North American Turbocoupe Organization



It was April 1, 1982...
Blade1433 Offline
Senior Member
#1
...and a dozen or so Ford mechanical engineers were gathered around a table sipping coffee while discussing what rear end to use on the new Turbo Coupes. The conversation when something like this.
"Well guys, we could use the 7.5", it's strong enough for the stock car."
"Yeah, but the 8.8" would be insurance to make sure we don't have many warranty issues if someone runs the car hard"
"Well guys, what do you think?"
One person raises his hand for the 7.5" and the other eleven opted for the 8.8".
"Now it's time to figure out where to put the fill hole. A good idea would be to put it right on the differential cover to make sure it's easy to get to and is less likely to rust in place."
"Yeah, but... we'll have to do some retooling in the plants."
"I guess your right, lets leave it on top the seam in the axle where the salt and water can sit and rust it in place"
"Okay, that settles it. We're gonna use an 8.8" with the pain in the ass fill hole."

And so it was, the bolts rust in place or the scale is so bad, you can get the socket in. And you have to take the diff cover off, weld a nut in there and use a bolt for the fill plug for the rest of eternity.

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Blade

"Drive it like you stole it"

88 bone stock TC with 138k, 5spd, burgundy, almost all options with new U-joints, tranny Xmember, front end, FULL tune-up with select MSD products, new horizontal axle shock thingies, custom interior, white face guages. Coming soon: boost guage and air fuel ratio guage on the pillar, Gillis valve, K&N, gutted upper, knife edged lower, gutted E6, T3, and steam cleaned engine bay.
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sctur601 Offline
Member
#2
Hmm, for some reason here in AZ we dont have the problem of the fill plug rusting up. i wonder why? Hahahahah [Image: tongue.gif]
Sorry i just couldnt help myself


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My vehicle
1983 Turbo Coupe with a GN intercooler, dawes device set at 22psi of boost,K&N cone,fully ported e-6 manifold,gutted and ported intake, ported stock valve head, Ranger cam set -2 deg, and Full 3" exhaust with 3" magnaflow, 190 pump, a TRI AX shifter,Madhatter clutch quadrant,Racer walsh adjusatble cam pulley large VAM, LA3, brown tops, and 88 TC wheels. Next mods, boxed control arms, Subframe connectors, 3.73 8.8 rear,Larger front brakes, and poly bushings. Then i have no ideaSmile
has run a best of 14.71 at 92mph on drag radials. New times with GN intercooler, LA3, brown tops!!!! 14.9 at 96mph on my street tires.
New times with head ,e6 and ported intake, 100 race fuel, and 28psi 13.83 at 103mph!
My vehicle
1983 Turbo Coupe-
13.83 at 103mph!
273rwhp and 342ftlb at 24 psi with a slipping clutch!
And it still feels slow!
Thanks
Shawn

I also do port work, if you need something ported email me at [email protected]
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Walsted Offline
Posting Freak
#3
The first four years of TurboCoupes came with the 7.5 rear ends, so, it looks like the majority of engineers was right in this case, and someone in Marketing said "In customer surveys dealing with appearances, our target demographic said they think smaller rear ends are sexier than large rear ends. I think we can extrapolate this data taken from a womens' swimsuit manufacturer to our purposes, so, it appears that the smaller rear end will increase sales and reduce costs".

I believe a disproportionate number of us who own the 83-86 model year cars(when compared to the number of folks on this board who own the 87 and 88 TCs) have HAD to replace the rear end. I did the swap, and I know I wasn't the first, and I have seen at least a couple of threads later involving the same swap. It would be interesting to know how many of the 83-86 cars still have a quiet stock rear end.

Of course, the fill hole on the 7.5 was in the same place. I have resigned myself to removing the counterweight and using a long extension when I need to check the diff fluid in the 7.5, and that habit serves me well with the 8.8.

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Mike Walsted - Nato member
1986 5-speed TurboCoupe .
Mike Walsted - Sold my 1986 5-speed TurboCoupe
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Blade1433 Offline
Senior Member
#4
Whoops, sorry I didn't research the axle sizes when I posted. You got my point though, right?

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Blade

"Drive it like you stole it"

88 bone stock TC with 138k, 5spd, burgundy, almost all options with new U-joints, tranny Xmember, front end, FULL tune-up with select MSD products, new horizontal axle shock thingies, custom interior, white face guages. Coming soon: boost guage and air fuel ratio guage on the pillar, Gillis valve, K&N, gutted upper, knife edged lower, gutted E6, T3, and steam cleaned engine bay.
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Walsted Offline
Posting Freak
#5
Sure, no problem. I get your point everytime I am laying on my back under the car removing the weights just so I can check the fluid level.

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Mike Walsted - Nato member
1986 5-speed TurboCoupe .
Mike Walsted - Sold my 1986 5-speed TurboCoupe
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Blade1433 Offline
Senior Member
#6
Good, I'm glad someone finally understands my insanity. One question though, anyone notice the date as anything mildly significant?



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Blade

"Drive it like you stole it"

88 bone stock TC with 138k, 5spd, burgundy, almost all options with new U-joints, tranny Xmember, front end, FULL tune-up with select MSD products, new horizontal axle shock thingies, custom interior, white face guages. Coming soon: boost guage and air fuel ratio guage on the pillar, Gillis valve, K&N, gutted upper, knife edged lower, gutted E6, T3, and steam cleaned engine bay.
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Dan E Offline
Posting Freak
#7
Quote:Originally posted by Blade1433:
Good, I'm glad someone finally understands my insanity. One question though, anyone notice the date as anything mildly significant?

Yeah ! I checked my calendar from 1982...it says 5 months 17 days and counting left of bachelorhood [Image: rolleyes.gif]
Dan Eaves
88TC 5spd Vermillion Red, Polished...everything...
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segfaultxr7 Offline
Posting Freak
#8
Quote:Originally posted by Dan E:
Yeah ! I checked my calendar from 1982...it says 5 months 17 days and counting left of bachelorhood [Image: rolleyes.gif]


For me, it was 2 months and 10 days before I was born. [Image: biggrin.gif]
88 TC 5-speed
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Walsted Offline
Posting Freak
#9
Quote:Originally posted by Blade1433:
Anyone notice the date as anything mildly significant?
Yes, it was a Thursday, April Fools Day in 1982, and I spent it cleaning barracks during the morning and getting drunk at lunch and through the rest of evening in Yokosuka, Japan. Life was good, and eleven days later they stuck me on a ship.

Oh, you were talking about turbocoupes, though, weren't you?



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Mike Walsted - Nato member
1986 5-speed TurboCoupe .
Mike Walsted - Sold my 1986 5-speed TurboCoupe
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Blade1433 Offline
Senior Member
#10
Yes I was talking about April fools day and hell, I wasn't even conceived then!

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Blade

"Drive it like you stole it"

88 bone stock TC with 138k, 5spd, burgundy, almost all options with new U-joints, tranny Xmember, front end, FULL tune-up with select MSD products, new horizontal axle shock thingies, custom interior, white face guages. Coming soon: boost guage and air fuel ratio guage on the pillar, Gillis valve, K&N, gutted upper, knife edged lower, gutted E6, T3, and steam cleaned engine bay.
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