The good the bad and the ugly. 89 Supercoupe

In reply to novaderrik:

From WiKi:

M5R2 5-speed manual transmission (1989–1995 Super Coupe only)

novaderrik wrote: i don't think they ever made a Super Coupe with a stick.. could be wrong, tho..

They made them, its just the automatics are more prevelant.

There is a Mocha frost TB s/c sitting here in Muncie under a car cover....outside. Its sad.

And they are actually pretty stout cars and can be made to be very quick(considering 3.8L powered).

Also, they used the 5x108 bolt pattern, shared by the taurus/sable(86-07), lincoln LS(higher offset), MKVIII, certain Volvo's(idk years), and the 2013+ ford focus.

The OZ's on my '91 sho came from an order for tbird bolt pattern

In reply to yamaha:

Taurus wheels you say. I have 2 sets sitting around. 15" alloy with tires, 16" steel, no tires.

Well, so far so good. My son and I rode up to Columbia on the 4th and picked up the SC. She runs like a champ, but does have some issues. Other than needing a tune up and to be driven, most of them are stupid little Ford things. Windows off track, rear view mirror in the glove box, bumper covers starting to fade, and probably worst of all, someone tried to tint the windows at home, and failed miserably. On the plus side, the AC works, the supercharger is putting out the boost it's supposed to and the suspension feels tight. All in all, I'm thinking it was a good buy. I just might use up the rest of the challenge budget cleaning it up and drive it down to Florida come October.

Yes, I know this post is worthless without pictures, so here they are.

It just barely fit on my trailer, so small it isn't.

How the berk did you find that in Cola . . . and I didn't know about it?

Mrs. Zero said the I couldn't bring one home anyway . . . looks like an awesome buy . . .

5-speed...nice. I see that the plastic seat trim on the driver's side is broken. That trim is getting harder to find, but note that the same trim also came on the Cougar, Taurus, and Sable. However, not all had the same number of power adjustment levers, so if you replace it, make sure you find the correct match for your seats.

I don't see a sunroof, and the cloth interior means it doesn't have the fold-down rear seat (only leather rear seats fold). Should be pretty light by SC standards. If you start modding, don't go over 5% OD on the blower or you'll overwhelm the stock intercooler.

I hope the radiator neck isn't cracked, not that radiators are hard to find.

My brother has a '92 Auto SC. Picked it up for $500 with the failed electric brakes. Converted it to a complete manual setup, as an added bonus it has new exhaust, freshly rebuilt transmission, and a fresh supercharger still in the box. Hope to see you at the challenge with it!!!

6 Days and 200 miles in, and I'm loving it. Might be the best $1800 I've ever spent on a car. It's not stupid fast, but it's quick. It's not the best handling car I've ever driven, but pretty good considering the crappy Michelin tires on it. It's just a good all around car. Considering the 164000 miles on it, it's outstanding.

I'm not going to be keeping it under Challenge money though, so the Challenge is out as far as entry. This one is probably going to be around for a while so I'm going to be fixing it right.

The bad? The fuel tank leaks when full. Either the gasket on the fuel pump is bad, or there is a vent that's leaking or a hole in the tank. I've already checked the fill neck and it's dry. That means dropping the tank. While the tank is out, I'll do the fuel pump. It also looks like the tank might have to come out to do the clutch since it's wrapped around and under the driveshaft. If that's the case, I'll do the clutch while I'm under it and the tank is on the ground.

More bad? She had also been sitting for a while. The brake rotors are pretty well done due to rust. So while I'm doing them, I might as well put the larger Cobra brake setup on. There is a really good chance this will be doing some PDX events so bigger is better.

And a little more bad? The exhaust system is starting to fall apart. Both mufflers are rusted and since the exhaust is a known restriction for HP, once again bigger is better. The available systems are $$$$$, so I'll probably build it myself.

Since a larger exhaust is a requirement for overdriving the supercharger without blowing head gaskets, that will naturally be the next step. Just the exhaust and overdrive pulley are supposed to be worth about 75hp. Probably the only time smaller is better.

After I get all the mechanics sorted, it'll be time for paint. There isn't any rust on the body, and the paint on the sheet metal is pretty good but the bumper covers and side skirts could use some attention. I'm not sure how I'll handle that.

Y'all keep an eye on the 20XX classifieds, I'm probably going to be unloading a bunch of junk, I mean quality merchandise, to finance this.

Exhaust and a pulley won't get you 75 hp--not a chance, but it's still worth doing. Consider a double intercooler (2 stock intercoolers welded together), a raised supercharger top, and a tune at the same time to wake the car up.

To get to the clutch, you'll either have to drop the gas tank or the rearend to get the driveshaft out. Since you have a fuel leak, I think the choice is obvious in your case.

