Since I did not see a new members section, then I'll just post it here.
I bought my 1st TC on 4/12/12. I've had fox mustangs in the past, 5 to be exact, and now a Thunderbird TC. I had no idea how quick the 2.3t was until now. I bought this TC for parts. I was going to swap everything into a 87 T-top mustang I had planned on buying. Good thing I went to see the Tbird before the mustang. It was sitting under a tree covered in pollen and leaves. It had not been driven in over a year. And in the previous 4 years it was only taken out about twice a year.
Towed it home gave her a bath, and BAM! She shined better than any mustang I've ever owned. Jumped it and started right up. I didn't expect the engine to run so smoothly, with the odometer at 199,000. Did a tune-up, changed all the fluids, got the tags updated, and just today I recharged the a/c. Oh I also removed the purple bubbly tint, and wing is off too. So it is my DD. Such a relief to finally save money on gas, I was spending about 150 a week on fuel. :D
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Nice looking Bird. How's the interior? Those wheels look just right with the black car. Looks kind of sinister. LOL. When you removed the spoiler, how did you tend to the holes?
Nice car! They are a ton of fun!
Welcome to the forum. Looks like you scored a very nice Turbo Coupe. I agree with removing the spoiler, these cars look best that way.
Man that thing looks clean. Not a bad buy for something thats been sitting!!!!
The interior ain't bad. It's red. The driver seat and rear seat need to be re-upholstered, which I plan on doing. Dash is cracked but that's it. I'll post a pic tomorrow. As for the holes, the are still exposed. I've been to autozone, oreilly, and advance auto parts looking for some rubber grommets. Just a quick fix till I take it to a shop to get them filled in.
The spoiler is from a fiero, I hated it from the moment I saw it.
Welcome....
Nice Bird
Nice score! welcome to the forum
Lowe's also has rubber grommets. Again, nice car.
I used white silicone caulk on the holes on my vert....almost can't even notice
Nice Bird! Glad you decided to keep it. I like spoilers on our cars but the fiero ones are way to big. Welcome to the forum! It's a great place!
I'll add my welcome too! Very nice car! Thanks for sharing.
Great ride, welcome to the fun......
welcome, looks fantastic in black.
Welcome....Nice TC.
You may want to checkout http://www.natomessageboard.com for TC specific repairs.....Also a really nice website.
Travis
Found these on CL for 200 bucks and thought they would look good. 03 Cobra 4 lug replicas. I need to get better tires all around. Maybe 245/45 for the front, and 275/40 or 285/40, I don't know how wide I can go. I know I have to get the fenders rolled which I will do before buying new tires. Does anyone have 17x9's? What size tires are you running?
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Looks good....Its real convenient that our cars share mustang wheels and other bits....gives us lots of inexpensive options.
Travis
My current wheel and tires sizes: 255/40-17 on a 9" rim & 315/35-17 on a 10.5" rim.
Looks like those front tires are way under sized for the rim!
I have 255 40 17 on the front (9 inch rims), and 275 40 17 out back on 10.5 inch rims.
The front tires were definitely undersized. The outer rim stuck out away from the tire :wtf:
I went with some 245/45/17 up front same as the rear. I be changing the rears to 275/45 or 40 In the next couple of days.
So I decided to swap in a 5.0. I bought an 87 T-bird that looks like shiznit, it has a 5.0 with an auto trans. I might even go with the auto trans for a while. The engine sounds and runs smoothly.
Here's the donor. It has a lot of good parts too!!!
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The car was wrecked in the front. Everything is crooked. It was going to get sped.
You'll loose power over your 2.3 turbo, unless you're just using the 5.0 harness and will be dropping in a 5.0 HO.
Can I have your Turbo coupe side door emblems... for a price of course..
I will go with the 5.0 HO eventually. I was looking for a mustang donor car, but they were either in to great of shape to destroy, or to expensive. I got this junker for 300 bucks. Not bad considering all the parts.
So yes, a 5.0HO will go in this thing down the road. And I'm aware of power loss.
Does anybody now the specs for this year 5.0?
Sorry bro, but I'm planning on running a turbo V8 later on.
Yeah that donor is a Sport & has the HARD to find AOD floor shifter, the A4LD TC shifter is different(seven positions vs six and cables are different), can't be used...
On a good day the wimpy SO 5.0 makes 155 HP...
When I converted mine I used a built 5.0 with Trick Flow heads, cam, 1 5/8 headers etc, defiantly more fun than any of the real TCs I owned...
I don't believe that's a Sport, I think Sport t-birds had all black trim around the windows like Turbo Coupes. When you s the car try to salvage as many parts as you can. Everything is getting harder to find these days.
Nice!
What do I need for an HO swap?
What about gt40 heads and intake? What else is needed for proper installation?
I know nothing about the standard output 5.0
I'm learning as I go, been searching all morning.
