Automotive

1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z C/S

This was my last Turbo Dodge daily driver: a 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z C/S, aka "Frankentona".  The "C/S" stands for "Carroll Shelby", which is basically a performance handling package on top of the "Turbo Z" Daytona package.  The C/S package includes a 32mm solid front sway bar and a 28mm solid rear sway bar.  It also includes a set of 15x6.5 inch "crab" rims (in gold for black C/S's), but I got this one with the standard 15x6 inch "pizza" rims.  See Dempsey Bowling's pages for more information on Daytona C/S packages.

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The Daytona: October 3, 2006

Posted on October 03, 2006.

A nasty skin infection has kept me out of the garage for a couple of weeks, but I did manage to paint all of the welded areas on the core support and the new intercooler-related bracketry.  I also welded lips onto the intercooler pipes by carefully tacking 1/16" stainless steel rings make from rod stock onto the edges.  My initial plan was to roll beads into them with a Harbor Freight bead roller that I got on sale.  Well the rollers were too large to fit into the tubes, so that didn't work.  I was going to try to have different rollers made, but it wasn't worth the effort.

The issue I was having at the track with the clutch in the CSX was a good reality check that this LUK T3 clutch isn't going to hold.  I had purchased a TU "Dual Performance" ceramic/organic clutch for this powertrain, however I found that I accidentally ordered the early small spline version (the small shaft has 18 splines, while the large shaft has 17 splines).  I had a new T3 disc kicking around, so I just tossed that in instead.  I've ordered a TU Kevlar clutch (appears to be a Clutchnet clutch disc) that should hold well.  It has a little less holding power than the ceramic puck discs, but I should get much better mileage out of it.  The 6-puck that I had in the CSX before was shot after about 30k.  It sucks to have to drop the trans again, but it's a lot easier now than it will be when it is all buttoned-up and covered in the inevitable grease.

The Daytona: September 15, 2006

Posted on September 15, 2006.

So a while back I picked-up a Relentless Performance "Triple-Core" intercooler (three stock cores welded together in parallel).  The photo on the left shows (from the top down) the Spearco "1080" that is sold by a few of the vendors, the RP Triple-Core, and the early Dodge Conquest intercooler that I used in my Shadow for several years.  I finally got it and all the plumbing fitted.  It just fits behind the early Daytona fascia after some trimming to the plastic structure.  I wanted the plumbing to fit without having to move the radiator or the battery.  The intercooler pipes are all 2.25" T304 stainless steel (one U-bend, one U/J-bend, and a 45 degree bend).  The silicone couplers are from Silicone Intakes, which is by far the cheapest I have found.  I chose 2.25" pipes because the intercooler and airbox had 2.25" connections and that was the largest that would squeeze between the battery and the radiator.  The only change I had to make was I switched to a P-body coolant overflow tank to give me the gap next to the radiator fill neck.

The Daytona: August 23, 2006

Posted on August 23, 2006.

Actually have quite a bit done, just haven't updated in a while.  The interior is in...just have a few odds and ends to hook up (like the guages) that need to wait until the end.  The picture shows the interior after the dash was up and the center console was finally mounted, but before the carpet/seats went in.  The power train is in, as is the core support.  The front part of the core is tacked to the sheetmetal on the cowl, but I'm going to wait until I have the intercooler plumbing all figured out before I finish it up and paint it.  The RP triple core intercooler is mounted and I have designed the layout of the tubing.  It's a really tight fit, but I'm pretty happy with it.  I didn't even have to move the radiator.  The early G-bodies have a lot of room behind the nose, but some carving of the plastic was required.

The Daytona: June 23, 2006

Posted on June 23, 2006.

Completed a major rewiring under the hood.  It's now a hybrid 1987/1989 system that can run either the 1987 Turbo II LM/PM or the 1988/1989 Turbo II SMEC setup.  It was a lot of frickin work, but I wanted something that I could use as a test bed to play around with SMEC stuff.  I compiled a chart that I used to do the actual splicing that lists all the circuits and how they need to correspond between the two.  Luckily the SMECs are functionally close to the LM/PM setup, so it only got hairy in a few places.  All connections were soldered inline without cutting any of the original wires.

The Daytona: May 7, 2006

Posted on May 07, 2006.

Got a little work done.  The ATC is all installed and seems to work OK.  The CSX broke again, so more detours.