Did the 5.0L in the Thunderbird ever come as a H.O?
Nope. At least not between the years 1983 - 1988. I think it's from '91-'93 that the MN-12 Thunderbirds had an available 5.0 HO, but someone will have to verify that as I'm not sure on the exact years.
ok. Thanks I was not sure of the Sport edition.
The MN-12 Birds with the 5.0's all had H.O engines.....and they are cheap.I've seen the cars go cheaper than just the engine.Good swap engine.
Well I bought the Thunderbird but I am a little confused.It is a 5.0L but the exhaust goes from the exhaust manifolds to a y pipe to duals like a turbo coupe. Why no H-pipe like in a mustang or LSC? I also noticed that the interior is exactly like a turbo coupe with the shifter on the floor and a console with power seats. I also noticed that the engine is like the turbocoupe cross member not the mustang style cross member.The engine sits on the liquid filled mounts? But the brakes are small in the front with drums in the rear and a 7.5" rear diff. I am thinking of a LSC front/rear disc swap. Maybe search for a new h-pipe from a mustang or maybe a cheap offroad one? This is just for now. My 7.5L/E4OD swap will be comming next year. I am happy with the car just a little confused I guess.
That's a Sport model.It also has the Turbo Coupe sway bars.Does it have quad shocks?
That's part of being a Thunderbird.
It has quad shocks. Yes.
So how rare is a sport model?
That's a good question.Mine is a Sport,I picked it up from the boneyard 3 days before crushing.I really don't see many at all.Come to think of it,I really don't see many Fox Thunderbirds at all around anymore.
I don't know how rare it is, and I don't know if Ford ever broke down the production numbers. I've got an old Motor Trend magazine somewhere around here with an owners survey that says that 87-88 T-Bird production was basically split 30% TC, 30% V8, and the remaining 40% V6, but it doesn't go into any further detail (such as how many TC's were 5-speeds, how many LX's, how many Sports, etc). Many people wrongly think that their T-Bird is a Sport just because it's got a 5.0, but the Sport was actually its own model, with its own VIN code (61). My car is a base model (VIN code 60) with the 5.0
In terms of production, I'd guess the Sport was likely the least produced model and Carm's figures would support that if they are correct... A 30% total V8 production gets kind of thin spread out over three different models(Base, LX, Sport)... A 40% total prod of 3.8s mean lots of LX & Base models got the V6... There were approx 59,000 TCs built in '87-'88 combined... That's the one TBird production figure Ford seems to have, can crunch some numbers using thos figures & percentages...
From NATO
Turbo Coupes:
1983: 12,566 of 121,999 Total Thunderbird production
1984: 14,744 of 170,551 Total Thunderbird production
1985: 20,804 of 151,852 Total Thunderbird production
1986: 21,315 of 163,965 Total Thunderbird production
1987: 23,833 of 128,123 Total Thunderbird production
1988: 35,271 of 139,411 Total Thunderbird production
TOTAL TC's: 128,533
I guess I am not to worried how rare it is. I am still going to build my project dammit.