88 Turbo bird, timing belt and other questions

[Texan25]

Hello, Just looking up on some info about the 88 Turbo T-Bird. Some of you may know of the 24 hours of LeMons. While hitting up the Craigs list, I found an 88 T-Bird Turbo for sale. 5-speed stick. The price is very attractive to the Lemon's $500 limit, but the timing belt is broken. Curious to know how much effort it takes to replace it, and also, what sort of possible damage should I look for?

Also, I need the cold hard truth on the pro's and con's of these cars. Gotta know about any weaknesses, so I can address them (if I get this car) for the race.

Thanks guys.

[jonmark1985]

I replaced the timing belt in a 85' Mustang, which the whole process should be similar to doing the same in your car. It was pretty easy, keep in mind to tighten the tensioner before you try to start the engine.

The 2.3 had bad head gaskets very frequently, ecspecially under 15 psi of boost. The cars aren't really super fast and anyone with a midly souped up newer four cylinder or a factory v-8 will be more than fair competition. Otherwise they are cool cars, I'd love to build a 2.3 turbo, but I'd put a four barrel intake and carb on it, with nitrous, and an intercooler!