Junkyards are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy... I took a trip to a local one around here trying to find a Merkur for a turboswap. The guy at the desk was more or less clueless and just told me to go take a look. Got distracted for a moment by a large portion of ground littered with engines (one of whihc was a 5.0 EFI, looked pretty good, but it wasn't what I came for, so I had to leave it alone) wandered around there for awhile, then asked about where a Merkur might be. "Turbo, huh?" was the guy's response. I nodded and he directed me over a hill where a Merkur lay waiting. Unfortunately, it was a Scorpio, so that was worthless. Wandered around for about 15 more minutes and I spotted a T-bird. Popped the hood, but it was a 6 cylinder, and also worthless to me.
Now, here comes the good part of the story. Out of the corner of my eye I see a grey T-bird sitting pretty much abandoned right next to the fence. First thought was "That's the one." Walked up to that one. No hood on the car, and just over the fender, I see the head for a 2.3 Liter with the black body and silver "stripes". Got closer and looked down inside; there was the turbo. As if that wasn't enough to make me joyous, looking inside the car revealed that it was a manual tranny. So I got both aspects of what I was looking for in one car, so I'm pretty excited at this point.
Now, the bad-ish news.
Somebody got to the car before me and the intercooler and intake line from the turbo to the TB is gone. The turbo outlet, therefore, is filled with gunk of some kind, or it might be dirty water but I'm not sure.
The oil cap is missing so the inside has been exposed to the elements, I forgot to check to see if there was any oil in it still, so I don't know much past that.
After sitting in the car playing with it for awhile, I discovered that the transmission (or at least the stick) shifts gears without clutching. My guess is that that is a rather simple problem, but I'm not sure.
Stupid me also forgot to check the miles. I'll be making another trip out there though to take a second look at it.
Bottom line: Is this car worth yanking the engine and tranny from to do my turbo-swap? I plan on doing a complete rebuild on the engine to begin with, so I'm not sure how much I should worry about that. I'm going to buy a turbo by itself to familiarize myself with its workings and assembly, so I'm not sure how much I should worry about the turbo either.
The transmission is the next point of concern, not really sure what to expect from that, so any input?
If its worth it, the offer I plan to make for engine and tranny is $175 to open, and negotiable from there (but I'm not gonna pay more than $250 for it maybe $275 tops, since I can go out and buy a running donor car that I know works for roughly $5-600 anyway.)
Allright then, what does everyone think? Should I go for it, or should I keep looking?
Dan
Now, here comes the good part of the story. Out of the corner of my eye I see a grey T-bird sitting pretty much abandoned right next to the fence. First thought was "That's the one." Walked up to that one. No hood on the car, and just over the fender, I see the head for a 2.3 Liter with the black body and silver "stripes". Got closer and looked down inside; there was the turbo. As if that wasn't enough to make me joyous, looking inside the car revealed that it was a manual tranny. So I got both aspects of what I was looking for in one car, so I'm pretty excited at this point.
Now, the bad-ish news.
Somebody got to the car before me and the intercooler and intake line from the turbo to the TB is gone. The turbo outlet, therefore, is filled with gunk of some kind, or it might be dirty water but I'm not sure.
The oil cap is missing so the inside has been exposed to the elements, I forgot to check to see if there was any oil in it still, so I don't know much past that.
After sitting in the car playing with it for awhile, I discovered that the transmission (or at least the stick) shifts gears without clutching. My guess is that that is a rather simple problem, but I'm not sure.
Stupid me also forgot to check the miles. I'll be making another trip out there though to take a second look at it.
Bottom line: Is this car worth yanking the engine and tranny from to do my turbo-swap? I plan on doing a complete rebuild on the engine to begin with, so I'm not sure how much I should worry about that. I'm going to buy a turbo by itself to familiarize myself with its workings and assembly, so I'm not sure how much I should worry about the turbo either.
The transmission is the next point of concern, not really sure what to expect from that, so any input?
If its worth it, the offer I plan to make for engine and tranny is $175 to open, and negotiable from there (but I'm not gonna pay more than $250 for it maybe $275 tops, since I can go out and buy a running donor car that I know works for roughly $5-600 anyway.)
Allright then, what does everyone think? Should I go for it, or should I keep looking?
Dan