My Lemons Car!

Me and a team of 4 picked up a 1990 ford thunderbird super coupe 5 speed. I know how the hell we got this car this cheap I am not sure. The motor, trans, and clutch was rebuilt 20,000 miles ago. The inside was shot and there was rust everywhere but we didn't care. Motor sounds good supercharger is alittle sloppy but we have one from a junk yard already.

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/EDD7FEA6-963E-45F5-97CB-9C351120C3BC_zpsqwffizna.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/7C709668-5F7D-489F-B555-083194B99BA0_zpsn7tpvltj.jpg.html][/URL]

Started to tear out the inside of the car.

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/6F789204-B00F-4CAC-BF88-3BBA953B4353_zps69uawqwh.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/EFFAE3DD-BC35-43F4-BD83-A4CEAA1D7323_zps0g31hc1g.jpg.html][/URL]

ahhhh there is the sexy m90 supercharger.

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/F7706F30-3E38-4980-AEA2-C97C7CE02910_zpsf6oqtgrg.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/AAD30101-4F50-428C-B696-638CE2F369A7_zpsfabj0e2q.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/27A19257-171D-4A01-87E6-592AA7F529A4_zps0qvyg3fx.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/090CB60B-8A93-4585-BF2E-67D43DEB81E3_zpsyqnsgcov.jpg.html][/URL]

You can see the main lope in that pictures. We got a killer deal on a cage.

This is the coolest thing we found. During one of our junk yard hunts we found a 1992 thunderbird. We robbed everything we could off the thing.

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/E7794742-3B8F-4052-8383-EAA298AD26E0_zpsy7phw18q.jpg.html][/URL]

So this thunderturd needs to be race ready in 2 weeks...... We have way to much stuff to do. Looks like a lot of long nights and beer drinking in my futures. I will keep on updating.

Also if anyone wants information on lemon racing let me know.

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/DB31F5DE-2374-438E-89CC-35F864BF4CD6_zps1frcuyf7.jpg.html][/URL]

we are not big ford fans here as this pictures shows but this car is very impressive for its time and for what we need it for

Should say Ford blows!

Welcome to the insanity. I'm over 20 races in now and quite excited for the season to start. I assume you will be at NJMP, see you there! We have the boat, a civic hatch, and a TR7 at this race, and they will be hard to miss. Feel free to stop by our paddock any time, we've built a bunch of cars by now and bring a few garages worth of parts and tools if you need anything. We're also having a big BBQ on Saturday night.

I've seen your junkyard car at several races. Too bad you couldn't take the cage out of it.

I know lots about these cars. If you want any info, holler.

If you can make it fit the budget, I strongly recommend an upgrade to Mustang GT or Cobra front brakes, but you'll need 92-97 spindles to do that.

In reply to Sonic: When you mean boat like a real boat or a boat of a car haha? Also we will stop by say hi and bring some beer! Lets hope we won't need your help but if we do I will let you know. If you guys need help with anything let us know too. I would say look for our car but we have no idea what the theme is going to turn out haha

In reply to Will: I wish! we are going to upgrade the brakes in the future but our problem is just getting to be race legal. All we did was re freshen the stock brakes and hope they can stop this 3400 pound car.

Also if you need any parts we are selling a bunch of super coup parts for cheap

It's actually a boat, 1971 Sea Sprite 16'

pav5069 wrote: So this thunderturd needs to be race ready in 2 weeks......

You poor thing. Bring lots of beer to the race....you're going to need it. 2 weeks to go and you don't even have a cage in it yet? Yikes. Read, read, and re-read the safety part of the rules and the "How not to fail tech" guide. There's not much tolerance for being outside the requirements, especially anything to do with the roll cage.

pav5069 wrote: In reply to Will: I wish! we are going to upgrade the brakes in the future but our problem is just getting to be race legal. All we did was re freshen the stock brakes and hope they can stop this 3400 pound car. Also if you need any parts we are selling a bunch of super coup parts for cheap

3400? Mine is 3386 with a full interior and AC. Granted, I'm not limited by the Lemons budget cap.

As for the parts, unfortunately your 90 shares very few parts with my 94.

What are you doing for shocks? There are no, and I mean NO, good options left for these cars.

ross2004 wrote:

pav5069 wrote: So this thunderturd needs to be race ready in 2 weeks......

Bring lots of beer to the race....you're going to need it.

Yeah, ouch. I hope you can pull it off. In any case, have fun with it!

I think you picked an excellent car for crapcan racing, though. I'm not as familiar with the LeMons rules, but in ChumpCar the T-birds (SC especially) check all the boxes to be very competitive (last I looked). Should be a hoot.

I would say to work on fixing the rust first and joining someone else's team if you can't make the first race with your car. Having the car fall apart from not fixing the rust will make repairs more time consuming and more difficult.

In reply to Sonic: now that is awesome!

