Is there anyone on here who owns or has owned a TC with 250,000 miles that neither the motor nor the turbo had been rebuilt?
Ron
Mine has 170 it would be nice to go that long
My dad had a 5.0 fox that went over 300
Gotta love ford lol
I think there is a member with a car that has over 300k
My 88TC has 219,000 miles on it with no rebuild of the engine, trans, or turbo and I am just wondering if I am driving on borrowed time.
One report that I read today said that a 2.3 turbo should run 300,000 if it is driven sensibly, allowed to cool down before shutting down, and the oil is changed as recommended.
Reading that was some kind of encouraging to me.
Ron
The T/C I have had 256095 miles on it when I started my restoration. It was extremely tired and lacking power, blew out around a quart & half every 3k out of the dipstick, really didn't like to pull 5th gear on any kind of hill, but it never failed to start (except for a fuel pump failure at parts store). I have no idea of how it was driven before I bought it, it had been equipped with FMS springs and FMS FMIC, and I did alot of Spirited driving, but no drag racing, with it out in Washington state.
I haven't had a 2.3 on it with that many miles on it, but had several 5.0 birds and cougars with 200K+ on them on original drive train. As for the 2.3 if your driving a stick and aren't rough on it I don't see why it wouldn't live that long. If your sporting the a4ld, well that thing is a time bomb on its own any way lol.
It is a 5 speed that shifts perfectly so far, and still pulls pretty good for having such a ton of miles.
The previous owner treated it like his mistress with complete fluid changes every two years and synthetic oil every 2500 to 3000 miles for nearly twenty years.
I bought it two years ago with 213,000 and have put 6000 miles on it since then.
My wife accuses me of treating it like my mistress also.
one day last week I had pulled the cover part way back while I worked on it, exposing the front end. She walked in from work and said; "you left your girlfriend in the garage with her panties down".
She has a great sense of humor & loves the BLK BRD about as much as I do!
Ron
My TC has 302k on it. but it is far from untouched. since i bought it in 2004 with a n/a 2.3 and non TC A4LD. i have since rebuild the entire car. it was my daily driver until 2006. and is now a split use. but its has it slight modifications. the first year after i put in my rebuilt engine i went about 14,000 miles without any issues. there wasa tc one year at carlisle with 280k without and internal engine work being done.
That encourages me....thanks for the tidbit of info!
Ron
my tbird before i started the restoration had 325437 miles on it and ran just fine i wouldnt trust it on a long road trip but it didnt smoke/brurn oil and had no ticks or anything but that was 5.0
love how the quote says "edited" oo im living up to my NATO name, lol.
When I was younger, I inheirited two turbo coupes. I got my Uncles 1985 5speed with 263,??? when I was 15. It had sat a couple years because he was daily driving a Super Coupe. I did the Timing belt, steering rack, wheel cylinders front calipers, and tune up. That car sparked my love for Turbo Coupes and automobiles in general. I probably owe that car for my ability to make a living and provide for my family today. The second Turbo I got was my fathers, his was a 87, got his when it had 230,??? miles on it. I got his when I was 18, head gasket had popped. Put a pinto head on it, machine shop said the head was warped. The pinto head didn't exactly bolt on, but thats what I had lying around. One of the intake manifold bolt holes wasn't lined up, so I drilled and tapped a hole, stuck a SVO roller cam in while it was apart. My family has a long love of ALL FORD hot rods, and the two Turbo Coupes we had were AWESOME in there day. Sadly, they didn't last long in my ownership, 85 blew the bottom end out running a slow C4 vette, and a lady ran a stop sign and that was the end of the 87. Every day I miss those cars, not so much for the performance, because the modern V8 stangs will enillate them, but because they got 30+ mpg and were a blast to drive. Id love to have one as a commuter car!
That's why I love my TC it's not fast but it get really good mpg and its fun to drive
But I mod every thing so it will get a little faster lol
dang, I forgot that my 83 has well over 300k from daily use by my dad.
My last TC has 238K on her. She isn't my DD any longer, so she may not get any higher mileage put on her before I do the Coyote swap. Before she ended up with a cracked head, she was a blast to drive... and with the crack being as small as it is, I might have been able to keep driving her for a while yet, but she deserved being taken care of, so I put her out to pasture, so to speak. However, she is still going to remain a TC, just my own interpretation of what a modernized TC would be. A twin-turbo Coyote powered ground pounder.
I'll be waiting for that thread. I keep liking the idea of a newer power plant, rather than a pushrod 402/408. It's always back and forth in my head. By the time I'm done with the rest of the car, I assume a coyote swap will be much cheaper than it is now and we'll have much better longevity numbers. To do a proper 408 build will take close to $10k in itself so I don't see how one can lose with the new 5.0.
Well my 93 Ranger with a 2,3L rode its odometer around three times making it to almost 330k before i decided to pull the limping motor. I pulled the head to find a burned exhaust valve that was the cause of my almost nine month misfire. Found a used 2.3 from a mustang with a t-5 that pushed almost 200k miles for 200 bucks. swapped the motors and trannies, and gave it to my mom a few months ago. plan on seeing the truck run for another 20 years. the only parts it used was, four alternators and three clutches and a lot of oil changes.
Gotta love ford
Just take care of them and they will run forever
I think that's true of MOST vehicles. The problem is people DON'T take care of their vehicles. If everything is properly lubricated (fluids not worn out, built properly on the assembly line), wear will be negligible for a long time. On transmissions, think about how many people properly change their automatic's fluid every 1-2 years as the fluid degrades from heat. Changing clutch (hydraulic) and brake fluid annually can also make those parts hold up indefinitely.
I've seen just as many Hondas puffing down the road as any other make due to maintenance neglect. I don't understand the mindset of many that Hondas and Toyotas last forever - most gutless motors are designed well enough to last with the power they put out. As with any vehicle, make more power per cubic inch, increase the loads and wear. Know what? My 3-cylinder Honda motor is as gutless as they come, but they also appear to commonly reach 400-500k and still have only minor internal wear. The heads wear some (and the valvetrain needs adjustment often), but the shortblock is great. It's making 67hp.
Well i have to chime in here. The older motors from 1974-1977 were very bad. As you know i worked with Ford on this engine to fix a piston scuff issue. With that we are talking TC so here goes. The bottom end is extremely strong. The cast crank has held up very well in turbo applications and it's rod and main bearings were extremely good. The Forged pistons were excellent. Rings were high quality MOLLY and served the engine proudly. Basically the rotating assembly was bullet proof. BUT the 2.3 has an issue with 3 things. CAMS (sliders) and dizzy gears and head cracking. These three things are sereyous flaws. With that the later 2.3 Fords came with Roller Followers and that was the fix for the cam issues. But the dizzy or AUX shaft is still a pain. And head cracking is a given. With that i had a bone stock TC with 220 and have since sold the car. It had 3 cams in it since it was built. And 2 heads were replaced. Thanks
:flame:
Tom,
What year did Ford convert the 2.3 to rollers? A friend & I were wondering that just the other day as we discussed the engines in our SVOs.
Ron
A little late to the party, but our race team had a support TC that was at 246K before the front subframes caved in.
Put in fresh bearings, honed and re ringed w/ boport rings. (the cross hatching was still there)
Put into our 24 hours of Lemons 87 mustang, and it has run, almost flawlessly for about 75 race hours. Only ran 12 lbs or so, but for the last race we bumped it to 14. Ran with most of the V8's in the straights and outstopped and outhandled most of them in the twisties.
YMMV
I have 242k miles on my5.0 tbird right now, though the trans died at 190k. I believe this will be my 4th 5.0 bird over 250k on original engine.