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15 years later I'm Back with a new to us 87 Shelby Z.

5K views 99 replies 12 participants last post by  Tonatom 
#1 ·
Hey,

Haven't had a turbo dodge in about 15 years. Parted out my last rotted out 86 Turbo Z back then.

My daughter is now 15 and I've been looking for a cheap car for us to work on together, she's in autoshop learning herself now too.

Ended up finding a great condition 1987 Daytona Shelby Z only an hour from us. We got it for $2500 and she's happy as hell! It's even got aluminum louvers like my old one.

It needs some engine work, we were told it overheats, popped a core plug but is still running. Guy popped a new plug in but leaks a bit. I'm assuming it just needs a good clean up, going over prob a rad, T stat etc. Blows a bit of blue smoke at start up likely valve seals.

But the rest of the car is in great shape.

Has a Blue cloth interior, White car, crab wheels, 140k Miles. Its a US car and not a chrysler (most Canadian branded cars).

We've got about 2 years to get it going again.

Going to start with some diagnosing on the engine then pull it. To clean it up etc.

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Pick it up tomorrow morning.

I've been building and wheeling a '79 IH Scout II the last 5 years, just finished an LS swap on it and need to build a full cage.

one tons, 40s, NV4500, doubler, NP205
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#4 ·
Hauled it home today has been sitting for bout a yesr and a half, resr brakes are sticking, doesn't want to idle well when put in gear and let the clutch out. Got to rev it up a bit.

So there is def some work to do. Least the seat motors worked so I could adjust it!

Had to winch it on. Didn't have enough jam on them wee tires to push itself backward up on.

 
#8 ·
Looks like the only 3 pieces I really need are the drive side seat belt buckle cover, the console lid and a drive side upper door drip edge seal.

Its an AC car. Has the original tape deck (doesn't work) the electric door locks aren't working.

Suprisingly the drivers electric seat all functions work.

There must be a leak around the rear window somewhere as when I got it home from trailering it the back was wet (it was a li'l rainy) mind you I was trailering it back end forward so it might have been forcing wet air/rain into the back.

I need to blow out the drains for the moon roof.

The back brakes are semi seized up.

Need to do a compression test on it then see about pulling it all out.

Were going to leave it stock for a bit for her first car other than get rid of PCV and add a BOV.

 
#9 ·
This car has a small yellow window sticker bottom left corner says Sunnyvale Chrysler Plymoth. Only reference I can find for a Sunnyvale chrysler dealership is in California.

Pretty neat it was brought into Southern, ON Canada.



Need this weatherstrip piece.

4396060 looks like same piece used from 84-93
 
#12 ·
Trying to find a cool set of wheels for this, crabs are kinda hideous. Looking at 17's probably. Looking for some used ones on marketplace. Found a couple sets of 16s with multinfit wheels. Also found a set of red XXR wheels (15's) thought they might look cool on a white car. Also wonder what gold Subaru style wheels might look on a white car.
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#15 ·
Never was a fan of the Pacifica package, and I've had crabs on a red turbo Z and they were alright but I had a nice set of polished eagle alloys I had transferred over from my 91, ES that I liked better.

I like the bigger look now, last three cars had 18's (09 caliber and current '11 Ford fusion, and my current '11 F150) I prefer 17's as there are better size options.

But these 15" BFgs on the car are brand new so I'm thinking polish the lips of the crabs and paint the centers black would look good.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Got it moved to its resting place for the next couple of years.

-Looks like I blew the front brake lines as the front master is now empty... And the brake light came on.

-The right side signals stay solid so there must be a ground issue.

-Headlights don't flip so the relays likely need to be resoldered.

-one of the 3 relays on the drive side has been jumpered. Will get the diagrams and figure out which one it is and why.

-Ripped the half eaten hood insulation out.

-Then blew out the sun roof drains and the whole taillight end (didn't remove any of them yet to check seals) removed the wheel well bottom plug just to keep sure it keeps draining. One day when it's dry going to spray some rust cure 3000 in there.

-The feed to the heater core is not connected. PO said it was plugged.

-turbo sounds good when running

Next step is, going to be to teach the kiddo to do a compression test. Jack it up, put it on stands, pull tires and brakes. Then get ready to pull the engine, clean it up etc.
 
#23 ·
My 85 Laser (2.2 Turbo), 85 Caravan (2.2 NA), and 88 Plymouth Reliant (2.2 NA) all had blocked heater cores. I may just be lucky, but I got all three of them flowing freely by swapping the heater core hoses around and then running calcium-eating radiator flush.
Thanks for the info. No telling how long this one's been unhooked unfortunately. I'll likely pull it and soak it in CLR or the like and check it for leaks.

Since the engine is coming out shouldn't be too big a deal.
 
#30 ·
I have 1987-88 Shelby Z rear discs on my Omni.

The rear calipers are no longer available but they can be rebuilt.

I like the parking brake better than the later ones but many don't.

Thanks
Randy

Back left brakes seized up, front right seized up.

Likely going to need calipers, hoses and lines all the way around.
 
#25 ·
We found super cheap set of MSR 113 wheels 17x7 40 offset. Cheap as in $100. Theyve been run in the winter and are crusty so we will clean em up and get em powdered or just paint em. And anthracite grey or black.

Need to figure out what lugs to buy as they are really narrow holes. Stock lugs too big.

Going to stick 215/45R17s on. Hair taller than stock 225/50R15s but also hair narrower.

Appreciate the trade offered but she liked these better.
 
#26 ·
Got the compression test done today...
All are plus/minus 10 psi my harbor freight tester is garb.

125, 125, 125, 100

What seems like major blow by at idle. (no smoke out the valve cover but there is pressure pumping out.

There seems to be some random valve train or internal motor noise that comes and goes.
 
#29 ·
Fortunately these heads are easy to pull. (-: I'm a little concerned with it running rich on a stock LM, though.

I had an 89 LeBaron 2.5 T1 that I started and drove off of a used car lot after it sat for a decade. I noticed a little blowby, and at one point I had a spark plug damaged. Pulled the head off, and three of the four pistons were shattered! I couldn't believe how well it ran in that condition.
 
#32 ·
I don't think it's hard to upgrade to newer rear brakes.

The trick is finding parts but rotors and calipers are on Rockauto.

It looks like Rockauto even has parking brake cables.

I believe the spindles are the same so it shouldn't be too hard.

Someone here will know more than me, caliper brackets are no doubt different.

Thanks
Randy
 
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#36 ·
Did some digging the other day, found a giant mouse house in the air box. Cleaned that out.

Deleted the PCV today.

So it's pushing air out the VC while idling, when revving it up it is far less (valve guides maybe?)

I pulled the VC and other than one broken tab on above water neck it looks good under there, no play in any of the journals, cam lobes all look good.

Pulled the spark plug in cyl that had the least compression, bore looks good, Piston looks good. Valve in photo doesn't look very good.

So I'm assuming we need a head prob cheaper to buy a good one or a rebuilt one than pay the local machinist. Cost me $1k+ to get my Scout 345 heads cleaned up and valve job done.

Its a MEXICAN made 782 head.


It randomly makes a growl noise and I can't determine exactly where it's coming from since it's so random , from what I can maybe tell it's around the belt drive area.
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