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Beeble's 1987 Dodge Daytona Shelby Z

70K views 303 replies 43 participants last post by  beeblebrox82 
#1 · (Edited)
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 wa slike coming back to our roots. No sooner than I had started doing the research a member on the turbododge forum pointed out this shelby.

Had to get it.

Went down to Indy this weekend and picked it up!


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



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





Tonneau cover!

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




The paint is really really rough, but it's pretty mechanically sound. Good shocks and struts, not 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 rebuild 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

somethings missing...




First yard run was highly succesful Got about 75% of what i was after, including a complete sunroof and two gorgeous recline mechanisms from a labaron coupe.




Oh - and I have louvers if I want. Totally on the fence on them... I really don't like it, but everyone else does.




First steps:
Find oil pressure problem
Completely redo vac system
Return engine wiring to factory spec.
replace seat recliners.

Should be able to driver 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!!! :highfive:



Notes to myself:
Fusable link to fuseblock mod.
 
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#277 ·
LOL you got me, it's a pretty lame video, I realized it and that's why I took off to the other lot. More can finally come now. Need to rig something up in the car.

Call me a dummy, but is that the same car as a Mitsubishi Starion/Chrysler Conquest?
Not a dumb question, it's pretty confusing. This car shares no parts with those cars. The daytona is a G-body, a lengthened K-car chassis, it's blood lies with the K-car family (think Relients, Aries, Lebarons, Lancers, Sundance, Aclaim et. al.) The conquest is a rebadged mitsu. Cool cars, but I dont fit in em.
 
#278 ·
I'm still smilin' a bit.

So the Daytona project has been running for a little bit now, but just barely. Was running pig rich after I put the +20s in so it was drowning in gas with the pedal down and cutting out.

Put the timing light on it today and it was way off, tuned it in and gave the old girl her first bath in years (filthy!!!)


All I can say is, holy crap! Two years I been working on this car and I never drove one that worked. Tromped on it in second and she went nuts! Slammed into third and I was hanging onto the steering wheel for dear life. WOW! :love:

Still going rich when I get high up in the RPMs, I don't think I'm gonna be the lucky few that get a 2.5L to run on +20s on the stock tune. Oh well, she's solid for daily driving at least.


Stopped off for some pics, she looks pretty good from 15 feet!







My favorite angle for the Daytona:



After a spirited drive everything in the engine bay still looks good. Staying cool. This thing actually works! I am excite.
 
#280 ·
Glad to hear you're enjoying it. I wouldn't trade my iroc r/t for anything. Looks to me like you earned it with all of your hard work. Keep it shiny side up!
 
#284 ·
Nate when you get some fresh paint on that shes gonna look brand new. already looks great now as it is!
 
#288 ·
well kind of a sad day. Yesterday the Daytona went down for the winter.... outside. :glum:



I'm sad to put her outdoors, but really excited not to be uncasing the Trep from a tomb of ice and snow every morning. Just to add insult to injury, it rained THEN snowed on the poor girl in the first night. She's nice and dry underneath though, found a car cover that fits perfect, we'll see how it holds up.



Gathering parts for phase II: (Starting in February)

-All new brake lines, R&R the rest of the brakes
-install '88 rear calipers (discovered the originals are seized... no wonder I wasn't impressed with the stopping power. Oie)
-255 Walbro and AFPR
-Maybe new gas tank just for kicks, since they are so cheap
-Figure out which of the supposedly good +20s I got is dumping gas into the engine. :sneaky2:
-Weld in new spare tire well.
-Socket my spare SMEC and get a Cal sorted out (I have lots of reading to do)
-refinish and powdercoat the crabs.
-Get more than one speaker working, hopefully get that infinity deck running too.



I have high hopes that by the time the snow melts in March/April I'll have all the fueling/calibration stuff sorted out and ready to be tuned in, and solid brakes underneath, and I can have the old gal truly road worthy.
 
#301 ·
Holy Crapola Nate! Did you paint it yourself in your garage?

Looks good in the pictures. How did it turn out in person?
 
#304 ·
yep. It's not perfect by any means, wetsanding it down now. She'll look good from about 5 feet.

Looks nice! I just hopped on turbomopar after a few years and it was dead quiet, and apparently Kevin shut down boostedmopar? That sucks, I was just thinking about buying another turbo car. Let's see I have had a turbo van, 88 Sundance 4 Dr, 89 Daytona, 87 Lancer, 90 Shelby Daytona VNT C/S (really miss that one) and about 3 or 4 3.0 caravans. I guess they are just to the point they are rusted apart, or totally restored, or just hacked all apart and molested to the point of no return . Hard to find even a TI car, which I would rather have and fix it up the way I want. Man those are fun cars, add an intercooler, hack off the exhaust and add a manual boost controller and gain 75-100hp for $50.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
yeah, just in the time I've owned this car I've noticed that I just don't seem them as much any more. That's quite a fleet you have. I've always really liked those Lancers!
 
#303 · (Edited)
Looks nice! I just hopped on turbomopar after a few years and it was dead quiet, and apparently Kevin shut down boostedmopar? That sucks, I was just thinking about buying another turbo car. Let's see I have had a turbo van, 88 Sundance 4 Dr, 89 Daytona, 87 Lancer, 90 Shelby Daytona VNT C/S (really miss that one) and about 3 or 4 3.0 caravans. I guess they are just to the point they are rusted apart, or totally restored, or just hacked all apart and molested to the point of no return . Hard to find even a TI car, which I would rather have and fix it up the way I want. Man those are fun cars, add an intercooler, hack off the exhaust and add a manual boost controller and gain 75-100hp for $50.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 
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