Supercoupe 1992

[xizor]

Hi all
Firts thing I'm going to say is that I'm from Quebec, Canada and that english is not my primary language.

I need to know what you guys think about that 1992 T-bird SC
first of all I would like to know how much MPG This car can do(assusming its in condition) ??
Currently I'm driving a nissan 240 sx 1989 wich give's me really poor MPG average. Say I fill the tank and it cost me 40$ (CAN) I can be sure I wont make 500 kilometers (in Canada we dont use miles ;) ) I would really like the car to do at least the same then my nissan.

Second I would like to know what you guys think of this offer
I'll put the original ad (french) and will traduce it right after :

Ford Thunderbird SC 1992, modèle rare, tout équipé, 6 cyl. SuperCharge 3.8 litres, 220 ch, RWD, mags 16", 190 000 km, ext blanc, int noir bancs en cuir noir elec, vitres élec, portes élec, miroir élec, toit ouvrant élec, antenne élec, controle électronique de la température, miroir auto-tint, auto-lamp, cruise control, tilt, suspension adjustable, A/C, systeme de son premium, roule parfait, beau modèle, un peu de rouille de surface, mec AA-1, intérieur mint, tout original.

Ford T-bird SC 1992, rare, all equiped, SC 3.8 liters, 220HP (is that true ??), 16" mags, 190 000 kilometers, white with leather black interior, power seat, power mirror, power window, power antenna, automatic temperature control, auto-tint miroir, auto-lamp, cruise control, power moonroof, tilt (anyone know what does that mean ?), C/A, premium sound system (is that the great sound system with 2 9" woofer??), perfect mecanic, interior mint, adjustable "suspension" (is that the word ?), a 'lil surface rust

The guy is asking 2000$ (CAN) and say he could sell another for parts for 900$.


I'm really interested in that car mainly because the car I liked the most was a 1989 Ford T-bird TURBOCOUPE wich was really well equiped too and moreover was with a std tranny! Hope this one is std too ... but prolly not.

that 1989 TC T-bird was about the same as my 240sx in mpg maybe even a 'lil better but it was only a 2.3l turbo 4 cyl engine not a 3.8 SC !

Btw can any of you tell me what too look for before buying this one ? like something that can break often.

And again ... I'm sorry for my bad english !

[mn12sc35th]

Stock ratings for that are:

210 Hp
315 ft-lbs of Torque
17-24 Mpg

Tilt refers to the a tiltable steering wheel. Premium sound might include the subwoofer, from what I understand its not a bad sounding setup (mine had been gutted long before I got the car).

2000 can$ is about 1500US and I've heard of worse sounding cars going for that. Doesnt sound too bad if it runs good and isnt bad on the rust.

[xizor]

Thanks !
for gas its seams ok for me ...
I did some math and it leaks me to (always with my actual price for gas) :
20$ --> 295 km highway 25mpg
20$ --> 225 Km city 19mpg
19-25 where found in the faq section.

I saw 2 pic of the car and i could not see any rust on it so it can't be a lot ! well hope so !

It's been about a month that the car was for sell with a price of 3000$ CAN but today i just saw it at 2000$ !
I think its a great deal.

Now lets just hope that it'll be a std tranny ! otherwise that don't really bother me but ...

[xizor]

since I dont think we can attach more the one pic at the time, here is the second one :

[mn12sc35th]

More than likely it'd be an auto (only like 1200 manuals made for 92) If your pretty mechanically inclined swapping trans is doable... might have to see if that parts car has a manual trans ;).
I had to have a manual too, now if only I could get my 35th together and drive it hehe, work in progress...

Looks clean on the outside and thats the only thing the ad mentioned (a little rust...). Looks like a solid car and a decent price.

[xizor]

I've read something about running SC car with (dont remember how to say that) gas with more octane then "ordinary gas" is that a must ? or is it just for performance ?
I mean can it "harm" or break something on the long run ?

Well what is sure is that I'll be going to see the car soon !
And I don't really care for the tranny ! even thought I Know I'm able to swap it if needed but I would surelly keep it like it is !
Well you got that much power you dont realy need a std tranny ! not like if you drive a low hp 4 cyl car !

Now if the car is really what it looks like I gota prepare my boss for this ... I'm a car seller for mazda ... :rolleyes: :confused:

[mn12sc35th]

Yes the sc has to run 91 octane or better fuel, with the supercharger you have a pretty high effective compression ratio, lower octane fuels can cause some problems because of that.

