My 89 Horizon Project

[Turbulence]

Picked up the Horizon 4 years ago or so. This is a long term project with an emphasis on inexpensive. The car sat for almost a year as I awaited funds to do things to it. I was driving a 90 turbo Voyager (The Fridge) at that time. I did the 5 lug swap over the first winter as one of the front wheel bearings was ready to fall off. I had minivan disc brakes on hand so they went on. After the turbo mini was written off the Hor became my dd for about a year until the cat plugged and it burned a valve. I ended up unplugging the cat in Mike M’s garage 2 hours away from home (thanks Mike) at the end of a cold winter’s day. I drove it like that for three months and felt like the character pigpen from Charley Brown as the oil smoke would billow out around the car when idling. In the end it was running on 3 cylinders with the oil pressure light flickering on at idle.

By that point I had looked into the 2.5T I had on hand from the totaled mini and decided it was too worn to get much use out of. A friend of Mike M’s had a complete 2.5 n/a motor he had planned to use for mini stock racing but didn’t need. I bought it for the overwhelming sum of one large slurpee. I decided to use it as a short term mock up and get it running motor having not installed a motor before (short term…yeah right). That led to the thread about drilling the block for an oil return. Pulled the balance shafts while I was there. I installed the turbo G head from my worn 2.5 T with a garret TII turbo. So, higher compression n/a bottom end with light weight rods and pistons with the G head’s slightly lower compression (if the stock n/a is 9.1 this combo is what…8.6 or 7 or?)

Finally decided to pull the motor and trans out of the hor and I found this:



Took 4 months (another long story) to get that to look like this:

[Turbulence]

A year ago last May I got the motor and trans in with 89 minivan electronics and drove it over the summer non-intercooled. With a vac line straight from an intake source it ran 7-8 lbs of boost and seemed to like it. This summer I managed to squeeze in a Porsche 944 turbo intercooler I had sitting on the shelf and bumped the boost to 10lbs. Felt really good. Exhaust is cobbled together (free) 2.5 downpipe and 2.25 pipe with a super turbo round muffler previously residing on a 90 Daytona VNT. It has a cutout but I won’t likely use it until this motor gets replaced with a real one.

So finally today I took it to the track (last day of the season). I was running ½ tank of 94 with 1 gallon of C16. I was hoping for a 14.99 but not expecting much more than a low 15. Slicks were my saviour.

It was spitting rain off and on, was around 55 degrees with a strong gusty head wind. The track was busy so there was a 45 - 50 minute wait between runs. My first run netted a 14.99 at 89 mph with a 2.33 60 foot with 10 lbs boost. I was really stoked!! 2 passes later I got a 14.5 at 90 mph with a 2.0 sixty foot also at 10lbs of boost. OK time to turn up the boost a bit and cross my fingers that I don’t window the block or some such nonsense. My next run was my best run of the day 14.103 at 92 again with a 2.00 sixty at 12lbs of boost. I was giggling like a little girl all the way back to the pits. The car felt really strong all the way through. I was ahead of the Shelby Mustang until just after half track when he blew by me. That was fun
So here is the car, as it sits with the 90 Sundance RS wheels and original lip spoiler I found at the wreckers last week.





The rad is a Chinese aluminum Honda unit. So far so good. I had to relocate the oil filter to get the intercooler in.

[contraption22]

Very cool! I was thinking of trying the same setup, as in a G-head on a TBI shortblock for my Acclaim project. Good to know it's been working for you so far!

["Top Fuel" Bender]

Looks good
The omni I've been racing for years started with a trans. mount that looked the same, some guy ran over a curb in the snow and pushed the trans back

[Vigo]

i think the turbo tbi bottom end is a better option than sitting around without a running turbo car lamenting the fact that you're too stuck up to use a tbi bottom end. 14.02 is plenty fun, and i bet it can take more.

The car looks cool with those wheels. sleeper but better than stockers. You must be the only person to make those wheels look good.

[Turbulence]

Very cool! I was thinking of trying the same setup, as in a G-head on a TBI shortblock for my Acclaim project. Good to know it's been working for you so far!

It amazes me how well it seems to take it, even with stock T1 electronics. Even if I find a turbo bottom end to replace it I'll be tempted to see how far it goes.

Looks good
The omni I've been racing for years started with a trans. mount that looked the same, some guy ran over a curb in the snow and pushed the trans back

That makes sense, the rest of the car looks un-repaired. When I found it I knew why it vibrated so much running on three cylinders.

i think the turbo tbi bottom end is a better option than sitting around without a running turbo car lamenting the fact that you're too stuck up to use a tbi bottom end. 14.02 is plenty fun, and i bet it can take more.

The car looks cool with those wheels. sleeper but better than stockers. You must be the only person to make those wheels look good.

