1987 thunderbird motor swap help

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1987 thunderbird motor swap help

February 26, 2008, 05:47:36 PM

Dear Fellow Thunderbird and Cougar Owners,
I recently found a 1987 thunderbird sport with the 302 engine in it. I know these only generated about 150 hp. Has anyone else dropped one of these fuel injected engines in thier cars? What kind of problems am I going to run into? Ive read the dospoogeent on Cool Cats about the H) conversion and how things will have to be modified such as front springs and such. What about the harnesses? Has anyone made a full digital gauge work in a car that had the base gague in it(digital speedo and buttstuffog other gagues)?
As far as the engine, any ideas on what to do? I'm considering new heads. Would those from a lincoln sports coupe fit? Mustang heads? What should I do? How strong is the standard automatic transmission? I'm looking for 300hp.(give or take). Please feel free to post suggestions, or email me at JPC647@charter.net.
John

1987 thunderbird motor swap help

Reply #1 – February 26, 2008, 10:15:14 PM

Before we answer this,what car do you have?What engine does your car have?Then,we can have a foundation to build on.I swapped engines and modded mine in my '88 Sport.Give us some info.

1987 thunderbird motor swap help

Reply #2 – February 27, 2008, 01:24:23 AM

note my cardomain is not all up to date but theres tons of pics and i did get my engine swapped.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2202147

Also heres the thread link on here that also has a few pics but most of them are on the car domain.

http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=15714

Vinne should be able to explain a lot of it but heres a ton of pics.

more info

Reply #3 – February 27, 2008, 07:58:51 AM

I've got a 1988 thunderbird fuel injected v6 car. Thats what the 87 302 is going into.

1987 thunderbird motor swap help

Reply #4 – February 28, 2008, 07:37:45 PM

What's wrong with the '87?Maybe you could build that car instead of swapping everything into the '88.Just a thought.If it's in nice shape,use parts from yours to build it,or,keep them both and gather the few needed parts at the boneyard or here in the classifieds.Think about it.

1987 thunderbird motor swap help

Reply #5 – February 28, 2008, 10:30:09 PM

The harnesses' will be slightly different from '87 to '88(no I don't know exactly what the differences are)... For plug and play into a '88, you need a '88 5.0 harness... Otherwise you'll need to do some changing connectors or splicing wires...

1987 thunderbird motor swap help

Reply #6 – March 02, 2008, 03:52:41 AM

in addition to an EEC harness, you will need a v8 SEFI EEC from the stang, mark, other fox's ect to work with your 5.0.

your current EEC in the 88 is for a 6 cyl which only has two injector pins.,,not good.

you need to do a little reading first. Sounds like you just posted a thread without doing research.

1987 thunderbird motor swap help

Reply #7 – March 02, 2008, 08:44:52 AM

Quote from: jpc647;206552

I've got a 1988 thunderbird fuel injected v6 car. Thats what the 87 302 is going into.

I did that exact swap on my '88 Bird... check out my cardomain...

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2464895

oops, just seen you have signed my guestbook already...:hick:

1987 thunderbird motor swap help

Reply #8 – March 02, 2008, 10:48:35 AM

vinnie,
The problem with the 87 is is rusted out pretty bad. The bottom of the quarters and the bottom of the fenders are rough. The doors have no bottoms anymore. Its too far gone to continue. To be honest, I would have much rather started with a car with the engine already installed.

cassidy

Reply #9 – March 02, 2008, 10:50:58 AM

I made a post without knowing a lot. I thought thats what the forums were for. I was asking for advice. The only information really in on coolcats, and most of hte engine swap information is for the 5.0HO. To distinguish between the two without knowing a ton about these cars is rather difficult.

wldbrd

Reply #10 – March 02, 2008, 11:48:51 AM

Was your S0 engine out of a 1987? What problems did you run into along the way? Just out of curiosity, how many miles were on your S.O. when you put it in?
When you converted over your dash to the buttstuffog gauges, how hard was that? What had to be done to allow that to work? Where did you find the 200 mph speedo? Stupid question, when you said you knife edged the butterfly, what does that mean? Was it hard to put hte turbo coupe header on without hte tc bumper cover? I was under the impression it wouldn't fit. Also, how did you get the "5.0l EFI" plate off the top of the plenum. Everytime I try i break the torx bit.

1987 thunderbird motor swap help

Reply #11 – March 02, 2008, 01:15:22 PM

Welcome to the site!

Here's a very important link that will answer a few of your questions about the motor swap. It identifies the differences between the 3.8 and 5.0 engine bays.
http://www.coolcats.net/tech/advanced/ho_transplant.html

Quote

Also, how did you get the "5.0l EFI" plate off the top of the plenum. Everytime I try i break the torx bit.

This may sound silly, but an old trick is to actually tighten a stuck screw or bolt just a hair and then loosen it;)

By the 200 MPH speedometer do you mean the conversion to make a digital speedo read that high? If so that is here: http://www.coolcats.net/tech/advanced/199speedo.html

As far as swapping to an buttstuffog instrument cluster:
http://www.foxthundercats.com/tech/cluster.htm
AND
http://www.coolcats.net/media/docs/electronic_to_tc_cluster.pdf