Turbo Mystery

ShwaSixCobra

New member
Hello All , I hope this is the right sub forum , if not feel free to move

I have recently purchased a 1981 Mustang, according to the VIn decoder for 1fabp15b3bf228472 it was indeed an 81, built with the 3.3L

Where it get's confusing...

Well the car is covered in decals - Weird ones , AND I have a Light for "Turbo" on my instrument panel, along with a piece in my engine that looks like it should be attached to something.. but isn't..

But it can't be a cobra... and a turbo.. hell it cant even be a turbo with the 3.3L .. so what the fudge is going on with this thing ? I have already sent out for the Marti report, but I thought maybe you guys could help.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8CCA ... mRlNkhxajA - Exterior
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8CCA ... WRHcm5SVTA - Exterior
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8CCA ... jRZMHVFb0k - Interior - top of the 4 lights on the left lights up green and says "TURBO"
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8CCA ... EJXR0VvTWc - Engine bay - Lower right corner... something missing ? (Also yes I know the frame rail is shit , its first on the list )
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8CCA ... DBBYlhnQVU - Closeup of mystery part
 
Looks like a hodge-podge of parts, stickers and 80's mayhem. The missing part might have been an AC OR someone put a different power steering pump in and used a redneck engineered bracket? Not sure about the stickers...what is that on the fender...a moth??? The interior may have been swapped at some point in the past as well?

Matt
 
Moth, bird, I have no idea - but there is 3 of them, they are exactly where the cobra decals go. The hood scoop with cobra on it, in cobra lettering ? The dash has never been modified and is completely mint, so for whatever reason that turbo light is there - the factory put it there. It has so many hallmarks of a cobra, but not the CBR code on the buck. Now of course it's entirely possibly the car just had stuff chucked onto it just because (stickers , scoop) but the louvers, 3 spoke steering wheel, body moulding and front bumper are all stock cobra
 
Mint or not, I wouldnt be surprised if a previous owner swapped those parts in between the 80's and now...possibly the same person who put the decals and lettering all over it? Ide put my money on that over it coming from the factory like that. Its alot more likely that (A) PO put a bunch of parts from another car on it as well as the decals than (B) someone at the factory got confused and put the wrong parts on a 3.3 car or (C) Someone swapped a 200ci AND the vin tag into a Turbo GT and tossed some Cobra decals all over it THO none of these are impossible. Either way, you got a goofy bunch of oddball odds and ends on an otherwise decent little 6 banger Fox! I like that its a manual personally, inline with a manual is a good little combo.

EDIT: Another option might be that most dashes have the turbo light but they dont light up on non TurboGTs?

:unsure:

Matt
 
I have checked every interior picture of every 81 mustang on the net, cobra or not - Nobody , and I mean nobody - Has the instrument cluster like I do. If they did drop a 3.3L into a turbo mustang - Why bother to hook up all the wiring for a turbo that isnt there, and what would they hook it to ? The decals are interesting but I'm not sold on them either , however they will stay on there until the marti comes - Just in case

I also found out that CBR on your buck tag isn't the only way of having a cobra, as there were many cobra's that came without that. Hell everything on the 1981 cobra was an option, you could change and swap in whatever the hell you wanted. Which is great for the consumer of that year, but no so great for a guy 30 years later LOL
 
That "not hooked up thing" is the power steering pump without a cap or belt. :rolflmao:

Does the green turbo light actually work, or is just there? It's probably a common dash shared with the actual early turbo Mustang. Pretty normal to find things like that in production cars. Or, maybe someone swapped the dash with a junkyard one to get a tachometer or fix a broken odometer or something. My 1980 Saab has a 1990 cluster and an ABS light that does nothing. :)
 
Oh yah the turbo light totally works. When I put the key to start, the key green turbo comes on and stays on for maybe 5-6 seconds or so, then goes off and I start the car. When driving It flashes once in a while when I'm around 3000RPM or so

And thank you sooooo much for telling me the mystery part, I could not figure out for the life of me what the hell it was, power steering makes sense though.
 
If it just flashes every so often, I would suspect a bad ground or a fried circuit somewhere. IIRC that light is activated by a pressure switch that senses the manifold - no fancy sci-fi stuff. There's no way for it to turn on unless that switch is fully connected, and it wouldn't just flash. It's on with positive pressure and off without. I suspect it's flickering because voltage is erroneously getting there. I don't think ye olde thriftpower six was designed with manifold resonance in mind, and probably can't generate positive pressure. :)
 
Haha yah thats yet to be determined, my original dealer invoice is in transit from Marti right now, so I'll post it up when I get it
 
If it comes back as a Cobra, then its a 1 of 1 known to exist as there are no records of the Cobra being available with the 3.3 that Ive seen! That said, my buddy has a 67 Pacesetter Mustang thats one of 3 known to still exist so oddballs and one offs happen all the time so never know. Im still putting all my apples in the "Previous owner did it" bushel. Let us know what ole Marti has to say either way!

Matt
 
Well that's a common misconception.

