'85 Daytona T2 Conversion

[ljeff20]

I have an '85 Daytona and looking at converting to T2. DDG has a walkthrough on the process, but I have a few questions. I just want to make sure I'm completely prepared before beginning and then get stuck on some impossible to find part. lol

- 88-92 Turbo intake manifold with fuel rail, regulator
[Have this. Donor 88 Daytona T2.]

- Throttle body (With AIS &TPS).
[Have this, but the sensors are old and rusted. Been sitting in a shed for 10 years. Replacement source if needed?]

- 33 pph injectors from T-II, 2.5 T-I or T-III engine.
[Guessing these can be purchased readily? BestSource?]

- 87-89 Garrett turbo or a 88-92 mitsu turbo
[Have the Garrett from the 88, but the Turbo from my '85 is freshly rebuilt. Best to have the '88 rebuilt or mod my current turbo?]

- Logic Module, either 86-87 GLHS or 87 T-II Daytona/CSX
[Confused on this part. '85 Daytona Turbo Z with '88 Parts. Which Logic Module do I need? Also, someone suggested that I replace the distributor with a later model. How does this effect things?]

- Extra Logic Module pins with about 4-6 inches of wire (LM plug from junkyard car will do)
[Junkyards nearby have no Daytonas at all. Can't find any related cars in fact. Other sources?]

- 4 wire AIS and 3 wire TPS connectors from 88-93 FWD Mopar with 2.2/2.5/3.0 engine.
[Can these be purchased online? Or donor vehicles only? Tried to look, but apparently not looking in the right places.]

- Throttle cable and TB bracket from 88-92 turbo.
[Expecting this to be the hardest to find. Anyone have them or know where I can buy them?]

- Intercooler & radiator setup from 87-89 TII car- All hoses, air cleaner box & bracket.
[Only have the intercooler from donor car. I can buy the radiator from Performance Radiator. Are there brackets I will need to connect them? Will I need to modify my current radiator brackets? Source for hoses, air box and bracket?]

Anything else I need to know before I start?

Any other modifications/upgrades I should make while I have everything torn down?

[Dr. Johny Dodge]

the for sale section here will probably be your best source of parts without question

if you don't need the egr system for emissions tests / checks where you live , you can make the turbo from the parts you already have if the 88 turbo is a garret

you may need a new gasket for the houseing but if your 85 turbo is really freash , maybe not
you first need to swap the 88 compressor houseing onto your 85 turbo
- that will eliminate the elbow and egr valve on your 85 garret

if that 85 turbo is freash , you may be able to get the bolts out of the exhaust houseing so you can swap it for the 88 without the egr tube taped into it
- remember there is 1 bolt hidden inside the ex houseing too !!
- but an 89 exhaust houseing would be much better as they fit to a 2 1/2 inch down pipe
(pre 89 is 2 1/4 - some 88's look like 2 1/2 's but they're not really when you look inside them )
BUT , don't try to hard to get the bolts out - after some use they usually snap off - so if the bolts don't want to turn easy you might be wise to just remove the egr tube from the ex houseing and block off the hole
you could get away with just cutting it off , leaveing enough tube to pinch and weld it shut

if you can find an 88-89 engine harness - all of it and a dash harness , that's the easy way to mod the electrical system - though some mods may be needed to the rear body harness and door harness to plug into the 88 dash harness as 86 & up got newer design connectors - so you might have to swap a few connectors over to the newer style

an 88-89 T1 harness will do if a T2 one dosen't pop up easy - all you will need is to add the intake temp sensor wireing

to make the gromit for the firewall pass through fit where your firewall conector is now , all you need to do is make the hole round - if you measure the engine compartment to das harness conector diagonally from corner to corner , that will give you the correct size for the gromit that goes into the firewall where your original firewall conector was/is

if you go for the 88-89 harness make sure you get the trans/starter harness and front of motor harness with it

