Welcome and congratulation on the new car.
Do you hear the sound of a pump under the hood, come on for a few to several seconds when you turn the Key to RUN (engine off) I doubt it if the brakes are real hard and there is no stopping power. The 87-88 use an electrically driven pump and accumulator instead of the traditional vacuum brake booster. If the pump doesn't run you get no brake boost. Very often this is caused by the failure of a relatively inexpensive relay. This relay is 1 of 2 located under the black plasticcover directly below the vacuum tree. The vacuum tree is where all the vacuum hoses meet, high on the fire wall. You can learn more about the relay here:
http://www.turbotbird.com/FAQPage/FAQpag..._Diagnosis
"The ABS light and the red brake light should
come on for a few seconds every time the car is started. Do they go out after 10 to 30 seconds? Either way the hard pedal is not related to the ABS light. If the ABS light is staying on then you will need to pull the codes from the computer in the trunk. See:
To extract the ABS codes, find the ABS test connector in the trunk. It looks just like the EEC test connector under the hood. Hold it so the row of 4 terminals is on the top, and the 2 terminal row is on the bottom.
Jumper the bottom left terminal (black wire) to the second from the left in the top row (orange / white wire). Turn on the ignition. The ABS light will flash codes. Let us know the results." (originally posted by Jeff K)
Pedal pulsating could be a warped rotor(s) this would not be a surprise for a car that sat for 3 years.
