Saved a 1990 Dodge Daytona Shelby VNT

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ValiantK360

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So recently I saved a 1990 Dodge Daytona Shelby VNT from getting scrapped. The previous owner who owned it for about 10 years was going to scrap it because it needed some brake work and a few other little things. I didn't want this car to be crushed due to the potential it still has in it. This is also 1 of 536 Daytona Shelby VNTs produced in 1990.

The car still runs and drives really good still. Once I work some of the quirks out of this car this will be a fun little daily driver. For the future have been thinking about getting it repainted to make it look really fresh.

I thought would share this cause I know there has to be some G-body fans on FABO.

Wish me luck with this project!

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I love those cars. There is an older man here where I live that daily drives one. He bought it new and did basic bolt on engine mods back in the day. Says he never raced it but just likes to have some fun every now and then. He had a valiant that he traded in when he bought it!
 
I sold them new... They were nice cars for the time and fairly fast.
 
I've always had a thing for the turbo cars from that era. I've owned several. The only car in the world you can drop a 1/2 second in the 1/4 mile for 3 dollars (literally, 3 bucks). For 200 bucks we dropped 2 full seconds off the 1/4 mile time. A lot of fun...
 
NICE FIND, IF YOU DON'T MIND MY ASKING, WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO GIVE FOR IT IF I AM NOT BEING TOO NOSEY? NICE LITTLE DAILY DRIVER YOU WILL HAVE THERE.
 
Ok.... I will bite. What 3 buck part?
I would guess a "manual boost controller"
Simply a checkvalve with a spring, a ball and a bolt
The tighter the bolt the more pressure on the spring and the less pressure the car "sees"
It tricks the car into think your only running 6 psi, while in fact your running 12
 
A favorite of mine........ In fact if I ever found the right one for a prostreet deal it's coming home....

Nice find,
JW
 
Ok.... I will bite. What 3 buck part?
Easy, go to a pet store and buy the control valve for a fish bubbler in a fish tank. It was 3 buck when I played with these 15 years ago, may be 5 now. Put a T in the vacuum hose, and run a short vacuum hose up towards the top of the engine for convenience and you can add boost by "bleeding off" the vacuum to the waste gate.
We always added the MP performance PCM (located behind the passenger kick panel) for a 125 bucks (then) which brought the boost from 7 lbs to 11 lbs (on the turbo 1's), then added an additional 3 lbs with the fish tank bubbler valve. We were running about 14 lbs of boost. Just those two things would get an automatic car into the 14's (2.2 automatic turbo 1 cars ran about mid 16's from the factory). Both things could be done in less than 1 hour.

The 2.5 turbo cars (Shadows and Spirits) were really quick. More torque plus they seem to have a "looser" converter. Then of course, the intercooled cars were cool... starting to miss 'em
 
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Had an 86 lebaron gts. Was a fun car. Rebuilt the engine and turbo,drove it for a couple years and sold it. Think i bought it for 300. Had poor heat. Flushed heater core and put in a 205 thermostat, could roast a chicken on the dash after that....

I remember something,the water valve vacuum was swapped with the egr or something, heat would go away under accelleration or decellerating.
Took a while to figure that out.
 
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318willrun , thats cool! I drove all those cars as demos but knew nothing about how to mod them. GLHS Omnis were quick and Turbo Colts would change lanes if you dropped the clutch.... Lol. TORQUE STEER IS EXCITING!
 
I sold my dads girlfriends turbo Daytona, quick in the local add pad, the infomus plastic heater control valve ruptured on the interstate, and she kept driving it.
Yes it was a cherry dent free, and clean interior Shelby for $200 it still drove on the guys trailer. It had 60K on it at the time, but she said sell it for what ever I could get out of it, one owner car.
 
Sweet!

I've been building and racing Shelby Dodge cars for longer than I'd care to admit. Fun cars with a ton of performance potential. The current set up in my Shadow has done 11.1@122 on pump gas and gets 27-28 mpg towing a trailer (drag week).
 
Sweet!

I've been building and racing Shelby Dodge cars for longer than I'd care to admit. Fun cars with a ton of performance potential. The current set up in my Shadow has done 11.1@122 on pump gas and gets 27-28 mpg towing a trailer (drag week).
awesome! Post some pictures....????

I think the most unique/rarest turbo car I owned from that era was a 91 Dodge spirit R/T. Turbo 4, dual overhead cams, intercooled, and a short throw 5 speed all in a 4 door family car! :D They listed it from the factory as a 14.6 car, but I can tell you, you couldn't hook up in either 1st or 2nd gear no matter how you tried. I smoked a 5.0 GT mustang at highway speed on the 4 lane. Played with him. I think my car had 13 second potential with just some drag radials on the front.
 
My current fleet is an '88 Shagow ES that has a built turbo 3 16v set up in it, an 84 Rampage project, a '92 Spirit R/T...and a '73 Swinger. :). I'll get some pics soon.

Keep us posted on the VNT. They are a lot of fun to zip around in.
 
Easy, go to a pet store and buy the control valve for a fish bubbler in a fish tank. It was 3 buck when I played with these 15 years ago, may be 5 now. Put a T in the vacuum hose, and run a short vacuum hose up towards the top of the engine for convenience and you can add boost by "bleeding off" the vacuum to the waste gate.
We always added the MP performance PCM (located behind the passenger kick panel) for a 125 bucks (then) which brought the boost from 7 lbs to 11 lbs (on the turbo 1's), then added an additional 3 lbs with the fish tank bubbler valve. We were running about 14 lbs of boost. Just those two things would get an automatic car into the 14's (2.2 automatic turbo 1 cars ran about mid 16's from the factory). Both things could be done in less than 1 hour.

The 2.5 turbo cars (Shadows and Spirits) were really quick. More torque plus they seem to have a "looser" converter. Then of course, the intercooled cars were cool... starting to miss 'em
Easy, go to a pet store and buy the control valve for a fish bubbler in a fish tank. It was 3 buck when I played with these 15 years ago, may be 5 now. Put a T in the vacuum hose, and run a short vacuum hose up towards the top of the engine for convenience and you can add boost by "bleeding off" the vacuum to the waste gate.
We always added the MP performance PCM (located behind the passenger kick panel) for a 125 bucks (then) which brought the boost from 7 lbs to 11 lbs (on the turbo 1's), then added an additional 3 lbs with the fish tank bubbler valve. We were running about 14 lbs of boost. Just those two things would get an automatic car into the 14's (2.2 automatic turbo 1 cars ran about mid 16's from the factory). Both things could be done in less than 1 hour.

The 2.5 turbo cars (Shadows and Spirits) were really quick. More torque plus they seem to have a "looser" converter. Then of course, the intercooled cars were cool... starting to miss 'em


VNT cars don't have a waste gate they have veins in them that deflect the air to pretty much eliminate turbo lag..I had a 90 VNT Shadow and street raced all kinds of Mustangs,Iroc Camaros..anybody who would go...never lost!!!! With no turbo lag I would just leave them off the line and had just enough power to stay ahead of them...and got 30 mpg and had air..block off the boost dump valve throw a k&n filter in it and unhooked and plugged the vacuum hose to fuel pressure regulator and run the snot out of it...
 
I had a lot of fun with my my 86 CS turbo.

Interestingly, I accidentally discovered the over boost secret when one of my vacuum lines cracked.

A friend of a friend that was really into these cars built what you used a fish pump for and called it a "widget". Sold a few IIRC.

My biggest issues with that car were the trans kept breaking shift forks and the electrical and vacuum systems kept breaking.

It was super fun when it was on the road.

At the time I had a 40 mile commute to work on I-4 and on the way home I'd routinely get into it with a same era nisssan 280z. That was a really good match. We were about 50/50, and it made getting home a lot quicker and a lot more fun.
 
All,

I think that you ae referring to a "Grainger Valve" which is a cheapo boost controller bought from Grainger.

I had a sweet 89 Daytona Shelby that put down 340hp mid 12 sec to the wheels and won 2nd place for G Bodies Car Show @ SDAC some 7 or so years ago when it was held in Cincinnati! I have had a Omni GLH, Omni GLHS # 401, 2 Daytona Shelby's, and a Turbo Shadow ES. Go to TurboMopar or Turbo Dodge for all you would ever care to know about these rides. My buddy has a 9.9 sec Omni that ran Drag Week 2 or 3 years. Him and his buddy Brad ran the Turbo Van at Drag Week this year. They got mucho attention and both 1320 Videos and Hot Rad followed them all week and put out some vids on them.

I went from these to a SRT-4 and dropped in a Stage 3 Turbo that made 375/425 to the wheel and churned a 11.8 @ 117.5 with a 1.8 sixty!

FYI,
Marion
 
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