My 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe "Michelle" (new pics 8/14)

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My first time ever buying a car :)

So early on Christmas day, dad came into my room and showed me a Turbo Coupe for sale pretty locally on craigslist. I knew I had to go look at it because I've been wanting a daily driver to have so I can keep my white Tbird preserved better. Went to look at the car today and bought it! I'm pumped! No final pics yet since it's dark out, but its in very good shape overall. Only mods done on it are a CD player/amp and boost controller. Everything else is stock, and I plan to keep it that way. It also has the FMS side skirts and spoiler, sunroof, climate control, dual power seats, etc. Fully loaded.

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http://greensboro.craigslist.org/cto/2128852665.html

Turbo Coupes come with a 2.3L turbo 4cyl rated at 190hp stock and a suspension that automatically stiffens during intense driving.
 
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I would've taken the Super Coupe that he had instead (I've always had a soft spot for them since my grandpa had one when I was little), but that is a nice enough example of a Turbo Coupe. And a manual as well, which is always a plus for these.
 
Porno red! 👍

So... which is gonna be faster, the 5.0 or the TC? You're all T-Birded out dude
 
Getthisgetthisgetthisgetthisgetthis....

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8 )

That being said, nice find, looks like everything's in good shape, too.
 
mustangGT90210
Porno red! 👍

So... which is gonna be faster, the 5.0 or the TC? You're all T-Birded out dude
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The 306 is way faster and will remain that way. The TC will remain a stock daily driver 👍 . And actually, the porno red isnt nearly as bad in person.

I also failed to mention that it has a new exhaust system with dual flowmasters.
 
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Oh, c'mon, with a Cossie YB head, and a nice, big, fat turbo...

For that matter, I wonder what ex-BTCC engines run as far as cost. >>

Okay, enough fooling around. I think if you start messing with that boost, though, you'd be surprised what that little 2.3 Turbo could do.
 
It's already quite impressive as it is. Starts off kinda doggish at low rpm, but once you hear the turbo start spoolin, she sits you back firmly in the seat and takes off. I really don't plan to mod it though because it's only going to be a DD.
 
kingcars
The 306 is way faster and will remain that way. The TC will remain a stock daily driver 👍 . And actually, the porno red isnt nearly as bad in person.

I also failed to mention that it has a new exhaust system with dual flowmasters.
Click to expand...

I told you porno red was awesome, that's what you get for doubting me for all these years :lol:

Bet it sounds nice! And I know the mod bug is gonna bite, it's got a turbo ;)
 
Finally got some real pics! This is exactly how I bought the car; haven't even washed her yet!

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The mod bug won't bite me with this car; I really love how it runs as it is. I will do the minor mods like timing and stuff for a few extra ponies, but nothing beyond that.
 
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That will look incredible with some meguiar's ultimate compound, and a good, hard wax. Suggestion...take enough pictures KY takes notice for inclusion in a DLC pack...
 
Damn that's a great looking Tbird. Can't wait to see it all cleaned up.

Now get some good wheels on that badboy and ditch the snowflakes!
 
Thanks for the compliments :)

First bath pics!

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All window tint has been removed, window vents are also gone, interior has been cleaned, boost gauge has been fixed, and plenty of tune-up parts have been ordered.
 
It still needs a good buffing...there is still a light haze on the paint...but for a car 20+ years old, DAMN, is that thing clean.
 
It definitely does need a good waxing; these short days of winter are killing me. I miss being able to wash my cars till 7-8pm and still having sunset and evening to go cruising. I only did a quickie wash yesterday because the weather was calling for rain today (and it has rained all day). I just wanted to get the mud and junk off of it. I definitely feel lucky to have a pair of '88 Tbirds in such good shape.
 
got dang that thing is really, REALLY clean. We never got the turbo mill from Ford, any car with that engine is really rare over here, and no one knows what they are. I'd definitely take your picture if I saw you.

Never EVER ditch those wheels. They are awesome.
 
Haha don't worry, those wheels arent going anywhere. I never knew that the Mustang SVO and Thunderbird Turbo Coupe didnt make it over there.
 
Neither did the earlier XR7s and... I think there were also turbo Capris? Anyway, If we got the SVO Mustang there would be some knowledge about the engine and it's capabilities, because in Mexico there is no Ford Power per sé, just Mustang power. All other Fords are olimpically ignored. I FREAKING hate that.

