Resonator for '89 T-Bird

[Titan4]

ORIGINAL POST: I have an '89 T-Bird with a plain jane 3.8L V6. The exhaust resonator went bad and the search commenced trying to get a replacement. No aftermarket resonator is made for this car. The muffler shops all scratch their heads. Even FORD does not stock it any longer. When FORD did stock it you had to get the complete assembly which included the resonator and the two catalytic converters feeding into it. The asking price was $1160.83. They are kind of proud of it I guess.
A local Meineki muffler shop at first put in a glasspack muffler in place of the resonator, but it was too loud for my tastes and it also vibrated the floorboard of the car. I took it back and they removed the glass pack and installed a brand new resonator from a Toyota Tundra that had a V8 in it. That seemed to help, but ever so slightly. My car is still loud at certain rpm and loading ranges. It is the really low pitched rumble sort of like those annoying high-powered subwoofers you hear for miles in many kids cars these days.
The bottom line is I cannot stand it.
Anyone else been through this?
Thanks.

UPDATE:
You can read all of the associated threads, but the solution to my problem is listed below (several posts down).

[8ate8]

why not just get a magnaflow resonator in the stock pipe diameter? there won't be anything made specifically for the car, but it doesn't matter. all you need is a resonator with inlet and outlet diameters the same as the stock exhaust piping.

[Titan4]

The muffler shop said the same thing. The last thing they tried was a brand new resonator with the same pipe diameters, but it is still painfully loud in the low frequency range. Night and day difference from the stock resonator. Even when the stock resonator was bad it was lots quieter than the resonator I have now. You can also feel it. It vibrates my car like never before. You can feel it coming through the floorboard and gas pedal.

[8ate8]

then not sure what to tell you. do you try an OEM resonator or an aftermarket such as magnaflow or ractive?

[Titan4]

The trouble is that OEM resonators do not show up for this car. I have seen it myself on their computers. They input my vehicle information and nothing shows up for resonators. I have been to more than one muffler shop too. I have looked online at auto parts websites and also see nothing. I am not saying there isn't something out there that will work. I am just saying that so far nobody in the muffler business has helped me. The stock factory resonator had two inlets and one outlet. The Toyota Tundra resonator they put on my car had only one inlet and one outlet so they put a Y-pipe on the inlet side to bring in the exhaust from the left and right exhaust manifolds.

[thunderbird muscle]

maybe you can find a good one in a junk yard. Also if you have the original ford part number it would be a little easier to find.

[Titan4]

I have the original Ford part number, but I am skeptical of a junk yard resonator being as old as it is (15 years). Just yesterday I had the muffler and the driver's side catalytic converter replaced so everything is new from the manifolds back. The passenger side catalytic converter was replaced about 3 months ago when the Tundra resonator was installed. All of this and it still vibrates too much and has toooo much low end rumble that is almost painful on the ears.
This kind of part unavailability crap makes me want to buy Japanese next time. I had a Datsun 200SX for 20 years and one month and never had any trouble getting any part for it. It did not break near as often either. In the T-Bird I had to put a Jasper rebuilt engine in it at about 90,000 miles and it has already blown head gaskets twice since then. Tranny had to be rebuilt once too. Kind of sucks when I maintain everything religiously.

[thunderbird muscle]

My old 92 3.8 never gave me any problems and it was driven hard every day. Also i work at a ford dealership and can tell you the reason the part is no longer carried. They quite putting this part out due to the fact that it was very and i mean very rarely needed, and will a resonator off of another 3.8 year model maybe even a mustang.

[Titan4]

I will check out resonators for other Ford's using the 3.8L. Thanks.
As far as parts availability goes I should have clarified that it was not just the resonator/cat. converter assembly that Ford no longer carries for that car. Over the past few years I have been to them on several occasions trying to get various parts to no avail. Two examples are the mounting bolts for the starter and the Vehicle Maintenance Monitor Panel. The starter bolts I was able to match at a hardware store, but they were not the same. They worked, but ended up being shorter than the Ford bolts. All I needed for the VMM panel was the trim bezel, but it was never sold by itself (another thing that makes me mad). You had to buy the entire assembly which included the electronics, the display, the trim bezel, etc. No matter though because even the entire assembly is no longer available.
I have purchased Ford factory spark plug wires for my T-Bird from the dealer and found them to be way too long. There is no way they are the originals. I needed a door gasket for the passenger door and that did not match up either due to it not being the exact part I needed. I have had numerous examples like these over the years.

[thunderbird muscle]

Interior panels are always the first things Ford stops making for a vehicle due to the fact that interrior colors change over the years so that it becomes extremely difficult to keep panels in stock from normally past five years also interrior panels are parts that are not normally needed anyway. Hope you do find the part you need,

[8ate8]

i had the same problem with O2 sensors. i needed driver and passenger front O2 sensors. there isn't a driver and passenger. there's just one. well guess what? the wire on the drivers side is 12" long. the passenger is 18" long. ford only makes one size in the 12", so i had to buy an O2 sensor extension kit and wire up my own extension harness.

[Titan4]

I also recently purchased two 02 sensors for my T-Bird. I just got them from a local auto parts store and they worked fine. I don't know if they had the same length harnessing or not because a mechanic friend of mine bought them and installed them for me.

[Titan4]

I am not sure how this is going to show up, but my intention here is to post my solution to my original problem as noted in the first post of this thread.
My noise problem was finally solved. When my original resonator gave up the ghost the local muffler shop replaced it with a standard glass pack. Since it was much narrower than the resonator they added a pipe hanger to mitigate lateral movement. As you can read above they tried just about everything, but to no avail. Then they decided to remove that pipe hanger they put in a long time ago and the problem disappeared 100%. Totally gone now and it is as quiet as it ever was before. I am elated. It cost me a lot of $ to get there, but I am glad it is over now.

[thunderbird muscle]

That sucks!!

but at least its fixed.