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traveler
11-03-2007, 02:42 PM
Well, I'll be up front about it. I don't actually own a Turbo Dodge. I drive a 97 Thunderbird (love it). BUT my girlfriends folks have a 1987 turbo Daytona that seems worth saving. I know that I get a lot of help from the T-bird forums on my car soooo... here I am.

The Daytona has at least 200,000 miles on it. It starts, runs, and drives. Body is good, no rust visible anyway, paint is good just needs to be cleaned and waxed. Underhood is filthy. The biggest problem that I can see (so far) is vacuum lines. I've found several unattached and can't trace them in the mess that is this car. I know that one of them should go to the wastegate and doesn't.

Can anybody suggest a place to start?

Oh yea... It has a light that says "power loss". What is this? Is it like a CEL?

I'm Chrysler product ignorant, though I have swapped engines, intakes, heads, transmissions, and rear ends in Thunderbirds. So I'm not mechanically inept...

WVRampage
11-03-2007, 06:27 PM
You will need a vacume line going to the brakes(thats a given)one to the fuel pressure regulator,map sensor,boost gage,waste gate solinoid then to the wastegate or to a boost controler of some kind.

Turbodave
11-03-2007, 06:45 PM
Hello and welcome to the site.

Since your new to these cars, a couple great resources are:
www.minimopar.net and www.thedodgegarage.com

The power loss light is essentially the same as a check engine light. On chryslers if you turn the ignition on three times quickly (without starting the car) the computer will flash the light in a sequence that provides the fault codes. A list of codes and instructions on how to do this are minimopar site, but if you have any questions don't hesitate to post here either.

We've got a great group here on this site, and I'm sure we'll be able to help you get that car running perfect.

cordes
11-04-2007, 09:35 PM
A rust free Daytona is always worth saving! :)

traveler
11-05-2007, 04:48 AM
LOL I laughed when I read these.... Not because they are funny answers, they will prove very helpful I'm sure. But because if you replace the words "dodge" and "daytona" with the words "Ford" and "Thunderbird", they read just like someone had posted a question about T-birds on the T-bird site! (specially the "Rust free Daytona" comment, and I agree)

I'm sure I'll get along great here thanks.

There is a vacuum line "map" on the underside of the hood (of course), but its difficult to follow as I'm not sure what parts are what other than the obvious ones. Anyone got a way to know what vacuum lines go from where and to where? And can the old plastic hard brittle vacuum lines be replaced with new soft rubber lines?

Another thing I noticed is the plastic in the rear by the Turbo. Things like the connector for the O2 sensor... Melted due to heat. Should there be any kind of insulation around that turbo to prevent this?

blk86trbo
11-05-2007, 10:44 AM
Should be some insulation around the starter (it's under the turbo), but I've never seen insulation around the O2 sensor (R/T cars with the TIII motor might?). Route it properly off to the side and it shouldn't be a problem. Buy some quality zip ties to hold it out of the way.

You should also use the zip ties to hold your vacuum lines together, as boost can and will pop them apart. Which is especially dangerous if you loose the vacuum line to your fuel pressure regulator while you are in boost (a lean condition can melt pistons)!

Sure, it's actually a good idea to remove the 20 year old plastic vacuum lines and replace them with new rubber stuff. You'll need to scrounge up a few different sizes, and a few different plastic tees.

If I'm putting together a car that's new to me, I bypass the wastegate solenoid and just hook the wastegate to vacuume. That should give the turbo a couple pounds of boost without letting it go crazy. Other than that, to get it running properly, it only really needs the MAP and fuel presure regulator to run correctly as long as there are no open ports or vacuume leaks. Of course you're gonna want to eventually hook up the vacuum system for the interior vents, brake booster, PVC valve, and boost gauge.

That's all I can think of off my head, make sure to read up on thedodgegarage.com

Good luck and welcome to the forum...lets see some pictures!