good deal or no?

ive been looking at an '87 TC 5-speed with 40k miles on it, the owner wants $3500 for it although i think i can talk him down quite a bit. the exterior of the car is in excellent shape and it runs better than any TC ive driven. the interior is another story altogether, it will need to totally be replaced. it also is lacking certain features that i require, so my question to you guys is how much is it gonna cost me to do this stuff.....

sunroof - preferably adapted from a factory setup in another TC, i cant do this myself so i would have to get it done professionally. i have no idea how much they cost to have installed, and i havent called any body shops yet....im just looking for some estimates really if anybody has any experience.

electronic climate control - i dont know how complicated this is but i may be able to do it myself. how much are the parts?

new seats - the leather is the most disgusting ive ever seen in this car. i want to replace all of them and add the power drivers seat which it doesnt have. i can do all this myself. how much?

carpet - its all torn up to sh!t. i looked in the jc whitney catalog but they didnt have the 87-88 tbird listed, is there any other place that sells pre-formed carpeting?

equalizer - a couple of the buttons are broken off....i know its nit-picking but i want everything perfect =) are these things expensive?

oh yeah, the tires and brakes also need to be replaced as well (it has the original goodyear tires!) and i plan on upgrading the stereo with a fairly decent system. with all the money i will have to spend getting this car up to speed, do you guys still think it would be a good deal at say...two grand or so?

Sean Can the milage be verified? Seems like 40,000 mile the inside is torn up really bad. If it's a real low milage car I think it is probaly worth 2000. If you put another grand on it for upgrades only 3000 for a low milage car the way u want it. Cheap. Ask some others what they have in there motors alone.

wow, 40K miles is not much for an '87. I wonder how the interior is trashed already? If the owner will come down a little on price it sounds like a good car to invest the time in. Personally I wouldn't do the electronic climate control install. I hear the climate control can be problematic to begin with, and it would probably be a PITA to install if the car didn't already come with it. I've *never* seen a TC that didn't have a power driver's seat! I would keep it stock, or at least keep the old switchplate and brackets in case it becomes a desirable setup someday. I've switched from single power to dual power seats, which wasn't hard. I have no idea if a car with no power seats would have the hookup for power seat(s) though. If so, the wiring is a piece of cake if you pull it out of a junkyard car and install it along with the power motor equipped seat tracks. You should be able to find a decent EQ in a junkyard if you look around, they aren't all that uncommon. Carpet is available, here is one site that sells it http://www.1aauto.com/carpet/ford/ford4.htm
let us know what you decide to do


BTW, the leather seats are I believe the same as for the '89-93 Mustang GT, you can buy new leather or cloth covers at www.nextgenparts.com


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'88 Thunderbird TC
misc. mods
'86 Mustang GT

[This message has been edited by Mr. Sam Ford (edited 06-24-2001).]

I just thought I would put my 2 cents in, well my canadian 2 cents is like 1 cent american.

The brakes are really expensive on our cars, I spent around 800 Canadian for quality rear brakes, Talk him down a bunch. Check for odometer tampering.

That sunroof is gonna be expensive, even if you get the factory one out of another car, a professional body shop is gonna charge big $ to install it. Carpet is pretty easy to replace, I would question why its in so bad shape my parts car had 150K miles on it and carpet was perfect.

Best of luck

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88 TC Auto, 3" exhaust, with 3" flowmaster. Gutted Cat KN cone gillis boost, Air water IC (comming soon) and a t5 swap, Ground effects

I was under the impression that power drives seat was standard equipment on TCs. I, too am surprized that the interior is that bad on a 40K car. I have one car with manual heat/AC and one with the electronic climate control, which I haven't had a problem with - yet. Personally, I'll take the manual. If you are going to replace the sound system, forget the factory equalizer. The power buttons inevitably break and have to be wedged or glued in the 'on' position. Consider putting some much needed aftermarket gauges where the equalizer goes. A factory sunroof is going to be big $$. Figure $800 + do redo the seats in leather. New front rotors are over $100 each and can go $150 ea. Rears are less. If the interior is that bad I'd try to get a least a grand off his asking price

doh....im a retard...it has the power drivers seat, but the passanger seat is normal, dont know what i was thinking when i wrote that....

well, im as sure about the mileage being accurate as i can be...i mean it has the original goodyear tires (i bet theyre one of the last sets left around), the engine looks very clean and hasnt had any parts replaced. the interior isnt really that bad, but i wasnt all that impressed with it....roughly about as good as my former 120k mile '88 TC looked. i hate the leather seats in these cars (especially the ugly gray color this one has) so id definitely go to cloth. does anybody know the deal with that electronic climate thing? does it plug into the ecm or something? i dont mind if its a little more tricky than the conventional one...the more gadgets the better!

i think what i will do is hold off a week or two and see if i cant find a TC that suits my needs better and then offer this guy like $2000 or so for the car.

i agree with Pete. i'd lose the equalizer for some GOOD gauges that are needed.

