New owner - general questions

[saj]

I became the proud owner of a red bird three weeks ago. We promptly took it for a week-long driving vacation and put 1700+ miles on it, 1500+ with the top down. LOVE this car.

I do have a few questions, though. I've tried searching back 10 or so pages of topics, but haven't found answers to:
- what is red-line on this engine? I know the tranny will take care of shifting, but I'm curious
- is there an official top speed for our birds? I know the speedo goes to 160, but...


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red/red/partial red

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[mwhit]

I was told by a guy in Alaska that has had several speed runs it tops out at 146 mph. He was working with a firm to upgrade the chip for increase speed and performance. i have not heard from him in a while. Maybe he (Ralph) will read this and post an update. He did mention at what RPM the engine was limited but I forget the value. 🙂

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(2)88 Turbo Coupes
Yellow 2002 11528 in the shed

 

[my401k]

jet performance might custom make a chip, ( I think) for the car to improve performance, shift points, etc. Only down side , it's not cheap, but might be worth the extra hp to some. www.jetchip.com

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2002 Thunderbird blue
2001 Mag Red Corvette vert.
2000 Aqua Marine PT Cruiser
1968 Rally Red Corvette roadster

 

[tbird]

A personal word of warning, never buy a chip without some sort of review from someone. Some of them are a rip off, you can't even tell a difference, and some of them screw up your car's computer. A lot of them void the warranty also, and there are stickers over some of the part covers to prevent tampering. I had a friend that bought a chip and straight pipes for a Mustang GT and the think would not idle properly.

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[NCBlueBird]

This topic came up a while back. I do remember the top speed was programmed in at 146. (or something close). The limit was that the tires were rated to 150 max, if I remember correctly.

NCBlueBird

 

[saj]

Thanks for all the info. My other car is a Chrysler 300M which has almost identical weight and horsepower. The unrestricted version of it tops out at about 145 mph, though I have the standard version that cuts off fuel at 119 mph (t-rated tire limit). Red-line on it's 3.5 L V6 is 6500 rpm.

I had wondered if the T-bird with a 5-speed auto might be able to do more. Sounds like it could with different software, tires, and a test track.

On the replacement chips, nobody has made one yet for the 300M -- Chrysler seems to have tuned it pretty close to the limit. I'm betting there's room to go in our Thunderbirds.

The reality check is that I doubt mine will ever see triple digits while either of us is in it.

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[VicRattlehead]

sorry to say that you cant use a chip in the new tbird. there is no "service port" on the new computers, this is where the aftermarket chips plug into. now getting your eec reflashed, thats another story that can be done. check with pete over at Fordchip.com and see if they can do them. I was talking to the "tuner" in aug and i cant remember if he said he could do them yet or not, but i do remember what he said about the chips.

ps - tbird just to respond to your post about the friend with the GT, there are so many things that can cause a bad idle, wrong box code, bad burn on chip (only way to find that out is to plug it into the car that its going into) etc. lots of stuff that can go wrong some might be the chip burners fault some might be the car owners fault for giving the tuner bad info, never know.

PPS - I HIGHLY recommend Fordchip.com and their tuner and product, i had a chip with them, then got my eec reflashed, im going to get another chip when i get the nitrous hooked up again, and then its going on a dyno for a dynotune, dynotunes are the best way to go for a proper chip/reflash.

 

[oodis]

I went top speed yesterday guys. I was surprised to see a cutoff (governor/speed limiter/whatever other name you would like to call it) at about 139-140mph. I am sure there is a way to take the limiter off but I have had no use of getting any.

Is there any performance kits for the bird yet? I know of the borla exhaust which I will order soon but what else is there in the market? There is no way I am keeping it stock, none of the cars I owned stay stock 😀