Piston Slap: Embracing the Tempo's Inner Allegro?

Sajeev Mehta
by Sajeev Mehta

Chris writes:

I was wondering where to get advice for a free car I’m about to acquire …

The car in question: a 1991 Ford Tempo LX with a four-banger and automatic transmission — not exactly a racer or show car. My dad used it as a work beater for the last 13 years so he didn’t have to drive his garage queen Cadillac. Now that he’s about to retire, he no longer needs it and has decided to give it to me to do with as I please.

I don’t really want to get rid of it because it actually has a little sentimental value. It was mine before I gave it to my Dad (a trade for a newer car, really), and before that it was a present from my grandmother back when I was a broke college student in Gainesville. It was one of the last things she did for me before she passed away.

Condition wise, it looks like a 25-year-old car that’s been sitting out in the Florida sun its whole life. There’s no rust nor accident damage, but the paint is faded, the plastic bumper covers are dried out, and some of the rubber door trim is missing. The interior is all there but the dash is cracked and the headliner is long gone. It has low-ish mileage; about 105,000 miles that were carefully put on by my father who fits the old man driver stereotype perfectly. It runs and drives, but has a stalling issue that I believe is relatively minor since (when it isn’t stalling) it runs good and shifts smooth. I think the A/C would work with a recharge and the original tape deck needs replaced. It has new tires, a new battery, muffler, and plugs/wires. In other words, it’s not hopelessly gone but needs a bit of spit and polish to bring it back to how it was when I first got the car.

My wife and I already have decent newer cars, and I have an old BMW Z3 I use on the weekends. I have the space and tools, and was thinking about tinkering around and doing something fun with it. I’m just not exactly sure what that will be.

Would this be a fun autocross car, rat rod, or unusual restoration project (since most people don’t save these)? What should I do with this thing and where could I go for further inspiration/technical advice later on?

Sajeev answers:

Did you say “unusual restoration project?” Uh yeah, you’ve come to the right place.

TTAC debated the Ford Tempo‘s relevance. It’s a crude (better than K-cars or Iron-Duke GM products, if that matters) transition model from near-bankruptcy Ford to the Deming-embracing era vehicles that turned FoMoCo around. It wasn’t a perfect transition, as the 1984 Tempo was a plus-sized USA Escort that mimicked the then-revolutionary 1982 Ford Sierra (peep the greenhouses) instead of being a purer Sierra Coupe/Hatch/Wagon transplant. That said, I’d love a Mercury Topaz V6 five-speed LTS (sedan) or XR-5 (coupe) to go with TTAC’s own Sierra.

Embrace your inner Tempo fanatic, kick the Tempo up to Allegro.

Start small and fix the low-hanging fruit: new headliner (spend a bit more and get the correct blue/tan/red material from an NOS vendor), fresh paint, a snazzy CD/Bluetooth/USB stereo with the flush-mount kit (not the ugly stick-on one), add entry-level coaxial speakers, fix the A/C and rebuild the plastic plugs if you have power windows, etc.

Too bad about the new tires, as upgrading to 15 x 7-inch Mustang wheels makes for a beautifully stanced (so to speak) resto-modification, or the 16-inch Pony wheels, pictured above. Then upgrade to KYB dampers, and maybe the four-wheel discs from a Contour/Mystique/Cougar (which requires 16-inch wheels).

The Vulcan V6 is a labor-intensive drop-in swap available from a junkyard parts car Taurus/Sable (with the revised “big bore” plastic intake) and squeezes a few more ponies for cheap (E85 computer tune, Duratec V6 throttle body, etc.) or you can go nuts for stupid money. Poke around the Tempo/Topaz forum for more details and OOH NO DEY KILLED TEMPOTOPAZ.COM Y GOD Y?!?!!

— deep cleansing breath —

Everything I knew about resto-modding a Ford Tempo is gone. Now you have two options, and both require selling your (overrated) Z3: either LS4-FTW or create the SHOpaz’s brother.

You folks don’t know how long I’ve waited to SHOpaz up this blog.

[Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock user icon99]

Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry…but be realistic, and use your make/model specific forums instead of TTAC for more timely advice.

Sajeev Mehta
Sajeev Mehta

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  • DougD DougD on Oct 06, 2016

    I'll speak from experience here. When we we replaced our Topaz with a minivan it was still a fully functional vehicle that was worthless on trade in. We figured we'd gotten our money's worth out of it so we had it safetied and gave it away to folks we knew who needed cheap reliable transportation. Pay it forward man, I'm sure there's a charity or individual in Florida who would be thrilled to receive a sun beaten Tempo with some life left in it.

  • Shawnski Shawnski on Oct 09, 2016

    I had a sharp looking '86 Tempo GL Sport, with the 2.3 HO (good for 100 hp), and 5 speed, ohhhhh. I had it for two years and bought an '88 Mustang GT. That was a long time ago, and while I still play with obsolete Fox body Mustangs (AutoX '82GT ESP), find a charity that can flip the Tempo and take the right off.

  • Master Baiter I'm skeptical of any project with government strings attached. I've read that the new CHIPS act which is supposed to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. is so loaded with DEI requirements that companies would rather not even bother trying to set up shop here. Cheaper to keep buying from TSMC.
  • CanadaCraig VOTE NO VW!
  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
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