[beeblebrox82]

Well I've been looking into a project car for a little bit now, and my wife and I settled on something out of the 80s turbo mopar collection. We both grew up on these little cars (I had a Reliant, she had an Omni) so getting one of these was like coming back to our roots. No sooner than I had started doing the research a member on the siteforum pointed out this shelby.

Had to get it.

Went down to Indy this weekend and picked it up!

1987 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z
Turbo II 2.2L
Getrag 5 speed transmission
Sun and shade package
Enthusiast seats

Can anyone confirm the hood year? I believe it's a 91? Has VNT stickers on each side that I need to peel off.

Look how long it is compared to my trep!! I was surprised!

Tonneau cover!

Enthusiast seats are in great shape, few very small cigarette burns. Recline mechanism is broken on both.

The paint is really really rough, but it's pretty mechanically sound. Good shocks and struts, no major body damage and very little under body rust. The rockers are solid and the only areas are concern is the drivers side floor board (easy fix) and the spare tire well (got a bead on a donor car.)

rest of the underbody looks like this. Wonderbar!

Previous owner said that on start up the car is not getting oil pressure. I suspect oil pump or pick up. Engine has the 2.4 lifters installed and was supposedly rebuilt by the previous previous owner... who I don't trust at all based on the awful wiring hack and slash in the engine bay.

WTF?!? Inexcusable. Some sort of fan bypass.

Not sure what went on here... cut wires. Connector just hangin' out. Yuck.

Filled a page full of notes and immediately headed to the yard this afternoon where I had previously spied a Shelby Z that had no business being there.
Got about 75% of what i was after, including a complete sunroof and two gorgeous recline mechanisms from a la baron coupe. Got lots of trim odds and ends, lots of bulbs for the message center and some floor mats.

Oh - and I have louvers... I really don't like it, but everyone else does. Not sure what's going to happen with them yet. My wife says they have to go on because it makes it "80's-tastic" Not sure if that's good or bad LOL.

First steps:
Find oil pressure problem
replace seat recliners. (drivers seat is leaning, will need a close look.)

Should be able to drive her then. This winter I'lll continue to clean up the engine and interior, and fix the rust issues. then next summer she'll go to paint! There's an amazing amount of room in these little cars. I can stretch out completely inside. Should be an awesome little car!!! :drummer:

 

[beeblebrox82]

Laundry list... in some sort of order.

-Find and fix the oil pressure problem
-replace accessory belts, change all fuilds (the oil is nasty!)
-Investigate parking brake... appears to not be working
-Clean Clean Clean!
-Check all electronics
-Fix door cards
-repair replace all trim odds and ends
-Completely rewire engine compartment... back to stock
-Completely redo the vac system
-Replace wiper control stalk
-fix tonneau cover reel
-Replace floor pan on drivers side
-replace/repair spare tire well.
-Replace front facia.
-rust management on exterior surfaces
-Get AC working


Honestly the engine might be coming out just so I can clean it all up properly. I need to give it a real good look and see how much work needs to be done.

Still need lots of little pieces and odds and ends.

Incidentally.. is there supposed to be some sort of bezel around the door handle?

Lots of work to do!

 

[Daytona Junkie]

congrats on the purchase!! i love daytona's.if ya need some parts,i may have them LOL

 

[beeblebrox82]

congrats on the purchase!! i love daytona's.if ya need some parts,i may have them LOL

thanks! !'m going to be developing a shopping list for sure!

 

[turismolover22]

Hey glad to see it in your driveway sfe and sound! If you ever need help remember I'm only maybe 2-3 hours at the most from ya, I would have no probelm bringin you up to speed on this thing!

I forgot to tell ya when I sent the pics that the PO's PO had replaced the hood with a 90 VNT hood lol :bananaride:

Sorry bout that :rocket:

And if you need some other parts were swimming in the daytonas here Just let me know :thumb:

 

[James Neidig]

Good luck with the rebuild. Post a lot of questions here... Learn from our mistakes, else you may spend double the money before it's done!

 

[beeblebrox82]

Good luck with the rebuild. Post a lot of questions here... Learn from our mistakes, else you may spend double the money before it's done!

Thanks! I certainly will.


Do we have any digital copies of the FSMs on the site? I definitely need the wiring diagrams for the engine bay as well as hopefully some diagrams for the vac system.


Is there any specific benefit to upgrading to a SMEC system? Just a harness and module swap or are there other sensors etc that need to get changed? Platform interchangeability? I'm jumping the gun here, I don't know if I really need to replace the wiring... just learning

 

[turismolover22]

Just replace the underhood harness.

And I talked with my buddy, he said that the complete bumper to bumper harness inclused EVERYTHING electrical lol. Even has the whole dash and whatnot.

