Skip to main content
Topic: Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo. (Read 4084 times) previous topic - next topic

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #15
Quote from: MikeP;285189

Now this car will have about 500 whp because thats what the Capri is now with the turbo


Careful - that is well into block splitting territory on the stock blocks...I personally wouldn't feel comfortable at WOT past 400rwhp over 5k rpm's without moving up to a A4/R302/BOSS/DART/World/Aluminum block. I'm paranoid like that :p
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #16
Quote from: MikeP;285196
NICE 88 BTW man, Ill have to read all that later on. Good work. How does she hook?


With the HO conversion and few mods I have it won't spin the 245/45/17's unless you get REALLY nasty with it.  The control arms work great...only complaint is that they do make the ride worse and seem to make more noises (pops, etc).:burnout:
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #17
Quote from: MikeP;285189
YOU,....you sir are the main reason I HAD to find this car! lol

I did a search for 88 TC on google and a few of your pics came up and I went nuts!! I will be painting my car the silver but will be putting Pro Stars on them only because thats what I currently have now. I had a friend Pete back in LI where I grew up and he had the same car and I LOVED that bad boy. All the colors look good but I love the silver the most.

Now this car will have about 500 whp because thats what the Capri is now with the turbo, Im just wondering if those control arms will work well with that kinda HP, Ill call them and ask I suppose.

Thanks and your car is awesome!!


I didnt know my car had such an impact...  now your making me want to make the wife drive the cougar so I can get it back to looking good ;)


Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #19
Quote from: cougarcragar;285289
Awesome Capri.

I've read on other forums that you can get an aluminum driveshaft from an Aerostar and have it shortened. I hope that helps, for what it's worth.


Heck yeah that helps! Thanks man

Quote from: Seek;285295
Careful - that is well into block splitting territory on the stock blocks...I personally wouldn't feel comfortable at WOT past 400rwhp over 5k rpm's without moving up to a A4/R302/BOSS/DART/World/Aluminum block. I'm paranoid like that :p


Im not too worried about it :D When she goes a 302 R block will be going in and the boost will rise to 20lbs+

Quote from: 50tbrd88;285306
With the HO conversion and few mods I have it won't spin the 245/45/17's unless you get REALLY nasty with it.  The control arms work great...only complaint is that they do make the ride worse and seem to make more noises (pops, etc).:burnout:


Well currently I have South Sides on my Capri, and there noisy, so Im seasoned to that already! lol

Quote from: 88turbo;285344
I didnt know my car had such an impact...  now your making me want to make the wife drive the cougar so I can get it back to looking good ;)


Yeah, well see that goes alil way back to when I was younger in high school, a couple my buddies had the 88, and I loved them. Extra curricular activities happend in one of them, really comfy they is!!Its nice when your friend loans you a cooler car than what you have, but that was because the mustangs back seat I had at the time didnt exist!! :shakeass: GREAT looking car man, mine will look like that eventually!
1988 Thunderbird TurboCoupe.
1986 Mercury Capri worked 302, 76 MM Precision turbo, A/A intercooler, built to hall the mail :hick:

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #20
Nice capri, and nice powerplant..... hey its cool your keeping a turbo car a turbo!!!!!
[/IMG]
Just enjoyin the ride!!!!

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #21
Welcome to the forum and that's a Cool Capri !
Alan Mackin--Semi Professional Ford der
83 T-Bird 460
83 T-Bird Heritage 5.0
84 T-Bird 5.0
86 T-Bird Turbo Coupe NHRA Stocker & Super Stocker
87 T-Bird Turbo Coupe
88 Bronco II Drag truck 302
95 Mustang GT auto
2004 F-350 CC Dually V-10

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #22
Quote from: massCougarxr7;285357
Nice capri, and nice powerplant..... hey its cool your keeping a turbo car a turbo!!!!!


Thank you. She should fly I hope!

Quote from: 83-88T-Bird Guy;285406
Welcome to the forum and that's a Cool Capri !


Thanks man.



Does anyone know of a good place that have interior parts? I found some but Id like to know who you guys get parts from.