if you go for an 87 harness - same applies AND , I think you would still need to change the dash harness simply because (if I remember correctly) the firewall conector changed from 85 to 86
an 86 dash harness will work in your dash too(with 87 engine harness) but you still may need to to the mods I mentioned above as 86 was the year the new conectors got put on the electrical system

you're also gonna need the 87-9 vacume solonids and map/baro sensor

the 86 &^ got the bigger distributor
the smaller 84-85 one will not work with the 86-89 wireing and computers

personally , I've found that the 88-89 electrical systems seem to be better than the earlier stuff regardless of what motor is in the car - and, the 88-9 system will leave you with better or more options for custom calibrations than the older logic / power module deal

and , yes an 88-89 lebaron T1 engine compartment harness will work - all you need to do is add the intake temp sensor wireing to it
- a lebaron dash harness will leave you with non functioning power mirrors and console wireing may be routed differently in the car too

if you go for the 88-89 harness's you will want to get the 88-9 brake light switch and it's bracket too

you will also need to change the circit board on the back of your boost gauge / message center too - the plug changes

also , you may need to swap the plugs from your cluster to the 88-9 dash harness

or swap an 88-9 cluster and boost gauge / mess center in and loose the graph paper design on the 84-6 dash

[Dr. Johny Dodge]

ya , there is a top and bottom bracket that attach the intercooler to the rad

assembled , the rad & intercooler fit where your original rad is now with no mods - it's a straight bolt in deal

[ljeff20]

Wow! Thanks for the info, but now I'm scared to take on this project. LOL

DDG web site gave a list that seems simple and straightforward, with the hard part being finding the right parts. Your post makes it look much more complicated. I'm a decent backyard mechanic, but I think all of that might be out of my range of skills.

[Dr. Johny Dodge]

it's not so hard - if I can do it anyone can lol

blue 86 below has an 88 lebaron engine compartment harness and dash harness in it

- that's how I know the mirrors won't work - at least not without rewireing the lebaron dash harness to make em work - I couldn't be bothered at the time

I did the T2 conversion twice in this car , once with a haunted 87 system and then with the 88 deal

being mine's an 86 the 87 harness pluged right in

I did a motor assembely , and install with the trans + converted to the 87 harness and T2 deal in one 24 hour day

less actually , I'd spent the morning detailing & painting stuff for the original turbo set up when I went into the house and looked at my complete T2 deal , bolted to a head on my dresser at about lunch time and thought "why not?"

so I hauled it outside and bolted it to the motor

ripping the old harness out and swaping the 87 one in only took an hour or so - but I didn't have to change the dash harness

car started and drove down my street about 6 or 7 the next morning

granted though at the time I'd been playin with TD's for about 6 years so I worked pretty quick knowing how the stuff all goes together

[ljeff20]

And the wiring harness swap is required? According to DDG, I would just need to add some lines to the existing setup, so I'm confused.

DDG- Conversion page from 85-87 Turbo I to Turbo II

[Dr. Johny Dodge]

lol ok
there's 3 ways to get there
1 mod your existing wireing
2 use the 87 stuff - still lm/pm but change dash harness
3 use the 88-89 stuff but must change dash harness

#2 & #3 don't require the use of any wireing diagrams - the plugs I mentioned may need changeing are just snip , splice and replace with the newer conector - wires don't change , just the plastic connectors - terminals inside conectors will be diff too

personally the 88-9 deal is my preference

moding the wireing leaves chance for error somewhere - I like bolt together / plug & play

[torgtoe@frisurf]

Both of you are right- dont give up your dream.
Remember planing and logistics is always half the work overhauling cars. If you try to do shortcuts you will be punished-
On the other hand thing can be done a easier way-with electronics i also was scared-Then i came up with a good idea- i marked all burned an broken wires well,-i orderdered new headlight sockets and marked wires. This way i marked all connectors and then took all the harness to a Car-Sterio installer-shop. I asked them if they could do all the soldering and install the new connectors. It cost me about 150 dollars.
Look if you can find a car-sterio or radio/ TV-antenna shop and ask them if they can do the job. Just mark everything well.

