Fuel pressure regulator went out; easily and cheaply replaced.
This is a great car. It is very sleek looking and has a great aerodynamic profile.
The suspension is well designed; with the Programmable Ride Control (PRC), it *glides* over the bumpiest roads when cruising, and is nice and firm (but not harsh) during maneuvers and performance driving.
The seats are very comfortable with well designed headrests and bolsters. With 8-way adjustment, anyone can find the adjust the seat to suit himself perfectly.
The car is very tight and the interior is quiet. You'd never guess that this car is built on the same chassis as the creaky POS Mustangs of this era. It is very stable even at high (100+ MPH) speed. The (four wheel anti-lock) brakes will stop this car on a dime, and the anti-lock feature works well despite being a first-generation design. They are just well balanced and great driving cars all around; drive one, and you'll see what I mean.
The premium sound system isn't much by today's standards, but it is outstanding by 1988 standards; most importantly, all the speakers are in the right positions so you can easily upgrade the whole system with modern components and have great sound.
The engine is the good ole 2.3 which is a tried and true, bulletproof design. It has good power in stock form and a few easy and cheap mods can beef it up significantly. These cars are rated to run 16's in the 1/4 in stock form, but it's trivial to get one into the 14s, and 13s are not tough either. It doesn't take much work to get one to run with (and beat) 5.0s. While some of the electronics and gadgets may give you problems, the base engine is sound and will easily go 300,000+ miles (no joke) without major work.
The turbos are not problematic as some may lead you to believe; they work fine forever as long as long as you follow the cooldown procedures and oil change intervals described in the owner's manual. Simply put, after a hard drive, allow the engine to idle for a couple minutes to cool the oil down so it doesn't coke and clog up the turbo oil supply line, and change the oil at regular intervals using only high quality oil.
The manual transmission is the venerable T5, which won't give you any problems. The plastic hydraulic clutch line can be problematic and leaky; luckily parts are readily available to swap this over to a cable linkage. The automatic transmission can be problematic. If yours is in good shape, my advice is to install a shift kit to firm up the shifts a bit and increase transmission life.
These cars have a lot of gadgets. When well maintained, they are wonderful cars. When poorly maintained, they can be a nightmare. Be conscious of this when purchasing one. Avoid TCs with mechanical problems, especially ABS as the parts for this old system are very difficult to find and expensive. Spend the extra cash to get a super clean, well taken care of car--you won't regret it. On the flip side, this is one of those rare cars where it's actually worth fixing if you run into a high dollar repair, because it's just such a wonderful car.
In summary, these are great cars, especially if you are mechanically inclined and can fix the little oddities that come with owning a 25 year old car that has more gadgets than the space shuttle.
I have owned numerous Ford automobiles in my day. I will stand up and say that the 1987 and 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe are the BEST modern cars Ford has ever produced! Even 20 years after the last Turbo Coupe drove off the lot, this is still to the day an awesome car.
The Turbo Coupe was way ahead of its time. Ford put the engine from the - can you believe? - Tempo under the hood and dropped in a turbo charger. Most like to say the engine was from the SVO Mustang. In reality - it was a Tempo engine before it was a Mustang engine. These engines are referred to as "I-4's" and are reliable, durable AND high mileage engines. If maintained properly, they will run for 300K plus!
I recently read an article relating to Us Automakers sales decline to below 50% of total market sales in the history of "modern" automobile sales. Should ever Ford decide to drag this Bird off the roost again, it will be able to be accomplished with minimal upgrades to the overall car. This car is definitly a legend!
Not to offend or leave anyone out....The Mustang is an awesome car. I own a 07 GT. However, given the choice I would have bought a
2007 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe any day over the Mustang!
Excuse me, does anyone know if the 2.3 in these was a turbocharged version of the 2.3 found in Tempos, or was it the German 2.3 turbo found in Merkurs?
I had an 85 turbo coupe that was really nice, other than being an automatic, but a friend had a Merkur XR4ti, and it was sooooooo much nicer.
When I was in the Army, a buddy of mine had one of these cars. It was my first introduction to a turbocharged 4-cylinder in a full size car, and I was quite impressed, even with being into V-8's at the time. Nice car.
