I bought this 108,000 mile 88 TC this morning off of the Phoenix Craigslist today.
It is pretty rough around the edges, but nothing that can't be brought back to life with a few missing parts and a lot of elbow grease.
Here is a pic of it.
(http://www.photolap.com/free-photo-sharing-01/5050Passenger-side-front.jpg) (http://www.photolap.com/)Free Photo Sharing (http://www.photolap.com/)
This is the Door tag that I would appreciate it if anyone here could decode for me.
(http://www.photolap.com/free-photo-sharing-th-01/6448Door-Tag-WhiteBird.JPG) (http://www.photolap.com/free-photo-sharing-view-01.php?id=6448Door-Tag-WhiteBird.JPG) Click Image to Enlarge Free Photo Sharing (http://www.photolap.com/)
I want to get a history report, but am not sure which company gives the most complete/correct report....any help from you guys would sure be appreciated.
Ron
Congrats on your new ride Ron. :burnout:
nice !!
Nice....a TC with a moonroof...
T5 or A4LD?
Travis
It's a very late build car, June of 88. Nice score.
Thanks to all of you for your comments,
The moonroof cover is missing all of the padding upper & lower so when it is closed I can still see the sky through some metal louvers. I am able to lift the moonroof glass up in back, but it doesn't retract....weren't they supposed to retract all the way open also?
It is a T5 with about all of the options that I have ever seen on a TC. The original stereo sounds great, but one of the door speakers is either shot or has crud in it.
Today I am returning to Humboldt where I have it parked, so will see what can be done to get it to start & idle correctly (it ran perfectly good on the freeway for the 75 mile trip).
I plan to install new plugs, cap, rotor, and PCV Valve tomorrow to see if that helps.
Any ideas that any of you might have of why it is so hard to get started and keep running at idle are totally welcome.
Ron
Sounds like a nice 30mpg cruiser if you are successfull...
Travis
Maybe a bad IAC ??
I will pull the IAC & try to clean it tomorrow when I get back up to the mountain where I have the Tbird parked.
Have any of you ever come across a car door that is jammed half shut?
The passenger door on this Tbird will not shut completely nor open, but seems to be jammed. We have tried the key, pulling on both the inner & outer door handles etc. & nothing has worked so far.....any ideas?
Ron
Ya the moon roof should pop up in the back and then have the option to retract into the roof (at least mine does). As for the material missing off the cover mine is t he same, haven't torn into it yet to look at making it less gross looking.
One major problem that I am facing right now is that the passenger door is halfway closed and will neither open nor close all the way. We have tried pulling on both handles, lifting the door, using the key, etc but it refuses to open.
Soul, when you do the moonroof repair, please start a (step by step) repair thread for the rest of us who have never done it.
You may want to try turbotbird.com. lots of fix it stuff there.
Travis
I have run into this problem a few times over the years. What usually happens is this, the door was locked and someone tried to open it with out first unlocking it, or unlocking it all of the way. The latch is gummed up, things don't move back to where they are supposed to be and it jambs up the latch mechanism levers half way and will not allow the handles or lock mechanisms to move. Or sometimes the power lock selenoid fails in the locked postion. It's tricky, but I have always managed to use my door unlock tools to get things open. Sometimes rolling down the window works, or use a shim to push the outer belt mlding away from the glass, but look between the glass and outer belt mlding along the rear window track, a small flash light is helpful. I have door unlock tools, but use some rigid wire or whatever you can come up with, study the latch and try to get everthing back to where it belongs. If the power lock selenoid is in question try to remove the rod where it hooks to the latch mechanism. The last one I had like this took me over an hour to get into.
A few times I have been successful by lightly bumping the door with my hand near the latch mechanism. Not sure if it is possible on these cars, but if the door is not quite shut, you might have enough room to remove the interior door trim panel and work on the latch from the inside.
Ditto. Also had this happen to my 88 XR7 and I had to remove the door panel from the inside and pull the rod that releases the door latch. It's a PITA. You may have to remove the seat to gain access to the panel. No easy solution but not impossible.
the dreaded door lol
mine is a pita to
Just had to do this to my 67 Mustang. There should be a spring loaded mechanism inside the door attatched to the lock itself that yo need to push and the door should unlock.
OK guys thanks a bunch for the info. At least now, I know that I am not the only one who has faced this problem. LOL
I plan to tackle it this afternoon. I am thinking that removing the seat may be the best deal if I have to take the door panel off.
Ron
I figured out the starting problem on my new Tbird today. I replaced the ignition module in the steering column and now the car starts immediately and idles fairly smoothly.
