Thunderbird SC
New member
My name is Ryan. I am a native of Western New York and spent 5 years living out in the southwest corner of Iowa. There I met my wife of soon to be 7 yrs. We have 2 children together; Jolene age 4 and Kristopher age 2.
I've always had a fascination with small engines since i was little. I remember my first one that my dad got for me out of a backwoods junk pile. A 2hp old white Briggs and Stratton. Over time my collection grew as my neighbor would give me more old engines, even one ranging back to a cast iron block with a simple globe style carb and a vacuum fuel pickup- no assist. Then we got 2 go karts, one was a new formula one style fiberglass body with a 3.5hp Briggs. The other was a old racer style that sat 1.5 inches off the ground with a solid axle, 4 hp Briggs. The collection continued to old leaf spring sleds, mopeds, lawn mowers and much more.
In my last year of high school I bought my first obsession. A 1989 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe 5 speed
. It had a 3.8 v6 push rod supercharged engine making 225hp and 380ftlbs of torque. Not knowing what temperamental engines these were I found myself replacing the head gaskets, then suffering spun rods bearings and a cracked piston. Rebuilt that one and drove it many more miles till it gave out from loosened pressed in wrist pins ( gouged cylinder walls, gas got in oil, oil thinned, and destroyed bearings). Since I was in route moving to NY I had to let it go for $150 
There were other cars here and there, never one that just kept on going without help and repairs. I did get a second Thunderbird SC with protest from my wife.... Car was awesome. 94 auto (472 ever built that year!!) Replaced the bearing before the went bad, ported many parts and took the best of other Ford car parts at the junkyards to make a beast. Stock usually ran 12 psi of boost and suffered heat soak quickly. After a pulley kit, dry ice cooling and other mods It made an impressive 19lbs of boost and would easily outrun 4.6 and 5.0 similar year stick mustangs. Pretty much could steer the thing with my right foot
. Well all good things come to an end. The increased power tore up 1st and 2nd gear even though the tranny was built stock to that of a mustang cobra's. So now its being sold in parts for other projects and income. RIP SC
I now currently own 2 Subaru's A 99 Forester 5spd and a 96 legacy wagon auto. Even these still keep me busy with the wrenches. The Forester had the transmission replaced, the engine replaced with another bad engine to finally find one that was decent. Great cars for the winters in this area! I still have plans to supercharge the Forester instead of the usual turbocharged swap from a STI, due to lack of funding that project is idle.
The other project that is currently stalled due to comet closing is my gas driven Peg Perego Gaucho. Junk picked it for my kids only to find the battery was toast. Replaced it with 12v tractor battery which the kids loved; They called it their " GO-GO's" That worked well, was even going to mount a 12x16 solar auto charger on the hood to keep the battery topped off. Then the gearbox/ wheel coupling went bad which got my brain thinking....
Use the old snow blower 2 stroke engine and a simple centrifugal clutch setup to a live axle. Simple and easy then became more advanced, safer and more costly. I'd keep going on but that for a new thread as its still a work in progress
Here is a link to StreetFire where all my pictures and videos are of my thunderbirds. Under videos the first 3 one page 1 and last 3 one page 3 are of my car. Dont forget pics of my ride to under photos..
http://user.streetfire.net/profile/Rpdboss.htm
I've always had a fascination with small engines since i was little. I remember my first one that my dad got for me out of a backwoods junk pile. A 2hp old white Briggs and Stratton. Over time my collection grew as my neighbor would give me more old engines, even one ranging back to a cast iron block with a simple globe style carb and a vacuum fuel pickup- no assist. Then we got 2 go karts, one was a new formula one style fiberglass body with a 3.5hp Briggs. The other was a old racer style that sat 1.5 inches off the ground with a solid axle, 4 hp Briggs. The collection continued to old leaf spring sleds, mopeds, lawn mowers and much more.
In my last year of high school I bought my first obsession. A 1989 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe 5 speed
. It had a 3.8 v6 push rod supercharged engine making 225hp and 380ftlbs of torque. Not knowing what temperamental engines these were I found myself replacing the head gaskets, then suffering spun rods bearings and a cracked piston. Rebuilt that one and drove it many more miles till it gave out from loosened pressed in wrist pins ( gouged cylinder walls, gas got in oil, oil thinned, and destroyed bearings). Since I was in route moving to NY I had to let it go for $150 There were other cars here and there, never one that just kept on going without help and repairs. I did get a second Thunderbird SC with protest from my wife.... Car was awesome. 94 auto (472 ever built that year!!) Replaced the bearing before the went bad, ported many parts and took the best of other Ford car parts at the junkyards to make a beast. Stock usually ran 12 psi of boost and suffered heat soak quickly. After a pulley kit, dry ice cooling and other mods It made an impressive 19lbs of boost and would easily outrun 4.6 and 5.0 similar year stick mustangs. Pretty much could steer the thing with my right foot
. Well all good things come to an end. The increased power tore up 1st and 2nd gear even though the tranny was built stock to that of a mustang cobra's. So now its being sold in parts for other projects and income. RIP SCI now currently own 2 Subaru's A 99 Forester 5spd and a 96 legacy wagon auto. Even these still keep me busy with the wrenches. The Forester had the transmission replaced, the engine replaced with another bad engine to finally find one that was decent. Great cars for the winters in this area! I still have plans to supercharge the Forester instead of the usual turbocharged swap from a STI, due to lack of funding that project is idle.
The other project that is currently stalled due to comet closing is my gas driven Peg Perego Gaucho. Junk picked it for my kids only to find the battery was toast. Replaced it with 12v tractor battery which the kids loved; They called it their " GO-GO's" That worked well, was even going to mount a 12x16 solar auto charger on the hood to keep the battery topped off. Then the gearbox/ wheel coupling went bad which got my brain thinking....
Use the old snow blower 2 stroke engine and a simple centrifugal clutch setup to a live axle. Simple and easy then became more advanced, safer and more costly. I'd keep going on but that for a new thread as its still a work in progressHere is a link to StreetFire where all my pictures and videos are of my thunderbirds. Under videos the first 3 one page 1 and last 3 one page 3 are of my car. Dont forget pics of my ride to under photos..
http://user.streetfire.net/profile/Rpdboss.htm