Ford owns part of mazda anyway, they shouldnt have too much to say ;) haha

[xizor]

yeah I've also heard that the 5spd tranny of these SC is made by mazda ...

ford and mazda is almos the same these day anyway ... up to now Focus and protege where running the same egine
and escape and tribute are the same SUV. What say about ranger and b4000 ! under a b4000 hood I think you can count about 30 times the word "motorcraft"
mpv as the same engine then tribute/escape
only mazda 6 and mazda 3 are real mazda car (there is the rx-8 and miata too but we dont sell a lot ;))

[mn12sc35th]

Yeah, I think ford only owns like half of mazda but they might as well own the whole company. The trans is a mazda, an M5R2 modified version of the one they used in the 90s F-series trucks (helped a friend change a clutch in a 95 F-150 the case is pretty similar).

[xizor]

well now gas now look like this
20$ --> 266 km highway 25mpg
20$ --> 202 Km city 19mpg
I guess its ok ... since anyway it wont be my only car.
I'll soon have a mazda 3 as demo anyway ...
wich does about and avg of 35-36 mpg ! (44-31)

btw another question assuming it might be a auto tranny will it be mounted on the floor or on the steering ?

[mn12sc35th]

Floor mounted ;)

[xizor]

glad to hear !!
well think thats all for now ...
Thanks again !
would also like to hear from others (if you got somethin to say !)

[xizor]

I called the guy today. It eneded up to be quite what was written in the ad. But there two small thing that need attention : 1st there is the upper suspension table of one of the front wheel that would need "repair". 2nd the blower of the air control (dont know how to say that) is not blowing, he sais that we can feel the heat or "frost" but the fan does not spin.

For the fan I think it's ok since I can surelly get the one of its spare SC (for pieces) but I'm wondering how much it could cost to "fix" that upper table thing. (or if I could do it myselft)
Any idea if its a cheap fix or not ?
He claim that it is ... but we can't always trust seller ;)


Anyway I'll be going to see the car this weekend ...

btw its an auto tranny ...

[mn12sc35th]

Not sure what you mean by suspension table?? The blower motor probably isnt a hard fix, make sure you chek all the fuses (I think theres one under the hood for it. Could also be the resistor coils for the motor, theres a diode in there that could have blown (happened with my car, but we were playing with the wiring trying to figure out my blower motor...). Find out a bit more about what he's talking about and I'll see what I can tell ya about the suspension :P

[xizor]

by what the guy told me I assume that it must have something to do with where the upper part of the suspension are "attached" (did I mention that english is not my primary language ;)) but i dont really see what could be broken up there ...
Perhaps it's possible to weld something to repare it (since i got what it takes). And he told me that it was not urging to repair "that"

Anyway I do work late everyday and I can't go to see it before weekend. So I'll have to wait to see it.

And the blower doesnt really bother me I know its not a hard fix !

[xizor]

I gave a call to my local ford dealer and ask him more info about that upper table thing. It is indeed what I thought it was: its what "hold" the uper part of the suspension (I've been told that its like in racing car). But it almost never "break" and prolly mean that the car either was involved in a "crash" or was rought driven or it may also be only about bad luck.
The piece cost 150 $

I've also seen another SC 92 a black one.
Description there : http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpages.infinit.net%2Fsphi nx%2F&lp=fr_en&tt=url
It being traduced by altavista translator so expect some mistake!

Seems a better deal to me even if the price is higher.

plz Tell me what you Think !

xizor

[mn12sc35th]

that one doesnt look too bad either. I wouldnt be too quick to believe the ford dealers personally, a second opinion may be a good idea. This one seems like it'd be worth the price though. Either way sounds like a decent deal.

[JustinH]

Is he talking about a broken control arm, or worn balljoint or something like that?

JH

[xizor]

yeah its a balljoint. But that an easy fix

I also have another option
for 4500
a 92 sc same as the 1st one
with some mod 245hp/345lt
and cosmetic mod too

shoowroom condition (that what the guy claims)

gotta consider thsi one too

since its not the price that matter the most.

[JustinH]

balljoint failures are very common problems in these cars. I have replaced balljoints on every tbird i've had.

Very easy, just buy a new control arm and bolt it on in your driveway.

I wouldn't buy a modified sc in most cases they are beat on. The only exception would be a very clean car with everything done right.

JH

[xizor]

yeah i thought about that. but seems like a really clean car.
anyway I gotta see it ...
hate my job for my 9am to 9pm work hours !

[xizor]

Oky now I've seen them all 3. 2 of them are eliminated and I'm questionning mysefl on the last one.

The 1st one I spoke of here was a white SC 92 for 2000(can). This one was bad on the body there was no big rust spot but there was A LOT of small one and moreover needed a blower and the upper suspension table. I won't buy this one.

Second on was a black SC 92 for 3000(can) (with a link to a web page)
This one was really nice untill I looked under the car !! the passenger floor was really rusty and the seat was not stable.

Third one : a 92 SC for 4500$ (can) Never seen snow NO RUST AT ALL Really clean car. The only thing that botter me was about the mod of the car. Dont remember exactly what is modded (I remember about cam but there was smth else too) so the car now has 245hp and 345 of torque. But the car was stopped from running about a month ago and the engine was not running good ... I wonder if it can only be because it has not worked for a month of if there's something esle ...
Other then that the car IS REALLY CLEAN and in nice shape !

What do you guys think about that 3rd one ??!

[Digitalchaos]

Hello; and welcome to the SCCOA!

It seems the cars you have picked so far have good and bad things about them.

There are some main issues which you should watch for when buying a Supercoupe.

1st, if you see any rust, look very close. Prime areas for these cars to rust are under the side ground effects (body plastic), and under the rear quarter panels. Both areas are hard to see, and unfortunately often go undeteced.

2nd, the headgaskets on these cars can go bad if the coolant system is not maintained. Look for air bubbles in the (underhood) overflow tank, overheating when driving down a road at speed, very rough idle or hard starting, milky coffee like oil (coolant in oil), and oil in coolant.

A 3rd issue, Motor Mounts. These are not a big deal if the car is not driven a lot with bad mounts. Check for slightly rough or low idle, oil-pan sitting near or on crossmember, engine movement while running. The stock motor mounts are fluid in a rubber shell, and break after a while. Many places sell new & improved ones for the Supercoupe community.

Number 4, on pre-1992 cars, look for brake system warning lights. Either the orange ABS light or the red brake light. If these are glowing, there may be a relatively expensive problem.. perhaps involving the accumulator.

Finally for now, if it has a manual transmission (M5R2). Check for smooth shifting, smooth going into gear, and no grinding. The synchros in the manual trans can wear out if abused.

In my own and others' experience these cars can be very reliable if maintained well. There really are no more issues than with a regular car, but it is better to look longer and spend more when you buy than to get a cheap price and try to fix it. Buying cheap and fixing can cost you more later.

As for gas mileage, I think this car would equal or beat your Nissan when driven normally. I can not give you useful mileage figures in Canadian, but it usually gets 400 miles to a tank on the highway and 250 to 300 miles in the city. Highway economy is excellent.

Lastly, about the car you mentioned for 4500 dollars, it sounds nice. Check for the things I mentioned, and try to figure out why it is running rough. It could simply be a Vaccuum leak, or it could be the start of a head gasket. Many of these cars are sold at good prices because of small issues that seem bigger than they are.

In any case, I hope that helps a little, Goodluck in your search! If you have more Questions, just ask!

[xizor]

For the 3rd one it as modofed camshaft and a chip (on computer) (dont know how to say it in english). I've read that cam can make your engine run a 'lil unstable wich was quite the case of this one. And I need to say that when I saw the car it had not worked for a month and it was rainning HARD!. But now, I called the guy back, and he told me that his other car was broke, and that he use is SC so I will see if its better now.
There NO RUST at all on his car ! wich is really important to me.

I want to choose a car not a price.

Even thought the guy from the black SC (floor problem one) emailed me back and offered me his car for 2000$ I dont want trouble !

more info later I gotta go to work now !

[Digitalchaos]

Some camshafts can make a car run less smoothly at idle, sometimes by a fair amount. However, sometimes people take advantage of this by saying its a cam when there might really be a problem. In this case it is hard to tell.. others know more about how a cam affects this engine than I.

I suggest you go and test drive the car, report anything unusual that you notice. Include how it idles, how engine feels when accelerating (any misfiring?), any odd smells, check fluids and say how they look, check exhaust for smoke, ect. See if he will pull one of the spark plugs for you to investigate if you really want to know.

It is possible there is nothing wrong with the car.

If he has maintainance records, I would ask to see those.

As for that chip, ask what kind it is. Many "off-the-shelf" or "store bought" chips for this car are not the correct program, and cause negative symptoms. There are chips custom made for this car which are proven to work well.

In all, I think you have found a good deal. Some mechanical problems can also be overlooked for a car with good body at the right price :) .

Let us know!

[xizor]

I haven't seen the maintenance record yet but he clain to have them. He have the bill for the rebuilt of the engine by ford and some other bill like the change of all teh oil of the tranny.
Anyway I'll be seeing the car and guy tomorow.

[Digitalchaos]

If the engine was rebuilt by Ford I would go into the main technical forum and ask for the opinions of others who are experienced with Ford rebuilt engines. It seems some have been unsatisfied with rebuilds from Ford.