North American Turbocoupe Organization



My 1987 Thunderbird Turbocoupe
boboli Offline
Member
#11
My sunroof looked the same as yours. If I remember correctly, it's pretty hard. I'm pretty sure I sanded all that off. It's been years, so my memory is foggy of what I did, but I don't remember it being difficult. Maybe time consuming. My car was originally red interior and I changed it to a raven/black upper with a light grey lower. I'm pretty sure I just black bed linered the sunroof cover. It works but isn't original looking. I'm pretty sure the original should have a soft, felt like covering
1988 turbo tbird, 5spd, 140k, all stock except boost control valve.
1986 dodge omni glh turbo, 111k, my money pit.
1989 mustang Lx 5.0 convertible, tropical yellow/ tan interior, 1of only 144 made, 164k, aod, all stock including overheating TFI!
89 Jaguar XJS convertible, LT1 conversion, now fighting the prince of darkness (aka Lucas electronics)
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#12
anasazi4st thanks for the suggestions I'm definitely interested in getting some better speakers. First have to figure out why all the wires seem to be mixed up.
I've got a guy who restores headlights. I've seen the kits that do the outside but the problem is the inside also needs to be restored. It's a thing of beauty when it's done! There's a guy on Facebook I'm sure you guys must know him, pretty sure his name is Ron Hartman. He also does them. He's down in the states and has a lot of parts, seems to come across tons of turbos but he also does headlight restoration as well as tail lights I think.
I'm going to have to look into this Gillis valve. I have to say I don't feel like my car has a lot of get up and go. Having never driven another Thunderbird except for an automatic with a bigger engine years ago I don't recall how much power it should have.
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#13
Boboli
If I could get the piece out of the car I could probably come up with something that would look good and wouldn't be too hard to do.
Does it come out of the car easily?
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anasazi4st Offline
Senior Member
#14
OH...to quote a favorite old movie (Casablanca)...you’ll be shocked—SHOCKED—at how much power you have. After installing the Gillis valve—having had no real TURBO BOOST for many years—I was VERY pleasantly surprised.

I was fairly certain and very much afraid that I was going to a) break something on the engine; b) be a menace to myself and all those around me, if I wasn’t very careful; and c) bring a lot of unwanted attention from other less socially conscious drivers (i.e. road rage) and the LAW—again, if I wasn’t very careful.

Hey this isn’t a 5- or 700 HP vehicle, like some of the Mustangs and Dodge Challengers out there. But as I mentioned in my previous post after I installed it, one has to resist the urge to simply—press down on the accelerator. It GOES, and pretty fast. In the past, the potent mix of ego and testosterone would have gotten me in a LOT of trouble.

As for the speakers—yes, I agree. Get the wiring straightened out first. Good speakers are still going to sound like crap if wired out of phase and incorrectly. The great thing about Ford’s system—unforgiving in general as it is, with no common ground for the speakers—is that when wired correctly and when correctly matched with a good head unit (media player) the results are awesome.
Another proud dues-paying member.

1987 Turbo Coupe w/T5OD, 8.8 axle, grey smoke; most options. Got it in 1991 with 41K miles: 3 turbos, 2 heater cores, 3 T5OD full rebuilds, 6 clutches, 1 head gasket, 2 Teves II ABS units, etc. later....
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#15
Alright I am very interested in this Gillis valve but I have some questions regarding it. Please forgive my lack of knowledge, just trying to understand.
With my car now, I have to be quite careful not to accelerate too quickly as according to the boost gauge it is maxed out. By that I mean simply that if I'm not watching the gauge I will find that although it seems like the engine itself is willing to push harder, the turbo is maxed.
I don't understand what it is the Gillis valve does at all.
Like I said it seems that the turbo itself limits me in my acceleration. I kind of wish that I could push the pedal down further and get going quicker, but I can't as a result of the turbo. It's actually almost on the dangerous side when I need to pull out onto a busy highway. I would love to get the heck going, but I can only push the car/turbo so hard as it is now.
For all I know it might even already have a Gillis valve, I wouldn't know.
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anasazi4st Offline
Senior Member
#16
No need to apologize. No one came into this world knowing everything, we all have to start somewhere.

I’m certainly no expert when it comes to turbos and boost. But your situation sounds unique—if I am understanding you correctly, your turbo gauge indicates that you are at the maximum boost pressure of around 15psi...yet you feel no acceleration from the turbo? You’d like to accelerate harder, but feel you can’t because the boost gauge says you are maxed out?

I’ve driven a few turbocharged vehicles, and I can tell you that there’s little mistaking a good turbo boost. You’re moving along at a certain speed...and then suddenly you’re going much faster. It’s kind of like when you hit the Fast Forward button in a video player. This rush of speed is of course accompanied by the needle on the boost gauge correspondingly moving up.

Again, no expert...but if this ISN’T what’s happening, then it sounds like you’ve got some kind of malfunction. If you do a Google search for “Gillis valve” you can see what one looks like, it’s a simple but very effective gadget. I would doubt you have one installed—at least, a properly operating one anyway.
Another proud dues-paying member.

1987 Turbo Coupe w/T5OD, 8.8 axle, grey smoke; most options. Got it in 1991 with 41K miles: 3 turbos, 2 heater cores, 3 T5OD full rebuilds, 6 clutches, 1 head gasket, 2 Teves II ABS units, etc. later....
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gtbird Offline
Member
#17
I re-did my sunshade with a kit I bought here:
https://www.flockit.com

Time consuming but it looks original as it is the same concept/material style that Ford used.
1988 T/C Silver with red interior, fully loaded except for leather. 5 lug conversion with 97 Cobra wheels, Cobra 13" brakes up front, Mustang brakes out back, Koni adjustable shocks and struts, NOS Koni lowering springs . Maximum Motorsports control arms and caster/camber plates, subframe connectors.
SOLD September 2020. Will miss this car after 19 years of building/driving/showing....time for a new chapter in my life.
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#18
I checked out the link it looks great. Did you have trouble getting the peace out of the car?
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#19
anasazi4st
I don't know if I would say I don't feel any sort of an increase. It's just not really all that big, and yes I feel like I am restricted in how quickly I can accelerate because of the turbo
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#20
I just thought it wasn't a very peppy car or something. I've never driven a turbo before and I've never driven a Thunderbird with a smaller engine.
I was thinking maybe I'd try and take a short video of the gauges and do a couple different short drives on level ground to see if maybe that would show things better than I can describe.
The car is completely drivable I don't have any problems but I just wish it had a bit more get up and go.
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