I'm pretty sure you just need the cam, heads, and upper intake to make it an HO. Oh, and the computer.
FirstBird, I think it is a Sport. It has the Sport/TC interrior.
No MAF conversion necessary?
Be careful with the cam, standard 5.0's don't have valve reliefs.
It's an '87 Sport, but someone swapped the seats and door panels.
Basically
everything except for the rods, crank, block & lower intake are different, includes heads, injectors, upper intake, throttle body, etc... ... The flattop pistons have been mentioned and some have used the HO cam on E7 heads without valve clearance issues...
With stock pieces it'll run fine with the speed densety(in fact the
stock '87 & '88 SD Stangs were the quickest of all years)... If you go with a better set of heads(highly recommended over anything stock) & rumpty cam, then it will no doubt need to run a mass air setup...
BTW the Trick Flow heads can be used with flattop pistons, I have a '86 HO short block in mine without valve reliefs and never had a issue...
Most people I've seen do not have issues when using E7's/HO cam with the stock SO flat-tops. The E7 heads increase compression on an SO motor because of the flat top pistons, and it will actually run stronger than a stock HO will.
Why not drop in a Explorer 5.0? That way you get the much better GT40 heads to start off with.
Only the 1996-Feb 1997 exploder 5.0 have the gt40. The mar97-2001 have the GT40p heads....just to clarify.
Travis
All you need to run the "P" heads are BBK shorty headers. You don't need the ultra expensive Motorsport headers.
Thanks for all the input guys.
The 5.0 from the explorer is sounding way better than the HO conversion. What will I need in order to achieve this swap?
-Better than Explorer cam
-Upgraded valve springs
-Oil pan and pickup
-dip stick and tube
-timing cover and appropriate accessory brackets
-distributor
-Fox valve covers and a set of gaskets for them
-water pipe for lower intake
-water pump
-timing pointer
-new gaskets and front/rear seals
-Heater hoses, radiator hoses, water hoses up front from the waterneck and thermostat housing to the water pump
-Thermostat housing
-one piece oil pan gasket
-fuel rail
-injectors
-Motor mounts
-Appropriate harnesses
-throttle cable
-fuel lines
-Block plate
Most of the above parts can be sourced from the SO 5.0 in the parts Bird...
Very true. And as stated above I believe, take VERY good care of the floor shifter, cable, and bracket from the Sport. Also the shift linkage if you're using an AOD but not that one. Those parts are hard, and almost impossible to find.
What trans are you planning to use? The motor mounts from the Sport will be needed as well. If you have any questions, we're here.
Ford actually sells a kit for their crate engines that has all the needed engine parts to put an Explorer motor in a Fox. Oil pan, pickup, timing cover, water pump and even a new balancer, this is what I used. :)
It is not a Sport but a Thunderbird LX. In 87 you could order a LX with a floor shifter and Turbo Coupe seats in Raven (I have seen a mint 23K mile example of this at a VTCI convention). For some reason in 87 the Sport got the base Thunderbird interior with a floor shifter but the LX had the optional TC seats. In 88 the Sport got he TC seats and they couldn't be ordered on the LX.
Lest you think I'm making it up this is documented in the Standard Catalog of Thunderbird (which I own a copy of) and by looking at dealer order books from 87 (which the 87 LX T-bird with raven TC interior's owner had). I know it's weird but I guess someone at Ford thought it was a good idea. Not very many LX cars came like this and if they did they were full optioned cars with leather. The cloth seat LX cars were equipped similarly (no TC style seats) in 87 and 88.
Great info guys, thanks.
I'm just going to convert to HO, it appears to be easier. The donor has the digital cluster, but I want to keep it buttstuffog. Will I have to cut and splice wires in order to keep it?
Which other wiring harnesses need to be swapped? Any tips or heads up on what to look out for before I start will be greatly appreciated.
The cluster could care less what engine is in the car, just use the senders on the 2.3 for the 5.0 and it will work fine... Only issue is the tach will need to be recal'd(will read double), there is a article I did on Cool Cats on how to do the mod...
There will be wiring necessary to marry the 5.0 engine harness to the TC body harness(nothing is going to just plug in), there is a article here on the board of the needed changes for the swap... For mine I mostly mad adapter harness from the 2.3 engine harness plugs and body harness plugs from the 5.0 Bird...
If you are electrically challenged better hope a buddy can wire it up for beer, cause the wiring by far is the most complicated portion of the swap...
The 4th post in this thread has info for most all the changes that is necessary...
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?1218-turbocoupe-5.0-swap
UPDATE!
I think I have fixed the TC, so it will stay a 4 cylinder for now.
As for the 5.0 parts car, I gave it a 30 dollar paint job. So it is now satin black. It looks better than before.
I threw on the 17x9 03 cobras, but the fronts rub against the strut. But why? What strut can eliminate this problem?
A set of the 93 style mustang spindles should fix that. They also allow you to run larger 11" mustang front brakes.