The Cobra brake swap is easy, but will require 17-inch wheels in the Mustang bolt pattern, so it gets pricey fairly fast. However, you can swap in 99-04 Mustang GT front calipers, use stock T-Bird rotors, and keep the stock wheels. It's a much less expensive option, though it doesn't stop as well. I've had both.

Be aware that if you're going to do Cobra brakes in back, 93-97 rear T-bird calipers work much better than 89-92 calipers. The Cobra rotor is so thin that the 89-92 pads can actually wear enough to let the piston pop out of the caliper completely.

I love this sort of thing, start with a challenge budget car, end up resto-modding and driving for a while...

I've wanted one of these (or an 87 turbo bird) for quite a while now. Reading this with interest.

Nice score! Hate those motorized seatbelts though, glad they banished them forever.

My buddy had a Supercoupe with a 5-speed. Nice car, it was pearl white. Got totaled by some moron who sideswiped him. I had an '88 Turbo Coupe 5-speed that I put a larger T3 turbo on. That was a pretty fun little car.

Nice score!

Gotta love the old super chickens

pinchvalve wrote: Nice score! Hate those motorized seatbelts though, glad they banished them forever.

After spending two hours fixing the drivers side belt twice, I was hating them more than ever. What and unbelievably crappy design. To get to the stupid thing all the interior behind the door has to come out.

I did finally get it to stop spitting the chain out of the track.

In reply to Will:

You're right about the pulley and exhaust. I apparently failed at reading comprehension when I read that bit. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking. Either way it'll be happening. Is the double intercooler better than one large one? Or is it just cheaper?

Will the raised top for the supercharger fit under the hood, or is cutting involved?

I was thinking of just doing the Cobra brakes on the front. Are the GT calipers much better than the stock ones or would I be better served by biting the bullet and changing wheels to use the Cobra setup?

GT calipers are better than the stock brakes, but Cobra brakes are a dramatic improvement. It just depends on how much you want to spend. Price the following:

GT front brakes: calipers w/brackets, pads, stock rotors, hub retaining nuts. You can find take-off calipers easy because so many Mustang guys upgrade to Cobra brakes. Cobra take-offs are much harder to find.

Cobra front brakes: calipers w/brackets, pads, Cobra rotors, hub retaining nuts, 99-04 Mustang wheel hubs, 17-inch or larger wheels, tires to match. And of course if you go this route, to have matching wheels, you'll have to swap the rear over to 5x4.5 no matter what you do with the brakes. That means you'll either need to buy rear Cobra rotors, 99-04 Cobra hubs, and caliper relocation brackets. Get new hub retaining nuts either way, as they are 1-time use.

I can't tell you how to spend your money, but I can tell you what I did. On my 95 LX, I installed GT brakes, and then Cobra front brakes later, with the rotors redrilled to 5x4.25 (that's always on option, but the stock 16-inch wheels won't fit over the Cobra brakes, so you still need new wheels). On my SC, I went straight to the full 5x4.5 bolt pattern swap, 4-piston Brembo calipers (Focus RS pieces, identical except for color to the 00 Cobra R brakes), and Cobra rotors in back.

Be aware that either way, you'll have to grind on the stock MN12 front brake fitting where it bolts to the caliper. It's not as bad as it sounds...just try to bolt the stock brake line to the Mustang calipers and you'll see what I mean. If you upgrade to braided lines, it won't be a problem. Don't get Mustang brake lines; they won't work. I don't remember if you'll need new banjo bolts. Sorry.

The raised top will absolutely fit under a stock hood. You might keep an eye out for 94+ superchargers, which were a 20 hp improvement over the 89-93 blower. Again, it all depends on how much you want to spend.

As for intercoolers: the advantage of the double IC is that it doesn't block your radiator. Guys who have large front mount ICs often have trouble with cooling. For a ~300 rwhp car, a double IC is sufficient, especially with a fan.

Also, methanol injection is awesome. We installed it on my car, and we only picked up 6 hp at peak, but at 6,000 rpm, where the blower is inefficient and just making heat, we picked up 40 hp and 40 lb-ft.

Oh, also, regarding the awful power seatbelts: Canadian cars didn't come with them. Poke around SCCoA or maybe eBay looking for the manual belt conversion parts if they really bother you that much.

In reply to Will:

I don't mind them as long as they work, which they are...at the moment. The clip that holds the track into the drive motor assembly had broken letting the track push out of the motor. Naturally, it proceeded to push all the plastic chain out and into the space between the body and the interior. I half assed the repair the first time and when the belt hooked my glasses it did it again. I can promise you that won't be a failure point again.

Thanks for the pointers too. I'm going to have to sit down and come up with a list and some costs and see how far I want or can go. There is much reading to be done before I jump too far in one direction or the other.