[Chris_Murder]

A little background, as many of you know I've been into these cars a lot over my years with TCCoA/SCCoA. I've owned almost every variant over the years as well. In addition to my 1996 32v quad cam swapped bird I've been looking to get a first gen 89-93, manual transmission super coupe. I wanted it to be white, black, or gray, extremely little or no rust, and preferably not red interior. I also wanted ir to preferably run and drive. My wish list always makes that a challenging find, especially with any kind of budget. I'm not spending 7k-10k on a 28-32 year old MN12. I'm not saying that some aren't worth it, it's just not something I'm doing right now.

Anyway a couple weeks ago I was scrolling Facebook on one of the many thunderbird groups and saw someone post a wanted post for a 30th anniversary, rust free, sc, manual transmission car. He almost immediately got 15+ leads. This led to me creating my own post looking for a west coast, rust free, 89-93 sc manual with preferably not red interior. Almost immediately I was told I was being too picky, but a few hours later I found one a few states away. After talking with the owner I found he was a fellow enthusiast and was getting out of SC's to focus on other vehicle hobbies. He had 2, he still has 1 and it is for sale.

I drove from Las Vegas, NV to Roseburg, OR to pick it up.

Anyway long story short.... here she is

 

[Chris_Murder]

 

[ThunderStangLX]

Nice SC, the wheels go good with it, are they 15's or 16's?

 

[Rodeo Joe]

Nice find Chris!

Joe

 

[Wile E. Coyote Jr.]

Great looking car!

 

[Chris_Murder]

Nice SC, the wheels go good with it, are they 15's or 16's?

Yes they did. It seems everyone either loves them or hates them. I'm in favor of them staying. Very period correct. They are 16x7's

Nice find Chris!

Joe

Thanks Joe

Great looking car!

It's not.perfect but it has great potential and the price was very right.

 

[theterminator93]

Nice to see a well kept 1st gen. Nice to see you pop in as well.

Looks like it's got a few modifications. Do you have details on what's been done to it over the years?

 

[Chris_Murder]

Nice to see a well kept 1st gen. Nice to see you pop in as well.

Looks like it's got a few modifications. Do you have details on what's been done to it over the years?

Looks to be almost stock besides wheels, light covers, and radio. ARC shocks are long gone but the actuators were included. I believe it just has generic shocks on it but they feel really good. Transmission has been replaced with a rebuilt unit from a later SC with new synchros and a new clutch (but the output shaft seal is leaking). The original transmission has 2/3 synchro problems but was included with the sale. 2 spare clutches were included with the sale.

A set of good used stock SC half shafts were included with the sale. The factory JBL premium audio system has been completely bypassed. Amp is gone. Subwoofer is gone. Wiring has been run from the headunit to each speaker. I found all of that during a radio inop repair that I sorted out a few days ago, eventually I'll replace the headunit as I prefer something with Bluetooth for my phone. I may even cut and install a double DIN radio.

It has a minor dent in the upper drivers quarter panel that I will have to address with my paintless dent guy. It had a fuel leak that I just fixed 2 days ago. I thought the sender o-ring was leaking on the pump to tank but it turned out that the return line was cracked at the braze on top of the sender. I found that when I dropped the tank and found the line swiveling. I didn't go into that with the intention of replacing the fuel pump assembly. So now it has a new fuel pump assembly which is whisper quiet (stock one was a bit noisy) so that's good too. The fuel filter was the original from 1993. I replaced that when I did the pump.

The engine has no leaks. I found lots of vacuum leaks that have been repaired. The steering rack was recently replaced. It needs motor mounts badly. If you really get on it you can feel everything shift and clunk. The plugs, wires, coil pack, cam sensor, and crank sensor have been replaced at some point within the last few years. A spare harmonic damper/balancer was included with the sale.

It needs some work but it's a great survivor car. I've been driving it to work shaking it down and working through the bugs. I'll have to re-bush the drivers window motor pegs, as the motor runs but the window doesn't move without assistance. The passenger side auto belt is stuck in the closed position I've tried cleaning the latches with no resolution on that issue yet. The interior has some leather issues which are to be expected for it's age. ultimately I'll have the seats recovered. Tires are old and need to be replaced. But overall I picked this car up for a steal of a price and it runs and drives great, A/C has been converted to R134a from R12 already.

