North American Turbocoupe Organization

Just bought the TC on ebay. Bought it out of impluse then flew to Mass from VA with less than a days notice to get it. Drove it back that weekend all night. My first car was an 88 Thunderbird and loved it, always wanteda TC.

Now the goods... The guy who had it before me really loved this car and put a lot of time and money into the engine. It's got WC T-5, 36lb injectors, ported and polished intake, adjustable boost controller, set at about 17, clutch is Star Stage II disk and III pressure plate, brand new 3 core radiator w/ electric fan (runs really cool), engine has just less than 100,000 miles on it and throws you back in your seat [Image: smile.gif]

The bad: It's a new england car and has a good amount of rust. Mostly just bad surface rust right now, but hate dealing with rusty undersides. It was also hit in the driver's side rear quarter. The door and fender were scraped too, but not bad. The quarter needs to be replaced. It also has a bad vibration as you drive, was told was bad mating on clutch (didn't get how), but just found the u-joint on the shaft at the rearend has been torn and the guide is missing so has play in the fwd direction. Will have to replace the shaft.

Here's my questions: Should I just ditch the body and keep the engine (anyone have a nice body for sale?) What about replacing the driveshaft? I've read on here about the process, but no one seems to have a very good solution, always downfalls. I figure try to find the ranger with the alum and get cut I guess. Can I swap in a digital dash out of a t-bird? I had one in mine and had it at 122 and it still read. Looked good too. I have another boost/vacuum gage where the eq used to be along with a fuel/air ratio. I want to get this thing to do a respectable 1/4 mile. I want to whoop the crap out of my friend's 350z and these imports that drive me nuts. It's really fast and looking forward to getting the driveshaft replace, back brake line fixed, and front end aligned to take it to the track and see where it stands. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

Welcome neighbor, I have a 5 speed D/S you can have for cheap(needs U joints)...

I also have a rust free '88 Base model I'm gonna possibly part out that already has the 3.55 TC rear and 11" front brakes(wanna make a TC out of it?).

Give me a pm or email([email protected]) and let me know what you need.

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1988 Turbo Coupe... Bright Red
1988 Turbo Coupe... Dk Blue(parts car)
1987 Turbo Coupe... Silver(To be sold)
1988 Turbo Coupe... White, 5.0 with Trick Flow heads
1988 Thunderbird... Lt Blue base model 5.0 Windsor Jr heads
1969 Fairlane Cobra... 428 CJ, 4 speed
1993 F150 Lightning... Black.. #249 of 5276
1993 Aerostar... (To be sold)
1993 Grand Marquis...

[This message has been edited by TurboCoupe50 (edited 09-20-2005).]

I say WELCOME TO THE BOARD! [Image: biggrin.gif] Ya might want to take a close look at the rear diff pinion nut...has a habit of backing off sometimes. For the driveshaft it's a matter of gettin the car up on stands,removeing the little Ebrake cable bracket and then unbolting the rear flange(12 point 12mm I think) and pulling it out and slipping another one in it's place. 1-2 hrs according to how many friends and beers are there! [Image: biggrin.gif] As for ditching the body...we'd have to have a little more info on floor pans,framerails at the bottom of the frt strut towers (engine sides)especially by the turbo,and see pics to have a better idea of overall condition. Oh yeah...ck at the frt bottom of the strut towers at the front frame rails and see if there is about a 1/4" or so distance inbetween frt rail and strut tower...this is a good indication if it's been hit hard in the frt end.

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Garry McVey "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" Birdoprey always in flight... TBird TC owners are usually wingin' it
TC's 83 project, 86 donor for 83, 86 FUN street car, 87 blue to be stock street car, 87 red donor for blue and others, 87 red daily driver, 88 street and strip 14.01 chasin 13.0's, 87 XR4ti project,80 pinto wgn project

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayIS...%3AIT&rd=1

You can check out the pics. I will take detailed underside pics and post soon.

I remember seeing that car...the side exhaust caught my eye! Very good buy! Seems a shame to do a swap though.You'd have to ck on $$$ to replace the qtr and repairing the other damage and compare to makin the swap to another car...which way would be the best...money and TIME spent on both ways...

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Garry McVey "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" Birdoprey always in flight... TBird TC owners are usually wingin' it
TC's 83 project, 86 donor for 83, 86 FUN street car, 87 blue to be stock street car, 87 red donor for blue and others, 87 red daily driver, 88 street and strip 14.01 chasin 13.0's, 87 XR4ti project,80 pinto wgn project

Wow, i thought it would go for more than that! congrats.

theres a guy here fixing a 275000 mile bird with three times the rust and 6 times the damage, and he restoring his. cmon man you can do it, its definitely worth it. we need not lose another t/c vin# over some rust and a wrecked quarter. get a parts car(an v6 car or the like) and cut out what you need. then youll have everything you need to get rid of the rust and damage. just my 2 cents.

moller
AM

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1987 5.0 sport coupe, intake, exaust.>for sale<
1987 tc, goldie, mods: mandrel bent downpipe to cat with turn down, gillis valve, 155 lph pump, kirban afpr, 100 psi fuel guage, handmade pvc cold air intake, optima. 15.457 .22(#24)(special thanks to turbocoupeturbo)(firedoctor)
1988 mazda truck, 431000 mi.
Buisness partner in Aerobird Motorsports.

That quater looks horible, but the rest looks real clean. If the rest of the car looks good, like its not rotted bad, it looks like a real prospect.

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My TC

[This message has been edited by grey88smokin (edited 09-21-2005).]

Posted some pics
http://www.geocities.com/cduemig/images

Also a guy from work is selling his turbo and intercooler from his grand national. It's a Precision TE-44 and stock intercooler. I've heard of people using stock grand nationals before, but this is a pretty hefty turbo. Need to look up the specs. Do you think I'd see any real gains? This turbo is designed for a bigger engine and running higher boost at a large flow rate. Don't know what that will do for my backpressure/ flow dynamics, don't know too much about turbo theory. It's got about 20,000 on this turbo so should still be in good shape.

FiberGlass(body filler) is your friend...
As I have learned lol

My 87 TC is way worse
Look at pics to see what I have done http://mystic-modders.dyndns.org/my_1987...erbird.htm

I would recommend to just spend some time doin body work and fixin the rust like I have...enjoy [Image: smile.gif]



[This message has been edited by Khaled (edited 09-21-2005).]