My 86 Shelby Charger Project

[CDNTurboZ]

Its been a long 4 years since I bought it but its almost done:

I'll start at the beginning as I'm working the night shift and have a lot of time on my hands lol :

Sometime in the spring of 2004 my dad and I were in Steinbach, Mb, we were at the bank there taking out some cash for something and just for the heck of it my dad asks the teller if there are any wreckers around, turns out there is one about 5 miles up the road in La Broquorie, Mb.

We head down there and find this really big old j-yard. As we walk past all the cars scattered around we find this black 86 shelby charger sitting next to the main office door. It was the first time I had ever seen a shelby charger in real life and I really liked it. Unfortuneatly when we asked it wasn't for sale and we went home after picking up a few daytona parts from the yard.

Fast forward to the fall of 2004, we headed back to the same yard to look at a 86 t-top daytona he had there, luckily (for me) it was full of mice and rusty as we are walking back to the office we see the charger again and my dad walks up to it and opens the door. I sit inside and immediately want it:

$3000 later it was sitting in our garage:







It looks rough paintwise but it was rust free (kansas car), and was safetied so I could drive it to school. The story of the car is that it was brought up to Canada by the owner of the j-yard in 96, he had it registered up here for 3 months before he parked it until that very fall when we bought it. It had been sitting for almost 10 years.

The only rust spot was a tiny hole in the driver's floor and a small patch on the driver's rear quarter where a huge mouse nest was.


Edit: There are some more pictures that I'll dig up when I'm home.

[CDNTurboZ]

The fuel pump died literally on the way home so we searched for a month and picked up the last single pump conversion available from mopar. Bought a new gas tank and I drove it for 8 months for my first year of university. During that time the rad went and was changed other wise not too much happened. I found out about the major mouse infestation the hard way (first few warm days of spring with the windows down mouse nest blew down from the headliner lol)

The car was using a lot of oil due to cracked 1 and 3 pistons so it was time to pull it off the road, on my birthday June 30, 2006 I drove it for the last time and started to dissassemble the car:




Here is the car later the spring of 2007 with some body work done/in primer:
Engine bay is all painted same with the door jambs







Biggest problem here was we ended up messing up one of the passenger's side door hinges pounding out the pin. Had to find another door hinge and welded it in. (thanks rob for cutting out the new hinges)

[CDNTurboZ]

Fast forward to the summer of 2007 this is where I made the biggest progress: Got the engine and trans in:





The specs are nothing really too special:

-Stock 86 TI block with TII rods, stock 86TI crank, new TII Pistons(should have went forged)
-89 A555 Converted to rod shift to utilize the stock shifter assembly (thanks to Rob again!)
-Stock 86 TI head with stock slider cam(had it sitting around all brand new)
-poly front and passenger's side motor mounts
-all power coated engine brackets
-GLHS rad/intercooler assembly
-turbo XS BOV
-Omnipotent stainless turbo bracket
-Stock TII Clutch
-87 TII MP ECU Conversion
-89 one piece gasket shelby valve cover
-87 TII Two Piece Intake
-All new starter sensors, water pump, etc
-Stock TII Turbo
-TU 3inch swingvalve, and full 3inch exhaust

Here is a nice progression:

When I got it:


While I was using it as a daily:


After installing it:

[CDNTurboZ]

Finally in the late summer of 2007 it went to my cousins bodyshop for paint:

By October 2007 it was all done, we helped out do alot of the sanding/aligning the panels there were many late nights that august getting that all correct.







Its a bit dusty there from sitting in the garage, the lines are all painted on. Its missing the front stripe yet which still has to be painted on.

[CDNTurboZ]

The winter of 2007 we put the car up on blocks and redid the suspension:

Everything is all poly bushings, koni coilovers, 89 Shelby daytona 11 inch brakes all around with the 89 daytona front spindles machined down:








I have more pics to upload later.

Here is the car that spring:

[CDNTurboZ]

Here is the interior mostly complete:





You can see the small tear on the rear seat, thats the last reminant of the mouse that was in the car lol. Seats were steam cleaned though lol.


-Brand New Carpet
-Brand New Seat Belt Material
-Brand New Headliner
-Brand New Rear carpet
-Extra sound deadening in doors and floor and rear area
-Refurbished door seals
-Seats are the only things that have to be redone some time in the future
-Newer 2000ish CD/Tape Deck from a Dodge Ram
-79 024 Steering Wheel

Here are some misc engine shots from that time:

[CDNTurboZ]

Here are some pictures from late summer/fall 2008:

We finally got the car semi running in september and for the first time in 3 years I drove it:






Here it is spring 2009:

[CDNTurboZ]

This past spring I gathered all the a/c components together and hope to get that done this spring.

Here is the car at a local cruise/car show:



The car is no where near perfect, but I think we did alright since it was the first car we ever worked that intensively on and we learned alot of things as we went, plus to boot doing it all on my small university student budget.

The car is having a few issues right now which are being addressed by Rob (Shadow) Its running a bit hot and we had to convert it over to 87 TII as my 86 GLHS ECU was shot.

It needs a few more details finished up but I can't wait to drive it some more and put some miles on it.

[gvare001]

Excellent job.

[1984rampage]

Nice! Whats the color code on the carpet you used?

[WickedShelby88]

Wow that car has come a long way. Looks great!

[minigts]

I like the rear carpet on the rear wheel well cover things. Where did you get it and did you put it on yourself? Looks great installed. Excellent work, btw!

[CDNTurboZ]

Thanks guys!, the carpet colour I can't remember I'll have to see if I can dig it up...

The rear wheel carpeted area was redone by a local uplostery shop, we just ordered some extra non molded carpet that matched the main part and he got it all attached properly to the panels.

[Mario]

Nice car. I've always enjoyed viewing your progress in your threads.

[Shadow]

Steve, you and your dad did an amazing job. The car looks fantastic! I have to get a list of where you sourced some of your interior parts/weather striping from....looks really clean! It's been a pleasure moding stuff and helping you to get'r running right. I really like seeing ppl take on projects like this and see them through, specially when there done to this level of excellence.

[turbokid]

WOW you did a lot of work but that is a gorgeous Shelby Charger forsure!

[banger68]

Boy, your not scared to tear a car down.

Car looks great.

[CDNTurboZ]

Boy, your not scared to tear a car down.

Car looks great.

Haha I'm used to tearing them up by now lol

Thanks!

[roachjuice]

nice charger. btw what year is that 944 (or 951 if turbo) sitting in the background of the garage pics?

[WickedShelby88]

Hmm I spotted a Merkur too! Never noticed it until now.