4/17/04 - It begins....

Well, I started my 88 mustang turbo project. Last weekend my dad told me he got an 86 thunderbird in the back, I asked what it was, he said it had a turbo on it....nuff said. Got in town and went out back to check it out. It was rough but I only thought, "does it run?" By the end of the night, it cranked, wouldn't idle but ran...sorta...good enough for me.

4/18/04 - Diving in head first

Quick recap, the TC sputtered somewhat to life meaning it was "rebuildable" so out the engine came. I think I forgot pictures so here they are. This was the most dent free body I had to work with AND was already 5-speed (though I don't think the tranny is good) and the turbocoupe donor. Both had red interiors...god I hate red but those t-bird seats are COMFY!


ugly I know but I've got BMW dark silver in mind for the outside with a full ranger rotor/drum compliment and some 94-95 GT 6-spokes for the outside with 84-86 tails and definitely those tbird front seats, mmmmm.

5/05/04 - research!

Sitting at work in atlanta researching wiring and such I realized I'll need/want to run an 87-88 tbird LA series ecu and big VAM for the car. A quick search (read as careful) on http://www.car-part.com found me a salvage yard in Ohio with a "88 thunderbird ecu" for $20. I take a look and bam! these people actually have pictures of their inventory...on the pic...LA3! call...thanks for paying for the long distance charges work teehee. Confirmed, it's an LA3 for $20. bought...shipped. Then to eBay and a search for a big VAM gets me one of those for $22. Also, I have a spare volvo intercooler sitting on my porch from one of my pick-a-part yard stints as well as a pair of volvo bypass valves so I'll make use of one of those as well...but later after the car is running.

5/07/04-5/09/04 - Progress still!

Coming right along and some of this includes stuff I did in april but I got the engine rebuilt that weekend (I live in Atlanta, GA and my parents live in Charleston, SC so I have to drive 280miles one way to work on this beast until it's street worthy...). Well, I scrambled that weekend when I pulled the head off the turbo engine and found #2 and #3 cylinder exhaust valve seats cracked all the way to the waterjackets, ouch! Theres the vacuum leaks that kept it from idling... Anyway, I was in a pinch and tossed on the n/a head after seeing it was in solid shape. Well, found out only after putting it all together that the valvetrain is completely different in the two head types with the turbo head having a different camshaft with higher lift and shorter duration as well as "supposedly" having hardened exhaust valves.

So, as soon as I got in town friday night (on a timeframe here people, I intend to have this car as a daily driver by august/september 2004) I ripped the engine down real quick and popped the head. Pulled the valvetrain out of both heads and went to bed. Man, I'm glad I did that. The amount of carbon on the valves in the n/a head was unreal! Fully cleaned the turbo valvetrain with use of the stationary wire wheel on the work bench, lapped the valves for use in the n/a head, and tossed that thing back on there! Quick note: turbo valve springs are also probably different from n/a valve springs as I noticed they were wound oppositely compared to the n/a springs and also the metal looked a bit thicker. Probably a little higher rate to handle the extra lift in the turbo cam.

Well, it's 2:00p.m. now and I've completed my frankenstein 2.3t engine for my project meaning that by this time I've robbed the following from the n/a engine for use on the turbo engine: the actual bare head itself, the engine mounts, the timing chain cover, the oil pan, the serpentine setup, the bare lower intake manifold (upper will go on eventually for knock sensor use), the fuel injection harness, the fuel rail w/dampener, and something else I can't remember right now. Anyway, here's frankenstein for you all rebuilt and ready to go in:

some quick after thoughts....I would love to meet the previous owner of the tbird...and slap them. engine was in sad shape. Thermostat dissolved in my hand when I removed the housing, a few hoses crumbled to nothing when I tried to take them off, there was stop leak rampant through the cooling passages which was NOT easy to clean out, etc, etc, etc. Come to think of it the only reason I think the tbird made it to the graveyard of my dad was the exhaust seat cracks got so bad they couldn't keep it running anymore. You can't see from the single picture of it but the car's driver's door CAN'T be opened due to a wreck, it was on a spare tire, and there was duct tape on the exhaust pipes....

5/09/04...2 - It's ALIVE!
I try to keep the sections from trailing on forever which is why this one exists. Ok, After much hatred the engine was finally put into it's place where it fit like a glove.
QUICK NOTE: if you can't get the engine mounts to sit down...check behind the engine for ANYTHING that might be back there. I had a plug that kept me from getting my 1" of clearance I needed. Kicked a few things, cussed a bit, then looked back there, pulled it out, and it slipped in like a glove. sigh.
Everything else mechanical fit just fine. Mounts went where mounts should after that incident, fuel lines followed their paths due to the fuel rail I used (smart sticker for me :D), now to the electrical...
Sigh, my big VAM didn't come in yet...but the LA3 was here. In it went. I wired up the ECU and had to make due with the small VAM from my donor car but oh well. I used Stinger's wiring instructions to get the job done, you can find them here. Some areas of the instructions were completely stupid (sorry man but they were). I modified them to fit my needs. I didn't NEED to cut the wire at the ecu, I just ran my wires straight to the EGR plug and hooked them there, only ran what I "HAD" to into the passenger compartment. Hooked up my ecu, vam, and proceeded to crank the engine and....
nothing!
sigh, nothing.
Doh! ignition switch was bad, or at least I thought it was. Just had to hold it slightly into the crank position to get normal power, heard the fuel pump priming and gave it another shot. WHEEE it runs...runs badly...but runs. Cam is installed straight up and I think I have a fuel pressure problem since it literally wont rev/and runs like crap for about 2-3 minutes THEN comes to life and runs normally albiet backfires after a rev but MAN that turbo sings like no other!!! compared to the 3 turbos I've had on my civic this thing is LOUD wow! Anyway, I could go on and on about stupid stuff but I won't I'm tired now and need sleep...and I don't care, it runs haha. Here's a few pics of frankenstein as of right now. Can't wait to get it tuned up right and the ignition fixed so I can actually attempt to drive it a tad haha:



The project continues HERE!