I still have to do a tuneup, set the timing and check that IAC (if it still doesn't idle & run right).
What do most of you guys normally set your timing at for street use? Are these Turbo Coupes supposed to be set at 10º BTDC with the spout disconnected like my SVO?
What is considered to be the optimum total advance when the spout is connected?
Thanks for any help that any of you can offer on these questions.
Once that is taken care of then I can see what needs to be done to get the passenger door opened again.
Ron
stock is 10
Thanks for your answer.
So is 45º to 50º total what is recommended for TCs like it is for SVOs?
Ron
if that's what svo's run I would say so ................same motor
but im a sbf guy still kinda new to 2.3's lol
Thanks STANG8U,
Maybe some of the other TC owners/mechanics on here will chime in with a definite answer in the morning.
Ron
Well, none of you were kidding about the dreaded jammed door being a pain to get open again.
I got the inner panel removed after breaking nearly all of the age brittled little plastic clips. I sprayed WD40 all over the area and began to pry and giggle handles.
At one point it seemed to come a little bit looser so I pulled out on the inner handle while I gave it a kick, and it popped open.
The lock mechanism still wasn't working so I spent another two hours playing with it. I was able to get the rod to the outer handle straightened a little bit & it felt a lot better.
Evidently the upper hook on the door latch was jammed & refused to come down, which didn't allow the lower latch to drop all the way down. I loosened the three latch screws on the door skin, but that didn't help a thing. Finally I put a screw driver behind a little half moon indention in the upper latch and pulled forward......Walla it clicked down.
I cleaned all of the parts real good before trying to shut the door and it now works like a champ and the outer handle now opens the door as it is supposed to...........Ask me if I am a happy camper!
A big thanks to all of you who offered ideas to get this thing back in working order.
Ron
good deal
the door thing sucks
I haven't had a chance to do a tuneup yet, but I did check the timing which is at 10ºBTDC with spout unplugged. When the spout is connected it idles at 30º and does about 50º maximum at around 2000RPM.
I vacuumed the carpets and did some spot cleaning on them and some general cleanup on the interior. I also hung the passenger door arm rest that I found in the trunk.
Later I took Sue & our granddaughter for their first drive in it.
It seems to run fine on the highway.
Sometimes, in town, the RPMs don't want to drop right back down after a shift, and at times it wants to idle way high at 1600 RPM. The next time I start it, the idle might be back down at about 1000. It keeps going back & forth like that.
Anyone have an idea what causes that to occur?
Ron
The plastic door panel push clips can be found at some hardware stores really cheap. Every time I go, I usually get a dozen or so...costs about 2 bucks. They've came in handy...every vehicle I've got here has had the panels off at least twice per door, per car. Ugh.
Yeah,
I have a large ziplock bag full of them, usually for whenever I have to fix a window motor on one of my foxbodies.
I was amazed that the arm rest on the door mounted with the same kind of clip!
Ron
I thought I would post update pics of the progress of the exterior restoration so far.
The Snowflakes cleaned up pretty good & they now have a set of decent Michelins mounted on them. I have the interior cleaned up, not perfect, but it will do for right now.
I was looking for a rear package shelf cover, & sun-visors to replace the torn up ones in the car, but the upholsterer who did the seats in my SVO said that he would install a new headliner, moonroof cover, sun-visors, & the rear shelf for $170.
I have an appointment to leave it with him next Monday. Other than sun faded seats, the interior should look pretty good when he is done.
(http://hostingd.imagecross.com/image-hosting-03/3922WhiteBird-evening-cropped-for-sites.JPG) (http://www.imagecross.com/)Image Hosting (http://www.imagecross.com/)
(http://hostingd.imagecross.com/image-hosting-03/7549Right-side-view-sized-for-sites.jpg) (http://www.imagecross.com/)Image Hosting (http://www.imagecross.com/)
Very close to mine, but I still have the latest 88 Thunderbird. 6/88, with a sequence number of 239907. Until somebody posts a 6/88 car with a higher sequence number, I'm going to go on believing that I have the last 88 car.
Looking good .... And that's not a bad price
Yours has mine beat by about 9800 Tbirds scheduled to be built in June of 88.
Ron
I will post before & after pics of the interior once I get it back from the upholsterer.
Ron
Quick Google search has turned up total production for 1988 tbirds 147,243 ....so more than 7000 where built after yours...I bet there a few July 1988 production cars.
Travis
I'm interested in seeing if anybody has one.