New guy

I own a 1988 TC with the dreaded A4LD. I have always wanted a black 88, but would have prefered a 5 speed. Anyways, this one was just too good to pass up. I paid $250 for the car, and so far I have put new brakes, and an exhaust system on it. The tires also needed replaced as they dried out and cracked while it was stored.

It still has a few other issues to address before I start modifying it though. The left rear wheel sensor is bad, both the rear trailing arms are busted, and the AC accumulator rusted out. Other than that I need to grind off a few minor rust spots and re-paint it.

So far the car is stock except for the exhaust system. I figured since I had to spend the money on it to drive it now, I might as well follow through with my plans for it. I had a stainless steel Y pipe made, two stainless tail pipes, and put two supertrap mufflers on it. Badass... it makes me smile... A LOT.

Anyways, just wanted to introduce myself instead of just being the silent lurker spaz that I have been.

Welcome to the board and good luck on your project! Stick around and you too will learn more than your head could possibly hold about the awesome tbird!

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Kev
88 TC 5spd Black body, red leather, K&N in front of the radiator, Gillis boost valve at 17 psi, polished throttle body, 2 1/2" dynomax ultraflow mandrel bent duals. 255 lph fuel pump, ported exhaust manifold, totally rebuilt head with Melling cam kit and a little port work

welcome and good luck with the project.

Originally posted by Pete D:
welcome and good luck with the project.

What he said! [Image: biggrin.gif]
--n8



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What every bird needs

Thanks guys. I have a few questions about parts, and an update on my progress so far. Maybe someone can relate to my rust experience, or can help out with my parts sourcing.

Just got done sandblasting and grinding all the little rusty spots off. I thought everything was just surface rust, but I ended up having to give one of the rear fender lips a little hot mig action to fill in a little rust hole. The mig wire alone filled it, and I got the inside and outside perfectly clean. Should be good to go, but I dabbed a little POR15 on the inside anyhow.

The doors on the other hand are much worse than I thought. The bottoms are just completely shot... I was tearing clear through them all over the place, and that is not a good place for sand to go. The skins are fine... It's just the bottoms that are shot, so I am thinking about making patch panels for them.

I also need to get new rear trailing arms. I did a search but only found two posts regarding them, and both were sort of obscure. There are upper and lower control arms on there, then these two bars that connect between the chassis and the axle right behind each back wheel. They are both broken.

The right rear wheel sensor is hanging loose and destroyed. The only code I get from the ABS computer is regarding that sensor so I think that is all I need to make the light go out.

The straps on the catalytic converter are rusted pretty bad. Anyone know if they are available alone? The guy that did my stainless exhaust seems to think that I can buy them from ford.

Only one fog light works... are the bulbs replacable in these things? If so are they readily available?

AC Accumulator can is rusted out at the bottom. I did a search on this too and it seems like there are some parts out there that don't work very well. I want to get a new one that is as close to original as possible. I don't care if it's $200, I want to mess with it, I just want to install it, change the O rings, vac the system and charge with R12. I have the R12 but I won't charge it until I am done with whatever engine work I go with.

Welcome aboard. Great to see another PA guy on here. Where exactly is Ellwood City?


[This message has been edited by Glenn 88TC (edited 05-22-2004).]

Originally posted by Glenn 88TC:
Welcome aboard. Great to see another PA guy on here. Where exactly is Ellwood City?

About 250 miles to the west on 422 from you. I am over by the Ohio line, 45 miles Northwest of Pittsburgh in Lawrence county. The biggest cities nearby me are Butler and New Castle.

Welcome!
Don't waste your time on the doors, there were ALOT of 87-88 'Birds and Cougs made, find a nice set of doors and buy them. Rust is a real bad issue and you should really go through the car before painting it, Check around the back window under the molding, bottom of the front fenders, trunk lid and trunk edges (where the water collects). Crawl under it and check the front of the big time as well as the gas tank area.
As for the A/C stuff, buy a original used one from a fellow NATO member. Good luck!

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Michael Pinto

1987 TC med red/charcoal - 5-Spd, race car, undergoing restoration
1988 TC silver/red - auto, V8 conv, no drivetrain "lawn ornament"
1988 TC whit/chacoal - auto, g/f's car
1992 Taurus SHO dk green/silver - 5-Spd, feature car, 13.37@104
1988.5 Escort gold/tan - auto, 3-Dr

RIP (5 Jan 03) 1988 TC med red/charcoal - 5-Spd, moonroof, wing, McK kit, all options except leather, 15.78@88

I've checked under the car for rust pretty thoroughly, as well as the trunk. There was some slight rust here and there, but nothing that a quick blast with a wire wheel wouldn't erase. I've taken every rust spot I can find down to clean metal, and so far I've only had to add metal to one spot to make it even. Not too bad for a car that age that's lived outdoors in this neck of the woods.

The doors look fairly easy to fix... Possibly even easier than stripping out old doors, adding my hardware, and re-hanging them. The bottom of the door skin is folded over onto the door bottom and pinch welded. That flange is still intact and in reasonably good shape. I think I can just make some heavy gauge patches for the door shell and tack the shell back onto it. I don't know if I will weld it though... I think some sir fusor adhesive would keep water out better.

But then again if I could find a set of black turbocoupe doors that required nothing more than hanging that'd be the way to go. [Image: smile.gif]