Early Shelby Charger Performance mods?!

[1984rampage]

Ok, So Im thinking of picking up an 83 dodge shelby charger for sale locally for cheap. I know these have the weak 107 h.p. High output 2.2 carbed engines. What are the usual good somewhat cheap modifications to give the car a little or a lot more power? Also what are some realistic 1/4 mile goals? Im also thinking of completely gutting the car...

What are your thoughts?

[spoolinhard]

Swap to Turbo. Carbed=junk. Anything you can do to mod it would still make it lightyears behind a turbo setup.

[1984rampage]

I already have a turbo shelby charger and the swap to turbo seems like a LOT of work... Looking for carbed performance advice only, but thanks!

[rosie]

Easiest thing would to start stripping off all that air pump crap and the electronic carb. I don't know how to tune controlled fuel leaks (aka carburetors) but it should be the same as tuning an old car that you want more power out of.

You're looking for "cheap" performance I'm assuming?

[turbovanman²]

The usual, get air in, get it out. Rip off all the emissions crap, find a 2 barrel Weber carb, not sure of the size, 46mm rings a bell, or any Weber shop will know what to use, find a header, 2.5 inch exhaust, hi flow muffler and probably a TBI roller cam or a RV type cam, to which I can get one made if you want!!! :eyebrows:, would work nicely.

[Murphy]

mill the head for higher compression. I dont know how fasr you can go since they already milled them a little bit at the factory

[WalkingSoftly]

Comp cams makes a cam for the 2.2 H/O, the "High Energy", and "Magnum". Also Hooker headers makes a Super Comp Header for it also. You can always rig up a nitrous system. If your fabrication skills are up to par, then more options as custom intakes with 4barrel/side draft carbs are endless. Hope this little info helps..

My first car was a silver blue 83.5, I wish i could have kept it. Rust was overwhelming...:(

[Vigo]

tiny tires! best acceleration mod you can do on a low-power car is short/light tires.

[ScottD]

I have an 85 Plymouth Turismo 2.2 with the 110hp HO motor (from the factory). These are my plans for it.

180 degree t-stat
Advance timing to 14
Remove air pump
2.5 cat back exhaust w/ no cat
88 TBI roller cam
UD pulley
Weber 32/36 DFEV carb

I thought about adding a header but don't want to get into that. The is a Mexican NA cast iron header exhaust manifold that supposedly flows well.

You could always port the head.

There are other options like an old MP dual carb set up or the MP supercharger kit. My research indicated the dual carb set up is difficult to tune. The supercharger kits are out there but usually pretty $$$, the last one I saw on ebay went for $1000.

I agree w/ Vigo about the short light tires, my first car was an 86 Plymouth Turismo 2.2 HO (hence why I bought this 85) and it definitely felt a tad stronger when I had 14's on it as opposed to 15 inch swiss cheese wheels.

[Vigo]

dont forget you can always swap in a n/a 2.5 bottom end with a 782 head if you ever have the motor out. n/a 2.5s are a dime a dozen. youd have to use a tall-block 2.5 to keep the mechanical fuel pump tho.. i do happen to have one of those sitting around.

i had a 2.5/tbi manual aries for a while that was entertainingly quick and with the carb setup and a lighter car it woulda been even more entertaining.

i believe there's at least a few people who got stripped out carb and tbi l-bodies into the high 14s in the past.

[ScottD]

+1 2.5 in an l-body would be very interesting. I also thought about converting my car to TBI but I like the idea of staying carb for something different.


dont forget you can always swap in a n/a 2.5 bottom end with a 782 head if you ever have the motor out. n/a 2.5s are a dime a dozen. youd have to use a tall-block 2.5 to keep the mechanical fuel pump tho.. i do happen to have one of those sitting around.

i had a 2.5/tbi manual aries for a while that was entertainingly quick and with the carb setup and a lighter car it woulda been even more entertaining.

i believe there's at least a few people who got stripped out carb and tbi l-bodies into the high 14s in the past.

[shelbydave]

Direct Connection also had a performance computer for those cars. Mine had one. I honestly don't know what kind of gains it gives, but it does modify the timing curve quite a bit.
I thought mine was spoken for, but if I don't hear from him, I may still have it available.

[TurboTurismo]

Have at er... Stick with the carb and maybe a 2.5 Bottom end forsure... I first went to TBI from carb before I finally went turbo... The TBI was nice running but had no performance value as where the carb( say a nice weber with a small riser block and a 88 roller tbi cam... Good luck with it bro:nod:


Robb

Proud OSDAC Mod & Member

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2291434
84 Plymouth Turismo TURBO!!~89 CB 2.5-89 SMEC Rewire~TII Garrett~Intercooled~Socketed SMEC w/D-CAL soft by(SHELGAME) 3 Bar Map~Turbosmart BC,~+20 MP Injectors~255 HP Walbro~89 F/MiniVan Brakes~RearMP Shocks~HKS BOV~CAI ~ 5 Bolt swap & 16" Pumpers soon~ More to come!

[supercrackerbox]

I've often thought about playing around with a carbed car to see what could be done with it.

[neongary]

That B & M/DC supercharger kit that's on Ebay would be way cool!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200300471466&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123&viewitem=

[bakes]

I thought about a N.A. 2.2 with a 2.4 dohc with side draft Weber's and a headers into a 3" back exhaust.

[Vigo]

oh and another thing i forgot to mention:

IF you ever decide to swap in a 2.5 tall block motor ( only 2.5 with provision for mechanical fuel pump) you can put carb 2.2 pistons right in it, and since all carb 2.2s came with the older bigger-chamber heads, you can run those carb pistons in a tall block 2.5 setup with a 782 head and have a factory parts high-compression build. I dont know the number, but it oughta be as high or higher than the HO compression ratio and thats with an unshaven block and head, leaving you room for more.

[neongary]

That B & M/DC supercharger kit that's on Ebay would be way cool!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200300471466&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A1123&viewitem=

It sold for $700 with only one bidder.

[Vigo]

i would rather make my own setup than pay for one of those, honestly. Not that they suck or don't work, but imo the only reason they cost so much is because they are semi-rare, and i dont give one flying crap about rarity when im trying to go faster. a mod you made up from scratch is the rarest of all anyway lol.

[Skligmund]

I put a Mopar Performance computer in mine. Gave it a touch more power. Rememebr the 2.2 H.O. is already high compression. Shelby shaved .010 off the block.

Also, I'm told that Shelby computers are different than non-Shelby computers. Don't know if the normal MP computer would work or not.

Exhaust mods for quickest gains. Stacking 2 or 3 aircleaner to carb seals helps. Assuming you can find them (I can't).

[BF/STOCKER SPIRIT]

JAMES, MY FREIND AND STOCK RACE CAR BUILDER BILLY NEES
DID A TURISMO,THAT RAN AS FAST AS 15.2s
You can look up MICHELE BEARDS SITE STAGE LIGHT.COM
YOU CAN DO ALOT,HOW FAST A STANDARD SEDAN RUNS.LOL

[Vigo]

do the carb manifolds have coolant lines going to them like tbi's? i always bypass those.

[neongary]

i would rather make my own setup than pay for one of those, honestly. Not that they suck or don't work, but imo the only reason they cost so much is because they are semi-rare, and i dont give one flying crap about rarity when im trying to go faster. a mod you made up from scratch is the rarest of all anyway lol.

True, but not everyone has the fabrication skills necessary to make go-fast parts. Sometimes it's nice to just bolt on a proven kit, have fun with it and not worry if it's going to work, tuning, etc. Rarity didn't really play a part in the suggestion.