92 mustang 2.3l swap to 86 tbird turbo

[cjk92turbo]

Recently I bought a engine, trans, and rear end from a 86 thunderbird 2.3l turbo and plan to drop it in my 92 mustang 2.3l . I want to know what I need in all to do the swap I know the obvious like intercooler, however was wondering about the coputer and what else? Thank you.
-Casey

 

[79'293stang]

This should help you get started. http://www.stinger-performance.com/turboswap.html

 

[cjk92turbo]

thank you that helped a lot. it has about everything i need

 

[bonestock87]

I just finished almost the exact same swap. I used an 86 Turbo Coupe engine and trans and swapped it into my 93 automatic Mustang. Stinger's site is extremely helpful. There are some areas that leave you guessing a little. If you are keeping the 86's computer and VAM as opposed to upgrading to an 87-88 computer and VAM, be advised Stinger's directions are for the 87-88 and a couple of wires locations are different.

Please feel free to post up questions and I should be able to help.

 

[cjk92turbo]

thank you just yesterday i have completed the swap it runs excellent! another thing is about the speedometer like the cluster is there an after market one i could buy or what did you do because it wont read tac, speed, and temp. i have the speed sensor in and hooked up but still wont read. thank you

 

[KhanTyranitar]

Any electrical speedo that claims to be Ford compatible will work, which is just about all electric speedos. By your description however, I would say you have a blown fuse, a broken or disconnected power or ground. Your instruments should not all fail at the same time unless the power or ground has been interrupted.

 

[bonestock87]

There's nothing about the swap that should have rendered your speedo or tach dead. Now the temp gauge.......mine didn't register after the swap so I just went with a mechanical water temp gauge. On the speedo, are you positive the cable is attached in the trans and to the back of the cluster? All that is simply mechanical, meaning a cable is turned by the trans which turns the speedometer, no electrical issues should keep it from working. On the tach, are you positive you got your ignition side wiring correct? One of the wires that you wired into the TFI plug is for tach signal, should be the tan/yellow wire.

 

[cjk92turbo]

the speedometer works now just the tach doesnt

 

[Stanger93Curt]

Sounds like an awesome project. I have a question though. Is the transmission the same? Does the rear end need changed? I'd love to swap for the Turbo and everything. Btw 93 lx.

 

[cjk92turbo]

I'm using the original rear end from the 92 mustang it works fine some say you should swith out the end only because it all matches up but it will be find for now.

 

[cjk92turbo]

And the transmission are pretty well the same but it's better to use original trans that went with tbird engine

 

[bonestock87]

Sounds like an awesome project. I have a question though. Is the transmission the same? Does the rear end need changed? I'd love to swap for the Turbo and everything. Btw 93 lx.

The stock rear end is fine, but if you can score a turbo coupe rear end it has a locking differential. If it's an 87-88 turbo coupe rear end, then it's the 8.8 inch like the V8 Mustang but also has disc brakes, so even better right? The 83-86 turbo coupe rear end is the exact same 7.5 inch unit as non-turbo Mustangs, just with a locking diff. I'm currently using my stock non-lcoking 7.5 inch rear and it's doing just fine. I have a locking 7.5 from an 86 turbo coupe, just haven't gotten around to swapping yet.

Both the stock mustang automatic and 5-speed transmissions will bolt up to the 2.3 turbo engine. With the automatic, it just may not live very long behind the turbocharged engine. The stock T5 5-speed in non-turbo 2.3 Mustangs is rated to 240 ft. lbs. of torque, so use that as a guide to decided whether or not you want a turbo spec'd (meaning World Class) 5-speed T5. Also, if you use the stock A4LD automatic, you will need an automatic trans specific ECM out of an 87-88 automatic equipped turbo coupe to make it work properly.

 

[Stanger93Curt]

Daaaang. Thank I knew these forums would teach me a lot. Nice that someone one actually replied too. Haha. Well how much work is it to put a t5 in a 2.3 auto trans? I would love to swap to a 5 speed and maybe use the turbo coupe motor. Just curious on how much work it would really be.

 

[bonestock87]

Honestly to me the only hard part about going from an automatic to a 5-speed is laying upside down taking out the old pedal assembly and putting the 5-speed pedal assembly in under the dash. Even that isn't "hard", just a pain.

Along with the pedal assembly from a 5-speed car, you need the transmission, bellhousing, clutch cable, shifter, cross-member, and back up light harness. You also will need to get a driveshaft out of any 5-speed fox body car, regardless of engine or rear end it had, they all work. Check out this link, it has pics and everything. Auto to 5 Speed Tranny Swap

Stinger's site Stinger Performance 2.3 Tech Mainpage is where 99.9% of my reference material came from to do this swap. Having just done this I can say it is not hard to do. It took me 2 months to complete, but that's working maybe 1 evening a week and 5-6 hours on it on the weekends. I had a complete turbo coupe to use for all of my parts. It had a rough body but great mechanicals.

 

[Stanger93Curt]

Ok I see. Well I'll check the links. I know there is a turbocoupe in the junk yard I had to get my door from, to make a long story short it rusted some of bolts and post and had to be replaced. I saw the Turbo coupe post and had to look. I'm ok with doing the work the problem is getting parts, money, and time. Its just difficult. But I want my car to look nice, ride nice and all that. I have wanted the five speed since I got the car, but dealt with what I got. (I got this car for 650 and love it) before this car I drove a straight six 1963 Ford falcon. I'm only 18 and love muscle cars. That's why I wanted this one to be the one I chose to fix up and make look nice.

 

[bonestock87]

You're off to a good start. It's great to see young guys and gals still showing the fox body Mustang some love. The very good news is that you couldn't have picked a car with more aftermarket/restoration/enthusiast support.

If you do nothing else, replacing the automatic with at 5 speed will give you a completely different feel for your Mustang. You can source the trans and pedals from any manual trans equipped 87-93 Mustang or 83-88 Turbo Coupe. The 87-88 Turbo Coupe's used a hydraulic clutch, so there will be some supporting hardware that is different.

 

[Stanger93Curt]

Yeah the t5 swap is almost a must-have type thing. I like the automatic, but I would love the 5-speed. I want to do the turbo swap as well because I know that speed, is also a must-have for someone like myself.
I'm glad that being younger and a mechanic and car guy makes people happy. I love to work on cars and I know what I like and how I like to do it. All the stuff in my car needs to just be re-done and I personally am ok with that. Lol.

 

[cjk92turbo]

swap is complete, it runs great. i need to get a boost controller and i do wish to take it somewhere i can tune it but dont know of any places close in PA. although still have to put intercooler on but there isnt enough room because its a top mount and wont fit under original hood. im gonna need like a mustang svo hood or a hood with scoop any sites or places i could look at thats not to expensive?

 

[Stanger93Curt]

I'd say check eBay, American muscle, or possibly foxrestro. I have never used these sites but have seen some decent prices for svo and 2-3" cowl hoods.

 

[bonestock87]

I'd junk punch a nun for a 87-93 hood that had the correctly placed SVO scoop built in!