Automotive

Up until around 2016 or so, I primarily drove these quirky "Turbo Mopars" employing Chrysler's 2.2L turbocharged powertrain.  My last daily driver of this type was a 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z C/S.  The car was a bit of a basket case when I got it, but it was eventually sorted out: the frame was straightened, the floor pans replaced, and the powertrain and interior were upgraded.  It was a very fun and comfortable car to drive (for a Turbo-Mopar anyway).  Eventually I had to let it go, as it just wasn't practical to use a 30+ year-old car as a daily.

My previous daily driver from 1995 through 2002 was a 1988 Dodge Shadow ES.  It was laid to rest due to a fatal case paint peel and floorpan/frame rust.  It had been in a few collisions over its life and it just wasn't worth saving.  Prior to that, I drove a 1987 Dodge Shadow Turbo and a 1987 Plymouth Sundance Turbo.  I had a thing for these particular cars (the "P-body", in Turbo-Mopar parlance), especially the first generation (1987-1988).

Back when I first graduated from college, I strongly desired the ultimate first-generation P-body: the 1987 Shelby CSX.  After some searching and waiting for the right car in my price range, I found Shelby CSX #694 of 750.  It has mainly been a project car, though it has had to step in as a daily from time to time.  This is the last of these cars that I still own.

Chrysler had an interesting relationship with Carroll Shelby in the late 1980s.  While the resulting vehicles were never taken very seriously in muscle car circles, a great online community did form around them.  The discourse has moved from mailing lists to online Forums to (unfortunately) Facebook Groups, but the community itself still exists.  The Shelby-Dodge Auto Club still holds an annual convention to this day.

In the dark recesses of the Internet lies an ancient tome of knowledge that (according to the server logs) people still visit for some reason: Mini-Mopar Resources.

The Daytona: February 12, 2004

Posted on February 12, 2004.

Well, it took far longer than I could have possibly imagined, but the Daytona is back on the road.  Updating all that wiring and getting the new interior installed turned into a complicated ordeal.  I installed the doors that I got with the '91 interior, but they didn't have power-anything, so I had to transfer the door lock motors and window tracks (plus the harnesses).  Everything was really dirty, so I spent a lot of time cleaning things up and sorting through the boxes of '91 interior parts to try to figure out what goes where (I have never taken one apart before).  Unfortunately, a lot of pieces were broken or missing...the guy that removed them must have used a hammer.  There were plenty of other things that were broken that needed fixing, such as the steering column and various leaks in the trunk.  I also installed the front-end portion of the '89 Daytona Shelby brake and suspension components.  This proved to be fatal:

I got it back on the road last week and took it straight to the alignment shop.  I noticed that one of the wheel studs on the right side was bent, but I figured it would be OK on 4 studs until I get a chance to replace it.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize the two of the other wheel studs on the passenger side were fractured.  On the way to the alignment shop, the combination of the excessive toe-in and missing/broken studs caused the remaining studs to sheer off.  I was only travelling about 20 MPH at the time, but it was enough to bend the hell out of the front fender.  Needless to say, I was pissed.  I got towed to the Bill Meisner's Precision Alignment and we replaced the entire hub assembly and pulled-out the fender so that the door would open.  He also did do the alignment.

The car seems to handle fairly well and he was able to get the front end pretty straight.  There is a problem with uneven caster in the front, which makes the car want to drift slightly to the right.  It is possible to add caster by slotting the upper strut bolts and sliding the mount back a bit.  Bill can also compensate for the drift by tweaking the backend.  I plan to install the solid rear axle assembly from the '89 Daytona Shelby this summer.  I will try to add some caster on the left side as well and then take the car back to him for a full 4-wheel alignment job.  For now, the car handles better than it ever did before, but it still runs kind of crappy.  Went over most of the wiring, cleaned and/or replaced the ground points and straps, and the ignition system has been swapped out.  It still has a miss at idle and hesitates between 0 and 5 psi of boost.  Now that I have the Cyberdyne on, I see that it goes way lean in that area, but comes on nice and rich above 5 psi.  There seems to be a problem with at least one of the fuel injectors, so that will be the next thing to check.  I don't want to replace them, as I plan to pitch this motor in a few months.

The Daytona: December 15, 2003

Posted on December 15, 2003.

The floorpans and all associated nonsense are finally, officially completed.  All the welds and seams have been caulked from underneith using polyurethane roofing caulk.  It takes a long time to cure (especially in this weather), but it sticks to anything and resists solvents better than silicone (which turns to jello when exposed to gasoline).  I don't care for the water based acrylic caulk, as it doesn't stick as well and...wel it is water-based.  I also coated the fenders with the stuff as a replacement for the rubberized coating that I stripped off.