In 1981 , when you walked into a ford mustang dealer, and said you wanted to buy a mustang you could do one of the three

Buy a 2/3 Door that was already on the lot, with whatever options it had on it
Buy a Ghia that was already on the lot, with whatever options it had on it
Buy a Cobra (Known as the Cobra Package on the 3 door hatchback- Because it packages many additional options, that are grouped together for consumer convenience)that was already on the lot, with whatever options it had on it

Tell the dealer you wanted to buy a 2/3 Door that they didn't have and order it whatever options you wanted
Tell the dealer you wanted to buy a Ghia that they didn't have and order it whatever options you wanted
Tell the dealer you wanted to buy a Cobra (Known as the Cobra Package on the 3 door hatchback- Because it contains packaged additional options, that are grouped together for consumer convenience)that they didn't have and order it with whatever options you wanted

On the 2 door the package upgrade available was the "Sport Option" - Simply a group of additional options they chuck onto the 2 Door
On the 3 door the package upgrade available was the "Cobra Option " - This gave you the same stuff that the cobra had, but with your choice of engine and other options - Notice, there is a Cobra Option AND A Cobra Package

Cars that were made with the Cobra Package have CBR stamped on the buck tag - This means they were standard off the lot type cobra's, that people could get as is - or ordered with a few more options like a better radio but they came with the suckhole v8, the rear facing scoop, front air dam, rear spoiler, 2 stripes TRX wheels, Heavy duty stabilizer,dual mirrors, wraparound moulding, black lower tu tone paint (tu tone was an option on all 3 doors as well), 8000 tach and black dash with cobra medals

The Cobra Hood sticker was an option, it wasn't standard

Things my car has
Sport Steering Wheel
Console - HOWEVER , my console is split , because I have the AM/FM with casette and the Premium sound package with amplified, the traditional car display console wouldn't fit, so they move the digital clock and cig lighter into my dash itself which also cancels out the black dash, as they didn't have one that could fit it all
Hood scoop - this was an option, mine faces the front, so instead of getting the cobra backwards hood my original owner wanted a foward facing one.
Front fairing air dam- It has factory drilled front bolt holes for it , ive now replaced the one that was in pieces when I got it
Black window molds, drip railings etc - I have them
Tape stripe - Got 3 in fact
Full wraparound bodyside moulding - Got it
Bright tailpipe extension - got it (Only avail on cobra for 3dr)
Heavy duty stabilizer bars - Got it

And finally I quote from the mustang sales brochure circa 1981
"Mustang Cobra
Most standard mustang 3 door features plus these additions or variations"

So do I know it's a cobra ? No , not yet.

Could it be ? yes it sure could
 
66Sprint6":1l6hxv88 said:
And without the Cobra

:LOL:

Matt

I'm with Matt. I'm thinking more of a rat or grass snake than a cobra. :D I've seen a BUNCH of crap like that over the years stuck on cars that they had nothing to do with, nor any business on; the car they were stuck to.

I like the "Mothra" package that one has, it musta been built for the Japanese market. ;)

Hey, what was the name of the rocket propelled turtle? That's the package I want! :)


It doesn't matter what any report or anybody else says; ll that matters is if YOU like the car. :beer:
 
thesameguy":fis9wjkg said:
That "not hooked up thing" is the power steering pump without a cap or belt.

Does the green turbo light actually work, or is just there? It's probably a common dash shared with the actual early turbo Mustang. Pretty normal to find things like that in production cars.:)

I have a "rear anti lock" light on my '89 truck that doesn't have rear anti lock and is a one owner truck that hasn't been tampered with. Weird thing is it comes on when brake fluid is low. Well, it's correct but then it's 4 wheel "anti lock" when that happens.... :rolflmao:
 
Well I can't explain why the dash is the way it is by a long shot, I have gone through every single ford make/model that shared the wood grain type interior in the early 80's, and nobody - has a clock and a cig lighter built right into the dash. So yah i'ts absolutely possible that someone put it in there themselves, but i've never heard of ANYONE adding a dash to a car - as it's not just the dash, it's the cluster, the fairing, the dash, the dash panel, etc

My car is factory, and has shit that only comes from the factory, but it's not listed.

I'll get around to posting the marti for it, but there isn't much point as it's not accurate ( The marti says I have radio delete, but my car has the am/fm casette with premium sound, marti also says my car has french labels - it does not)

Hell marti even asked me for my door plate, which was supposed to be included in the report LOL ! They don't know shit about canadian cars Ill tell you that.
 
ShwaSixCobra":w5wiqxfr said:
So yah i'ts absolutely possible that someone put it in there themselves, but i've never heard of ANYONE adding a dash to a car t.


Well, I can assure you; I have seen and "heard" folks do a hell of a lot more than just add a dash. Just because the car has it doesn't mean it came with it; especially given the "appearance package" that one has. That being said, don;t go by the report either. One other thing; just because you can't find it, doesn't mean it never existed either. Just because it can't be found somewhere online doesn't mean it was never available.

Don't sweat the dash, get the thing running and on the road. ;)
 
Ive seen cars with Porno red interiors completely gutted and black interiors added, dash and all. Ive seen cracked dashed tossed and good ones from a JY added. Seems like Marti is confirming a dash swap may have been done as well. Once again, PROBABLY not some super rare oddball factory car, MORE THAN LIKELY is a super oddball bunch of parts put into your car by someone in the past, DEFINITELY is your car and you should enjoy it for what it is or what you will eventually make it before you sell it passing on the head scratching to the next owner :rolflmao:

Matt
 
Marti actually just basically wasted my money, the report didn't tell me anything useful that I didn't already know. Yes I know it came with a sunroof, thats on my bucktag. Come to think of it, I knew everything they told me, and most of it on the report is just flat out wrong. Hopefully my emmi dealer invoice clears a lot of it up.
 
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