'88 Thunderbird

[billetunderwear]

My buddy is thinking about getting this '88 5.0l Thunderbird. It's clean, low miles, good price, etc... a good car to buy for a daily driver, for sure. How are those for modifying? I'm clear on the fact that it's a fox chassis vehicle and 99% of the mechanical parts are interchangeable with little to no modification(suspension, engine/tranny, etc, etc). The main thing I am curious about is about the feasability of converting it from speed density to mass air. I'm sure the wiring harnesses differ between Mustangs and T Birds, so is the conversion process at all affected by these differences?

Thanks,
-Dave

 

[ashford]

most t-birds were equipped with a standard output engine the difference being the cam and upper intake the easy way to find out is to take off the cover plate on the upper and see if ih has an so or an ho cast into it. for the mass air just add four wires into the wiring harness from another ath the ecu.

 

[hllon4whls]

My buddy is thinking about getting this '88 5.0l Thunderbird. It's clean, low miles, good price, etc... a good car to buy for a daily driver, for sure. How are those for modifying? I'm clear on the fact that it's a fox chassis vehicle and 99% of the mechanical parts are interchangeable with little to no modification(suspension, engine/tranny, etc, etc). The main thing I am curious about is about the feasability of converting it from speed density to mass air. I'm sure the wiring harnesses differ between Mustangs and T Birds, so is the conversion process at all affected by these differences?

Thanks,
-Dave

At worst, there are wiring harnesses available from painless and other sources.
I am jealous, I have always liked that style bird. I think it would make a great car!

 

[MadMatt5oh]

Indeed, Ive always loved those cars and have had a few of them. Only one of them had an HO (rare) with a 5speed (extremely rare) and it was an 88 Cougar xr7. The sad truth is 99% are not HO's. Ive heard it was just the cam that was different from some folks, then cam, crank,pistons. So I dont know. Be careful

 

[larrendeuce]

The Standard outputs only made 155hp. Its not hard to swap a HO into it though. I helped with my friends. If switching to a T-5 you can grab petals and the shift boot from a Turbo Coupe.

 

[TC93]

Nothing to swap it to an HO. I did it on my brothers 88 bird with all my stock parts from an 88GT I had. Mainly have to swap the cam, heads,intake,TB,injectors,and EEC to convert. But the heads, intake and TB don't have to be swapped but it won't be up to full HO power. The cam, injectors and EEC have to be swapped in order to work. Some say you have to swap the injector harness, but we didn't on my brothers car and didn't have any problems. You can use the main EEC harness and just ad the maf jumper harenss kit you can buy, if you want mass air.

 

[billetunderwear]

You guys rock! Ok, I don't remmber what it said on the intake plate, but I do remember it didn't say "5.0 HO." Not a big deal though because we will be putting in a brand new stroker at some point. Alright, well you guys basically answered my questions. I think we can figure it out from here.

 

[Ranchero5.0]

You have to pop the cover plate and look at the upper. It may have a 'HO' cast into it, or it may not. Been working on a '88 turbo coupe that started out as a junky 5.0 '86 cougar. Upgraded the cougar to the point of 5 speeding it only to find a nice TC body for $500 a month later. Swapped everything over, E cam, Performer heads, Cobra intake and mas air swap with 24lb injectors, BBk longtubes, hand fabbed 2.5" pipes with dynomax ultra flows from there, etc, etc.

The car is very nice and comfortable, plus it hauls but. An S trim is going on this summer.

Jamie

 

[QUICK91LX]

they are cool cars...best part is its a fox chassis...anything mustang pretty much bolts onto it...worst part is they are heavy pigs...3800lbs or so....just build a motor with lots of balls to compensate for the weight, haha

 

[895.0COUPE]

Indeed, Ive always loved those cars and have had a few of them. Only one of them had an HO (rare) with a 5speed (extremely rare) and it was an 88 Cougar xr7. The sad truth is 99% are not HO's. Ive heard it was just the cam that was different from some folks, then cam, crank,pistons. So I dont know. Be careful

No T-Bird or cougar from 83-88 came with a 5.0HO from the factory. The only other fox that did besides mustangs was the Mark VII. Nor did they come with 5 speed v8's, only TurboCoupes and pre 87 Xr7's came with the option of 5 speed with their Turbo 4's.

My first car was an 87 Tbird with a 5.0HO put in by the previous owner. My friend had an 88 COugar with the 5.0SEFI and it was like a nigth and day difference. It wasnt hard to smoke him from a roll and off the line was a joke. Both cars were AOD's so the only difference was 45hp(since the H.O. in my car was from '86 which made 200hp). It was a fun car though. I still think about buying another turbocoupe, which was the 2nd car I ever owned.