 

[beeblebrox82]

Just replace the underhood harness.

And I talked with my buddy, he said that the complete bumper to bumper harness inclused EVERYTHING electrical lol. Even has the whole dash and whatnot.

Thanks Matt, Let me know was he wants for it!

 

[j4278h]

thanks! !'m going to be developing a shopping list for sure!

let me know what you need. I was the guy who ran into you on monday at LKQ.

If they made it for the daytona's I've probably got 2-3 lying around somewhere.

 

[beeblebrox82]

let me know what you need. I was the guy who ran into you on monday at LKQ.

If they made it for the daytona's I've probably got 2-3 lying around somewhere.

Well hey! I never caught your name - I'm Nate, pleasure to officially meet you lol. I found a perfect set of recliner mechanisms in that white convertable La Baron, so I can cross those off the need ASAP list. I'll be forming an official list over the weekend, but my primary objectives will be investigating the oil pressure issue and look at the E-brake. The lever actuates and releases smoothly, but it doesn't actually stop the car, which is a dang shame! Once those are taken care of I'll be ready to start really replacing and repairing all the non essential components.

Also, for diagrams with the wiring shoot NAJ a pm, he's got every diagram known on this site! He'd be the perfect person to ask!

Great thanks! Would like to trace the whole system to see what damage has all been done. If it's just the fan system it might not be the end of the world.

 

[j4278h]

The 87-88 daytona shelby used the rear caliper as the ebrake. the cable pulled on a lever pushing the piston foward. i'd bet the cable is not even hooked up anymore if you can get the pedal to move fairly easy. Then you run into the issue where that ebrake lever won't move. Super suck, I'd almost go with the 89+ setup that uses a smaller drum as the ebrake.

 

[turismolover22]

Well from the rust on the driver floor around the ebrake cable its a safe bet that the cable is rusted through and gone.

 

[beeblebrox82]

yea that's a good bet. I'll get under there a bit this weekend and look. The sending unit on the car is gone. There's a mechanical gauge that has been mounted in the dirvers side foot well. Cranked the car over and it is getting oil. Figured with the car sitting since January I could crank it a few times without worry but the damn thing fired up on the 1st crank. Gotta love mopar. I heard what sounded disturbingly like a rod knock though I'll take a look under her skirt and see what's what this weekend!

 

[beeblebrox82]

Well business has been slow, mostly because I spent all of my disposable cash on the car, but I have picked up a few more odds and ends just hunting through the yards.

A new front fascia: Really nice condition, Not horribly painted over 4 times like the once currently on the car.

Same car had near MINT condition window tracks and drivers side door seal. Also got a new cup holder, and some daytona door handle bezels ($3!!) as well as a crap load of other bezels, just for the heck of it.

And the highlight of my day look what came in the mail today!!

:banana:

Last thing I need to buy is a couple torque wrenches, unbelievably, I've never got around to buying them. But before i drop the pan I need to invest. Might be another few weeks still before I really get to dig in.

 

[turbokid]

Like I said on the other site, keep it up, great project

 

[beeblebrox82]

So it turns out (thank you mopar engineers!!) That the spare tire well of a 1993 Shadow is exactly the same as my Daytona's. They crushed the Shelby Z I was going to cut up, but this one is even better!!! Had to lift the back of the car with an engine hoist and reset it on the frame rails, as they had it propped up on a wheel right on the well. Once that was done it was quick work with the saws all!

Little dented from the car sitting on it, nothing that can't be pounded out.

Some surface rust down in the bottom, but it's solid!!!

Also scored the spare tire cover board and I picked up the instrument cluster, if only just to have to play with later.

Super excited to get that tire well found!!

 

[turismolover22]

You can buy white colored speedo/gauge overlays for that style dash. Just makes sure the speedomemter is the same style as the one in the car, some are electronic, and some are manual. Not sure the year they changed.

Keep up the good work!

 

[beeblebrox82]

Well I finally had a chance to drop the pan and poke around. No smoking gun. The screen on the oil pick up was a little nasty, but Oil still went throuhgh when I dumped some through, so I'm not convinced. The oil filer was actually rusty, so god knows how old it is, perhaps it had failed. there was certainly some sludge in the bottom.


Bottom of the motor looks nice and clean, no obvious problems that I can see. Pan was free of metal and was pretty clean overall.

hard to get a good picture, but the screen was pretty nasty.

Little WD40 and a toothbrush took care of the oil pick up screen


On to the oil pump. Spins very smooth, feels nice and tight. I might take it apart but I dunno, see for yourself - seems to be working fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTovERaCok0

So I'll poke around a bit more tomorrow, then I guess I'll just put it all back together and see what happens.

 

[beeblebrox82]