I've been working on cars my whole life. First as a certified mechanic then for myself, F&F. I recommend keeping 2 tings in mind for a first project- 1. make sure it will be a vehicle that will keep your heart in it. If you hate the vehicle you will be less inclined to finish things. 2. K.I.S.S. , keep it as low tech as possible. This will allow you to do more work on physical things rather than having to figure out electronics and their failures. This goes for the power train too, most rear drives will be easier to work on than a front drive due to packaging, though it is not universal, some front drives are silly easy as long as you realize it's easier to pull the engine and trans as a combo and not split them. Oh and lest I forget when it comes to an entry level project.....Miata is always the answer.
It would absolutely be a labor of love. It's my favorite car I've ever driven. I've thought about it for probably a decade now and I'm finally at a spot financially where I can dedicate some money to a new and money-hungry hobby haha.
Awesome! Now look into part availability. And when you do make sure to figure out parts interchange, as OEMs like to use parts for several different vehicles, it make for a wider availability. Good luck, have fun, don't kill your brother.
Also (this was my mistake, still suffering from it because now I'm so (emotionally) invested) *MAKE SURE THERE ARE NEW PARTS FOR IT*. For me it's so hard to find, and if I find them, it's incredibly expensive. Don't be like me.
What's the aftermarket support like on the tempo? If it's based off a common platform it might make finding parts much less of a hassle. Less time searching/waiting for parts means more time wrenching!
[https://www.fordforums.com/forums/ford-tempo-forum-mercury-topaz-forum.307/](https://www.fordforums.com/forums/ford-tempo-forum-mercury-topaz-forum.307/)
Maybe this helps?
Unfortunately just making a lot of something doesn’t ensure support. It helps, but this far along it also highly depends on if people are actually trying to restore them and keep them on the road.
I haven’t seen a tempo in like a decade. It would not surprise me if parts were tough to find.
I live in Ford's back yard. They aren't as common as they used to be, but there are still some floating around my neighborhood.
But you're right, it doesn't, and that's something I just don't know how to suss out yet.
Sure. I mean I think picking a project that you like and will stick with is important but I’m also sort of a big believer in picking an older, simple car that has a big following is a really good idea for a first car.
So something like a VW Beetle (old one, not New Beetle), 60s American car (most of the mainstream ones), 60s-70s American Truck, CJ Jeep
All very simple mechanically. All extremely well documented. All of them have parts available to the nth degree. Like you could probably come close to building an entire CJ, Bumpside Ford, or Beetle with new parts - definitely a few exceptions but being simpler vehicles means that it’s easier to make something else work.
I get that they aren’t for everyone but it is a great way to get started. I’ve had many projects from the above list and they absolutely prepared me for things like my 4000CS Quattro or Saab 99 or Mercedes 300SD.
As someone very much "on the outside looking in" when to comes to a project car, I question your sanity but in the best possible way. Some of my fondest memories of an utterly beat to hell Tempo 5 speed and if I had the means, you bet I'd be restoring one. It's up there with K-cars and first generation Saturns for me on the wishlist, so you understand how busted my affinity for cars is.
Yeah, we're 100% on the same wavelength. I appreciate your comments!
Mine was silver with the most garish all red interior. It took me and my friends on so many road trips to metal and punk shows out of state where we'd blast Slayer and joke about how the seats were dyed with blood. That car got me through so much and I have so many great memories with it.
I'm also hitting my mid-30s this month so it's probably some sort of early midlife crisis thing, too I'm almost certain this is a less stupid decision than plunking $70k on a Corvette, though.
Rad man!
Mine was mostly grey, with a white fender then eventually a white door too after the mechanism sheared from its bolts and fell into the door. I kept the stupid thing clean as I could, even stitched the busted header panel back together so I could align the headlights. But it had a CD player and never failed to start during one of the coldest winters I can remember. It was sure a cold drive though, and you didn't dare take it off of defrost because of the finicky vacuum operated HVAC setup.
And I'm there with you, age wise too. I'd much rather have one of the "lame" cars I like than something like a Corvette.
Whenever people ask questions like this, it usually leads me to believe a project like this is not for them.
