Lancer Shelby

[cordes]

I bought the car with 133,902 on the clock. I now have over 9K miles on it. The car has been through a lot of states and three Canadian Provinces. It has seen the arctic circle and did it all with ease. Pics and story to come.

[2.216VTurbo]

Kewl, I'll start...

[cordes]

Lots of changes coming in the weeks before SDAC. Just ordered up the brake parts to convert the car to 11" brakes in the front. I'm surprised that the Lancer Shelby cars came with the standard size brakes rather than the 11" stuff. I thought that all the TII cars received the big brakes. Either way, I was able to score some Brembo rotors off of Amazon for $2.53 each. Talk about bang for the buck...

I'll be keeping the rear drums for now, as I'm still torn about what brakes to put back there. Leaning toward the solid rotors though for weight reasons.

The only thing really wrong with the car right now is that it burns about a quart every 2K miles. I'm 99% sure it's coming from the valve stem seals because it'll smoke on startup pretty badly if you run into a place and come right back out.

I can only anticipate a large number of videos coming up shortly.

[cordes]

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8787/28655019592_8bacdd9740_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KE9sZW)IMG_9973 (https://flic.kr/p/KE9sZW) by Brian Cordes (https://www.flickr.com/photos/134900715@N08/), on Flickr

[djd's turbo]

Beautiful! Congrats! I want one badly!

[cordes]

Thanks. I really love it. I was definitely won over when I basically lived out of it for a few weeks this last summer.

[Wastelands Warrior]

Lancers are cool!

[cordes]

I removed the headlight buckets, and headlights today. I'm redoing the black trim on them. I'm doing the same with the grill. I was relieved to see that the pentastar logo straddled the vertical portion of the cross hair on the grill and was not bolted through it. It'll look great now as I move toward a Shelby Lancer clone. Of course the whole process was started by the original owner so it only makes sense to me to carry on with it.

I'm also upgrading the headlights to Hella E code lenses and H4/H1 bulbs. I believe I've located some replacement fog lights for the original units which were damaged on my trip out west last summer. Things are shaping up nicely.

[WarlockSyno]

Is this the one you bought in the parking lot of a hot dog restaurant?

[cordes]

It is indeed. I think I have over 11 thousand miles on it now. I didn't drive it over the winter to keep it out of the snow etc. so that's quite a lot when you think about it. I think it was 9K miles to get it home.

[cordes]

OK, as to keep this updated and not to clog up the SDAC discussion thread, I'll post my progress on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrN-v5ZMP1g


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpyZfWQKKgw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-mU5trb2Mw


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaAkpsgHe7c

[Wastelands Warrior]

That roof spoiler is pure sex. What a cool design feature

[thedon809]

I legit think you could narrate shows or movies cordes. A truly divine voice. I'm curious to see the improvement to the headlights. I went with the Wagner britelites for my SL for now.

[cordes]

I legit think you could narrate shows or movies cordes. A truly divine voice. I'm curious to see the improvement to the headlights. I went with the Wagner britelites for my SL for now.

Thank you very much. The headlights will be insane vs. what was in there. It could really be a straight forward swap for the most part if you stayed at stock wattage and didn't care about the benefits of relaying them.


That roof spoiler is pure sex. What a cool design feature

Not only is it interesting from an aesthetic point of view, but I think it may actually improve aero in the back of the car also. I need to do a lot more reading on it, but I think it's one of the reasons these get such decent gas mileage. I do super well in mine at 50-55mph.



Right now I'm in a bit of a holding pattern until the rest of my parts come in on Monday.

[thedon809]

Chris said he used to get high 20's in my car and it has +40s and 50 trim on a stock Cal.

[cordes]

Chris said he used to get high 20's in my car and it has +40s and 50 trim on a stock Cal.

I can totally believe that.

[minigts]

Is that with the manual or automatic? I struggle to get mid 20s in my 87 auto.

[83scamp]

Is that with the manual or automatic? I struggle to get mid 20s in my 87 auto.

I believe that with an auto... My Daytona was an auto when I bought it. Consistently got 24-25 mpg the first several months I had it. Converted it to a 3.50 FD A-523, and I now regularly see 31, occasionally see 32-33 mpg...

[bfarroo]

.91 transfer gears are the way to go. Had them in my 89 spirit for years. Got a best of 32.5 mpg driving to sdac in detroit two times ago straight hwy at around 60. dropped to 27 or so at 70-80.

[minigts]

I have a set, just need to install them. Been focused on the GLHS that I haven't had time or another vehicle to drive in the mean time. Good to know they will help!

[cordes]

.91 transfer gears are the way to go. Had them in my 89 spirit for years. Got a best of 32.5 mpg driving to sdac in detroit two times ago straight hwy at around 60. dropped to 27 or so at 70-80.

They are awesome. My NYer now gets 36mpg on the freeway at 70-75mph. The 2.5 with the .91 gears and a little tuning is the hot ticket.

- - - Updated - - -

ETA: The best I could do was 27mpg at about 55mph with the 2.2 and stock gears.

[minigts]

That with the 413? Don't know if there are other autos, so forgive my ignorance. :)

[cordes]

Yes, my NYer is an auto with a non-lockup converter. I think it could probably hit 40mpg on the freeway if it had a lockup converter installed.

[minigts]

That's good to know. An upgrade to a converter is in the future build for the Lancer, the gears are first on the list though.

[cordes]

I drove home through a hellaciuos storm last night and what a difference the lights made. The high beams are incredible. I'll be doing this to Joy's Daytona soon.

[thedon809]

I drove home through a hellaciuos storm last night and what a difference the lights made. The high beams are incredible. I'll be doing this to Joy's Daytona soon.I replaced all 4 of my headlights last night. The dorman adjusters screwed me. I didn't realise how much longer the screws were so I kept cranking down and it busted part of the rectangular hole for the right low beam because the screw bottomed out. Sad day.

[cordes]

What a drag. Fortunately, all of my hardware is in great shape since the car came out of AZ. I've looked at the Dorman headlight parts before and they don't seem to be anywhere near the quality of the OE stuff.

[thedon809]

I ended up snaking one of the plastic pieces in from the backside and used the shorter oe screws. The screws were fine just the plastic was brittle.

[cordes]

All the old brake hardware/knuckles/tie rods came off the front today. The new calipers/brackets/knuckles/ were painted. I installed some energy suspension control arm bushings. It was my easiest install to date, as there was no rust what so ever on the bolts for the arms. Tomorrow I'll install the struts and brakes.

[cordes]

Replaced the control arm bushings and got a lot of the brake stuff done.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhEB6MokrWA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciyt2oiQz6o

[GLHNSLHT2]

I drove home through a hellaciuos storm last night and what a difference the lights made. The high beams are incredible. I'll be doing this to Joy's Daytona soon.

Gotta love relayed lights with E-code housings.

No pics of the finished product???

[cordes]

Sorry, I thought I posted this video in here. The finished product is at the very end. Skip to 5:40 if you just want to see that.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie6UMR0nEZg

[GLHNSLHT2]

Beautiful finished product.

[cordes]

Thank you. It was a hassle due to the shipping problems with the lights, but the end product was very well worth it. Now for the struts...

[wheming]

Looks great!
Looking forward to seeing it in person!

[cordes]

Looks great!
Looking forward to seeing it in person!

Thanks Wayne. It's still not going to be very pretty, but I've been busting my rear on it over the last couple of weeks. I just have to keep reminding myself that it'll have all new front suspension and brakes when I'm done. If it's half as good as the headlights turned out, it'll be more than worth the effort and expense.

[iTurbo]

Just watched all the videos; great stuff! I've done the H1/H4 headlight setup on my SL, but haven't done the relays yet, so that will be one of the first mods when it's back on the road after 8 years of sitting. I did the '91 K-frame/suspension/steering/11" brakes on my SL and I'm sure you'll be happy with it when it's done!

[cordes]

Thanks a ton. I hope to be done with the alignment on the car tomorrow and start in on some things to help the car stay cool at the track. If I finish that up, it's time to pull off the tint and do some other cosmetic items. I think I'll swap the wheels for some white pumpers I have with some more performance oriented tires on them.

[cordes]

Big brakes are in the front along with a 24mm MC. They will be using Hawk pads from Rich Bryant to grip the rotors. Everything if bled and ready to go.

The struts are in and the car is back on the ground. Unfortunately, pushing the knuckles all the way in yields +.5* camber on the pass side and -1.5* on the driver's side. I haven't checked caster yet, so perhaps that'll help to even it out some.

[wheming]

What specs are you trying to achieve, if you don't mind sharing?
I just had mine done after a strut swap and it pulls a bit to the left. Not sure i have tome for a redo.

[cordes]

I'd like to see at least -.5* camber on each side and I'll just make the caster as positive as possible while being equal. I wouldn't want it to be more than -1.5* negative camber. That's a bit extreme for the majority of the driving I do.

[wheming]

Do you like a bit of toe out?
I think thatvis pretty much what mine came out, need to look at the sheet.

[cordes]

I honestly try to get it as close to 0 as possible.

[cordes]

OK, I took a pretty good stab at the alignment today. -1.5* camber. It looked like about +2* caster and almost 1/8" toe in. I raised the front of the car up about 7/8ths" I'm going to drive the car for a few miles tomorrow and see how everything settles since it's a new front suspension essentially.

Tonight I installed an old fan/shroud assy I made years ago for my black Omni. It's not the nicest thing in town, but that fan moves way more air than stock while taking up less room and pulling less amps. It should really help to keep the car cool at SDAC.

[cordes]

Replaced all the valve stem seals today. What a pain that is. I dropped them about a million times. Finally found a good method by using a magnet on the front side of the valve stem and sliding the back keeper in place. Then Joy would come in from the front using the magnet to place the front keeper. Hopefully the car won't puff smoke on startup after sitting for a few minutes. The intake seals on #2 #3 and #4 were up a little, but nothing too bad.

[cordes]

Pulled the turbo with the head still on today so I could install a new oil line, and coolant lines as there weren't any. I tidied up a few things under the hood, but pulling the turbo, etc. takes forever of course. Hope to have it all back together in the next couple of hours.

[thedon809]

I've done it a few times in my Omni but that car had no power steering pump in the way.

[cordes]

Replaced the odometer gears today with a set from Odometergears.com. They are great and I'll be glad to have the odo working again. The car has about 155K on it now. Next up I'll probably look into replacing the turbo since it burns some oil from there.

[cordes]

I pulled off the turbo and rebuilt it recently on account of the fact that it was leaking oil from the compressor seal. I think it might have been leaking just a tad from the turbine side causing some burnt oil.

I noticed when I installed an NOS coolant return line and noticed that the head didn't have a threaded hole in the oil galley for the bracket which holds the oil and coolant line. I now think this is why the coolant line sprung a leak in Seattle. Upon further inspection, I believe the head to be of Chinese origin. Gary paid way too much for a Chinese head when he had that done for sure. If problems persist, I have a head which I'm porting that will go on.

With the turbo rebuild I decided to relocate the air filter some to get it pretty much behind the battery for some cooler air. I also installed a VNT upper IC hose to make things look nicer. I would have installed a later model air box, but I wanted to keep the CAI because I know how much Gary and his wife liked it. I also noticed that going from the same air filter on a stock air box hose to the 90 VNT air box setup in CSX #497 controlled the boost spike I was having. That tells me that there must have been a significant restriction when going to the stock box.

Finally, and perhaps most exciting, I installed a cheater S60 IC which I procured from 5 Digits. It has the stock style upper IC end tank unlike the angled version which came on the actual S60 ICs. While I doubt I'll notice any performance gain from this in the real world, I think it's super cool.

[wheming]

Cool!
Do you have some fresh pics?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6000 using Tapatalk

[minigts]

Cool!
Do you have some fresh pics?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6000 using Tapatalk

Seconded :)

[cordes]

I'll go out and take some in a bit. Unfortunately, I don't think the moniker of "Dirty Lancer" is in danger of fading away any time soon. The paint continues to peel and I continue to chase my tail in regard to this oil smell. I'm strongly leaning toward the head at this point.

[cordes]

Here are the requested pics. I didn't pull out a spare lower IC hose to compare, but I can assure you, they're really darn close.
64892

I need to find a good place to mount that catch can, and I certainly need to do something with the air filter. The one in Joy's Daytona has jumped up to $100. Ouch. I'm half tempted to run a pipe over to the passenger side to pick up air in the fender in front of the tire. I would think that to be a bit of a high pressure area, but it might be too far forward of the tire. and too high up. It would certainly be a way colder source of air though. I doubt the air could lose those gains over the path it would need to take to get to the turbo. Does anyone have numbers on this?