I think we got the same generation SVO as your Birds, but I don't really know. Since all of the cars we received were V8s, I wouldn't know how to distinguish them. And, again, since they are not Mustangs, no one knows a damn about them, so I wouldn't know who to ask these bits of info...
 
There was another oddball car, I think it's called a Merkur XR4Ti, that came with the 2.3T. The SVO Mustangs are easy to spot because the front of them look a lot different:

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I've only seen a few in person. They're quite uncommon here, much like the turbo Tbirds. If you have any questions about the Turbo Coupe, let me know.

In other news, I spent some quality time with the Turbo Coupe in the garage yesterday. Put in some (properly gapped!) motorcraft spark plugs, motorcraft OEM plug wires (much nicer than the cheapo set that was on there), new fuel filter, and a new cap and rotor. Definitely cleared up the high rpm hesitation for the most part; she runs even better now. Also have a new timing belt and tensioner that will be installed soon.
 
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So here are some updated pics of the interior and engine bay. Nothing major, but quite a few small details are different now. Notice the floor mats and mich nicer driver's seat belt buckle in the interior pics, and the new plug wires and overall extra cleanliness of the engine bay. Far from where I want it, but progress is being made!

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Saw this little gem on ebay and had to grab it :D

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The test car is even the same exterior and interior color as mine. And I looooooooove the old ads in here. Inside the front cover is an ad for the "All new" Mustang GT with 225hp and 300ftlbs. There's even a gun store ad showing semi auto SMGs :D
 
Took an overview/ride along video of Michelle for you guys. No full out WOT runs due to a high rpm hesitation, but turn the volume up a bit and enjoy the whistle of that turbo :) . Hope you all like it! Look in my other thread for an overview/ride along with the other car.

 
Been quite a while without an update :P

I've finally been getting off my butt so I can start fixing some of the issues that have bugged me with the car. The first one I wanted to tackle was the high rpm boost issue. The turbo would spool up quickly to 15lbs then at around 3500rpm it would sputter and have absolutely no power.

I had a feeling the turbo was just old and would need to be replaced, so I dug down and got to the turbo, checked for shaft play, checked for scoring along the walls...all looked good. Dad came outside and started pokin around as well when we started looking at the turbo vacuum diagram that's in the engine bay. Something didn't look right. The previous owner had put a boost controller on it so we started doing some research because it just didn't seem to be connected properly. It turned out to be the cheapest, lowest quality boost controller you can get so I threw that piece of trash away and hooked everything back up to the original boost valve, which was luckily still in the engine bay. Buttoned everything up and went out for a test drive. All was going great until I romped on it in 2nd gear, went to third....no more boost. No more power at all, really. It just died. So I limped it home, and after my dad and I both had heart attacks thinking we terribly screwed the turbo up or something, it turned out that I hadn't fastened the intercooler pipe properly. Epic facepalm moment of the day. Once that was secured properly, we went out for another test drive and WOW. It feels like a brand new car. Pulls really strong on the top end and is so smooth. The fun factor just went up exponentially, though I have a feeling that my gas mileage will be doing the opposite hahaha.

So what did I learn today? Never use a cheap boost controller and always make sure to properly fasten the intercooler pipe before forcing 15lbs of boost through it. Now with that out of the way, I plan to make a new driving video for it now that I can actually show it off some. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned

Also, for those who are wondering, here's the boost controller that was in it http://www.asia.ru/en/ProductInfo/861486.html . Total trash...if you ever see one on a car you buy, chuck it in the garbage can asap!
 
New updates! The last couple of months have been spent getting stuff done on the Turbo Coupe. New tires and new front shocks to be exact. The old ones were in TERRIBLE shape; the passenger side front shock was actually stuck and would make a clunking sound every time it would "break" loose. The tires were gone as well, so this stuff was definitely needing to be done. I also went through and polished up the headlights because they just looked horrific. Started off with a pair from the junkyard:

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Then ended up like this:

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Here's a before/after comparison:

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^keen eyed readers may also notice that the hideous front licence plate bracket is gone now

So now that everything major is fixed, I finally got a good new video up! My partner in crime was finally back in town, and while I know a few people wanted a 0-60 video, I thought that just straight acceleration wouldn't be doing the car justice. This video is one of my longest ones at almost exactly 5 minutes long, but I think it's great aside from the fact that the camera really doesn't do a good job of portraying the sense of speed. It looks slow in the video, but it felt like a roller coaster ride in the car haha. The good news is that the sound of the turbo came out really well, and the car felt great and balanced through the corners. Anyways, without further ado, here it is:



I hope you all enjoy it!
 
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