1986 GLHS Engine Bay Restoration

[Marcus86GLHS]

thanx Jonny, ok so total savings w/o the a/c in an omni would be about 70 pounds (not 100), or about 3%. sorry folks i got that off a tad. also that 3% all comes off in front of the center of gravity, helping handling as well.

JIM your glhs engine bay (and the rest of the car) is fantastic, not quite as stock-appearing as mine but hell you run very low 12's so how could it be.

[detobias]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnyb If I remember correctly, I think the a/c ones weighed in at about 40 lbs. and the non a/c ones weigh in at about 15 lbs.

my 86 omni HVAC box with AC was 31# ( +/- a bit I guess since I was using my bathroom scale not a mettler )

you would save a little more weight since there are some extra ducts & vents, but they are pretty light, I would estimate 4-6# max

PS I have 2 '86 HVAC boxes w/ AC if anyone needs one

[BB3]

Engine bay looks AWESOME! Very nice work.

- Bill

[Tbone]

Excellent! I didn't think that was possible. Amazing.

[STEVE B]

Looks better than new. Your time and work really pays off. That sucks for the 25 points that they knocked off. I have a question. Did you repaint the plasic parts black? If so what did you use? I am wanting to do that to my SC.
Thanks
Steve B

[Marcus86GLHS]

Steve B some plastic parts were painted using Krylon's Fusion line of rattle-can paints which are very good quality but i will tell you that surface prep is a nightmare.....i was dealing with 20 year old plastic and i had to:
1. degrease using Simple Green
2. run thru a hot cycle in the dishwasher
3. clean and clean and clean using lint free white rags and Carb Cleaner

If you dont do this, you will get massive orange peel. even though i did all of this, i am still going to have to re-do my timing chain cover which no matter what i did, the paint wanted to bubble up (orange peel).

some of my plastic parts (like the distributor water shield) you see are NOS, those painted perfectly first try with little prep except a quick wipe w/ carb cleaner.


good luck w/ your SC......... post up pix if you can.

[STEVE B]

Thanks for the info. I was looking at your pictures again. How long did it take you to make that AC bracket smooth? Looks like a lot of grinding and sanding. Do you take your solenoid block apart to paint it? My SC is real nice but the engine bay is not as clean as I want it.
Thanks and Nice again
Steve B

[The Pope]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcus86GLHS hey thanx guys. glad you are enjoying the pix. on a related note: I was at a car show in Boston a week ago and one of the guys who worked should-to-shoulder w/ Carroll at the Whittier plant (including direct involvement with all the Shelby-Dodge cars made at Whittier) was a guest speaker at this show. He came over to look at my car and I pulled him aside and asked, "....in Jan. of 1986 there was an interview between Carroll and the CEO of Chrysler, in that interview Carroll stated that his first project would be a "GLH Shelby" that would maximize performance while minimizing cost, if that was what Carroll intended, why did all the GLHS cars come with air conditioning? That added $500 to the cost, added 100 pounds of dead weight, and added an a/c condensor that blocked airflow to the intercooler." His answer was that Carroll never wanted a/c in the GLHS! He resisted, but Chrysler forced the a/c content into the GLHS by telling Carroll he was not getting the base GLH Turbo's he needed unless he paid for the optional air conditioning. He didnt like it, but for the sake of the program he wanted to launch, he accepted the cars with the a/c. Now that's right from the horse's mouth. Good historical info. .....and that is what I always suspected, and the reason why i did not re-install the a/c in this car. it never should have received it.

Shelby himself was asked why all his cars had AC on TV back then and said that he lives in Texas and in CA where it is hot. And unlike old cars the new ones aren't hurt that bad having AC, and at his age he doesn't want to drive a black car in Texas without AC. The man that worked side by side and was in charge of the Whitter cars was Bob Marsh who passed on. He was the last one left from the Dodge days and was last seen at the Shelby get together in Vegas a few years ago. Bob has been gone for over a year now, So who was this mystery guy?

As far as the resto, it does look great. But why would you go through the trouble of making the car look so stock and restored and then mod it? The BOV could go in the air box conected to the cross tube behind the air filter. Then you have added a CS badge to the oil cap and removed the AC. So if it wasn't a big deal to look stock, why not go all the way with nice polished lines to a big FMIC that you have room for without AC? Then the black Shelby valve cover looks ten times better than a silver T1 valve cover. My 86 has a 1,500 CFM water to air unit, full size rad and working converted AC, among other mods. I understand why someone would want them nice looking and modded. But why restore a car to "almost stock" ?

Rob Walsh

84 Shelby DC Rampage
86 GLHS #76
87 GLHS #306
89 CSX-VNT #187
70 R/T SE Challenger

[Marcus86GLHS]

Rob the name of the gentleman that was at this Boston show escapes me right now maybe Jonny B can chime in I bet he knows his name but yes this guy was one of the main guys working w/ Carroll from 1984-1990 on all the Whittier cars including the never-launched 16-valve CSX. This guy's got a million tales, the one about the a/c in the 86 glhs i just presume is true unless someone calls him a liar. I know I wont.

As for my choices during this restoration I hear your comments a lot, why not go "all the way"? The answer is simple: personal preference. My goal was never "concourse perfection" , or, "absolute 100% stock looking"......also I did not want to drive around in a GLHS that goes high 14's in the quarter mile which is what I would've had if I had gone "absolutely stock"... I wanted to push the power as high as possible while retaining the stock internals (which are all-original), the A-525 rod shifted trany, and an overall stock appearing engine. I think I accomplished this sorta well. I mean the car has gone into the high 12's like this while babying it off the line and that was with the old original intercooler and 17 psi....i still have yet to make one pass at 20 psi w/ this new Indy i/c but i expect a 12.799 out of this car just as you see it.

It would have been very little extra work to detail up all the a/c hardware and put it back in but it adds nothing to the appearance and it pure dead weight that i would never have used, but the biggest reason to delete the a/c is the condensor blocks airflow to the intercooler, and this car is running 20 psi on an Indy Intercooler and I know that's pushing it, so i need all the airflow I can get.

So to answer your question , "why restore to almost stock?" I would just say, it's personal preference. I would enjoy pix of your 86S if you have any you can share.



STEVE B: i didnt do any smoothing to the a/c delete bracket, it is powder coated in "cast aluminum". The solenoid block was hand-painted by me using Eastwoods Clear Cadmuim, i used a super small modeling brush and a steady hand. Got pix of your SC?

[Marcus86GLHS]

BEFORE THE RESTO:




yuk!

[95turbovan]

Amazing work...you see a lot of nice looking engines, but this is the whole engine bay as well. Never seen another one like it. -Scott