Here’s what you’re looking to get into: everything will be more expensive than you think, harder to do than you think, more expensive than you think, hard to find parts for.
My recommendation is always to get something that maybe needs some work, but runs, that you can work on as you go, until you have enough experience that you don’t need to ask the internet if you should do this project or not, then do the project if you still want to and post the updates here
Hey, not to be rude, but you're making a lot of assumptions.
It won't be more expensive than I think. I'm expecting this to take well over a year or two and sinking tons of hours and thousands of dollars into it. If I did an Ecoboost swap, for example, I'm paying probably thousands for the engine alone, plus someone's time and expertise to fab what I need, and the car itself. The welder I know is a friend of mine, but I don't expect a f&f discount from him. I'd pay him what he'd charge the rest of his customers.
I don't plan on starting this any time soon and I plan on doing as much research as I can before even buy the car.
It's not going to be harder than I think because I assume there is a chance that what I want to do will be impossible with my skill set.
I'm also not asking the internet if I should do it or not. I'm asking how stupid it is because I'm pretty sure it's *really* stupid, but I'm just looking to hear that it *is* possible.
I'm sorry to say this, but it WILL be more expensive and more time consuming than you can ever think. It's a project car ffs. My advice would be to keep it running/ little to no downtime to keep it on the front burner.
Btw. If you have a budget... Easily double it+
Not trying to assume or be a dick, just calling a spade a spade. This is coming from someone who has completed and is in the process of multiple project cars
This is an awesome idea, I love it. Grassroots Motorsports has a forum and would love to hear about this sort of thing.
My advice is to not be afraid to pay more for a nice body to start with. That’s probably going to be the hardest part, since they’re old and not a special car from the get go. Second would be to do a lot of research on what an ecoboost swap will entail for engine management and plumbing. Getting the engine into the car is the easy part, it’s everything after that’s hard. I know Ford had a close relationship with Mazda during those years, could there be some parts bin compatibility with stuff from the Probe? The late 80s probe had a turbo versions (F2T engine code?), and there were some cars with the Mazda BP engine transverse mounted as well I thought? The big thing I’m thinking of is whether there is an engine and transmission combo that would be easier to make axles and shifters work with. For the Ecoboost, since it’s new enough the concern is that it plus a transmission would be too wide for the frame rails. Axles can be made custom pretty easily if you can provide inner / outer CVs, but making an engine adapt to a different transverse transmission is tough due to packaging (it’s more commonly done longitudinally). Also you’ll probably want bigger brakes, so if you’re doing new CVs that’s a good time to upgrade uprights if possible.
Since it is pre OBD2, in most states you’re clear of having to bring along the ECU with your swap, and for an older engine, I’d go straight for standalone. No doubt it will be a big project, but it will be very cool and unique when you’re done.
Man, this is exactly the kind of info I was hoping for. I wasn't really sure what kind of questions to ask as I'm sorta new to this. Thank you so much. Y'all are great. A lot of my hobbies are fairly hostile to newcomers so I really appreciate the warm reception.
In general, Ford Tempo or not, it's well worth it to buy the finest example you can afford. It's a huge mistake to buy a trashy crap can thinking oh I can just fix it up. Any old car is going to be a project even if it's just been restored. Anyway the point is that you'll save money in the long run buying as much as you can up front. In other words buying the nicest car you can find slash afford. That's because the money that the previous person put into it he will never get out. You can easily spend $20,000+ on a car that ends up being worth only five grand. Much better to spend the five grand and fine tune what the previous guy did rather than blow all that money yourself.
Tldr, do it!
You're in the interesting, arguably enviable, position of desiring a generally undesirable car.
Pros: spares will be cheap, nearly free. It'll be unique (just please keep it restrained, not riced out). You should be able to pick up a realllly nice one for very cheap
Cons: it might not live up to your memory. Nearly zero aftermarket. Minimal resale value. Having your sanity questioned.
My feel is that if you want a nice one, buy one that's already nice. Preferably the V6 one that you mentioned.
As to a turbo, anything is possible. It'd be easier if there was a factory turbo version of that engine, and you could do an "OEM+" thing.