In case someone reads this review, I would like to correct the following misinformation:
The 2.3l four cyl motor used in the turbocoupe was NOT the same one that were used in the Tempo; not even close.
Google "2.3 HSC" and "2.3 Pinto" for the explanations and differences.
I have a Merkur XR4Ti, it has the 2.3 Turbo engine, very nice and quick!
The turbo coupe engine compared to the Mustang, Ranger, and Tempo engine was different in a few ways. One was the block is supposed to have a higher nickel content making it stronger. The combustion chamber is a little differently shaped in the head to help with detonation. I also believe the injectors are a lot bigger. I have a 88 turbo coupe that I purchased for 600 bucks with some major mechanical issues. After fixing the real expensive ones and getting it on the road, it wasn't hard to see that I'd made a wise decision. I LOVE this car.
I have a 87 TC and I love the car. I'm not even a Ford fan, but when I moved, this is my first turbo car and the engines are based around the 84-86 Mustang SVO's, but they lack about 30-40 overall HP.
My step dad has a 86 SVO and my 87 is a hell of a lot better than his 86. It looks smoother and cleaner in design; there is more passenger space for a DD and it doesn't look squashed.
OK, so if you're looking at buying one of these cars, and don't know what it is you are missing out.
I owned one. My buddy's dad gave me in high school and absolutely loved it. Handles like a dream, and I mean crazy corners at crazy speeds. And the turbo in the one I had as a kid was shot.
They are quite fast when running properly, I currently have 2 5.0 Capri RSs and a 351 5.8 Capri, and they aren't terribly faster if any than a hopped up 2.3 turbo.
With that being said, my dad sold my boyhood TC and I cried, LOL. So for 10 years now I've been looking for one in good shape I could afford. I finally found one that looked MINT (had been stored for 12 years) and ran great on my test drive. So I got it towed home and put some rims an brakes on it. Went and filled it with premium as they love it. Then things started going wrong (car was starting to overheat, bogges out when the turbo hit) So... I had to buy a code reader. something new to a Small Block Ford guy.
Well I soon learned that there are all sorts of sensors that go bad such as: TPS (Throttle Position Sensor, needs to be set to .90v closed throttle and about 4.50 to 4.75 wide open throttle) VAM (Vane Air Flow Meter), and also the ICM (integrated control module on the right shock tower. this module contains the EEC, fuel pump, cooling fan and A/C relays) MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure), ECT (Engine Coolant temperature) there are many many more.
As you can guess, ALL of these can effect your cars performance drastically, and all needed to be replaced in my current Turbo Coupe.
If you are not mechanically inclined or don't have a bunch of money to spend, they are not a car for you.
If purchasing one, make sure you can take it for a long test drive and watch for check engine light blinking, temperature gauge, firm light blinking, ABS brake light blinking (parts are hard to find), Check for white bubbles in the oil after car has sufficiently warmed up. If there are, it needs a head gasket.
These cars apparently TEAR through ignition parts (plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor etc...) So be prepared those are the easy fixes and still require the intercooler to be removed (a couple of clamps, really isn't that bad, but be careful with the rubbers, air leaks are killer on these cars).
Let this be said, they are great cars, but my current 87 Turbo coupe is a money pit.
I paid 1500 and have put about 400 in just sensors, another 200 in ignition parts and still don't have her running properly. FUEL PRESSURE Gauge IS A MUST AS WELL.
I have a 82, 83 and 84 5.0L Mustangs, and a 67 Chevy I have built, and my T-bird is the most complicated by far.
I WOULD STILL TAKE A MINT TURBO COUPE OVER ANY 5.0. DRIVE ONE AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
It pretty much told me I need to replace all my sensors.
Hey there, I wanted to know if I could throw a turbo off a TC on my 90 Ranger 2.3, the twinfire? Would it hold, or I also wanted to know if I could do a whole TC motor swap into my Ranger, if it will fit? If so, what mods would I have to do. E-mail me at spoonerdude89@yahoo.com, thanks ~rob~
I bought an '88 TC off a Miami car lot in '92. And since then installed a gen3 alt., P.S. pump, T-5, hipo in-tank fuel pump, Turbonetics T-3/T-4 50 trim, 48 stage3 hot side, and ported the head. It corners like a slotcar and gets an honest 32 mpg highway! Best car I ever owned!
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