Bringing this 83 turbo coupe back to life with much needed repairs and a few upgrades under the hood.
Bringing this 83 turbo coupe back to life with much needed repairs and a few upgrades under the hood.
Welcome to the madness! Love me some 2.3T Fox Tbird
She needs some interior love too.
And so the long process begins.
Teardown to build up
Going ported lower intake and gutted upper intake. Next new Aluminum radiator, cooling fans, Bo Port cam, upgraded turbo and adding intercooler and Turbosmart boost controller. Car has 3" exhaust
In reply to gumby : Thank you !
Awesome. In to see it come back together!
Man, I used to have an 87 and I loved it even though it never ran right the whole time I had it. That thing was a beautiful rusty disaster, someday I need to do something about my lack of space, tools, and talent.
Sweet! The early Turbo Coupes sometimes seem to be somewhat forgotten.
Paging Javelin to the turbo Lima thread.
He is the resident expert on these. Looks like a nice solid platform.
Another Lima! Sounds like a fun build, can't wait to see it
If you don't Megasquirt an upgrade to the LA2 or LA3 computer is totally worth it. You have to repin the harness and add a sensor but its not hard. I did it on an 85 SVO and it was a major improvement. The 87/8 turbo coupe computers are a huge leap forward.
In reply to AnthonyGS : the car has a repinned 88 ecu,VAM and brown top injectors. I'm adding the intercooler from stinger performance and going to send the injectors out to RC Injection to have them cleaned and tested/balanced. Plan is to raise the boost to about 17 or 18 lbs. cylinder head is supposed to already have ARP Studs holding it down, haven't checked that yet. Thanks for the input. Unfortunately the computer side of this is a foreign language to me but I'm going to try to learn. Not after a crazy build, just a fun driver. Be nice to get 250 or 260 HP out of it.
In reply to 1SlowVW : Thanks, it's solid just a little beat up and well worn. I could use some advice or guidance on getting more performance out of it that's for sure.
Sounds like you are already on the right path for basic mods.
Ground the fuel octane selector for the LA3, fill the tank with 93 and bump the base timing. Should get you to your 250-260rwhp goal, but you will want more in short order.
Then things like:
These will get you up around shortblock building territory, and beyond that it's all about how much you want to spend on an old tractor motor
In reply to gumby :
Real madness [or one step beyond?]
In reply to gumby :
#500hp2point3
Go big or blowup.
In reply to Brett Kay :
Do yourself a favor. Toss the old injectors and get new high impedance 4 hole spray injectors. They will be a plug in when you find a match and give you better mileage, more power and lower emissions.
I always upgrade injectors on old cars now. It's cheaper and better.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
If he is going to keep the TC eec, he is going to need low-z injectors. Now, if he wants to swap to a different ecu, then yes the high-z injectors are perfect.
Latest update: yes I'm slow with progress. Gutted upper and ported lower, adjustable fpr and gauge, cleaned and flow checked brown top injectors installed. Set Fuel pressure at 40 with vacuum unhooked. Running about 32 at idle with vac hooked to BBK adjustable fpr. It fires right up and idles a lot better than it has since I bought it. Lots to do yet. Considering a Boport cam that will work with the 88 ecm. New turbo to put on too after engine is pulled and resealed and new clutch installed. Before the engine goes back in , bodywork ! Strut towers need some repair to stop the evil tin worm. Hopefully another updat in a few weeks.
This thread is going to miss my '86 TC. Cool project! Good luck
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