what to do with this car ?

renovation · Post by **renovation** » Tue Mar 06, 2001 10:24 pm

i have a 1986 t-bird in pretty good shape

motor is bad do :-) !
so should i put the same v6 back in it or make it a power house -v8 thinking i might put a 351w in it and change everything but the major body panels and make it a weekend cruser ! or just replace the v-6 and do a couple of miner changes and make it a sunday ride

what should i do ?
spend $1500 for a sunday ride -or spend 2 years and $6000 to turn this into a wild ride

Reg Kmet · Post by **Reg Kmet** » Tue Mar 06, 2001 11:17 pm

go wild!

Ladies Man · Post by **Ladies Man** » Tue Mar 06, 2001 11:20 pm

i say....

you put in the 351w if you want RAW POWER
or put in inline 4cyl with turbo like the 87/88 turbo coupes

v6 in my opinion is worthless when the 4cyl turbo has better mpg and is faster

4 cyl with turbo has some kick and will spin the tires *that's with the 3.73 rear end, i don't know what you have at the moment*

of course if you have the money get the 351

Reg Kmet · Post by **Reg Kmet** » Tue Mar 06, 2001 11:52 pm

i cant help but believe that with a 4 cyl turbo with a 3.73 rear end the car would fall flat on it's face up top...

d_b · Post by **d_b** » Wed Mar 07, 2001 9:13 pm

Go wild!! My bro in law had a 85 which had a 351 that was a special order. Some guy had ordered it from a dealer and never came to pick it up. My brother in law knew the owner of the dealership and got a hell of a deal. The thing finally gave up the ghost last year.

Yeh make a wild ride out of it....chickmobile!!

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Thu Mar 08, 2001 7:12 am

The problems with changing engine types completely with newer cars is complicated by fuel injection as you'll need another ECU and wiring harness to change it to a V8. If you have emisions testing in your area, that's yet another hassle as the new engine/injection system has to meet the states specs for that year. On the other hand, if you don't need to meet emisions standards and want a V8, then you can drop in a carb version and that'll be easier with less hassles.