Yeah the tbi bottom end has been a great deal of fun. It is also in line with what I think draws many of us to turbo mopars - it's not supposed to work - like Shadow's 10 second none common block motor - or 11 & 12 second minivans, or turbo 4 door K-cars for that matter (good luck at GRM btw).

The wheels kinda shocked me. I put them on only because they were 8 pounds lighter than the 14 inch steelies I had on it. Once they were on I really liked the look, just as you said, sleeper but better than stockers

[contraption22]

Yeah for me I think it would be ideal... other than still likely having to pull the motor out to drill the block for the oil return... unless i just plumb it into the pan. Hmm.

[Vigo]

unless i just plumb it into the pan. Hmm.

You can just take the egr pipe off the tbi motor and use that to make a return. I have done it.

[strang3majik]

You can just take the egr pipe off the tbi motor and use that to make a return. I have done it.

whats involved in doing that

I'm getting evil ideas from this thread...haha

[cordes]

Very cool project. That is a lot of fun for the money invested for sure.

[Turbulence]

whats involved in doing that

I'm getting evil ideas from this thread...haha

Water pump first....

Very cool project. That is a lot of fun for the money invested for sure.

I think I have about $2000 into the car including the purchase price.

Yeah it has been a whole lot of fun. I kinda got scared when I saw the boost gauge hit 12lbs half way through my 14.10 run, but not enough to let off . Next year I'll work on my launch. If I can knock off a tenth or so I might get into the 13's.

Glad I started with slicks. I would still be battling in the 15's I'm sure without them.

Martin

[Mike M]

Sniff sniff, it sure has come a long way since the stuffed cat days! I think it was the first car to ever actually get fixed in the garage... well, if you call an angle grinder and a jack handle fixing...

Hey, you know what would look really good... chrome window visors

[Turbulence]

Sniff sniff, it sure has come a long way since the stuffed cat days! I think it was the first car to ever actually get fixed in the garage... well, if you call an angle grinder and a jack handle fixing...

Hey, you know what would look really good... chrome window visors

A simple fix, but a fix none the less. I was just elated that it was easy to figure out. It was a very loud two hour drive home.

Those chrome visors may fly off at speed They really belong on a 79 omni with wood grain and a roof rack.

[blk86trbo]

The Mopar Performance FWD speed book actually recommends a copper head shim to lower compression safely to use the TBI shortblock.

Also, use a spare oil return tube (the one that bolts to the bottom of the turbo), flip it around, and weld it to the oil pan in the correct orientation...much easier than drilling a block for the oil return.

[cordes]

The Mopar Performance FWD speed book actually recommends a copper head shim to lower compression safely to use the TBI shortblock.

Also, use a spare oil return tube (the one that bolts to the bottom of the turbo), flip it around, and weld it to the oil pan in the correct orientation...much easier than drilling a block for the oil return.

That post was chalk full of awesome info. Very nice.

[blk86trbo]

That post was chalk full of awesome info. Very nice.

LOL ha ha glad you liked it

Yeah, don't pitch a good N/A common block...you're just a head shim and a oil return in the pan away from a turbo motor!

[strang3majik]

Yeah, don't pitch a good N/A common block...you're just a head shim and a oil return in the pan away from a turbo motor!

[Turbulence]

The Mopar Performance FWD speed book actually recommends a copper head shim to lower compression safely to use the TBI shortblock.

Also, use a spare oil return tube (the one that bolts to the bottom of the turbo), flip it around, and weld it to the oil pan in the correct orientation...much easier than drilling a block for the oil return.

Interesting that the MP FWD book mentions using a tbi block, that 's cool. Great idea for the oil return. And way less expensive than buying (and snapping) those big bits.

Martin

[Turbulence]

Brief update. The Horizon is buried under boxes in the garage for another month or so but....

Picked this up in December, drove it home 2.5 hours in -30* weather on worn out tires on blade wheels. I swapped the wheels out today.



Its a rusty 91 es, 2.5T with Ross 40 over forged pistons, ARP head studs, SRT4 intercooler tucked behind the bumper reinforcement (likely little air flow), 523 with a 6 puck clutch (on/off like a switch). 2.5 inch exhaust with a flo pro muffler. Eibach springs as well.



The only problem with it is oil pressure (oil light came on at idle when I got home with it). Still sounds fine though. I put a gauge on it but haven't driven it around. Idling on the driveway it starts out at 40 and drops down to about 8. Once the snow is gone I'll plate it and drive it a bit with a gage on it and see what happens. I suspect oil pressure has been an issue for a while given what I found in the trunk. Hopefully its nothing serious.



Looking forward to tearing into it. The motor is going in the Hor, a friend is taking the 523 and springs. What's left with get dragged away.

[TheCanadian007]

I dig the PVC intercooler plumbing