[ljeff20]

Well, I'm well versed with soldering and wiring. Been a geek for many years now, so it's a job I know I can do correctly. As you say, planning is the most important step and I wanted to make sure I have everything laid out before I start. My primary concern is finding a donor harness if I go that route.

[tryingbe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljeff20 And the wiring harness swap is required? According to DDG, I would just need to add some lines to the existing setup, so I'm confused. DDG- Conversion page from 85-87 Turbo I to Turbo II

Step by step.

Turbo I to Turbo II

I hope you have a spare car.

[4Daytonas]

I'm doing my 85 Laser as we speak. Nearly done. I already have a fast 91 2.5 so I just wanted my Laser to be a little better on the highway. The trick is mine's an automatic with lockup and I wanted to keep my cruise control. I made my throttle linkage since of the options I wanted. I already have been using an 86 Distributor because I have a 86 MP LM in the car now. I only had to splice the TPS and add the two ais wires to the LM. I'm going to use a GLHS stage 2 LM till I get my Stock Lm converted to GLHS Stg2(for the Cruise Control) I also had the Hoses and Air box(with internal BOV) from an 89 TC so they cleared the Auto linkages,I made a bracket to move my cruise module over a little and everything still fit(wiring). Using a GLHS LM is a lot easier than changing to 87 or 88 wiring. True they have better electronics if you want to go over 14PSI boost.

[Dr. Johny Dodge]

+1 what he said ^

I have to say I speek as a guy with 4 or 5 smec harness's in the basement and also , back in the mid 90's when I did my car the only way to swap to T2 was to change the wireing - I had no internet resource to find another way back then - in fact it was only when I joined the site here that I found the way to mod the original wireing to do the conversion

+ ripping the dash out dosen't scare me like some people - done it enough times I can have it completely out of the car in 20-30 min - it is designed to go in & out rather easy

[ljeff20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Johny Dodge + ripping the dash out dosen't scare me like some people - done it enough times I can have it completely out of the car in 20-30 min - it is designed to go in & out rather easy

I actually need to rip the dash out anyway. The car sat in a field for a decade and some things don't work like they should. The cable that controls the heater door is rusted and doesn't move for one.

My plan for the car is as follows:

Interior
- Gut it out and redo the interior. Sound deadening across the floorpan. New carpet and upholstery.
- Modding the center console to remove the ashtray and replace it with a cupholder and accessory plug.
- Modding the dash to accept a double din sized DVD/Nav unit stereo.
- New boost gauge and EGT gauge where the navigator currently resides.
- Move Navigator below stereo.
- Considering a center console for the roof with digital temp/compass, but having a hard time locating one with the right profile.

Exterior
- Body work is finished and paint will happen when the car is disassembled. Gunmetal gray with two six inch black racing stripes down the middle.
- Tinted windows.
- Considering a rear disc brake swap, but finding that info hard to find. Assuming it requires a donor vehicle, which are rare in junkyards these days.
- Working on plans to convert taillights to LED, but the shape of the '85 taillight assemblies makes me wonder if it's worth it.

Engine and Exhaust
- T2 swap, which is what this thread is for. Not interested in a 300 hp monster. Just want something quicker than a stock T1.
- Swap to roller cam, which I've been researching to find the best options.
- Other quality of life improvements that I've been reading about, but not yet sure they apply to me(PT Lifters, etc).
- 3 Inch exhaust with Cat removed. In my state(Washington), any car over 25 years old is exempt from emissions. It's now 28 years old.

[GhostDaytona]

if u didn't live so far away u can have mine for cheap. 86 turbo z CS, 89 2.5 been converted to t2 its all there for sale, I'm listing parts now, but whole car is for sale also. currently parked. don't have proper tools to fix, I didn't want to hurt the motor, so its parked for sale. PM ME if interested.