In reply to Will: I don't know much about these cars but they do seem to make a perfect car for this race in my opioin. I just took a guess with the weight when the cage is in it. We did fix the rust on the floors and the rust that is left shouldn't effect the car.

for shocks we removed the air ride and swapped them out for non SC shocks and springs. Just to save some weight. The lemon car in the junk yard were in great condition and cost next to nothing.

we are bring plenty of beer! So more then welcome to stop by. I think it will be a long night fixing the crap we break.

In reply to pav5069:

Air ride? That came on the Lincoln Mk8, but the SC had electronically adjustable shocks and coils. If yours had air springs, it wasn't factory.

I think durability is going to be one of your big problems. When I was autocrossing mine regularly, I had a huge problem boiling the power steering fluid. Granted, AX takes a lot more steering over the same distance as road racing, but road racing does it for a lot longer. You might consider a power steering cooler.

The ABS system on the 89-93 SC is also a giant turd. If yours works, great, but when they stop working, most people eliminate the ABS system entirely because it's so much trouble. These cars share the rear calipers with the Fox body, so pad selection should be okay, but I'm not sure about the front pad selection, which is obviously a lot more important. I'd be worried about severely overtaxing the brake system.

I'd also do whatever you can to keep underhood temps down. I'd suggest building an air dam like this one, which has been proven to make these cars run cooler.

One piece of good news is that the 89 and 90 had the thickest sway bars for the whole of the MN12 run. If you need to replace any suspension bushings, read this--some of the aftermarket stuff has been known to fail catastrophically.

Hub retaining nuts are one-time use, so if you replace any wheel bearings, get new nuts, too. The fronts and rear nuts are different: you can use the front nuts in the rear, but you can't use the rear nuts in the front. Well, you can, but the wheel might come off.

In reply to Will: ahh your right it is electronically adjusted but it didn't work any more. So we swapped them out. Yea we are worried about the headgasket and other parts. Boiling fuilds is a worry. We are going to try and remove the abs system to save weight plus it's pointless on the track.

We are going to put a hood scoop to help with the temps.

Ugh didn't know that we just order new ones bc of this. Thank you for the hint of the nuts!!

I need to upload more photos of the car. We are starting to run out of things to do but for cage. The cage is looking more and more like a cage.

We finish up the rear of the car and got done cleaning up the intake ports.

I wonder what'd happen if you drank water and spent your beer money on parts or tools?

"Looks like a lot of long nights and beer drinking in my future"

"Also we will stop by say hi and bring some beer!"

"You poor thing. Bring lots of beer to the race....you're going to need it."

"we are bring plenty of beer!"

Not judging, just a thought I had.

ebonyandivory wrote: I wonder what'd happen if you drank water and spent your beer money on parts or tools? "Looks like a lot of long nights and beer drinking in my future" "Also we will stop by say hi and bring some beer!" "You poor thing. Bring lots of beer to the race....you're going to need it." "we are bring plenty of beer!" Not judging, just a thought I had.

What? That's crazy talk. What else would you do at night? How do else do you keep the momentum to go find a backwoods junkyard on a weekend and R&R an engine? Does not compute.

We are going to take your advise.... We are going to have a wine weekend hahaha. I am going to upload some pictures of the car now. We are getting a lot done. The motor is almost back together and the front and rear of the car is done. We removed the bumpers to sell and got a pretty penny for them. We like how the car looks with out the bumpers. Fits our death race theme.

We ran into a problem with one of our drivers being to tall for the cage with our seat bracket. We are in the middle of making our own.

As long as we do not run into any more road blocks I think we will make it to the race Friday haha

I know I am forgetting a lot of things. Here are some pictures.

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/2987CD6D-D15C-4749-BAFC-252DE0F56243_zpsiek1tmkg.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/93AF8D75-48B1-4397-A27D-3B715793A23B_zpsu0uvrthd.jpg.html][/URL]

Who needs a pick up truck when you have a mini

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/E574D330-E6B1-4774-A020-2967DBC0A346_zpsb2mhndjm.jpg.html][/URL]

New shocks we found in the junkyard

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/5B1D89D7-ADF1-46E9-B0A2-C4234910DD06_zpsxlhu1lys.jpg.html][/URL]

We are thinking of running twin superchargers next race. We do not have time for it this race.

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/937B330D-26E4-4786-9C6B-082DAA8F28E8_zpskxnf0xw8.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s341.photobucket.com/user/trx450r1989/media/1E54892B-CFA6-4F58-9BDE-6605C98061FE_zpsnqvdwkmg.jpg.html][/URL]

My two cents is to slow down and relax. You might make the race but it will be nothing but repairs and trying to get the car on the track. Get the car done, test it, fix it, dial it in and THEN go racing.

well....... its looking pretty good. The cage will be finished tomorrow. The two big problems is the rear brackets sliders are sized and we are trying to find some before Friday. I think we found some. The next big problem is we tried to start the car tonight and the fuel pump isn't getting any power but the car did start!