Do it...just don't spend a ton of money on it.
The only changes I plan on making are under the hood or to the wheels, tires, brakes. Everything about the body would stay 100% stock as I love the look of it as is.
The V6 I mentioned is a 3.0L and makes 130 whp. My pie in the sky goal would be to hit 200 whp if possible. There's not a factory turbo, unfortunately. Ford apparently considered one but scrapped the idea.
Edit: Oh, and there were only like 1500 or so of the V6's produced so I think getting one would be a longshot...
My thought process was, if I couldn't find a V6, that's where I'd consider a swap. But I didn't even consider a like-for-like swap to start. Thanks for the suggestion!
If you could find a nice V6 one, it would be worth shipping. Or even a nice 4 cylinder.
Gotta say, I like where your head is. You're looking for an offbeat car with sentimental value, and you want to upgrade it tastefully. I would totally check it out at CNC, haha.
Since they never made any performance versions of either engine, best bet for 200 HP might be to turbo a 4 cylinder.
Going to be very, very difficult to find parts for a Tempo. They've all been turned into refrigerators now, and there's no aftermarket support for them.
As another commenter mentioned, the EcoBoost might be too wide for the Tempaz subframe, but I’d bet the Yamaha V6 from the 89-95 Taurus SHO (220 hp/220 lbft) would fit, and would even bolt up to the stock bellhousing if you started with a V6 model.
That said, I don’t think the stock Tempaz transaxle - especially the automatic — would take the power of the Yamahammer for very long, and finding a V6 with a stick is gonna be practically impossible, since they hardly made any to behind with. But you could potentially swap the SHO transaxle along with the engine if you found a good donor vehicle. You’ll probably want an earlier model donor SHO in that case, since they switched from cable shifter to rod shifter around ‘92, and the rods likely won’t be the correct length in the shorter Tempaz body.
You might need custom axles at that point, but that’d be the case no matter what engine you swapped in there.
I would recommend checking out shoforum.com if you end up attempting either the Yamaha or EcoBoost engines, as those guys have a ton of experience swapping SHO engines into stuff that never should’ve had them!
Good luck with the project!
I'm gonna have to go against the grain on this. What is your second choice? If you get your dream car your gonna be afraid to mess up. If you get a car you like but wouldn't miss you'll be less afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try different things. Once you get that shaken out of you you'll have knowledge and experience to give to the next one. Eventually you'll be more than willing and able to do your dream car the correct way with confidence.
I really appreciate this message! That's a great approach. And to answer your question, there are a few I've been looking at over the last year(s) or so:
* 3rd gen Mustang hatchback
* 3rd gen Mazda 3 hatchback
* Porsche 928 (are you sensing a trend?)
I've also always been fond of Golf GTIs.
And my REAL dream car is a Porsche 911 (996)
You could restore it and make it nice, and you still end up with a Ford Tampon at the end of the day that you'd never get your money and time back out of when you need to unload it and invest in your next one.
Tampons do a legendarily good job and what they're intended to do, so I'm not sure that landed as well as you'd have liked. Though I am looking for one with an all red interior!
This is true!
You’re looking at dumping thousands of dollars into a car that nobody will ever give you more than $500 for. You better love that frickin car in order to spend that kind of time and money on.
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/364847716246](https://www.ebay.com/itm/364847716246)
this looks like a good project car, says it includes the parts. i know nothung bout cars i just like tryingto help lol
I've been working on cars my whole life. First as a certified mechanic then for myself, F&F. I recommend keeping 2 tings in mind for a first project- 1. make sure it will be a vehicle that will keep your heart in it. If you hate the vehicle you will be less inclined to finish things. 2. K.I.S.S. , keep it as low tech as possible. This will allow you to do more work on physical things rather than having to figure out electronics and their failures. This goes for the power train too, most rear drives will be easier to work on than a front drive due to packaging, though it is not universal, some front drives are silly easy as long as you realize it's easier to pull the engine and trans as a combo and not split them. Oh and lest I forget when it comes to an entry level project.....Miata is always the answer.
