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Turbo Coupe Swap Question

I found a parts car, a 1987 t-bird lx v8, which I was going to use for parts. I saw it today, and it's nowhere as clean as I had been told.  I also found an 87 turbo coupe, auto car.  The TC is really rough underneath, not worth saving, but a good parts car, but the 87 LX t-bird is better underneath, but needs lots of body work.
Big question,
What's more difficult, turning that 87 v8 lx into a 5.0, 5-speed with all the turbo coupe upgrades like buttstuffog dash, hood, rear end, etc or starting off with a rust free turbo coupe and using the 87 v8 lx as parts only? To me both the cars I'm looking at would be good parts cars but I really can't have all these car's sitting around because in addition I have a 1990 5.0 mustang sitting around.
Thanks

Turbo Coupe Swap Question

Reply #1 –
go with the LX, rust is a horrible thing to contend with.

Turbo Coupe Swap Question

Reply #2 –
If the TC's that rough on the underbody, part it out.  Use what you want on the LX and sell the turbo parts.  I know there's enough 2.3T guys in  Canada that you won't have a problem getting rid of all the turbo specific parts you won't use.  Good way to recoup some of your costs.
88 TC 5speed, 168000+ miles, stock 2.3T long block, ported RFE6 exhaust, Evergreen T3 running 15#'s.
Up next: FMIC, fresh air intake, ported intakes, ported big valve head.

Turbo Coupe Swap Question

Reply #3 –
Truthfully, your best bet is to start out with a rust-free Turbo Coupe and use a 5-speed Mustang as your donor. Virtually nothing from the TC's drivetrain will work for a V8 swap, including pedals. The 87-88 TC has a hydraulic clutch, eliminating the use of the pedals (meaning you must use Mustang or 83-86 TC pedals), and the same weak tranny found in 4-cyl Mustangs. With a 5.0 bellhousing and a diesel Ranger pilot bearing the TC tranny will bolt onto a V8 but it's not as strong as the V8 tranny.

I say use a Mustang as a donor car because that gives you everything you need to do the swap (V8 engine, computer, harness, tranny, bellhousing, pedals, flywheel, etc), plus you start out with an HO 5.0 instead of the weak-ass 5.0SO. If you're gonna swap the drivetrain anyway you might be better off starting out with an automatic Turbo Coupe - it gets you the 3.73 gears.
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

Turbo Coupe Swap Question

Reply #4 –
Neither sound like a good deal.
Trust me if you want to get an 87-88 bird,you want a TC and will be spending upwards of 3500cdn for a nice rust free car with low miles(hard to find up in the salt belt i know).
Found a tc with 110k for 4500obo in oakville on kijiji.
Definetley worth a check out with only 110k.
Probably never winter driven.
Start with a good base,you won't regret it.
Otherwise you've got to goto the southern states to get one for cheap.

Turbo Coupe Swap Question

Reply #5 –
Quote from: dominator;264670
Otherwise you've got to goto the southern states to get one for cheap.
:D

I pity you poor guys up north... Paid $1215 for my TC back in '97 and that includes giving my buddy $200, for picking it up, running it through his dealership and putting 30 day tags on it...

Quote from: Thunder Chicken;264660
If you're gonna swap the drivetrain anyway you might be better off starting out with an automatic Turbo Coupe - it gets you the 3.73 gears.

Exactly what I did... I did use a '87 Sport and a '86 LSC as my parts cars(had $300 in the pair)... That did require some reworking of the 5.0 SD harness, but since I serviced electronics since the '60s was no big deal... Only parts I bought for the swap were the new 5.0 motor mount insulators and a tach from a '88 Sport... Was able to reverse engineer it and Eric has included instructions on Cool Cats to modify the '87-'88 TC units... I did spend about $2500 on aluminum heads, intake etc, etc, etc but I wasn't interested in installing a weak ass HO 5.0...

EDIT...  Forgot, I did buy a a 40K mi 3.8 SC AOD for $400... That was purchased long before I bought any of the above vehicles, might say I had a plan...
 

Turbo Coupe Swap Question

Reply #6 –
I agree a good rust free tc is hard to come by. But if you want u can covert ur lx to a turbo coupe clone. It would be a lot of work to transfer all the wiring and stuff but you would be something you did and you would know the car from bottom up. It all depends on your funds and time you got and how soon you want the car to be up and running. So good luck