Thanks everyone for the welcomes. I should be starting this car soon and pictures will follow ;)
1988 Thunderbird TurboCoupe.
1986 Mercury Capri worked 302, 76 MM Precision turbo, A/A intercooler, built to hall the mail :hick:

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #23
Quote from: MikeP;285168
Hello guys, I am a new member of this site. I currently have a 86 Capri with a worked 302 and 76mm Precision Turbo with A/A inter cooler, blow thru set up. The car also have a full tubular front end, etc.

I just bought (or I may say rescued!) a 88 Thunderbird TC with no motor and I want to swap everything from the Capri in the TC, but I have some questions before I start this. Sorry to bombard yall with them, but I need to learn this before I start my mission :mullet:

1 - The rear control arms on the TC, are they longer than whats on a Mustang/ Capri ? Ive been told yes and no!

2 - Also will my K member bolt in? Ive been told yes but the K member needs to be cut and fab'd taller?

3 - I have a built C4 trans I want to put in it, so I assume I need a longer driveshaft, do they make a Alum driveshaft for the TCs?

That's about all I can think of now. Thanks guys and girls, looking forward to learning a thing or two from yall.:D


Welcome to the board.
Question,what's wrong with the capri and why do you want to tear into such a nice rare car?????
I love TC's as much if not more than the next guy(you can tell this by my ride) but i wouldn't want to ruin a nice a capri like that.

As for your questions
1: You will need the above che rear arms(the capri's can be used but they will bring the rear wheels almost 1" closer to the front of the rear fenderwell openings and they will handle 500hp with no issues(ask me i know lol).

2:Your k member will bolt in to the front holes of the frame but the rears will have to be elongated from what i understand.

3:I have heard of people using a c4 in these cars,not sure what they used for a driveshaft but an aluminum one will definetley be a custon piece as there is no direct fit one.

As for your TC, before you start construction take a look at the key fox body rot area's,torque boxes,fuel tank mounts,floors,rad support front frame rails,in fact have a look over daminc's project evolution thread to make sure your tc platform is ok.

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #24
Quote from: dominator;285443
Welcome to the board.
Question,what's wrong with the capri and why do you want to tear into such a nice rare car?????
I love TC's as much if not more than the next guy(you can tell this by my ride) but i wouldn't want to ruin a nice a capri like that.

As for your questions
1: You will need the above che rear arms(the capri's can be used but they will bring the rear wheels almost 1" closer to the front of the rear fenderwell openings and they will handle 500hp with no issues(ask me i know lol).

2:Your k member will bolt in to the front holes of the frame but the rears will have to be elongated from what i understand.

3:I have heard of people using a c4 in these cars,not sure what they used for a driveshaft but an aluminum one will definetley be a custon piece as there is no direct fit one.

As for your TC, before you start construction take a look at the key fox body rot area's,torque boxes,fuel tank mounts,floors,rad support front frame rails,in fact have a look over daminc's project evolution thread to make sure your tc platform is ok.


Ahh very good questions!! And 1st thanks for the welcome.

Ok, why am I wanting to take the Capri back apart, I am asking myself that now! LOL... But my wife hasn't driving in 10 years (loooong story why!! Panic attacks is the main reason) well she wants to start driving and I dont want a car I have no clue how to work on and every part costs a zillion dollars to buy and fix. So with that said I thought well nows the time to get the TC Ive always wanted. These two are my most favorite cars. The Capri was a 4 banger from the beginning so I already "tore" it apart sort of speaking. So I figured Id take the more "comfy" "luxury" car and put my power plant in it, also because NO ONE has one of these with my type of drive-train around here (I love being different, hence why I got the Capri over the Mustang, same things really but not!) And because of the 79 style rear that's on it people still think its a Mustang. And my wife really likes the Capri, so I can give her what she wants and I can drive what Id like to, kinda worked perfect. We will be putting a stock 5.0 in the Capri were thinking, if not than a 4 popper again, put the AC Heat back in and make it her DD and have the TC for fun and track car with AC heat and all that. Geez sorry so long. Hopefully that explains it some. Plus the pics makes the Capri look MUCH better, I wished it really looked like that, but some body work and a fresh coat of paint and some TLC to the interior she will be really purdy!