I have been working with the wiring to update to '87 electronics and the '91 interior.  I have the complete harnesses from the '91, but they are so different from the '86 that it makes no sense to try to put them into an '86 body.  The big differences are that they flipped the gender of the bulkhead connector (the male side with the bolt is inside instead of outside) and the body connectors are next to the rear seats instead of under the dashboard.  It appeared to be much easier to adapt the '86 dash harness to the '91 dashboard.  The '86 wiring has a seperate dash harness and body harness (behind the dash), which I see in most of the early body styles.  The '91 combines the dash harness with the body harness so that you have one, huge body harness with a bunch of tails going into the dashboard.  I found a way to neatly route the '86 dash harness in the '91 dashboard and solder the appropriate connectors from the '91 harness into the '86 harness.  I chose NOT to cut any of the '86 connectors off in the unlikely event that I want to go back to the '86 interior.  The instrument cluster and message center are easy, but the headlights and windshield wipers/washer is more complex.  The '91 electronics uses a HUGE bank of relays to control everything, The switches on the dash are tiny and cannot control these accessories directly.  Therefore, a small relay module is needed to adapt the '86 exterior lighting and windshield wiper/washer circuits to the '91 switchboard.  In the near term, I hope that I can just keep my old steering column and let the old headlight switch dangle until I have this figured out.

The Daytona: December 03, 2003

Posted on December 03, 2003.

The floorpans are painted.  I got stalled over the weekend because I ran out of paint.  I had ordered more the previous week, but it was delayed until yesterday due to the holiday.  I also painted the area under the rear passenger seat, which was fairly rusty around the rear seat belts and in the bowls.  It looks like it rusted from the inside and I'm not sure where the water came from.  The rear quarter panel windows are the most likely candidate.  I still have to replace the center section of the passenger side front seat crossmember, which had to be removed to replace the rusted metal underneith.  Once that is done, I can finally reassemble.

I am seriously considering upgrading the interior to the 1991+ style.  I have a line on a mostly-complete black interior from a '91, plus a pair of doors.  Supposedly, the new interior will mount to the old body.  The exceptions are the door panels and the center console (and the wiring, of course).  Since I would get the new doors, that is not a problem.  Some fabrication will probably be needed for the center console, though.  The other part I'm not sure about is the steering column.  I'd like to keep the one I have, so hopefully that will work.  I have not run across anyone who has really done this before, so it should be interesting.  In the interest of time, I may have to delay this until the spring though or perhaps do a partial conversion.  It would be a shame to put all the old stuff back in just to rip it all out again, but I am pushing my luck with the weather as it is.

The CSX: November 30, 2003

Posted on November 30, 2003.

The original fuel pump croaked a couple of weeks ago.  Since this is my only running car, I had to fix it ASAP.  I ordered a new Walbro 190lbs/hr fuel pump from FWD Performance, but couldn't afford to wait for it to show up.  So, I dropped the tank and yanked the pump from the Daytona (same 190 unit, only 1 year old) and put it in the CSX.  Seems to be working fine.  I replaced the shifter cable bushings with the polyurethane "Booger Bushings", since the originals under the hood were long gone.  I also changed the oil, which was way overdue, swapped out the air filter, and gave everything a good looking over.  There are coolant leaks from just about everywhere one can have a coolant leak.  They are all slow, but add up to a quart or two of coolant every couple of weeks.  The freeze plug next to the one that blew before is starting to seep.  I REALLY need to swap this motor out soon.  It is on borrowed time.  The new cal is rocking along and gets better mileage than the ND unit did.  It's still lower than my Shadow was, but the CSX has smaller series tires and the short gears on the tranny.

The Daytona: November 26, 2003

Posted on November 26, 2003.

Well, all the pans are in, the holes are patched, and the surfaces prepped for final paint.  The surface is rusty from the acidic etching solution used for POR-15 ("Metal Ready").  If the weather holds, I will finally paint the thing this weekend.  I will be very happy when this is done so that I can start putting the car back together.  There is a fair amount of mechanical stuff to do along the way, but I don't have to worry so much about the temperature with that.  I just want to have it back on the road before the first serious snowfall so that the CSX can be put back into the garage.

On that note, I have collected a nice array of parts for it.  I have the rear axle assembly, front springs, knuckles and calipers, master cylinder, and proportioning valve from a 1989 Daytona Shelby.  The should handle awesome once everything is aboard, though I doubt I will have time for that this year.  I have stainless steel braided brake lines, Koni struts and shocks, and polyurethane control arm bushings as well.  I hope to have the struts, shocks, and bushings in this year yet, since I have it all apart anyway.  I'd be a shame not to upgrade the brakes too, but I am missing various bolts and bits and I don't want to get stalled.  I guess we'll just see how it goes.