Both my Scion FRS and my girls Fiesta ST have electric assisted power steering. The steering feel is incredible. Better than a stock TC, better than an SN95 Mustang, better than my Trans Am, better than a lot of cars. The new generation Mustang uses electric assisted steering and you can select the amount of steering effort you want.
These systems have a lot to offer.
now we just need to find someone who has installed one in their fox body...
One of the previous owners of my car spent a lot of time and money working under the hood of my '87 TC. One of the things that was removed in the process was the entire power steering system. My car currently has manual steering....and it sucks. The one positive is that getting rid of all of that power steering equipment really makes my engine compartment looks very clean.
Speaking with Shawn (Tbird232ci), he's thinking an EPS system (electric power steering) could be installed so I don't clutter up my engine compartment. has anyone installed an EPS system in a thunderbird or TC yet?
for anyone else who might come across this thread while searching the web, what actual seat tracks and motors can be pulled from other cars that'll bolt directly to the 87-88 TC floor and seats?
If you are interested, I can sell you the entire power seat assembly base for $40 + shipping, but these things are heavy (about 25 lbs. boxed)and shipping can be high. I just sent one to Washington state from Virginia and that was about $35 via UPS.
all of my power seat options seem to work except my rear tilt...when you push the button forward, you can hear it doing something but when you push the button backwards, nothing at all happens (I'm going off memory at the moment). being that I'm 6'2", I definitely need to get this fixed to make the car more enjoyable to drive!
rather than buying a new motor on ebay (they do exist!), I'm going to try calling around to a few junk yards to see what they have. my question is: what make/model/year car can I have them pull a motor from that'll be a direct fit and function for my '87 TC?
none of my interior lights work (dome, vanity, etc.) - not when you open any of the doors, nor when you use the switch on the dash to force the lights to come on.
where should I start with trying to troubleshoot this issue? I'm a bit of a car newbie..
the rearview mirror on my TC fell off of the windshield prior to me buying the car. the mirror itself is in rough shape and needs to be replaced. I don't really care about the auto dim feature personally, but I would like to know if its power is being shared with anything else and whether or not it needs to be hooked back up. currently the wiring for that is tucked up under the headliner.
if the wiring isn't sharing any power, I'm going to throw on a $11 or $12 mirror I grabbed on amazon!
some things I'll likely be changing over the next year or so:
the car's power steering was replaced with manual steering from an SN95. while the engine bay looks A LOT cleaner without all of the junk, it doesn't make driving the car as fun as it could be, especially being that I live on a narrow street and when I pull the car out of the driveway, it's a real PITA. I've been talking to Shawn about this and an EPS (electric power steering) set up might be the easiest and cleanest looking to compliment the work that already went into the car, while making it easier to drive.
I'm a tall, fat, handsome guy...I'm pretty sure the driver's seat is sitting higher than my old '85 & '87 TC did. The rear tilt button to drop the rear of the seat (I believe) doesn't work - when you press the button forward, you can hear it click, as if the seat in the front is down as low as it can go, but nothing when you push the button backwards. I'm not sure if that's a sign that the seat track is bad or what. My buddy Brian has an '87 or '88 TC with fully working power seats. I'm hoping to sit in his within the next month or two to see if I sit lower in his than in mine. if that's the case, I'll hunt down a fully working power seat track or find a manual track and go from there!
Looks like someone put some time/money/effort into the car before you bought it.
yeah, the work that was done to the car by the owner who sold the car to the person I bought it from was pretty competent with cars.
Quote from: gtbird;463185
Nice score, I want you're interior!!!
haha. not going to lie, I really like the velour interior myself, especially since the car doesn't have AC
Quote from: BornInAFord;463186
I have long thought that the Thunderbird's leather raven interior is among the nicest interiors of any car, especially the seats.
Nice car! A lot of work went into it already.
Daniel
I think the interior this car currently has was from a parts car. I dig the velour interior myself..
yep, that was one of the appeals to buying it because it had a lot of the work already done that I would want to do to it eventually. I'm not a mechanic so the labor costs to get someone to do it for me would of been a killer.
Quote from: flipnbird;463191
Nice score!!........now we need some details :D
gosh, it has a fair bit of work done to it. honestly, Tbird232ci probably knows more about the work done to it than me! I sent him a listing of the car (which didn't list too much of the work that was done to it) and he was naming off stuff left and right that was done to it... I'll try to name a few things:
- front mount intercooler with large 3in piping - aluminum radiator with an electric fan - cone air filter - ported and rotated upper intake (as far as I know) - 3in downpipe that goes into 2.5 single exhaust (not sure of the ler yet - it does have a nice throaty sound to it) - 5 lug conversion using spindles from a 96-04 cobra - cobra front/rear rotors and disc brakes - maxim motorsport camber/caster plates - 18in HP design cobra wheels (235/50/18 up front, 275/40/18 in the rear. The front tires are too tall as they rub fender wells and will be getting replaced soon) - auto meter gauges
Quote from: 85CougarCobra;463192
Awesome! I saw this on the Philly Craigslist ... looks like a really nice car.
