My name is George, and I have a problem.

So I currently have 1 running vehicle and it belongs to my wife. The van is still moving at glacier speed towards completion, the old work truck needs a new engine, and my other truck has no reverse. All the while I've been broke as a joke and all those other funny quips people make when they are poor. I finally have some extra money, and when I realize it was coming on this paycheck, I make plans to buy and engine for the Dakota and get a 2nd vehicle running.


Enter the crappiest Dodge Daytona in the world.


Now sit back and get comfortable because this is going to get confusing and probably cause a lot of TL;DR. About 3-4 years ago I was at a customers house and notice he has a red with tan interior Daytona in his back yard. Saying it was neglected is like saying the Kardashians have daddy issues. One door had been poorly swapped with sagging door pins and wouldn't shut all the way, meaning it had been rained in for who knows how long. I strike up a conversation and he mentions he has a GLH-T in his backyard and a bunch of parts in the garage. He mentions he'd sell it all for $700. I'm broke (constant theme here) and mention it to another local td acquaintance who promptly goes and buys it all. I wanted to get the Omni but could work out a deal so I just assume I'll never get any of it. We'll call him Guy A for story purposes.


Another local at the time (Guy B) had an Omni that was swapped to turbo and we discover how rusty it is one night when the entire unibody bows while jacking up one side. He makes a deal to get the daytona shell straight up for his omni shell so the omni can be stripped for parts. He puts his turbo drivetrain in the car (2.2 with mitsu turbo) and starts to drive it as a straight up E36 M3box. Soon he gets bored though.


He decides to trade the car straight up for a fiat 2000 spyder with another local td kid (guy C). They had both went to the local trade school together. The kid with the Fiat has no title for it and makes the trade just so he can get a car with a title instead. He soon sells it to another kid from the local trade school (guy D). By now the turbo is wasted and soon another local td-er that also went to the trade school buys it from that kid for 400 bucks (guy E).

At the same time the guy A buys another car from another local td-er. They get into an argument and he offers to trade guy E the car he just bought for the car because he doesn't want to see the other car anymore (people have weird reason I know). So now guy A owns the car again, he pulls the head and puts a garrett turbo on, has the head reworked with some very mild port clean up work and put a FMIC in. He then decides about 6 months ago to sell the car to the now previous owner (guy F). I meet guy F after he responds to an ad on a t-d forum about parting out an omni I had bought in a package deal from guy A. He mentions he bought a Daytona and after asking a few questions realize it is this car. He tells me they plan on srt4 swapping it because they think the motor is hurt and I inquire about purchasing the engine that is currently in the car.


Apparently the guy got hard up for money and calls me telling me a scrapper has offered him 400 for the car and if I want it I can have it for that price. I go up yesterday and look at the car and find out he can't find the battery or the key. He is desperate for money and tells me if I don't want it he'll just scrap it since I couldn't hear it run. Today I decide to bite the bullet and buy it as it sits. He told me he plans on getting the battery tomorrow and a locksmith is cutting a key for it so hopefully I'll get it home and get some pictures of it this weekend. As I'm leaving the shop I see a maroon/silver Shelby Charger, I decide to tail the guy and he pulls up in front of a familiar house. I then realize that the original owner that had the car in his back yard lives 1.5 blocks from where the car now sits, for about the same price as he sold it for, but now (supposedly) running and driving.



TL;DR. Found a car 3 years ago rotting in a backyard. Just bought the same car 1 1/2 blocks from where I first saw it, 7 owners later.


Stay tuned as I plan on doing some minor suspension/brake upgrades and try and make the car into a not so crappy driver.

That's some serious typing there George. Maybe and evening job as a transcriptionist will bring in extra cash for the project{s}:lol:

I've heard that being a TD'er is a sickness with no cure...

You have just proven the point George...

Good luck with the Daytona...:thumb:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2.216VTurbo

That's some serious typing there George. Maybe and evening job as a transcriptionist will bring in extra cash for the project{s}:lol:

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I've never been accused of being short on words. It's hard to tell the story without as much detail and have the same effect.

Got the car home, I'll put up the pics later.


Are 87 and 88 G body dash harnesses the same? Seems like the harness in the car is hacked badly including a rigged up headlight switch from what appears to be a melty connector. I have a 88 dash harness I pulled some years ago for a J body I had and never used it.

Also what are the chances I can get a P-body steering column to work in the car? The tilt on it is bad messed up, I don't have a key, and the turn signal cam is fubar. I'd like to use stuff I already have on the car if possible.

87-88 are worlds apart unfortunately due to the smec change. You could probably hack-n-slash the 87 dash plug to the 88 but IDK if that is worth the effort.

Yeah I dug up the pinouts and figured out they are far apart. I might look for a 88/89 harness and convert the car to SMEC since I already have a socketed computer.

I think I know of a full 87 and 88 harness setup for sale. Let me ask around and get back to you.

That would be awesome

So I was able to pull the codes and I got bad baro and alt. field codes. I bypassed the baro and the car ran better, but was still super rich. I pulled the plugs and they were black with soot. I swapped in a set of BR9ES I had laying around and the car ran better still. I checked the fuel pressure and it was 55 so I swapped in another set of t2 injectors and an accufab I had laying around.

Took the car for a spin and it ran great, no sputter at cruise, pulled strong. Pulled back in the driveway and it started dumping gas out of the exhaust again. I bought a cig lighter adapter for the battery yesterday so I can plug in the scanner and notice the 02 voltage is .02 and the most I got it to move is to .04. Used the scanner to view the codes and now I have just one code, 51 for 02 lean too long.

The car has had 4 wire 02 wiring spliced in at some point so I need to confirm the wiring is correct and either source a new sensor of pull the innovate off the shelf and put it in. I'm leery of running the innovate sensor in the factory location though, since I've heard it will kill the sensor.

The sensor ground on the 4 wire was loose, I fixed that and now I have a high idle issue with a code for rich too long. O2 runs at .88 volt. Haven't had much of a chance to fiddle with it yet.

http://i.imgur.com/NVlTNOo.jpg

if you decide to convert to the 88 wiring , inside and out you'll wanna know you will need the 88 stop lamp switch and it's mounting bracket

yeah I hadda go back for the switch .. then go back for the bracket when I did the 88 wiring swap into my 86

They say a picture is worth 1000 words but after 2 years that's your only update, one pic:lol: What else have you done other than fix loose wires?

It took me two years to un-f**k the harness lol.

The high idle was the AIS, It is now bypassed.

I installed a LC1 in the car using a heat sink on the sensor in the factory location.

I changed the transmission with a A520 that I bought from Ed Kelley that has a moly plate.

I rebuilt the front end with an energy suspension bushing kit and new outer tie rods and ball joints, and at the same time re-powered the rack with a new power steering pump.

I found out the overboost issue was caused by a stuck shut wastegate flapper that required pulling the swingvalve off to unstick.

I replaced the hood and drivers fender and discovered that the panel gaps are atrocious. Apparently the car has been hit on the drivers front corner, explaining the black drivers fender and door on a red car.

Things to do:

Reconnect the boost solenoid so the computer can regulate boost again.

I pulled the magnaflow I had put on eariler off and plan on running a straight pipe side exit.

Chip the LM and tune the car. I'm have no plans to run bigger injectors or a 3 bar for cost reasons so It will be tuned for 12 psi and 93 octane.

Paint, maybe duplicolor paint shop, maybe dip it, but probably just spray bomb it.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and I bought those bitchin' progressives and put Nitto NT450s in 205/55 15 on them.

I love how 90s those wheels are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-LcV1ix0M

Tear into it!:nod: