Automotive

1988 Dodge Shadow ES

This 1988 Dodge Shadow ES was my daily driver from the summer of 1995 through November 2002.  Although it had a rough life in my hands, I have a lot of fond memories of it.  Time and many midwestern winters took its toll on the body and frame.  I could not justify the work needed to bring it back, so it was stripped of useful parts and sent to the scrapper.

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The Shadow: January 5, 2003

Posted on January 05, 2003.

Goodbye.  Jason came and picked up the old girl today.  I stripped everything off that I thought I could use for the CSX or maybe sell at some point.  The power train came out fairly easily through the bottom.  I will probably put it in the CSX before that motor seizes, while I build up a good one for it.  Well anyway, it's all over now....

The Shadow: November 21, 2002

Posted on November 21, 2002.

R.I.P.  I have decided to retire the old beast.  The right rear brake line rusted through last week (not too uncommon).  I spent several hours trying to patch it, but more and more of the lines crumbled away and all the fittings twisted off as I tried to remove them.  If the body on this car wasn't in such horrible shape (five shades of peeling red paint on a crooked body), I would certainly just fix it.  This was simply the final straw for me...and excuse to get something worth fixing.  I will be pulling the powertrain and stripping the body for spare CSX parts.  After that I will part what's left out and have it hauled away.  It's sad, as I have been driving this car for the past 7 years, but there comes a time when you just have to give it up.  I learned a great deal about cars through the old-timer, and its memory will live on here.

The Shadow: October 24, 2002

Posted on October 24, 2002.

After almost exactly 2 months of neglect (one of those spent waiting for parts), I finally got the trans rebuilt and installed.  The rebuilt went well, once I broke down a bought the right tools.  If you are going to work on one of these, buy yourself a pair of snap-ring pliers with flat, knurled ends and a decent, small gear puller.  You'll be glad you did.  I bought both from Sears and they worked great.  The puller made quick work of the front (bell housing side) intermediate shaft bearing as well as the outer race in the extension housing and the pliers made quick work of those annoying snap rings.  The rest of the outer races came out with a hammer and punch.

The inner races are a bit more work, but aren't bad as long as you are careful.  Since there is nothing to grab with a puller, I opted to grind through the inner races most of the way with a Dremel, then hit it with a cold chisel and small sledge to crack it.  The race will slide right off...just be careful of flying bits of metal and be sure to use those fiberglass-reinforced cutoff wheels.  Also, if you opt to get the chome-moly bearing retainer plate, you MUST measure and adjust the input shaft preloading because it does not have the relief for the outer race of the rear input shaft bearing.  The instructions in the service manual are fairly straight-forward.  I opted for zero end play, since most of the input shafts on the transmissions I've worked on get sloppy shortly after a rebuild.

The new trans works great and it's nice having my old beater back.  Two months of paint peel has left the car looking as bad as ever, but it still goes like hell....

The Shadow: February 19, 2002

Posted on February 19, 2002.

Not much has changed with this car, since I have no where to work on it now.  We hope to buy a house this year, so all of that will eventually change.  Other than the continuing paint-peel saga, this car has been running well.  The only real problem I had was when the center contact distributor cap burned off.  The engine was running a little rough, which turned out to be because the spark was arching 1/4 inch from the primary to the rotor.  How's that for a strong ignition system! Next will be the transmission (the bearings are starting to howl), but I still have the spare A520 from the CSX.  This car also got flooded twice last year, but I was able to dry it out and it seems to have survived OK.

The Shadow: April 2, 2000

Posted on April 02, 2000.

I installed the Conquest intercooler into the Shadow with some clever plumbing to keep the BOV.  I upped to boost to 14psi and the car makes lots of power now.  Performance-wise, the car is right where I want it.

I also dumped the disintegrating 1988 shifter and replaced it with the '87 unit from the CSX (which has an A568 now).  I also moved the pivot point up on the shifter arm for the cable.  This shortened the throw of the shifter considerably.  I made new end boots for the cables out of bicycle tire tubes and flushed the cables with 100% silicone lubricant.  I also tightened all the nuts on the shifter itself.  All of this has made the most solid shifter I have ever felt.  It actually feels like a rod shifter.  I adjusted the cables to bring the shifter planes as close to the driver as possible.  If this tranny didn't shift like a truck tranny, the whole setup would be awesome.  Now the A568 feels more sloppy than the A520.  :-)