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1987 Daytona Shelby Z Project

7K views 37 replies 11 participants last post by  Isaakfirestar 
#1 ·
Hello all,

Back in june one day, when driving home from work I spotted a purple car half-buried in the bushes. Curious, I stopped to take a look. What I found was a 1987 Daytona Shelby Z with t-tops and a faded purple paint job.

It just killed me to see this interesting car rotting away in someones driveway so I decided that if they would sell, I would buy. After all, I had been looking for another car project to keep me busy.

Long story short, I walked away with a $300 daytona that hadn't moved or ran under it's own power in at least 10 years. The previous owner had damaged the engine "driving home" and it had the valve cover and oil pan off for the duration of it's rest.

Something I noticed almost immediately after buying it is a small sticker on the drivers side door that reads "modified by cars and concepts on 4/87." Does anyone know about this sticker, what it means and what they may have done to the car? I can't find any info online. Was it the t-tops or could it have been the purple paint job and what I assume may have been a long-gone aftermarket stereo?

Anyways, onto the car.
The interior is really rough as the car sat ~1000 feet from the ocean here in rainy Oregon but the body is in really good shape. No rust that I can find, no dents or dings, just peeling purple paint.

I immediately began to dig into the engine and found a burned piston and spun bearings all along the crank. This motor got hot. Over the past 6 months my machinist and I have rebuilt the bottom end. .020" oversized Wiseco Pistons from Turbos Unleashed, stock turbo ii rods, refinished crank, and arp rod studs. I've got a new melling oil pump and high flow pickup waiting to be installed. It also appears the p/o put some bolt-on aftermarket parts onto the car. It came with a mopar performance coil, k&n drop-in air filter, and what appears to be a homemade hard pipe setup from the intercooler to the throttle body. He also claimed it had a larger throttle body on it, I haven't confirmed either way yet.

As for the interior, I want to go with a stock style look but rebuild it myself using the materials I have. I decided early on that I wanted to have my enthusiast seats redone in black leather. After getting quotes north of $2000 from all the local uphlostery shops I bought a set of stock leather seats on ebay for $450. Not quite as nice as aftermarket leather but much more affordable. The door panels are trash, I plan to recreate them with new materials. I'm still not sure what color/style I want to make them, as I don't want to clash with the black seats/blue interior. The carpet will need to be replace eventually but the rest of the interior is in decent shape save the missing stereo system.

That's all I can think of right now, I plan to keep adding on to this as I work. This is more or less the work I've done to it over the last 6 months.
I bought it knowing it would be a massive project to get it to where I want but I wanted another project. Hopefully this thread will help to keep me motivated.

Side note as I'm uploading pictures: I found this blue paint underneath all the grit and grime. This wasn't the factory color, was it? Why would this be there?
 

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#34 ·
Well, it's been quite a while since I updated this, but I conquered a big hurdle today. The engine is back into the car!
Nearly everything has been rebuilt or replaced. It currently has:
Rebuilt bottom end, 0.020 over with Wiseco forged pistons, refurbished stock rods, and the factory forged crank
stock rebuild "287" head from Randy, with a Cometic head gasket and the PT lifter mod
Stock replacement camshaft
Enforcer II Turbocharger with 0.48 A/R
Stock 2 piece intake, appears to have been ported to match the 52mm throttle body by the previous owner
Stock exhaust manifold, mild port by me and a high-temperature ceramic coat with TU 3" swingvalve
TU Deep well oil pan
Stock clutch for now. My stage 2 spec clutch was wrong and I ran out of time before I could get the right parts in hand.
Stock 555 5-speed, replaced external seals and gaskets.
Poly motor mounts from Johnny

Stock rebuild front suspension using poly bushings and mounts, KYB GR2 struts, moog ball joints, and rebuilt factory CV axles
Rear suspension is still in good shape, just cleaned it up a little bit.

As well as all this, I had my pizza wheels refinished by a company called Wheel Dr. up in Portland. It looks good, although I'm not 100% satisfied with how they turned out. Still miles better than how the were!
Things have been moving quickly as I'm going back to college and I'm taking the car with me. It has to be complete enough to, at least, roll onto a trailer.
My hope is that I've laid down a good foundation for me to get the car up and running again, with lots of room for more serious modding when it comes time to start really dialing in the performance and handling of the car.

In that vein, what are some things for me to look out for as I'm preparing the car for it's first start? Keep in mind that in the time I've owned this car, it has never ran, nor moved without the help of a tow truck. I know the entire vacuum system is questionable at best and likely has to be redone from scratch, but what are some other things to keep in mind so that everything goes smoothly?

Also, some of my bolts have gone missing since I took the car apart. Most of them aren't much trouble to replace, but I'm worried about the missing nut and bolt for the front motor mount (the one that goes through the mount bracket and polyurethane mount itself). Does anyone know what size this is?

Anyways, the next couple of months should be pretty busy. There's still a lot to do, but being able to finally drive the car will be a huge milestone.
Thanks,
Isaak
 
#38 ·
Off to school!
I've been accepted to McPherson College in their Automotive Restoration program, and the car is coming with as a personal project!

That was a big reason why I had a push to get the car all back together, as I can't really put it on a trailer with no suspension, and I needed the engine to put the suspension on.
I made it in time (barely) to get it loaded for the long road trip. The car isn't running, as I still need to do the vacuum system and wiring, and my fmic isnt done yet, but it rolled onto the trailer quite nicely.
My hope is that being at a car school surrounded by car guys will foster an environment where I can make this car exactly what I want it to be.
I'm planning to start updating more regularly as I finish wiring, vacuum system, and finally start the thing!!
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