I was talking to a gentleman last night who lives next door to a guy that sold an 88 Turbo Coupe to someone in Manitoba. The guy who sold it lives in Islip Terrace NY. The buyer flew down from Manitoba and drove it back. I remember that the TC had ride control and that was a rare option in 88 from what I understand. Just wanted to see if anyone knew who it was or if it's even someone on here.
I wish it was me, but its not. :(
I'll send out a few e-mails to other Manitobans I know (from these message boards) who are into T-bird/Cougars/Mark vii's.
Thats about a 32 hour drive, which I guess is cheeper than shipping it.
Actually, ajustable ride control was standard on the 87-88 Turbocoupes.
Thats what I was thinking.
I know it was standard on the 87, but I thought they changed the setup for it in 88 at some point in the middle of the model year....
Ride control that still WORKS in this day in age is quite rare. I'd venture a guess to say that less than 10% of the TC's out there have fully functioning ride control.
mine works
I guess I'm in that 10%. :)
how does the reguler to premium fuel set up work on the tc's
If you're using high octane fuel, you can run more boost without detonation. So it increases boost and as far as I know advances timing. I'm sure someone else (Chuck, Tom, anyone) can tell you the specifics, but these are the vague advantages I've heard. And yes, it does make a drastic difference.
Mine 1/2 works.... I have the rears disconnected on firm, so I can set it to auto and loosen up the front for better launches at the strip.
The TC thundergrowl is getting, has fully functional ride controll with replacement Motorcraft struts and shocks. That in my estimation is a 1%-er.
As far as the octane switch it just allows full boost (15psi on the 5 speeds), and probably advances the timing. I've never seen the octane switch does anything on the automatic TC's, as they are limited to 8-9psi boost.
it limits the boost in 5-speed cars, and pulls some timing out of it, i believe it pulls 2-4 degree's of timing
so what setting should we be running in with the RR cam and boost controller?
The boost controller pretty much takes over this task anyway. But if the timing change is a truth, I'd leave it on.
88turbo, i couldnt tell ya, because every setup is differnet, some peoples car will spark knock at 12*, mine doesnt at 14*
try 12*, if it doesnt knock, try 14*, if it doesnt knock, leave it at 14 still
Islip is right near me, about a 45 min drive East on LI (right next to where I work). Must've been a good buy.
TurboCoupe50,
You said that the auto TC cars would only pull 8-9 psi of boost? My '88 auto car pulled 12-13 up until I had to have the turbo rebuilt, and then I was lucky to see 7 or 8. It was the mechanic's first time to rebuild a turbo and he had no idea why it did that. It made a huge difference! I remember thinking (when it would get 12-13 psi) that the car was making WAY more than 145 HP (auto tranny rating). And I never did use the regular/premium fuel switch (I'm cheap). I also remember thinking that the A4LD tranny was about the best shifting/responding Ford AOD I'd ever driven. I could have sworn mine had a kit in it. Downshifts were instant, which is more than I can say for most any other Ford OD in the past 20 years.
My '88 also had the Ride Control, and it worked fine, too. In "sport", it stiffened up like a board, and in "auto (?)", it was as cushy as any Cadillac. I think I usually kept it in "sport". Even in "auto", the first corner I took a little fast or even a slight demand for acceleration tripped it into "sport". That's one option/mod I'd love to have on any car. Anybody ever set that up on a non-TC car? I know the rear shocks were pretty expensive, because I had to replace them, and I definitely wasn't putting standard shocks on it.
I really miss that car, the more I think about it. Too bad that it got totalled when I was towing it behind my 3-day-old F150 (tranny went poof!) and a drunk 16-yr old managed to cream both of them in one shot. It had turned into a money pit, and totalling it was probably the best thing that could have happened (for me, financially speaking). Still pissed me off that it happened, and I still miss it.
Fordman3
Not stock, you didn't.
The TC was the first North American car to have PRC. Europe (I think Volvo in particular) had been doing it for a few years. Now half the cars in the upper market have some form of automatic ride control. Even GM's, mostly seen in the C6, but also some Caddys.
oldraven,
I know it sounds crazy, but I promise you I saw 13 a couple times. Maybe somebody had tweaked something before I bought it, or maybe my gage was wrong, but according to the gage, I was definitely in the double-digits. It was pulling like a freight train, too. After the rebuild, there was a drastic loss. It felt like an entirely different car. Maybe whatever had been done to it is what caused the turbo to go poof because of overboost!
Fordman3
Fordman3
The only difference in the auto turbo is a restrictor in one of the fittings to the boost controller. Possibly your mechanic exchanged it for a rebuilt turbo with the std fitting???
I work in Islip, live in Farmingdale about 20 minutes away. The car went for a VERY high price. Doing what I do for a living I see a lot of cars in peoples driveways and I see the same ones over and over again. I could never remember this one cause it stayed in the garage. From what I hear it was in Fantastic condition, save for the heater core.....
Hey again,
A few posts back I mentioned the Programmable Ride Control being on any other non-TC cars; what I was wondering is, has anybody installed a TC PRC setup on a non-TC car? Would it be impossible to do? I think I heard you must have the TC disk brake rear axle for the programmable rear shocks to mount to. I just think that would be a great mod if it wasn't really cost-prohibitive. Anybody tried this?
Fordman3
With the fact that those systems and struts/shocks are getting old (almost 20 yrs old now) and the PRC struts/shocks are hard, if not impossible to come buy new...I don't see the point.