Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Topic: Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:( (Read 3663 times) previous topic - next topic

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

September 30, 2009, 03:31:21 PM

Hi all, I am new to this site, got an advice from Finnish Us-car forum!

My 1988 tbird (3.8L) has been at the repair shop and they lost some parts from it... :( :( For some reason there are not many Fox-Tbirds in Finland, but there are many newer birds (1989-up)

So, the question is : are the parts from 1989-up Tbirds same as in Fox Tbirds ? Missing parts include (at least) Air pump, alternator (fortunately these can be found as an aftermarket replacement part from local parts shop), brackets for both, bolts, nuts, harmonic balancer, pulleys, fuel injector nozzle fasteners... bracket for oil steering pump. Here's a picture of the engine in it's current state... What's in the pic, is what there is left.. :(

Thank you in advance!. .. to be honest, at the moment I got the feeling that it will be a miracle if this car moves on it's own some day...:(

best regards,

Markku

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #1 – September 30, 2009, 04:35:46 PM

My question is; if the repair shop lost the parts, why is that your problem? They had better find them!

A novel idea, I know. The best thing to do is a post in the "parts wanted" section of this site. I am sure somebody could send them to you.

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #2 – September 30, 2009, 05:15:19 PM

And that right there is why I do everything myself. If I ever came across a shop that did me like that...somebody would be in a world of hurt.

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #3 – September 30, 2009, 06:37:47 PM

Exactly. The only things i'd have done by someone else is alignments and block boring (stuff that most people can't do at home).

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #4 – September 30, 2009, 08:17:14 PM

Quote from: slicksport88;293254

And that right there is why I do everything myself. If I ever came across a shop that did me like that...somebody would be in a world of hurt.

Quote from: jleews6;293264

Exactly. The only things i'd have done by someone else is alignments and block boring (stuff that most people can't do at home).

You guys ain't helping one bit, not everyone can(or wants) to do their own work...

I'd say at least some of the parts are the same and possibly all... Brackets, pulleys, etc, could at least probably be used as a complete group... The harmonic balancer may be different as there were some changes to include a internal balance shaft along those years...

Really need someone to chime in that knows the differences in the years which isn't me...

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #5 – September 30, 2009, 09:24:29 PM

Make sure they aren't charging you more than their initial quote now - they may want to hide some of their losses in the bill. While most people here are 5.0 and 2.3 people, there are a few here and there that know more about 3.8's.

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #6 – October 01, 2009, 02:42:40 AM

I know the 3.8's in the newer cars do not have the balancing shaft. Although, some of the newer mustangs do. I would be willing to bet that the accesories off of a 89 up bird could work. They use the same basic engine. I wish I had two sitting next to each other to see what could and couldn't work.

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #7 – October 01, 2009, 07:41:17 AM

I'll check my book this weekend. It has the differences between 80s 3.8s the newer 3.8s. only up to 92 I think. (old book)

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #8 – October 01, 2009, 10:24:17 AM

Thank you for your advices !

Repair shop is owned by my friend, so I'm not going to kill him (at least not yet). I agreed to see if I can find the parts for the car by myself, because it's 'almost' impossible to find them from here :/
It looks like posting an ad to 'parts wanted' section might be the best choice. My other car is a 1962 Imperial, to which I have done all kinds of repairs by myself (rebuilt the engine for example), but because of my work I had to move to another city and I didn't have a place there where I could work on my Tbird, maybe I was also afraid of the Fuel Injection!?!

I really like my Tbird and I am starting to like Mercury Cougars too (more I see pics of them, the more I l ike them:) )! My Bird is missing the side mouldings and it has 'cheapest available' aftermarket wheels on it. It would look better with the original ones !

Daminc, I would really appreciate if you could take a look at your book :) Thanks !

best regards,

Markku

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #9 – October 01, 2009, 12:40:51 PM

i'm just curious, but how did your friend LOSE all of that? i mean for Christ's sake, thats almost half the stuff from your engine compartment....

what was the car actually there for?

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #10 – October 01, 2009, 01:08:12 PM

By the picture, I'm guessing it was in for a water pump replacement :)

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #11 – October 01, 2009, 01:26:46 PM

if they lost all of those parts during the process of an hour job, the place needs to shut down.....

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #12 – October 01, 2009, 07:18:23 PM

so far,, almost all the accessories on the front of a 88 3.8 cross reference with the sc and the 3.8s to 96. pullies and tensioners included. but I'm not seeing anything about brackets and bolts. Air conditioning lines are different for the sc only I'm pretty sure.
There is also 2 versions of 3.8 for 88 listed in the book. One has a single tensioner pulley while the other has a double like the sc I believe. do you remember which one you had?
Harmonic balancers are listed as the same for everything after 88 (89-93) can't find any info on a 88 balancer, and I know a 87 is different.

I'll keep looking

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #13 – October 02, 2009, 04:09:33 AM

The balancer will be different for 88 only. Your best bet would be a newish mustang with the internal balancing shaft. I wonder if some of the pullies/accesories from a tarus/windstar 3.8 could work? I know the newer windstar intake is an upgrade for mustang 3.8's.

I think that if you used all the stuff from the 89 3.8, and the internal balancing shaft harmonic balancer, I'll bet it would work. It has the same basic engine layout, and is a front rear layout with less room under the hood. I have seen a stock 5.0 out of a mn-12 in a 94 up mustang with the mn-12 accessories and it did fit. I know that some water pumps are a different rotation and some have a different length snout on the water pump. I think it would work as long as it had the same length water pump.

They make after market pulley setups for just about any engine you could imagine, but it would probably not be very cost effective to get it to you.

Help !! - 88 Tbird Engine compartment, parts lost..:(

Reply #14 – October 02, 2009, 08:38:08 AM

im not sure how much of the original 88 3.8 brackets and parts that i do have. but i know i have stuff like the ac bracket.. should have balancer/crank pulley. i know i dont have power steering pump ( i just checked cause i needed hoses) but i know i do have some bits n peices.