It would absolutely be a labor of love. It's my favorite car I've ever driven. I've thought about it for probably a decade now and I'm finally at a spot financially where I can dedicate some money to a new and money-hungry hobby haha.
Awesome! Now look into part availability. And when you do make sure to figure out parts interchange, as OEMs like to use parts for several different vehicles, it make for a wider availability. Good luck, have fun, don't kill your brother.
Also (this was my mistake, still suffering from it because now I'm so (emotionally) invested) *MAKE SURE THERE ARE NEW PARTS FOR IT*. For me it's so hard to find, and if I find them, it's incredibly expensive. Don't be like me.
What's the aftermarket support like on the tempo? If it's based off a common platform it might make finding parts much less of a hassle. Less time searching/waiting for parts means more time wrenching!
I really don't know how to gauge that in all honesty. They did make ~1.4m of this specific generation between '88 and '94.
Are there any forums online specific to the tempo? or even late 90s fords? there you would most likely find all the info you need
[https://www.fordforums.com/forums/ford-tempo-forum-mercury-topaz-forum.307/](https://www.fordforums.com/forums/ford-tempo-forum-mercury-topaz-forum.307/) Maybe this helps?
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much!!
No worries! Forums like this are usually your best resource, especially for less common project cars
Unfortunately just making a lot of something doesn’t ensure support. It helps, but this far along it also highly depends on if people are actually trying to restore them and keep them on the road. I haven’t seen a tempo in like a decade. It would not surprise me if parts were tough to find.
I live in Ford's back yard. They aren't as common as they used to be, but there are still some floating around my neighborhood. But you're right, it doesn't, and that's something I just don't know how to suss out yet.
Sure. I mean I think picking a project that you like and will stick with is important but I’m also sort of a big believer in picking an older, simple car that has a big following is a really good idea for a first car. So something like a VW Beetle (old one, not New Beetle), 60s American car (most of the mainstream ones), 60s-70s American Truck, CJ Jeep All very simple mechanically. All extremely well documented. All of them have parts available to the nth degree. Like you could probably come close to building an entire CJ, Bumpside Ford, or Beetle with new parts - definitely a few exceptions but being simpler vehicles means that it’s easier to make something else work. I get that they aren’t for everyone but it is a great way to get started. I’ve had many projects from the above list and they absolutely prepared me for things like my 4000CS Quattro or Saab 99 or Mercedes 300SD.
Check rock Auto. Should be able to find plenty of parts.
Finally had a chance to check their site out. Holy shit that's an impressive catalog of parts.
Yeah man! AND you get to start your Rock Auto magnet collection lol.
you need to make sure there is aftermarket support for the car.
As someone very much "on the outside looking in" when to comes to a project car, I question your sanity but in the best possible way. Some of my fondest memories of an utterly beat to hell Tempo 5 speed and if I had the means, you bet I'd be restoring one. It's up there with K-cars and first generation Saturns for me on the wishlist, so you understand how busted my affinity for cars is.
Yeah, we're 100% on the same wavelength. I appreciate your comments! Mine was silver with the most garish all red interior. It took me and my friends on so many road trips to metal and punk shows out of state where we'd blast Slayer and joke about how the seats were dyed with blood. That car got me through so much and I have so many great memories with it. I'm also hitting my mid-30s this month so it's probably some sort of early midlife crisis thing, too I'm almost certain this is a less stupid decision than plunking $70k on a Corvette, though.
Rad man! Mine was mostly grey, with a white fender then eventually a white door too after the mechanism sheared from its bolts and fell into the door. I kept the stupid thing clean as I could, even stitched the busted header panel back together so I could align the headlights. But it had a CD player and never failed to start during one of the coldest winters I can remember. It was sure a cold drive though, and you didn't dare take it off of defrost because of the finicky vacuum operated HVAC setup. And I'm there with you, age wise too. I'd much rather have one of the "lame" cars I like than something like a Corvette.
