RotaryRacer

hey, i noticed that in your sig you have a 1988 convertible with a turbo. I thought that all american convertibles did not have a turbo. is yours after market, one from a TII or what? how did you do the conversion? was it expensive?

thanks

btw, your car looks SWEET.

Ryde _Or_Die

Quick answer, an aftermarket conversion. But let him fill you in...

13BAce

Thanks RotaryRacer.

My current car is a long story:
I had a 91 convertible that was converted with all stock parts. I switched the motor and all accessories/sensors, ECU, fuel injection harness, transmission, driveshaft, clutch and flywheel, starter, differential and halfshafts, and hood. I kept the NA instrument cluster. That is how to do it stock on an 89-91 convertible using 89-91 TII donor parts. If you're putting 87-88 TII parts in an 88 convertible it's a little more tricky with the wiring. You can go to http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/6335/ to check out a conversion page. Here's a picture of my 91 4 years ago:


I bought an 88 convertible with a blown motor for $1200 with the intention of fixing it, buy since my 91 had gotten hit a few times I decided to swap EVERYTHING. This took a LONG time because all of the wiring harnesses are different. I switched every wiring harness because the 89-91 and 88 convertible parts and wiring aren't all compatible. After that I just had to swap the drivetrains. I also switched the tops because the 89-91 top has the rainguards, but that's not necessary for the car to run well. Stripping the car completely gave me an excuse to change the color of the car. If you look at the nose of my car you can tell it used to be red. I need a new paintjob.


I used a front mount IC for the 88 so I kept the NA hood. I had initially planned to keep the car pretty close to stock with bolt-on mods, but this spring I decided to go with the standalone ECU and big turbo. If you go with a standalone ECU you can avoid changing harnesses, but you'll still need to do the drivetrain swap to handle the extra power. I was very happy with the conversion after I finished it last June. Now that I have the T-78 and Wolf 3D I'm even happier. I haven't dynoed my car yet, but I'm sure it's making over 400 HP. If you ever decide to do a conversion just get in touch with me on the forum or send me an e-mail at jfrederi@juno.com .

RotaryRacer

hey, thanks for all of the info. Wow, it seems to be quite a lot of work to do the conversion. i guess i'll have to hold off on it for now, but it is something that i'll be concidering for the future! 400hp is outta control, and i would love to have it! oh well, give me a couple years to finish school, and we'll see what i can get my convertible to do!

13BAce

It's not as hard as it seems. You just need to have some experience with the cars and some spare time. Alot of patience wouldn't hurt either. Doing the turbo conversion definitely makes the car more fun.