Or, not the best location but, you could remove that Systems Sentry box and place a few gauges there.

i, myself, would rather know exact engine temperature and oil pressure than if my door is ajar or if i have low washer fluid. lol.

As for the EATC, you're gonna need quite a bit of other parts to make the system work. No, it doesn't (not directly) plug into the EEC.

And you really won't have much of a benefit from it, the EATC system.

And it really isn't a rock solid system either. It can be a pain. lol.

Just my opinion.

JT

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JT
[email protected]
www.geocities.com/turbocpe/
1987 T-Bird Turbo Coupe T-5
1994 T-Bird LX 4.6L
1988 T-Bird Turbo Coupe A4LD
1988 T-Bird 3.8L
1979 T-Bird Heritage 351M

Sean,
Gee I typed a complete reply and something ATE it...

First... I have an 87 and an 88 equipped with all the toys. I also have an 88 with one power seat, no sunroof, no keyless, no power ant, manual heater and a/c.

Sunroof

Both the cars that have the sunroof have added windnoise above about 30 mph. Highway speeds it is annoying. Perhaps a new seal would fix it but I haven't gotten that far.

Climate control

This thing has VERY expensive parts to it. Some of the controller modules under the dash goes for over $100. Personally the ONLY thing I like about the Climate control
is the ability to split my air between vents and footwell. I always run my climate control manually anyway. I prefer the manual hands down over the climate control.

Grahic EQ

Like it fine. Might have to clean a pot or something with contract cleaner every now and again, and the power switches ALL go bad.
Other than that, I think it puts out some nice sound.

How does one tear carpet to shit in 40k miles? If there is anything I can say for these TCs is they have some GREAT carpet. Stuff wears like iron. I cannot imagine tearing up a set in 40k miles.

Having said that....
If you have to have the things you said you wanted, you are much better off looking for another car. They are out there.
For example I recently found an 88 TC with all the toys. Every option. Original paint that is in very good shape (tho not perfect)
New tires, brakes. Interior is very nice.
106k miles
Paid $3400
Had to put in a used multi function switch
(free)
Alternator and starter both died (original)
Radiator repaired
Have a leak on the top side of the gas tank someplace, probably the fuel pump seal.
To a new shift knob for it (smiles at Pete)
Will put some new PRC shocks on it in the next week or two.

But the car is very nice looking inside and out. Lived in Ca all it's life. Don't know if it has even SEEN snow.

I don't want this to sound like a brag, the point being, look longer if you want all the toys and you can find a nicer car for the same price this guy is asking.



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Kevin
TCx2
88 White TC, 5spd, Loaded
88 Black TC, 5spd, Base
87 LtBlue TC, 5spd,Loaded

Originally posted by TCx2:
Have a leak on the top side of the gas tank someplace, probably the fuel pump seal.

Just FYI, it might be more than just that.

i always had a real slight fuel tank leak on my '88 TC A4LD. Well, when i dropped the tank to install the 255 fuel pump, the leak was worse.

Apparently my leak was one of the fuel lines from the fuel pump assembly bracket. It was rusted pretty bad. Well, when i dropped the tank to do the fuel pump, i must have disturbed it, cause it was worse after i bolted the tank back in place.

Which is partly why i had to drop that tank like 3-4 times [Image: eek.gif]

i had to order a fuel pump kit from Ford (fuel pump, and bracket with the lines). i was in a bind since i was taking that TC to a show out of state in a couple days.

So i had to eat Ford's heavy price on that.

Just FYI.

JT


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JT
[email protected]
www.geocities.com/turbocpe/
1987 T-Bird Turbo Coupe T-5
1994 T-Bird LX 4.6L
1988 T-Bird Turbo Coupe A4LD
1988 T-Bird 3.8L
1979 T-Bird Heritage 351M

You can't just plug the electronic climate control in a nd go. the heater boxes are completely different. You will have to change them if you want to go to the electronic system. Not a fun job.

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87 TC 5-speed Black, loaded. 17psi, G3 alternator, KB subs, Grant steering wheel, custom greasable swaybar bushings, K&N. Soon to have KB Trackit Axle brackets, Maximum Motorsports lower control arms, T-3, Saab intercooler, ranger roller cam Gen1 DSM BOV and rebuilt front suspension.

91 Mustang - Project Pegasus
A Pony with the heart of a 'Bird