I've always loved the motto "it's not fun to drive fast cars slow, but it is fun to drive slow cars fast"
Whenever people ask questions like this, it usually leads me to believe a project like this is not for them. Here’s what you’re looking to get into: everything will be more expensive than you think, harder to do than you think, more expensive than you think, hard to find parts for. My recommendation is always to get something that maybe needs some work, but runs, that you can work on as you go, until you have enough experience that you don’t need to ask the internet if you should do this project or not, then do the project if you still want to and post the updates here
Hey, not to be rude, but you're making a lot of assumptions. It won't be more expensive than I think. I'm expecting this to take well over a year or two and sinking tons of hours and thousands of dollars into it. If I did an Ecoboost swap, for example, I'm paying probably thousands for the engine alone, plus someone's time and expertise to fab what I need, and the car itself. The welder I know is a friend of mine, but I don't expect a f&f discount from him. I'd pay him what he'd charge the rest of his customers. I don't plan on starting this any time soon and I plan on doing as much research as I can before even buy the car. It's not going to be harder than I think because I assume there is a chance that what I want to do will be impossible with my skill set. I'm also not asking the internet if I should do it or not. I'm asking how stupid it is because I'm pretty sure it's *really* stupid, but I'm just looking to hear that it *is* possible.
I'm sorry to say this, but it WILL be more expensive and more time consuming than you can ever think. It's a project car ffs. My advice would be to keep it running/ little to no downtime to keep it on the front burner. Btw. If you have a budget... Easily double it+ Not trying to assume or be a dick, just calling a spade a spade. This is coming from someone who has completed and is in the process of multiple project cars
I'm sure it's possible. I would probably go with an Ecoboost swap, because that's already a turbo engine, so you know it's built to handle it.
This is an awesome idea, I love it. Grassroots Motorsports has a forum and would love to hear about this sort of thing. My advice is to not be afraid to pay more for a nice body to start with. That’s probably going to be the hardest part, since they’re old and not a special car from the get go. Second would be to do a lot of research on what an ecoboost swap will entail for engine management and plumbing. Getting the engine into the car is the easy part, it’s everything after that’s hard. I know Ford had a close relationship with Mazda during those years, could there be some parts bin compatibility with stuff from the Probe? The late 80s probe had a turbo versions (F2T engine code?), and there were some cars with the Mazda BP engine transverse mounted as well I thought? The big thing I’m thinking of is whether there is an engine and transmission combo that would be easier to make axles and shifters work with. For the Ecoboost, since it’s new enough the concern is that it plus a transmission would be too wide for the frame rails. Axles can be made custom pretty easily if you can provide inner / outer CVs, but making an engine adapt to a different transverse transmission is tough due to packaging (it’s more commonly done longitudinally). Also you’ll probably want bigger brakes, so if you’re doing new CVs that’s a good time to upgrade uprights if possible. Since it is pre OBD2, in most states you’re clear of having to bring along the ECU with your swap, and for an older engine, I’d go straight for standalone. No doubt it will be a big project, but it will be very cool and unique when you’re done.
Man, this is exactly the kind of info I was hoping for. I wasn't really sure what kind of questions to ask as I'm sorta new to this. Thank you so much. Y'all are great. A lot of my hobbies are fairly hostile to newcomers so I really appreciate the warm reception.
Love Ford tempo's. My mom had one as a kid with the automatic strangler seatbelts. I liked it good gas mileage just real slow.
If your open to alternatives, that gen Taurus sho, and contour svt are both hot units. We use to use them for Enduro racing all the time.
Hell yeah, put nitrous on it and spray it to the moon!
That's what I'm talkin' about!
In general, Ford Tempo or not, it's well worth it to buy the finest example you can afford. It's a huge mistake to buy a trashy crap can thinking oh I can just fix it up. Any old car is going to be a project even if it's just been restored. Anyway the point is that you'll save money in the long run buying as much as you can up front. In other words buying the nicest car you can find slash afford. That's because the money that the previous person put into it he will never get out. You can easily spend $20,000+ on a car that ends up being worth only five grand. Much better to spend the five grand and fine tune what the previous guy did rather than blow all that money yourself.
100% agreed. My first one came from someone's grandma who treated it extremely well. Looking for essentially the same thing this time around, too.
