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1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe GST 5 Speed

  • Price: Ask a price!
  • Item location: Fairbury, Illinois, United States
  • Make: Ford
  • Model: Thunderbird
  • Type: Coupe
  • Trim: Turbo Coupe
  • Year: 1986
  • Mileage: 69,984
  • VIN: 1FABP46W8GH172768
  • Color: Gray
  • Engine size: 4 Cylinder Turbo
  • Number of cylinders: 4
  • Power options: Air Conditioning, Cruise Control, Power Locks, Power Windows, Power Seats
  • Fuel: Gasoline
  • Transmission: Manual
  • Drive type: Manual
  • Interior color: Blue
  • Options: Cassette Player
  • Vehicle Title: Clear

Ford Thunderbird 1986 Description

A little backstory - I bought this car a year ago as a parts car for my Son's '86 (which I am also listing here). It had been sitting for 8 years. After pulling it home, I looked it over, and thought, this is a very restorable car with only 69k miles. I then set to get it running and test it out. There are so many good parts, and all the rust is surface rust - no rust holes that I've found.
I replaced the fuel tank, fuel pump, sending unit, changed the fluids, and put a, optima yellow top battery in it. With little more than that, it fired up and I was able to drive it around. I drove it for a little bit, but decided that the brakes needed serious attention. I have completely rebuilt the front end- rebuilt steering rack, new a-arms, upgraded Brakes and spindles to the larger 1987 ones, and put SN95 springs on the front. The only thing the front end needs is a pair of the Maximum motorsports caster/camber plates because of the change in spindles. I have not done anything to the rear end because I was building a new 8.8 for it. The parking brake doesn't work at the moment.
In the engine bay, I replaced the timing belt/water pump/belts & hoses, distributor, plugs, wires, and radiator, or course after flushing the whole engine and seafoaming it twice.
In the interior, I cleaned and scrubbed it, and put in a new heater core while I had it apart.
I have the A/C hoses off at the moment, because I was going to get a new dryer hose made, but ran out of time. I'll include that, as well as a kit to convert to freeze-12, which works really good with this compressor.
This is a drivable restoration. Honestly, I still tinker around with it and drive it to run errands, etc. As it was sitting for a while, I wanted to get the bugs worked out of it, and they are - for the most part. I pulled it out of the shed, rinsed it to take some pictures, and it idled rough, like it had a plugged injector. I tool it out, ran the cobwebs, and it works fine now. If it gives you problems, you may want to run some injector cleaner through it, or actually clean the injectors. It probably just needs to be run more!
The last picture I took of the gauges when idling. Good amperage and good oil pressure.

It's a very easy restoration, and I had intended on finishing it this summer. I had even bought the paint to complete, which I will include.
Urekem Stellar Silver
Urekem Gunmetal Grey
Finally, I have an extra bumper for the car, because this one is split. I'll include that, too.
I have $2500k in it with all the new parts and I'm looking to get $2k, so I have set the reserve at $1.5k. I just need to clean up the shop and make my todo list much shorter.
Negotiable: I have a rear from a 1987, as well as new calipers, rotors, and pads, a new aluminum ford racing bearing set, a new carbon disk set, and a new ford racing aluminum differential cover, new maximum motorsports control arms & OEM SN95 springs for the rear. I'll include all of that for an additional $350 to the buyer only (price it out, this is an incredible deal). My goal was to rebuild the TC rear and swap it out, upgrading the brakes in the process. If the new owner wants to do the same, he/she has all the parts to do it.
As always, please let me know if I can help answer any questions!

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