Help with a t-bird
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4
Help with a t-bird
All right im just about finished monkeying with my buddies stang and now wanta toy of my own. I think im going the t-bird route but have some questions. I cant find a good T-bird forum like this one. This place is awesome. I'll try here and maybe yall can help me out or point me in the right direction.
Im looking into a Bird any where from 83 up to 94 or 95ish. Im curious about what kind of suspension upgrades are out there. Do these birds have the same suspension setup as the mustang counter part? What about transmissions. Most of the Birds im seeing have Automatics. I obviously want a manual. Do yall think i can swap a t-5 and clutch pedal parts into these. Are they bolt up. What about rear end gears as well.
Thanks for the help.
Im looking into a Bird any where from 83 up to 94 or 95ish. Im curious about what kind of suspension upgrades are out there. Do these birds have the same suspension setup as the mustang counter part? What about transmissions. Most of the Birds im seeing have Automatics. I obviously want a manual. Do yall think i can swap a t-5 and clutch pedal parts into these. Are they bolt up. What about rear end gears as well.
Thanks for the help.
MF Staff Snitch
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 7,041
From: Scotia, NY
RE: Help with a t-bird
heres the deal with birds:
suspension-
comletely different platform in '89. they have an IRS rear end. there is a good aftermarket for this, but it will be a little more expensive.
engine/trans:
in 91,92 the 5.0 was optional. the sports had it, btu also had better suspension stock because of supercoupe springs and swaybars. in 93 the 5.0 had some revisions and recieved a little mroe power. in 94, the 4.6 replaced the 5.0, and got a power boost over the 5.0 . All V8 models were AOD's.
from 98-95, there was the supercoupe. it had a 3.8 supercharged engine, and was the fastest stock Tbird. they had the best suspension stock. also, a 5 speed was standard, automatic optional. they were the only manual Tbird of the years.
as for the trans swap, in order to do so you would need the clutch pedals, transmission and console. the pedals and trans shoudlnt be hard. the hard part is the console, because they are only found in SC's.
suspension-
comletely different platform in '89. they have an IRS rear end. there is a good aftermarket for this, but it will be a little more expensive.
engine/trans:
in 91,92 the 5.0 was optional. the sports had it, btu also had better suspension stock because of supercoupe springs and swaybars. in 93 the 5.0 had some revisions and recieved a little mroe power. in 94, the 4.6 replaced the 5.0, and got a power boost over the 5.0 . All V8 models were AOD's.
from 98-95, there was the supercoupe. it had a 3.8 supercharged engine, and was the fastest stock Tbird. they had the best suspension stock. also, a 5 speed was standard, automatic optional. they were the only manual Tbird of the years.
as for the trans swap, in order to do so you would need the clutch pedals, transmission and console. the pedals and trans shoudlnt be hard. the hard part is the console, because they are only found in SC's.
1st Gear Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 69
From:
RE: Help with a t-bird
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/ 84 t-bird 91 5.0 ho w/87 sd wire harness from mustang. most parts( suspension,driveline )interchange. the best years to look for are 82 -88
4th Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,999
From:
RE: Help with a t-bird
I just sold a 95 Tbird 4.6L LX. Pic on my cardomain link.
Compared to a Mustang, they are heavy and tax the performance in everyway. Other than that they are a very nice car.
The v8's got faster every year with 97 being the last.
4.6's are faster than 5.0's.
Lots of smart guys on the tbird site.http://www.tccoa.com/
You can find v6 supercharged stuff at sccoa.com
Faster cars with alot of potential but they age alot faster than the V8 stuff.
Compared to a Mustang, they are heavy and tax the performance in everyway. Other than that they are a very nice car.
The v8's got faster every year with 97 being the last.
4.6's are faster than 5.0's.
Lots of smart guys on the tbird site.http://www.tccoa.com/
You can find v6 supercharged stuff at sccoa.com
Faster cars with alot of potential but they age alot faster than the V8 stuff.
4th Gear Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,030
From: SoCal
RE: Help with a t-bird
Get a supercoupe, and expect a lot of time in the shop, thats just how they are, I owned a 97, but went the mustang route, tbirds weigh 3900lbs, which is not good, but a pi swap and super charger would equal an ultimate sleeper. Their power train is basically identical to the 96-98 mustang gt's.
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