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Topic: Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions (Read 2426 times) previous topic - next topic

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Well I got the bird (previous thread). Smells like new car inside, runs great. No V8 power (3.8 in it) but can't complain. Think it might need shocks and struts but mechanically the rest of it is perfect. Will post up pics when I get a chance.

Only thing that doesn't work is the cruise, Dad said he didn't work when he got the car and only drove it 1 every 6 months so wasn't worried about it.
88 Turbocoupe: Coast High Performance 331 kit 28oz balance, Comp XE264HR14 cam, 58cc 185 afr heads, 1.7 roller rockers, Mass-Flo EFI (was POS to setup and their techline is a joke at best)
Full 1 5/8 primary equal length headers, 2 1/2 exhaust, Full manual reverse VB c4 and baked off clear coat "BECAUSE RACECAR"

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #1 –
IMO the 3.8 is seriously inadequate in that car... at least my 93 was. Wanting to do a Supercoupe swap was what eventually led me to a Mark VIII - the way that car should've been built to start with. ;) It's great as basic transportation though.

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #2 –
Quote from: doodaa;380060
IMO the 3.8 is seriously inadequate in that car... at least my 93 was. Wanting to do a Supercoupe swap was what eventually led me to a Mark VIII - the way that car should've been built to start with. ;) It's great as basic transportation though.
The 3.8 was upgraded in the 96's. Still no powerhouse, but not as dogish as in the 93's. It will make for great daily transportation.

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #3 –
My 95 3.8 T-bird ran ok. It was just slow. Other than that the MN-12 is a pretty nice car.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #4 –
Well I bought it fri, didn't drive till Sat and it has right at 300 miles on it today. I was hoping for gas milage, will fill up after work and see if I accomplished that much. I have a SC sitting in the junk I could rob harness + ecu out of. Some one already snagged the motor + blower.
88 Turbocoupe: Coast High Performance 331 kit 28oz balance, Comp XE264HR14 cam, 58cc 185 afr heads, 1.7 roller rockers, Mass-Flo EFI (was POS to setup and their techline is a joke at best)
Full 1 5/8 primary equal length headers, 2 1/2 exhaust, Full manual reverse VB c4 and baked off clear coat "BECAUSE RACECAR"

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #5 –
I dig my MN-12 ...it's got its issues, but I wouldn't trade it for anything :-)
If worms had daggers, birds wouldn't f**k with 'em

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #6 –
I had a nice pearl white '95 LX with the 4.6, was still pretty lame... Sold it after about nine months, never missed it...

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #7 –
Got a whopping 26 mpg. I have pics just haven't got them uploaded. Where I work now I can't bring my phone in, or flash drive, or any other removable media lol,
88 Turbocoupe: Coast High Performance 331 kit 28oz balance, Comp XE264HR14 cam, 58cc 185 afr heads, 1.7 roller rockers, Mass-Flo EFI (was POS to setup and their techline is a joke at best)
Full 1 5/8 primary equal length headers, 2 1/2 exhaust, Full manual reverse VB c4 and baked off clear coat "BECAUSE RACECAR"

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Soul;380260
Got a whopping 26 mpg. I have pics just haven't got them uploaded. Where I work now I can't bring my phone in, or flash drive, or any other removable media lol,

Highway driving? I managed 30+ mpg on the highway with my 3.8 95 T-bird. Now in the city it got between 18-19 mpg if I was lucky.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #9 –
150 of it was highway (one way to and from) rest was around town stuff.
88 Turbocoupe: Coast High Performance 331 kit 28oz balance, Comp XE264HR14 cam, 58cc 185 afr heads, 1.7 roller rockers, Mass-Flo EFI (was POS to setup and their techline is a joke at best)
Full 1 5/8 primary equal length headers, 2 1/2 exhaust, Full manual reverse VB c4 and baked off clear coat "BECAUSE RACECAR"

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #10 –
Also supreme moment of disappointment this morning, when I got the car dad said it was low on fluid but it was first time this happened in the 6 years he had it. I drove it the 150 mile trip one way and checked the fluids, everything was good. Got up this morning and there is some antifreeze under the car. Looks like it came from drivers side radiator some where. Some of the plastic fins on the end are wet, hoping it isn't leaking around the plastic/radiator area where they bend it to crimp it together.
88 Turbocoupe: Coast High Performance 331 kit 28oz balance, Comp XE264HR14 cam, 58cc 185 afr heads, 1.7 roller rockers, Mass-Flo EFI (was POS to setup and their techline is a joke at best)
Full 1 5/8 primary equal length headers, 2 1/2 exhaust, Full manual reverse VB c4 and baked off clear coat "BECAUSE RACECAR"

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #11 –
Well that's the one good thing about those combination aluminum radiators with plastic tanks. You can yank it out, gently pry the tabs all out just a little, so they dont break, but you can get the tank off, might even be able to get a new gasket if you look hard enough, and more importantly, if it clogs, you can easily run baling wire or something through the tubes and clear it out. Did that to my crown vic, a radiator shop would probably have charged me $100 for a boil-out, and I did it for the ridiculously low price of freeeee
1987 20th Anniversary Cougar, 302 "5.0" GT-40 heads (F3ZE '93 Cobra) and TMoss Ported H.O. intake, H.O. camshaft
2.5" Duals, no cats, Flowmaster 40s, Richmond 3.73s w/ Trac-Lok, maxed out Baumann shift kit, 3000 RPM Dirty Dog non-lock TC
Aside from the Mustang crinkle headers, still looks like it's only 150 HP...
1988 Black XR7 Trick Flow top end, Tremec 3550
1988 Black XR7 Procharger P600B intercooled, Edelbrock Performer non-RPM heads, GT40 intake AOD, 13 PSI @5000 RPM. 93 octane

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #12 –
Bought a brand new radiator for the Mark VIII at Autozone for $129.... they even had it in stock. Took less than an hour to change it.

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #13 –
There are 2 birds back at home I can rob for free but just irks me that Dad had this for 6 years and had no issues. I drive it a week and it springs a leak lol. Oh well it is 16 years old, might be teen angst.
88 Turbocoupe: Coast High Performance 331 kit 28oz balance, Comp XE264HR14 cam, 58cc 185 afr heads, 1.7 roller rockers, Mass-Flo EFI (was POS to setup and their techline is a joke at best)
Full 1 5/8 primary equal length headers, 2 1/2 exhaust, Full manual reverse VB c4 and baked off clear coat "BECAUSE RACECAR"

Bought the 96 tbird, Impressions

Reply #14 –
If it has a expansion tank just run it with the cap loose, won't cause a problem in cooler weather...