There's signs that the engine has been into for one reason or another but I have no confirmation of head gaskets being replaced by the previous owner. He said he has never seen one with this many miles that didn't have them replaced already. No signs of coolant in the oil or out of the exhaust. The odometer gears are broken and it's stuck at 119,808 but the previous owner was present when the current odometer broke. He estimates it to be around 120-125k miles as he almost never drove it. However true mileage is really unknown since it has a faded off odometer replacement sticker on the door jam.

Overall I can't be mad at a 28 year old car that makes me smile when I stomp on the skinny peddle and hear the blower whine while I row through gears that I picked up for $1900.

 

[supergordo]

Sounds great to me!

 

[Martim]

That car is sick. Love the wheels. Always loved the front ends of these cars before the refresh. And gotta love a stick shift Bird. Had a 1993 auto 3.8 n/a in white as my first car

 

[XR7-4.6]

I really like the period correctness of the color coordinated 90s wheels and GTS headlight covers, IMO for that reason stay with single DIN for the radio! I wish some of these longtime radio manufacturers would release retro head units with Bluetooth, Pandora and all that other modern crap, this car would be complete with a early 90s Alpine with the ice cube buttons!

Speaking of Ice I think these are the same wheel brand lol

 

[Grog6]

That Alpine stack was over a grand new.

 

[Chris_Murder]

That car is sick. Love the wheels. Always loved the front ends of these cars before the refresh. And gotta love a stick shift Bird. Had a 1993 auto 3.8 n/a in white as my first car

It's one of the reasons I sought out a 89-93. I really like how these look inside and out. I feel like they aged well when they were maintained.

I really like the period correctness of the color coordinated 90s wheels and GTS headlight covers, IMO for that reason stay with single DIN for the radio! I wish some of these longtime radio manufacturers would release retro head units with Bluetooth, Pandora and all that other modern crap, this car would be complete with a early 90s Alpine with the ice cube buttons!

View attachment 43538
Speaking of Ice I think these are the same wheel brand lol

I love the period correct wheels. The color matched retro feel really fits the car. I'll need better tires though. That does look like the same wheels. Previous owner said they may be Borbet, American Racing, or Eagles... all of which would be long discontinued. Hard to tell without removing them. They are 16x7 that's stamped into the lip. There may be more behind the center cap covers, but the center logo was painted over at some point with black.

I would ditch my Taurus cup holder coin holder for that Alpine stack if it was modernized with Bluetooth and pandora.

Speaking of expensive Alpine birds....

Right now I'm using a Sony mex-dv2200 head unit that was provided with the car circa 2008. It doesn't do Bluetooth so I bought an aux dongle to make longer drives tolerable.

I just got done changing the oil with mobil extended performance synthetic and a wix xp filter, I serviced the powersteering fluid with Mercon V, changed the coolant, and fixed the drivers side window dowel/pegs/gear plugs.

During the window repair I found the speakers that the previous owner installed. They've seen some better days I think. I'm sure they were great once but I believe their time has faded.

Now to get the motor mounts replaced and transmission output shaft seal replaced.

 

[supergordo]

Can't wait to take a ride!

 

[Grog6]

I have some alpine amps and stuff from that era; maybe we can work a trade or something.
I'll did them out; I think the one is a 35w/4 amp, a supwoofer processor/eq, and some smaller amps.

 

[Chris_Murder]

Removed the air silencer last night when I was done at work and washed, polished, glazed, waxed the super dulled absorbent paint. Not too bad for 28 years old.

 

[Rodeo Joe]

Looks damn good Chris, so doesn't the license plate!

Joe

 

[XR7-4.6]

Those early SC air silencers make so much more sense as a delete mod. I remember first joining here and doing that essential first mod and being baffled(😝) that the 4.6 silencer was just an open 90° plastic tube.

 

[Chris_Murder]

Those early SC air silencers make so much more sense as a delete mod. I remember first joining here and doing that essential first mod and being baffled(😝) that the 4.6 silencer was just an open 90° plastic tube.

I agree I've never actually experienced one until I saw that one. It's huge and fairly restrictive.

 

[KEVIN8989]

I really like that SC, white looks so nice! Do you have any plans for spindles and brakes, I remember hating 92 calipers.