So I have known haystack for several years now and I've heard him talk about this cougars and thunderbirds and I've never given the cars much thought. I wrecked my 89 mustang a few weeks ago, and haystack convinced me to check out a t bird that was for sale in the area. Its an 87 thunderbird, 183000 miles on it. The body is in, great condition, there are a few really small rust spots on the trunk that are maybe the size of a dime. The interior is in good condition aside, from the headliner which is ripped up. The aod tranny in it is missing overdrive but we plan on throwing a t5 in it. I picked the car up for $700 and so far we have thorn thrown 2 fuel pumps at it(airtex pump broke in one day so we replaced the replacement with a delphi). We put a new tfi in, as well as a fuel pressure regulater. I need to replace the exhaust system from the cat back. Over all its a bit of work but I do, love my new tbird.
Here is the interior.
Well, since it's a 5.0 car, just a little work can bump the horsepower a lot. Swap the differential for an 8.8 with some good gears and you're ready. Looks like a great foundation to start with. Kep the a/c. Don't let any idiot tell you to get rid of it. They don't draw that much power, and the weight is negligible for a street car.
those wheels look interesting, never seen anything like them.. car looks good welcome!
Welcome aboard!
Looks like a very solid car and obviously has been well cared for to look that good with the higher miles. My car just turned over 190,000 before I put her away for the winter and is still going strong on the stock bottom end! I did finally have to retire the AOD this last spring, it finally gave up on me. Don't know if you ever done a t5 swap but its really not bad at all, and I can tell you that you will enjoy driving the car so much more when you can bang the gears yourself!
I an pretty good a pretty good friend of his, and I have set him pretty straight. Although I have not had a bird or cat for almost a year now, I have some part stacked up in the garage for everything from an h.o. swap to a new motor and t-5 swap. The basic idea is to fix some of the small things with the car and make it reliable, then go for the t-5 swap and make sure it can drive fine through the winter. Then if everrything goes fine, maybe the h.o. upgrade if I can't talk him into buying my motor when it warms up some.
We swapped the map sensor, fuel pump twice, tfi module, and fpr in the last week trying to get it to run good. Other then missing the overdrive, this car is in the best shape of any car I have seen in person, even before considering the mileage. It does not rattle, other then cruddy exhaust, and drives straight.
We need to swap the rims because they are not hub ecentric, and are 14's so tires are more expensive. Going to try to talk him into a set of 10 holes, and duels. After that, just make the car more reliable and get ready for the t-5 swap when it warms up, or he gets the time.
He is in good hands. The stock s.o. runs pretty good with the new parts, just need to get the exhaust done to get it through saftey and emissions, then we will go from there.
Welcome to the best forum on the web Mike.
welcome......
Nice to see ya!
nice find!
Dude IDK about that... the last set of tires I priced for stock size on my 10 holes were $520. And that was ALL THEY HAD. You can't find jack that fits 15" rims anymore. I would suggest going up to at least 16"s.
16's mean 93 cobra's or 87-88 turbo coupe wheels. I bought a set of tires two years ago for $320 on 10 holes. I was quoted over $500 for 14's. We even stopped by and checked what 15's would run compared to 14's because I didn't want him to keep the wheels.
You need to find a new tire shop. I can get two 15's stock sized at walmart for $180.
well dayum I guess I do need to find a new shop. I never asked wal mart but even a few years ago I had to buy a set and back then I still wound up paying ~$400 for a set. and that was after taking at least 5 different quotes from places around town. I've been trying to get some cheap ones cause my current ones are toast and I want to get tires on my turbines and get it over with so I can just throw them on the car finally. I'll have to give wally world a call I guess.
Get them in a 195/70 size. Its not the exact size, but close enough. A lot of economy cars run this size, so it is more common. The stock sizes are going away, because the cars that run 15's still, are tiny little economy cars. Look at the newer mustang v-6's, they do not have 15" rims, but the overall tire size is almost identical. Basically, they just don't build "oversized" tires anymore. Now the rims take up the most of where our side walls would be.
I hope I am explaining this okay.
No I abslolutely get what you're saying. I just hate running the wrong size tires because I cant stand having my speedo off. If I hadn't gotten such a great deal on my turbines, and didn't have such a love for them, I would have gone with some 16" or 17"s just so I could get rid of the huge tires. I always liked the look of LP tires much better anyway.
I really like a taller sidewall. The ride is so much smother, and in 90% of driving you can't tell the differance. If you end up hitting a curb in the snow, it won't bend the rim as easy. And when your spinning tires, makes it a lot more fun to pretend you have more power.
i know this doesn't pertain to the topic at hand, but a taller sidewall is better for slicks as well.. not saying run an overly huge tire, but if you watch the sidewall as a powerful car launches, you'll see the sidewalls wrinkle.. a lower profile slick wouldn't hook nearly as well, because it will loose that wrinkle, which believe it or not, helps the tires stay hooked when you launch.. and that's without even getting into the different compounds
I generally run the pressures in my tires low. Makes the car shift harder when you go around a corner, and it gets sideways easier. Also beats the out of your side walls, and you get slightly worse mileage.
cab drivers do that to rack the meter up :giggle: