Newbie help needed, be kind.

bitteroldman

Registered User
Okay, first off, I've reviewed some posts and have found them to be quite enlightening; I think I will enjoy this site. Here goes, just purchased a 1994 thunderbird sc for my son. Vehicle has 50,000 original miles and an automatic. Car is an absolute pig off the line, it just falls off the line. Once the car is moving it becomes faster and it seems to run just fine. It idles fine and has no driveability issues, it is just so slow off the line. Can these vehicles, in stock trim, even spin the rears? Eventually he will put gears in for that punch off the line, thinking 3.73 or even 4.10, what do you all think? And, more importantly, my reason for this post, what do you all recommend as far as maintenance/upgrades to the car, I'm talking very basic here. (Son still refers to a phillips screwdriver as the starry one, and his old man isn't much smarter.) I'm thinking of the screamin demon coil and wires, stock platinum plugs (yes, I did read those posts), radiator flush, oil change, maybe an upgrade to an air intake and what about the MAF? I'd welcome your thoughts. thanks for your time.
 
Before the upgrades etc, I'd be starting to look into why the car is not taking off. These cars in stock trim and as an auto can smoke the tires and haul right off that line like there's no tomorrow.

First upgrade to do on these cars is exhaust, at least get rid of the stock resonator. After that... well its time to have some fun ;).
 
I thought so...

thanks, for your thoughts, I always thought these cars were vicious fast off the line, that is why I was so disgusted with this one. any suggestions as to where to start as to how to get them spinning? tune up?
 
oil and filter
plug wires
plugs
coolant change
remove air silencer from air box ,using the air box is just fine

the demon coil pak -hold off on that
gears -hold off on that
find the bugs first

what kind of vacuum is it holding?

cheers
steve
 
Last edited:
steve: thanks for your thoughts. so I guess we can say it has bugs. what makes me crazy is the car runs fine, it really does, no obvious miss or knock or anything. boost is between 10 and 12 under hard acceleration, vacuum at other times (not sure of reading, but it is mid way on the guage). why no demon coil? hell, the name alone sounds cool enough to justify it, but seriously my thoughts are if I'm going to replace the plugs and wires I might as well upgrade to the demon coil and wires.....no? thanks again. alex t.
 
throw that money on the exhaust system
i just don't think that there would be much gained by replacing what you've got if it's working
don't worry you will get to spend some coin on the car

vac at idle -should hold around 19
steve
 
Last edited:
yeah, I've seen the stock exhaust, that sure looks messed up with the 90 degree bend and all, I'm still doing the research on the exhaust issue because the free flow vs. back pressure for low end response is what is confusing me. (I sure the heck don't want to ruin my low end response although I'm not sure it could get much worse.) I'm sure we'll be able to toss plenty of money at the car but I gotta tell you I'm sure it'll be worth it, I think the car is pretty darn cool and the kid loves it.
 
The coils on our cars is pretty darn good. No need to change.

Don't worry about the losing backpressure. Open up the exhaust. In fact it sounds like you have a bit of a restriction.
But definitely change plugs etc. A good tune up will go a long way.
 
okay, it sounds like I should be tossing some money at the exhaust. what do I do, cat back with cat, cat back delete cat, headers vs. stock manifolds? from what I've found, looks like I should be keeping the resonator, but how about the cat? and would headers be worth the money or do the stock manifolds flow enough? thanks again for everyone's thoughts. alex t.
 
Definatly open up the air intake to a cone filter and remove air silencer box. Then get some new exhaust ( High flow cats and remove stock middle resonator and two high flow mufflers ). Then just a normal tune up wires ,plugs, and oil and filter change. You'll be surprised. What your explaining sounds like clogged cats and old burned up wires and plugs. After then start adding mods to it. Good Luck!
 
My car is stock with about 140k miles. It runs really nicely, but there is no way that it will spin the tires on dry pavement. I might be able to if I brake-torque it and totally hammer the gas, but I have never done it at a light. Regardless, it is definitely fast and pulls very hard from a stop. I don't want to go crazy on it until I work the suspension back into tip-top shape. (Broken halfshaft and towing are not in the budget.)

I'm just trying to give you an idea of how it should run.
 
thanks for your thoughts, but the general thought here is that these cars will spin the tires from a stop. not only will this car not spin the tires from a stop it just kinda slowly takes off until about 10 or 15 mph then it will pick up considerably after the boost comes in. as it sits now even my Olds van is faster off the line, with a nice little chirp to the tires. something has got to be wrong, but again I say it is baffling me because in all other respects the car runs fine with no drivability issues at all, that is why I am hoping someone on this forum can point me in the right direction.......thanks again. alex t.
 
duh, since there is more than one city, I suppose I should have been more specific, that would be southern suburbs of Chicago.....
 
is the trackion assist on? it may be applying brakes when you take off if wheels start to break loose .
 
no, I actually had enough sense to remove the traction assist, even took the overdrive off, but don't think that would have made any difference from a standing start. it is really weird, I can't even get it to brake torque. the reason why it is so aggravating is I told my son, before we bought it, that it should do burnouts rather easily, and now the old man has been proven to be a big fat liar.....thanks for your thoughts....alex t.
 
when i first got my 90 sc it had 211000 miles on it....but the body was in Perfect and i mean perfect condition it was a one owner and the guy restored it from the ground up..only thing was is that the motor wasnt perfect like the rest of the car.:( i couldnt do a burnout from a dead stop either..if i held the brake and gave it gas till it was about to start spinnin em and the let off the break and smash on it i could a rather impressive burnout from a stoplight and even leave 2 thick blackies:D SOO i changed the oil and put some NGK plugs in and some magnacore wires in and the car would burnout for ALONG time from a stop on either types of pavement wether it was chiped pink rock or fresh black top or regular concrete...so give it a good tune up and you should be happy..might want to also make sure your ebrake isnt cought up my cuzins monte z34 did that and he couldnt do a burnout either..until ofcourse that was fixed hope you can mark your territory soon haha :D
 
Mike: good ideas, in fact it does act like a clogged cat, but every other time I've had a plugged cat the car ran poorly even in motion. this darn thing runs fine in motion it is just that it is such a pig off the line....like the fuel filter idea too, I'm going to go ahead and do a complete tune up, fluid change and see how that works out.

Nightmare, I'd love it if it was as simple as the emergency brake cable, but I don't have that kind of luck, and as far as marking my territory, I've got that covered through the oil leak the car is currently suffering from...;)
 
Back
Top