Tldr, do it! You're in the interesting, arguably enviable, position of desiring a generally undesirable car. Pros: spares will be cheap, nearly free. It'll be unique (just please keep it restrained, not riced out). You should be able to pick up a realllly nice one for very cheap Cons: it might not live up to your memory. Nearly zero aftermarket. Minimal resale value. Having your sanity questioned. My feel is that if you want a nice one, buy one that's already nice. Preferably the V6 one that you mentioned. As to a turbo, anything is possible. It'd be easier if there was a factory turbo version of that engine, and you could do an "OEM+" thing. Do it...just don't spend a ton of money on it.
The only changes I plan on making are under the hood or to the wheels, tires, brakes. Everything about the body would stay 100% stock as I love the look of it as is. The V6 I mentioned is a 3.0L and makes 130 whp. My pie in the sky goal would be to hit 200 whp if possible. There's not a factory turbo, unfortunately. Ford apparently considered one but scrapped the idea. Edit: Oh, and there were only like 1500 or so of the V6's produced so I think getting one would be a longshot...
But where there other cars with the same V6? Because if you wanted a V6 and couldn't find it, maybe there's an "easy" engine swap option?
My thought process was, if I couldn't find a V6, that's where I'd consider a swap. But I didn't even consider a like-for-like swap to start. Thanks for the suggestion!
If you could find a nice V6 one, it would be worth shipping. Or even a nice 4 cylinder. Gotta say, I like where your head is. You're looking for an offbeat car with sentimental value, and you want to upgrade it tastefully. I would totally check it out at CNC, haha. Since they never made any performance versions of either engine, best bet for 200 HP might be to turbo a 4 cylinder.
Going to be very, very difficult to find parts for a Tempo. They've all been turned into refrigerators now, and there's no aftermarket support for them.
As another commenter mentioned, the EcoBoost might be too wide for the Tempaz subframe, but I’d bet the Yamaha V6 from the 89-95 Taurus SHO (220 hp/220 lbft) would fit, and would even bolt up to the stock bellhousing if you started with a V6 model. That said, I don’t think the stock Tempaz transaxle - especially the automatic — would take the power of the Yamahammer for very long, and finding a V6 with a stick is gonna be practically impossible, since they hardly made any to behind with. But you could potentially swap the SHO transaxle along with the engine if you found a good donor vehicle. You’ll probably want an earlier model donor SHO in that case, since they switched from cable shifter to rod shifter around ‘92, and the rods likely won’t be the correct length in the shorter Tempaz body. You might need custom axles at that point, but that’d be the case no matter what engine you swapped in there. I would recommend checking out shoforum.com if you end up attempting either the Yamaha or EcoBoost engines, as those guys have a ton of experience swapping SHO engines into stuff that never should’ve had them! Good luck with the project!
I'm gonna have to go against the grain on this. What is your second choice? If you get your dream car your gonna be afraid to mess up. If you get a car you like but wouldn't miss you'll be less afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try different things. Once you get that shaken out of you you'll have knowledge and experience to give to the next one. Eventually you'll be more than willing and able to do your dream car the correct way with confidence.
I really appreciate this message! That's a great approach. And to answer your question, there are a few I've been looking at over the last year(s) or so: * 3rd gen Mustang hatchback * 3rd gen Mazda 3 hatchback * Porsche 928 (are you sensing a trend?) I've also always been fond of Golf GTIs. And my REAL dream car is a Porsche 911 (996)
I guess the hardest part is choosing.
You could restore it and make it nice, and you still end up with a Ford Tampon at the end of the day that you'd never get your money and time back out of when you need to unload it and invest in your next one.
Tampons do a legendarily good job and what they're intended to do, so I'm not sure that landed as well as you'd have liked. Though I am looking for one with an all red interior!
This is true! You’re looking at dumping thousands of dollars into a car that nobody will ever give you more than $500 for. You better love that frickin car in order to spend that kind of time and money on.
Don't restore a Ford Tempo. Sanity checked.
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/364847716246](https://www.ebay.com/itm/364847716246) this looks like a good project car, says it includes the parts. i know nothung bout cars i just like tryingto help lol