I was thinking about modding an SVO Mustang [that came factory with Koni adjustable struts] with the T-bird electronic adjusters.
Now I know there will be some fabbing on the top of the strut itself to make this work, but I can take care of that pretty easy.
The question is would that little motor that turns the top of the strut adjuster work simply by wiring it up to a rheostat [an electrical device that controls voltage by turning a either clockwise or counter clockwise].
I also know that part of the motor that engages the strut adjuster is round on the Tbird, and the Koni adjuster needs something like a flat screwdriver. I was thinking to just press the round part flat with a vice so that it wold fit the slot on the Koni adjuster.
As an alternative a 90's camero bumper cover might be fabbed to fit as those car had the front end of the body coming to a point kinda like the Thunderbirds 87, and 88.
I might be interested in buying an 87 turbo coupe. The owner says the engine has Weisco pistons, and JE forged connecting rods along with main cap studs.
Here is the sticky wicket. The guy also has another turbo 2.3l car so the receipts for the pistons/rods could be for the other car, or he might have swapped the "built" engine to his other car.
Not saying the guy is lying, or anything, but business is business, and it would really suck to get the car home only to find stock rods, and pistons after paying the premium price for the other parts.
I'm a mechanic so pulling a pan wouldn't be a huge issue if I had the car at my shop, however I need to know how hard it is as in doing it at the owners house.
The only fair way to do this is to offer the owner $100 to hold while I pull the pan. If the parts he says are in the car are in fact in the car, then the $100 goes toward the purchase of the car. However, if I pull the pan, and find stock rods, and no studs then I would get my $100 back, and reinstall the pan.
If the parts turned out not to be there, then obviously that would cast doubt on the rest of the parts that are supposed to be on the car, not to mention the machine work that was done would also be in question.
FTR, I do know that an oil pan on a 5.0l engine is a pain to pull on a Fox Mustang without jacking the engine up with an engine puller [even then with the trans bell hitting the fire wall its almost impossible to get that pan out].
I was looking to buy a Turbo Coupe, but its got a five speed manual. That would be great for me, but not for my wife.
So, I was looking into how to beef up the 4l auto, and found a truck site where everyone was ditching the 4l, and going with a newer five speed auto [of course this might just work only for the V6 Fords that had the 4l auto so, bell housing issues might be the killer].
I've still got a 2.3l bell for a C4, but I've got to have overdrive with that little 4 banger.
I've loved the looks of the 87/88 turbo coupes as soon as I saw them
Like I said on another thread I think were the 87/88 tc birds were released today with maybe some minor body mods like bigger dia wheels, and more electronic tech it would be a hit today.
I think the tc's were the link to bridge the gap between performance car [Mustang] and family car [Taurus]. So the younger guy, who wants something that has a bit of performance, but is big enough for the kids riding in the rear, plus plenty of room in the trunk for the grocery's. This car lets him have his cake, and eat it to.
Sporty looks, two door, performance.
For the older guy who wants something with a bit of performance, but more room, and a comfortable ride, the tc offers both.
Also, its a good sleeper car with plenty of indirect after market support as it shares lots of part with the Fox Mustang.
After the 88 tc I really didn't like the next generation as it gained way too many pounds to be anything sporty.
Also, and I almost forgot, I really HATE the newer fuel injected cars as they are waaaay too complicated to work on should you have trouble. I made the mistake of buying a sport version of the Altima in the SE-R. I totally restored this 2005 POS, and found some interesting things like electronic motor mounts.
Electronic motor mounts wouldn't bother me except that when they go bad they take out your ecu. Alternators with clutches, anti theft system that can lock you out of your own car with no way to reset it without a trip to the stealership, bad power steering switch that can make the car undriveable, and the list goes on.
The Thunderbirds are waaay simple in contrast to the 05 NISSAN to repair , and keep running.
I know this is more geared to the SVO crowd, but I thought it would be neat to put one of these little engines into the luxo sport Turbo Coupe's, or Cougars.
There is an article on the swap of the 2.0 eb into an 84-86 SVO in the new MMFF magazine, and here is a little about it on a Mustang website.
My 37 year old son is needing a new car soon, and I've been looking into the MK Vlll for him.
He owns an old 01 Honda Accord which runs fine, but the problems with these cars is the transmissions going out, and his is.
Anyway, I'm a wrencher, and I know the fallacy in the belief of the reliability of the big three of imports. I could give you all specific examples like the Honda transmissions, but they are just too many to list. Not to mention the cost of parts for imports.
I have heard that the 95-98 Lincolns with the DOHC engines have a good rep for longevity. I also know from my hot rodding hobby that these Lincolns have one of the best OD transmissions Ford ever made the 4R70W [the best, last upgraded came out in 99/00].
Oh, and the other thing is that you can find one of these cars [and I really like the body style, as its a little more sporty than the 4 door grandpa cars] usually they are well taken care of, usually have low miles [grandma only drove it to bingo, and just passed away], and you can buy them for a song vs import cars.
But, I want fist hand knowledge of what the major problems [if any], that these cars seem to have.
I've always loved the 87-88 Thunderbird TC since it came out.
Looking at the later full sized Fords like the newer LTD the Thunderbird design of 87-88 looks actually more modern IMO.
I've tried my best to find the aero CD of the Turbo Coupe, but have been unsuccessful. I found a site that lists all of the T-birds collectively, but I don't put much stock in the numbers I saw. Of course CD is a rather baffling thing to understand, as a Lambo Countach has a CD around .400 vs an 88 Mustang GT at around .340
Also, I really don't understand the dislike of the T-bird from the Mustang crowd. I was reading some threads on the T-bird and found a rather long post on a Mustang forum where the bird was being trashed.
Even though I have a garage full of Mustangs I really don't love the Fox Mustang design as its just too boxy vs the birds.
I've got way too many projects, but I wouldn't mind owning another bird TC. I would probably go with a new Shelby supercharged engine, and drive train as well as some Ridtec shockwave air shocks.
I've always had a thing for TC's painted black so that would be a must. There is a really nice silver TC for sale right now that I would like to buy. Its supercharged, and has some good upgrades like the bigger Cobra brakes, and a few other good parts, but too many things to have to fix. For example its got a T5 tranny for which isn't gonna last too long with the over 400rwhp, and a 5.0 block [gonna crack eventually at that hp level], and stock connecting rods [which I can't understand with good H-beam rods being in the $400 range].
So IF I do get around to buying another bird [I've owned a 55, and an 87 TC], I will probably just try to find a low mile factory car, and go from there.
