Hello guys and gals, my name is Scott and I’m from Bowling Green Ky. I own my own HVAC company and recently a customer gave me a 1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo coupe. The engine and tranny had just been rebuilt, but not in the car yet. I got it home and installed the engine and tranny. But am having a hell of a time getting it running. I drag race and have been a gear head all my life. I am currently 44 yrs old. But this thang has fought me the whole time. It has set for 7-10yrs. Anyways it will start up but as soon as I let off the start position on the key it dies. I have replaced the IRMC, the ignition switch, new fuel pump, the fuel pump relay, and ignition coil. I read the diagrams on this sight several times and done as it told me. But I’m at witts end. Please help. Prolly something as small as wired wrong?? But man I’ve looked at it so much I’m going cross eyed. Please HELP. Thanks I’m advance.

Hey guys, I need some advice about the IRCM on my 87 Turbo Coupe. From what I understand this box contains relays that controls different things like the fan and fuel pump, etc....Another thing it controls is voltage to the ECU. So I have a couple questions. 

1) Would a bad IRCM cause a erratic and unstable idle so bad that the car won't stay running at idle, but fires right back up when it dies? Could a bad voltage issue from the IRCM to the ECU cause this?
2) How does a guy test the IRCM to see if it's bad? I need specifics on how to test this. 

Thanks for the help...

Hello, I recently acquired an SVO Mustang and someone tried to convert it to the TC suspension unsuccessfully. It's been sitting since 2003 and I have it back on the road again. All the struts and shocks seem to work ok and all the actuators are on the car. My question is, do people still want this stuff? I'm planning to replace everything this winter. The electric brake stuff is out of the car now sitting on the floor.

Ryan

anyone know where I can find a steering knuckle for my 88 t-bird?

Noticed this past week that the clutch pedal has been making an occasional popping sound.  The first I noticed it was when I depressed the pedal to start the car, never made the sound again until the next day when starting, then fine for several days.  Today it made the popping sound about 4 or 5 times while driving, this occurs as soon as you depress the pedal.  Of course I can't see anything up under the dash and hoping someone may have some insight on this.  Is there perhaps a bushing or???  The clutch pedal does seem to wiggle slightly compared to the brake pedal but not sure if that is normal or not.

It is hard to diagnose as it doesn't occur regularly, however after today, it seems to be getting a little more prevalent.

So I've been working on the 5 speed swap for my car and I've been pulling all the parts out of the donor car.  Last night it was the pedal assembly which was all straight forward but it raised some questions.  

Does anyone know if the under dash harnesses are the same from 5 speed cars to automatic cars?  There are two switches on the clutch pedal, I would guess one for the starter and the other for cruise control.  Does anyone know if these plugs will be on my automatic harness?  

I also pulled the harness from the T5, up through the tunnel to where it plugs into dash.  I'm hoping I can just swap these parts over and not have to reinvent anything for the neutral safety.  If I have to I will but would greatly prefer to just plug things in and go....the entire point of buying the donor car.


One more...Does anyone know if the clutch position switch is the same in these cars as in a Fox body Mustang? I'm thinking it is since the pedals interchange.

So I'm in the middle of a 5 lug conversion on my car and I'm to the point where I need to get wheels.  There are tons of wheels out there and most of them are cheap, cast aluminum that are made over seas.  The other option is a very high quality wheel that carries an equal price tag.  There is very little in between so I started looking at late model Mustang wheels which come in 18x8 and 19x8.5.  I've run a lot of 18s on older cars and that is my preferred wheel size on a performance minded car.  My goal was to run a 255 front tire and a 275 rear tire which I believe is the largest I can fit.  Here comes the problem.  You cannot put a 26" tall, 275 tire on an 18x8 wheel but you can put a 255 and a 275 on a 19x8.5.  I'm concerned the wheel will be too big even though the tire diameter is the same.  

Here are the tire differences.  
255/40R18
275/35R18

255/35R19
275/30R19

I'm looking heavily at the Mustang wheels because I trust the quality of an OEM wheel over aftermarket and you can find take off wheels for less then a cheap aftermarket set.  Does anyone have a picture of one of these cars on 19" wheels?

I got my PIMPx installed along with my ported head with big valves, BoPort 1.5 cam, new springs and simple sanded full runner intake installed and running pretty good with some minor tuning adjustments to be made to my idle and cold start. The PIMPx install was very straight forward, run the MAP hose through the firewall, cut pin 29 and solder in the wideband output wire, installed the 60lb injectors. Went through all of the guides before hand and double checked my jumper installs were correct and made sure that all of my initial setting were correct. Went through the setup guide step by step, checked my timing to ensure it was getting controlled by the PIMPx, started on the first go. Had to adjust my initial idle fuel numbers as it was too rich, but ran well. Also had to turn down my initial idle values as when I gave it some gas or put the clutch in the idle would hang at 2500 too long. Warmed it up, made sure all of my fuel numbers looked good at least initially and put it in auto tune for some easy drives. Went well, then made some low boost runs and made adjustments. Yesterday, I went for another drive and made some full throttle runs and WOW! Hit the rev limiter in 2nd gear as it was still pulling so good, never hit the limiter before as it was just sort of flat so shifted at 6 anyway, it surprised me! The cam is set at 2 degrees advanced to get a little more bottom end and it works well, the boost comes up quicker too. I am impressed.

Found an '87 Cougar 5.0L for sale near me if anyone is interested.   

https://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/d/hil...42873.html

Wants: $3,150.00

Does anyone on here have any knowledge of a company that makes a 3" catalytic converter that is CARB compliant? ordered a 3" exhaust through Stinger Performance however the high flow catalytic converter that came with it is only legal in 49 states (damn California) so now if I want any chance of passing smog I need to find one that will fit this new exhaust while also being legal in California. Any leads or ideas would be greatly appreciated