Thunderbird Turbo Coupe...

[71fordkid]

Im thinkin of getting myself one. Are there any members here that have one, or have experiance with them? I know theyre great cars, and pretty reliable. I'm looking for some help looking at common problems to watch for.

Since i'm going to be buying one private party, how will i know this hasnt been beat on? I know to look for dusting in the turbo from air filter maintenance, but what are some other signs I can look at to tell if its been abused?

[fordman]

rejewkes has a thunderbird.

[Ranchero50]

The brakes are electric hydraulic, have two ice cube relays to run them and they tend to fail (along with the power brakes) Buddy got his '88 for $500 without the brakes.

I like the car, it rides very nice and feels like a gentlemans mustang. We tossed the 4pot, dropped in a mild 302, edel heads, cobra intake, E cam, Vortec A trim and BBK longtubes. I have about two hundred hours in building it and it's a very smooth and enjoyable car. I found him a loaded '87 with no rust to swap his driveline into. Sadly I don't have any pictures of it on the puter or online...

Jamie

[71fordkid]

Hmm. theres a VERY nice black ext/grey int one here on craigslist for like $1800. If I had the money, It would be in the driveway.

[ezernut9mm]

"tccoa". all the info you will ever need is over there. i have even seen some pretty good deals from time to time. i had a 93 and it was a very nice handling and driving car. i just didn't own it long enough to have to deal with any problems.

[69rangerf100]

my first car was an 86 tc tbird. still to this day do i wish i still had it. the best car i have ever owned when i was 16 i beat the doors off a 1998 cobra. ran the boost at 12psi and got really good mpg's off of it

[fomocoguy]

I've looked at them from time to time and the general consensus is that if you're going to mod it at all then find a five speed car. The auto's aren't great for anything more than stock power levels. You can get a STUPID amount of torque and hp out of those engines with the right mods. I want to find a wrecked one and put the running gear in a first gen Ranger.

[71fordkid]

The first one is a 5 speed, lots of miles, but it doesnt look too beaten up for $1500.

The second one is IMMACULATE. 100000 mile, but its an auto....

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/ctd/2286215513.html

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/2294088250.html

[69rangerf100]

The first one is a 5 speed, lots of miles, but it doesnt look too beaten up for $1500.

The second one is IMMACULATE. 100000 mile, but its an auto....

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/ctd/2286215513.html

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/2294088250.html

you right the first one is very beat up and not worth the 1500 they're asking maybe 400 on a good day

the second looks really good for the age and your right its an auto if you can get over that that would be to one of choose but if your like me gotta have the manual tranny

[ezernut9mm]

if you have to take the plunge, i would consider this one:

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/2282516323.html

[71fordkid]

Id consider it, but thats WAAAAAAYYY too far away. Im in Portland, Oregon.

[TheEskimo]

Have a look at http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com and read around if you are looking at a TC, I have a '85 Thunderbird and love it. But it isn't a TC.

Pretty much from what I can recall, the head gaskets tend to give out. I would venture a guess that would be from folks wanting to race them though.

[bigredball90]

I have a merkur xr4ti it has the same motor as the tbird and thats about it.
Great motors very reliable (as long as the previous owner didnt screw it up like mine). Try to get a 87 or 88 they have all the good stuff on them. Definitly try to get a 5 sp a auto wont take much power over stock.
check out turboford.org for tons of info on these motors.

[flyboy2610]

I saw one of the new Volkswagen Beetles with a 'Turbo' badge on it. That means it's powered by two rubber bands instead of just one!

[Ranchero50]

Here's some pics of my friend Tcoupe. I built this thing a few years ago and never took any pic of it. He brought it up from NC so I could fab a cat pipe for his visual emmisions check. I have some video I need to upload and will post that too. car runs good but he had the plug gap to wide and it wouldn't rev above 5k. Gapped it down to .035 and it was better but he's going to order a hotter coil.