point, then it's electrical. Use a multi meter to test wiring starting from the plug pulled from motor and follow to switches by pushing switch and probing wire. Best door to start with is the driver door because most of the wiring is in that door and will pave the way in learning how everything works.

Alternator. The car or motor has an externally regulated alternator you said. The next alternator series is an internally regulated alternator and unless you know Ford wiring, would be a pain in the butt to wire in and the next series alternator is alot of money to buy and again the wiring issue. So.... Keep the original alternator, I guess from the 460 engine which should be the externally regulated one. Look on Ebay- link to page-http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/371499420264?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true, they sell a kit that changes that alternator into a 1 wire alternator. A 1 wire alternator is so simple. The kit you buy is a bolt on mini regulator. Mount it to the back of alternator and run the wires to the correct terminals on the back of alternator per the directions with the kit, to finish it off, the battery terminal wire goes to the battery. That's it. To get the alternator to start working correctly, you need to flash the field the very first time you run the motor, then it will charge on it's own from then on. Bad thing is the dummy light won't work on the dash because you disconnected it from the alternator and regulator. If fender regulator is still there, Disconnect wiring and tape it up to prevent shorts.

As for the wipers, have no clue. I never worked on setup like that. Does the power steering work? Maybe some pics would help. As for the wiring hanging under the dash, most likely from the stereo system. See what works and what doesn't to straighten that out. Looking at schematics can be overwhelming if you never done it before. All cars, the color of the wires are color coded and might be as simple as matching up the colors to get something to work. and what doesn't work, go to that and follow the wires keeping in mind the color of the wires. A bundle of wires that is wrapped is always good. seeing one wire or a plug hanging, is usually normal because it's there as a test plug for the dealership to plug into for testing something or someone trying to hook up a stereo. There's usually a crap load of orange and red wires, these are power wires. Red being keyed hot, orange being always hot. This should help alot and if the car is non fuel injected, the wiring is always straight forward.

All this should help out enough to atleast drive the car, well when it's not raining, LOL.

Unfortunately, the 460 is not the original engine. the original engine is long gone, sold when the car was first parked. I looked into buying a new externally regulated alternator, but i cant find one below 70 bucks. l am on a pretty limited budget. i have multiple wiring diagrams for it, and converting it to internal should not be too hard( i found some other people who have done it on online forums, and my uncle does that with his 57 chevy station wagon and his 61 thunderbird. as for the windows, i removed the drivers side one and tried to do that (the shaft moves freely) i pulled it apart and it is an absolute mess. the copper doesnt even look like copper anymore, so i am assuming it is beyond repair. i was kinda looking for an old lincoln mark 1 2 or 3. those are on the same frame as the tbird and most had the 460/ 429 engine in them, and some came with manual windows. if i could find a set of doors with manual windows it would be wonderful. as for the wiring...tearing the entire interior is easier said than done. i wasnt really wanting to do that...nor am i set up to do that.

Thanks for all of your suggestions

forgot to include this- the power steering should work, but has not been tested. there is a massive leak in the reservoir, which means i have not been able to keep fluid in it to even test and see if they work. great thing is, the lights and light covers are vacuum operated by a vacuum switch, which actually works! the wipers have an electric switch which i would assume triggers some kind of valve to kick them in

Aged to perfection, LOL. Id drive that thing till the wheels fall off, LOL. You might not know this but if you find doors that have the manual crank up windows, the guts will fit in your doors. When they made the car, the doors were made to take both options. So you have the holes already there for powered windows and the holes for the manual windows. Just a matter of drilling out the rivets and replacing the rivets with bolts. All that wiring is for the stereo, The plug hanging is the main power plug and the green, white, grey, bundle is speaker wires. Just pull the fuse for the radio till you can figure it out. The yellow wire on the plug should be constant power and the red would be keyed power or the other way around but those are the 2 wires that should be taped up till you figure it out. Is that the heater core or AC core cover broke? If AC core, pull it out an get some roofing aluminum metal flashing to make a little cover. If heater core, use the aluminum metal flashing to make a new cover.

Love the dash in it. You can rest your hand on the shifter and fiddle with the radio, LOL.

yes...the heater core is pretty well screwed. When the guy who sold it to me was taking out the original engine, he did a number on it. I probably could save it, but all the blower motors need fixed as does the switch. When i first got the car and began going through electrical, i tested the fans. the switch is very loose and the contact points are very worn out. the blower motors all shriek like banshees when you turn them on, if you can find the right place on the switch to get them on