turbo_bird
Registered User
Hi all, I'm a new supercoupe owner. I do seem to acquire Thunderbirds though, this one will be #5 and potentially lead to #6. It's a long story, but about 2 years ago I traded a case of beer for a 1989 5 speed SC that's got around 300k kms on it. It's fairly ratty and had been sitting for about 8 years, but it was essentially free. I'm not sure why I decided I needed it, but being basically free definitely factored into the decision. Before I tried driving it home, I changed the oil and spark plugs, put fresh gas in it, and put some oil in the supercharger. I started out to drive it home, but as it turns out, a 1000 km road trip in a car that's been sitting that long is a bad idea. Flash ahead another year, and I tried renting a uhaul trailer to haul it home, but uhaul messed up the trailer reservation and wanted me to make a 3 hour detour to pick up the trailer in another town. I don't think so, so I borrowed an old flat deck trailer from work that wasn't being used anymore (there's a pattern starting), but that didn't work out either. So third time's the charm, and me not having learned anything yet, I bought the trailer from work and put some decent used tires on it for the next attempt to bring home the SC. That went well enough that I at least got the car home, but I still didn't know what I was going to do with the car, so its been sitting out back of my garage for the past year. I was thinking strip it for parts and build another Locost, but it's not quite rough enough for that. And now that my kids are in booster seats and can buckle themselves up, a 2 door car is almost practical again, so I think I'm going to try to get it back on the road and into decent shape. Here's where there's a bit of a dilemma. The SC has a horrible red interior, which is also in horrible condition, and it desperately needs a paint job. I've found a 1992 non SC, V6 auto parts car for pretty cheap, and it has a grey interior in great shape. Do I swap the interior from the 92 to the SC and repaint it the same silver, or do I swap the SC drive train to the 92 parts car and freshen the rest of it up? From the pictures I've seen, t looks like it needs paint too, but it is a decently nice shade of blue instead of boring silver, so I probably won't be tempted to change the colour. I guess ultimately it will depend on what kind of shape the parts car is in, as I haven't actually looked at it yet, just pictures. And of course it will be another road trip with a trailer, but much shorter this time. Does anyone know how different the wiring between the two will be or any other pitfalls to swapping the SC drive train to a non SC car?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Kristian
Thanks in advance for any help.
Kristian
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