1- Hmm, I must have messed up measuring because I measure from the middle of each bolt of the SSM lowers I have and compared it to the ones on the TC and they were both 18"s so I thought cool I can reuse my SSM lowers.

2- I hope that's not true!! lol.. I will measure that before hand just to make sure.

3- I was told I can get a Aerostar alum drive shaft and have it shortened and re welded back up and balanced, so I was hoping to do that. I know a guy who is an awesome welder and builds full tube race cars, so he will weld that back up.

This car will have a fuel cell in the trunk, so if the strap area is rusted I can just fix/ treat that and hopefully call it a day!

The floors are in great shape from what we've seen so far, so I think I dodged that one, again hopefully!!

Torque boxes, well oopps haven't checked that yet and didn't even think of that when I looked at it before I bought it!! OOPS I hope that's ok!

The Rad support looks freaking like brand new!! lol, seriously, its the best one Ive seen so far with Mustangs etc.

The thing that's freaking me and my buddy out is the front pass side frame rail, there's a hint of rust where the K Member bolts up, I thought haa no biggie, well my buddy John says they start rotten from the inside out and if I see rust now that means its rusted on the inside, so I guess I need to drop the K member 1st before going any further. Ive been told how to fix it but I just hope its not THAT bad. Like I said from the outside it didn't/ doesn't look BAD, to me at least.


Pheww, I think I covered everything you asked or talked about. I thank you very much for all your info on this. I have already checked that thread out that you mentioned, lots of work that guy has/ is doing. I just need to finish the last few posts to be caught up on his thread.


Thanks again man.

So you say "ask how I know"...ok how do you know!!! lol You got a TC also with that same power? Id love to see some pics and dont be afraid to drop a couple pics in my thread if you like, I dont mind. I use these threads as future reference kinda thing when/ if I forget something or I get an idea from someone!

Thanks
1988 Thunderbird TurboCoupe.
1986 Mercury Capri worked 302, 76 MM Precision turbo, A/A intercooler, built to hall the mail :hick:

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #25
BTW, thats my longest post ever on the intrawebs!! lol And I won nothing...
1988 Thunderbird TurboCoupe.
1986 Mercury Capri worked 302, 76 MM Precision turbo, A/A intercooler, built to hall the mail :hick:

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #26
Hi Mike, looks like you're gonna fit right in...

Hey Carm, since I gave him the referral, don't I qualify for a free week of something???

BTW

These cars don't generally have any rust problems unless they've lived up north...

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #27
Hey Tom, thats a cool sig!

I really love these cars and am falling for them even more now that I belong to these sites!! I cannot wait till shes on the road and the looks Ill get! Theres only one that goes to the local track, but I think its an 84, so I should be the only one locally with the 88 TC with this combo, I dare to be different :)

Im all worried now about that rail where the K member bolts up to!! rrgggg lol
1988 Thunderbird TurboCoupe.
1986 Mercury Capri worked 302, 76 MM Precision turbo, A/A intercooler, built to hall the mail :hick:

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #28
Here ya go man,you asked lol.
I'm sure everybody here is sick of seeing my ride by now but.... this was my coolcats calendar submission in 2008.
It's a worked over stock blocked 5.0L with a vortech SQ-trim at 14psi.

 

Starting a build (1988 TurboCoupe) 302 blow thru turbo.

Reply #29
Ohh hell yeah man!! Awesome.. I think we need to talk one day since you did this swap, where your SC is is exactly where my turbo goes, so thats some related questions I have. I still have a bunch of questions if your up to it!! lol Some of the questions I'm almost embarrassed to ask lol..


LOVE the rims... ohh shes shagy!
1988 Thunderbird TurboCoupe.
1986 Mercury Capri worked 302, 76 MM Precision turbo, A/A intercooler, built to hall the mail :hick: