This is the story of the development of my 1986 Thunderbird Turbocoupe. I purchased the car back in the summer of 1989 with the intent of it being a daily driver. For the first few years it remained relatively stock with the exception of a factory 87-duel exhaust. As the years progressed and my finances improved I have made continual modification.

Back in 2002 the car was sent to the body shop for a complete makeover. The car was striped and re-sprayed BMW carbon black metallic. The front fenders were faired and blended into the bodywork.

The performance modification came under serveral phases. In the early years of ownership, my dad and I rebuilt the short block with Crower sportsman rods and stock Ford forged pistons. The factory turbo was replaced with a Turbonetics T3/T4 with Super V compresor wheel and stage III exhaust. The facort head was home ported and the intercooler was upgraded with a Spearco SVO front mount. With these modifiaction, the motor produced 258 HP and 307 TQ. This was with the factory electronics still in control. Not to bad for late 90' Ford 2.3 power.

Some pictures of the motor at this power level.

After the first round of modification, I turned my attention to the suspension. We replaced the factory K member with a complete Griggs tubular set-up. We installed Bear racing's tie rod end kit and relocated the power steering rack. At the rear, we replaced the stock solid axel with a modified Thunderbird Supercoupe independent rear end. Later on in the cars development, the cast iron lower control arms were replaced with cast aluminium units from the Mark VIII. The installation of the independed rear end was featured in Ford High Performance magazine back in October of 96'. Who knows if this lead to the development of the factory independent suspension for the FOX body Mustang.

After the suspension was sorted out, we installed Bear Racing 13" front rotors PBR calipers and a high capacity master cylinder. The front brake kit was a custom set-up as the front bolt pattern was altered to match the Supercoupe axels.

We continued with minor engine tweeks after this. The stock cast iron exhaust manifold was replaced with a custom stainless steel header that was created by Precision Turbo and engine. The stock computer was replaced with one of the first Felpro "FAST" EFI system and the factory injectors were replaced with 55lb injectors.

These rounds of engine modifications were performed around 2002 in preparation for Muscle Mustang and Fast Ford 4 cylinder shootout. Unfortunately, I did not do so well. The stock wastegate failed and the motor blew the head gasket. The best the car could do were high 16's. Oh well, I had fun.

After this event, the car sat dormant for a long 5 year (got married & bought a house). During this dark period, I continued to collect parts an anticipation of getting the car back on the road. I purchased the then new "NASH" head - Esslinger D-port aluminium street head. I think that I was on the second Esslinger group list to receive the head. I ordered mine with their solid lifter kit and had the exhaust ports polished. The head sat in its original box for 5 years until October 2007. I purchase a solid roller cam from Schneider cams, a Esslinger aluminium water pump, 84lb injectors, Precision GT35R turbo and many more small items. Here are some photos as it currently rests.

I am currently waiting for the intercooler pipes to come back from JET-HOT and the header to return from Swayn Tech coatings. Hopfully I can get it back on the dyno befor the holidays.

Dec. 2007 - Got the header and intercooler pipes back from the vendors. Both look good, hope they hold up as claimed. Here are some photos of the header and turbo. I found out that the stock T3/T4 turbo cooling and oil lines do not bolt up to the GT series. I needed to convert to AN-8 fitting on the cooling lines. For the oil lines, I am running and AN-4 line from ATP turbo and their T3 oil drain conversion.

Dec. 8th - Installed the turbo/header onto the motor. Need to fabricate new oil feed line from sender unit to the AN-4 line.

Dec. 16th. Modified the oil feed line to work with the AN-4 line to the turbo. Installed the oil drin line and a section of jethot coated intercooler pipe. Need to hook-up the coolant drain line and the rest of the intercooler piping.

Recent dyno pull: