88 shadow test bed

High guys, many of you have seen my posts on facebook about my 88 shadow that ive done some dyno testing with. I thought id share some of the info on here as well for those who don't use bookface.

1988 Dodge shadow es
2.2 turbo t1
a413 auto

The car has been in my family for a few year now, always a daily driver, and until recently its been driven by my 17 year old nephew who doesn't know anything about cars. (get in and floor it type of guy) I got the car back about 4 months ago and started using it as a daily. I was really disappointed in the power production so before doing anything to the car I put it on the dyno.

result were
85. hp at 5474 (73mph)
92.8 tq at 2176 (39mph)

Testing was done in second gear as im not comfortable spinning the old tires to 120. max boost was 8.5ish.

After the dyno I took the car home and checked the basics. Air filter completely plugged. plugs worn but still usable. Boost leak at the jpipe. So I installed a FMIC real quick and drove the car that way for a month or so. slight gain was had from the ic but was probably mostly due to the sealed up pressure system.

The local track had a daily driver race which I took it to.

best 1/8 mile pass was
10.64 at 65 mph

A few weeks later I blew the headgasket leaving work one night. Just poof and it was done. So I pulled the head and installed a ported head (stock valves), garrett turbo with a 2.25 swing valve, a custom 1 pc intake with a large plenum/shortened runners and lightly ported exhaust manifold. Drove it for a few weeks this way with a slight increase in power but nothing substantial. Only running 6psi at this time. Back on the dyno last night.

Results were
120 hp at 5479 (72 mph)
140 tq at 3383 (39mph)

timing was set to 12 base, the first time on the dyno it was 10 base. peak boost was 13 on the final run.
Almost a 50% gain in power! The car is noticeably more powerful. will spin the tires from a roll now and If brake boosting it will blow them off.
I feel like the factory computer is still the main reason it is being held back.

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now I am unsure what I want to do to it next. For any more power I should pull the trans apart and do some simple mods to help it out. But beyond that im not sure. It would be really interesting to put a t2 computer in to see just how much the 88t1 is killing the power.

I did see your post on the SD FB page and don't take this wrong but at first I thought it was a joke. Tough to compare dyno to dyno with sooo many variables but your numbers are low for your mods. Traditionally there's 15HP in an IC upgrade, 15 in a ported exhaust mani, and I don't know what custom 'big plenum' intake you've got but it seems to be costing you power? Why are you dyno'ing at 6PSI BTW? can't even compare to stock power levels that way? Your obviously willing to wrench so lets find some power for you in this thread OK?

What does your exhaust look like? Is there a 30 year old cat on there by chance? Have you put a degree wheel on the cam?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2.216VTurbo

I did see your post on the SD FB page and don't take this wrong but at first I thought it was a joke. Tough to compare dyno to dyno with sooo many variables but your numbers are low for your mods. Traditionally there's 15HP in an IC upgrade, 15 in a ported exhaust mani, and I don't know what custom 'big plenum' intake you've got but it seems to be costing you power? Why are you dyno'ing at 6PSI BTW? can't even compare to stock power levels that way? Your obviously willing to wrench so lets find some power for you in this thread OK?

What does your exhaust look like? Is there a 30 year old cat on there by chance? Have you put a degree wheel on the cam?

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No offense taken at all, I don't know why this thing makes so little. I have verified timing but not with a degree wheel. I question if it's the stock or correct cam in the car since it had the head off prior and the work was extremely sub par. I rememebr reading years ago that a round tooth cam on a square tooth pulley retarded the cam 4*. I wonder if this is the case?

The dyno wideband was reading really rich, I'm installing one in the car to confirm this or not. I drove around on 6 psi after putting the new stuff on because I didn't have a wide band and wasn't going to risk hurting it until I could see what was going on.

the exhaust is 2.5 with a "cherry bomb" resonator and a 3in chambered muffler at the tip. It's pretty free flowing.

this car isn't intended to be a race car. But something to try stuff on and see results. The dyno reads notoriously low and is dead accurate so don't get caught up in the numbers but rather the results. (Almost 50% gain)

Quote "I remember reading years ago that a round tooth pully vs square tooth pulley retarded the cam 4*. I wonder if this is the case?"

I have read this as well and challenge this as misinformation. I have approx 10 Cam pulleys both of Round and square. To my eye they are the same ( these are 87,88, 90 and 91). Since each tooth is 9 degree, I rotated one gear 1/2 tooth advanced (a 4.5 degree difference) and it was easy to see the difference on the key way. I did find a old cam pulley from a carb engine and it was different from the 87/88 Square tooth.
Anyone want pictures ? I can take pictures this afternoon as I am repairing my rear heated window. For the record, why would this break when it is 5F outside? WTF

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chromguy

Quote "I remember reading years ago that a round tooth pully vs square tooth pulley retarded the cam 4*. I wonder if this is the case?"

I have read this as well and challenge this as misinformation. I have approx 10 Cam pulleys both of Round and square. To my eye they are the same ( these are 87,88, 90 and 91). Since each tooth is 9 degree, I rotated one gear 1/2 tooth advanced (a 4.5 degree difference) and it was easy to see the difference on the key way. I did find a old cam pulley from a carb engine and it was different from the 87/88 Square tooth.
Anyone want pictures ? I can take pictures this afternoon as I am repairing my rear heated window. For the record, why would this break when it is 5F outside? WTF

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I think the argument is that the center line of the camshaft is different, not the cam gears themselves.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by forcedfedmopar

I think the argument is that the center line of the camshaft is different, not the cam gears themselves.

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That very well could be, I was planning to test cam centreline as well at some point in the future.