648916489064889

[GLHS60]

Do you still have the original T-II Turbo inlet hose?

That's the one that is used instead of a BOV.

Thanks
Randy

[cordes]

Do you still have the original T-II Turbo inlet hose?

That's the one that is used instead of a BOV.

Thanks
Randy

I have a few of them lying around, but I think I'll come up with something else soon enough.

I just started to put the Great Lakes chapter club car head to good use after having it for many years now. It's ported, but really just on the intake side from what I can see. Perhaps a light cleanup on the exhaust side, but nothing much to note there. The valves appear to be stock diameter and the springs are red and large. I have a MP Purlpe cam in there with slider followers. I will be putting a ported two piece and exhaust on it, and then it will go on the Lancer.

I did attempt to seal up some leaking bolts in the Chinese head which is still on it, but whomever originally put the head on barely tightened down the intake bolts. They've worked loose and I can't get to the ones above the turbo which are the ones that seem to be leaking a bit of oil. Knowing that the Chinese heads flow very poorly, I can't justify putting it back on there so the Great Lakes head will go on, and live on. If anyone has information about the head I would love to hear it.

I'll try to turn this into a video, so be on the lookout for upates.

[Reaper1]

Here are the requested pics. I didn't pull out a spare lower IC hose to compare, but I can assure you, they're really darn close.
64892

I need to find a good place to mount that catch can, and I certainly need to do something with the air filter. The one in Joy's Daytona has jumped up to $100. Ouch. I'm half tempted to run a pipe over to the passenger side to pick up air in the fender in front of the tire. I would think that to be a bit of a high pressure area, but it might be too far forward of the tire. and too high up. It would certainly be a way colder source of air though. I doubt the air could lose those gains over the path it would need to take to get to the turbo. Does anyone have numbers on this?

648916489064889

Gus did air temperature testing in and around the engine bay a long time ago and I *thought* it was documented.

I had my one catch can "mounted" exactly where yours is currently for years...worked just fine and I can assure you was not as robust! ;)

[cordes]

Thanks for the lead on the air temps. I'll look for that. I'm thinking the catch can might stay there, but we'll see once I get everything ready to go back in the car. There will some changes necessary just due to the parts I have on hand.

[GLHS60]

This is the unique non BOV style T-II inlet hose.64994

This is the Nissan 300ZX non BOV Turbo inlet hose.

Notice any similarity?

What do they know?

64995

Thanks
Randy

[cordes]

Why do you think they do that Randy? I've always thought it was mainly for NVH reasons.

[GLHS60]

Right, to absorb the chatter noise of closing the TB during boost.

Thanks
Randy

[Reaper1]

Thanks for the lead on the air temps. I'll look for that. I'm thinking the catch can might stay there, but we'll see once I get everything ready to go back in the car. There will some changes necessary just due to the parts I have on hand.

One other thing about the intake to the turbo: I know a LOT of people say it doesn't matter, that's what an intercooler is for, etc. Well, unless the intake is SUPER restrictive, that density difference due to heat is MASSIVE. I have always thought this way, but if you watch any Gale Banks stuff on You Tube, he HAMMERS on the "density" thing, and he is 100% correct!

[contraption22]

One other thing about the intake to the turbo: I know a LOT of people say it doesn't matter, that's what an intercooler is for, etc. Well, unless the intake is SUPER restrictive, that density difference due to heat is MASSIVE. I have always thought this way, but if you watch any Gale Banks stuff on You Tube, he HAMMERS on the "density" thing, and he is 100% correct!

I agree. I would say it is more important to find an area that is large enough for a sufficiently sized filter to get cool air. If that is a high pressure area, that's a bonus.
Everythign I have read says that the cooler the air entering the turbo, the more efficient the entire system will be.

[cordes]

Well, I got the car running again today. Everything seems to be in order with the exception of the fact that I think the chip either vibrated out of the socket, or my board died. That's easy enough to fix though. I brought it up to temp and set the timing. I'm letting it cool off now and then I'll retorque the head studs after it's dead cool.

[cordes]

The head retorqued and new board socketed, I was putting on a few miles before the car decided it didn't want to idle. I think I have a bad injector in #1 which is causing it to run too rich. I ordered up a set of +40s and will make a new injector wiring harness for the car while I'm at it. I presume this will solve my problem and allow for the car to run in top shape. I can tell from how the other three plugs look that the car will need more fuel and that's a good thing in my book for sure.

[cordes]

I did a quick compression test on the car in cyl #1 today. I wanted to know that it wasn't low compression causing the problem in #1. I would be very aggravated to pull the upper half of the intake, along with the injectors, etc. etc. only to find out that a piston cracked or some such. 150PSI in cylinder number 1 is good enough for me!

[cordes]

Finished up the new injector harness and installed the +40s today. Even with a cal scaled for +20s the car ran really well. I put in some 92 octane and the car doesn't show any knock now like it did briefly with the 87 that was left over in the tank. The 89 MP cal is very aggressive. You can really tell that the engineers had begun to have faith in the SMEC's ability to pull timing as needed.

[cordes]

Well, I had another setback, but I'm once again on the road. The turbo was leaking oil precipitously. I finally figured out that it was coming from where the backing plate meets the CHRA. I pulled the turbo with the head on today, tore down the turbo, replaced that seal, and reinstalled the turbo. It only took about 6 hours total, which I'm pleased with since I took quite a few breaks in between stints of working. I just got back from a lengthy 40mi or so drive. I have the same amount of oil I left with. I'm calling that a wrap.

Next will be dialing back the timing a bit so the CEL doesn't come on so often.

[thedon809]

I always pulled the turbo without pulling the head. I'm stubborn.

[cordes]

I always pulled the turbo without pulling the head. I'm stubborn.

I've done it that way many times because I'm cheap. I'm now good enough at it that I can do it in about the same time it takes to pull the head, and I don't need a second person to help me take the head off and drop it back on.

[cordes]

I installed a WBO2 in the car today and I am using the narrow band output to feed the stock computer. The Analog 1 input to the MPSciLink is now occupied by the WBO2 output and the crappy tablet I'm using actually worked really well when I went for a drive.

Now the only problem with all of this is that for some reason, the timing retard is very high even at low load. I was getting between .48 and .82 volts at idle when I returned from my trip. That seems high to me, but I need to do some research before I get ahead of myself.

[cordes]

ETA: After looking at the MP TII values for the knock table, I'm wondering how extreme that is. It seems like it's quite a bit higher than the stock table, and I have raised my timing almost to MP levels. Time to take the timing back to stock and go from there I think.

[cordes]

So, as it turns out, I accidentally swapped the narrow band output with the knock sensor signal. Oops. Fortunately, no harm was done and a quick repair has things running correctly. The head/intake/exhaust mainfold/S60 IC swap is clearly flowing a lot more air, as the clutch now slips pretty easily when it gets into boost. I just finished up a new video detailing the first part of the head swap. The portion where I make the injector wiring harness, and the turbo rebuild are still to come. I can't imagine what this car will do with some real boost in it, but frankly, I'm worried what I'll break next. In all reality, I'll most likely put a new clutch in it, fix the AC cutout relay problem I have and run the car hard at 13 or 14PSI for next year. I'd like to really enjoy driving this thing and put some miles on it again.

[cordes]

Well, nearly 3 years later, it's time for another update.

I don't believe I specifically mentioned it in the thread, but I did install the old Great Lakes Chapter head on the lancer. I had a bad injector, so I replaced them with a "S60" set from TU. Based on the flow data they provided they are about 57lb injectors. I installed a new TU 6 puck unsprung hub clutch and also some PT lifters. Since Joy dropped one of the shims into the oil pan, I also pulled that, inspected everything, and buttoned it back up. The car also has some of the Comp Cams springs now too.

I put in a new cal tonight scaled for 55lb injectors and with all of the base, part, and full throttle fuel set to be approximately what the yellow line is on MPTune. I just took it for a drive, and it was excellent. I need to throw a new set of plugs in it and do some logging with the MPSciLink which I now have working in the car. I'm hoping to get it running well enough that I feel comfortable putting AC in it again and driving it on a daily basis in the summers. It would be an exceptional ride if I could get it to that point.

[minigts]

Looking forward to seeing it at SDAC! Bringing mine, so it will be nice to have some competition in the car show 👍

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[cordes]

Looking forward to seeing it at SDAC! Bringing mine, so it will be nice to have some competition in the car show 👍

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

This is the white one. The Shelby Lancer is another matter all together. I might rip out the dash and go through all of the wiring in there this week. I'm at a loss with that car!