89 Dodge Spirit project

[Vigo]

Finally got to race a Fox-body 5.0. Twas a really nice looking LX coupe driven by an older guy. It had some mods apparent.. small hood scoop, some kind of exhaust, different but period-correct 16" mustang wheels. I saw him two cars behind me going up an on-ramp acting impatient, so when we got on the highway i stayed slow in the right lane so he'd have to go around me, and gave it teh boost in 3rd as he went past to get his attention. Then we had to wait a mile or so for room to play (missing my exit in the process but i wanted this race), so i got behind him and waited for him to go. We took off from about 60-65 (me in 3rd) and he got an extra car on top of normal following space while my boost came up. By about midway through 4th i was back on his bumper and he let off. I dont think he was happy, but i was! Always wanted to race a nice old 5.0, even if it wasnt very modded.

[Vigo]

Well herp a derp. Apparently i broke a piston at 12 psi. Coulda should woulda, whatever. I knew better than to assume it wouldnt break on stock boost with no monitoring at all, but i did it anyway.

Since it's an 85 block i kinda want to tap it for the larger bolt size and run studs next time around. Ive got a few 85 pistons so i guess that's covered. So much for a 55k mile motor with no discernible blowby. I was running a completely open valve cover hole and my intake wasnt even getting moist. Oh well.

[RoadWarrior222]

Bummer, well check #1 injector for flow. Are '85 blocks not as well cooled at #1? If not you might wanna give it more ring gap. Just thinking there should be a reason... ... ...

[Vigo]

Yeah, there has to be some extenuating circumstance somewhere. The first clue should be which piston broke, and go from there. I might not tear into it until im ready to put it back together. Usually when stuff breaks on me it goes into time out for a while while i mess with something else. I have a header, throttle body, exhaust, swaybar, and springs to put on my neon, and my lebaron is getting 5-lug swapped and slammed, so i have stuff to do/drive until i feel more curious than annoyed about the spirit situation.

Although, i can say that right now my thoughts for fixing the spirit include modifying a mitsu turbine housing for separate wastegate flow and running the upgraded mitsu i got that FWD sells. Im also vaguely thinking about going from 2.5" to 3" exhaust, and i want to combine my two VNT ic's to run a double-thick IC in the factory location, and probably mount a bov on the bottom tank of the IC. I also want to tap the block for the 11mm bolt size and run studs. So that's my current thoughts for what to do to the spirit on top of repairs. My first step to running that upgraded mitsu is to have someone chop the discharge flange off a turbine housing with a bandsaw, so ill have to find a place to farm that out.

[RoadWarrior222]

Usually when stuff breaks on me it goes into time out for a while

Bad car! Go to the corner of the shop!

[Pat]

Was this the motor with the tbi pistons?

[Vigo]

Actually, no! That motor i had up to 16psi without breaking. Go figure!

And as for me having plenty of other stuff to entertain me, i dropped the 3.3 out of my newest dynasty and got the 3.8 hung on the mounts. Drove my neon to the shop to work on that one. Took my lebaron convertible to lunch. Still loving my junk collection even when stock stuff breaks. lol

[Vigo]

So due to me using a Scion keychain with a goofy design (dont ask..) i lost my only spirit key. So now i get to add pulling the lock cylinder and having some keys made to my list. WEEEE

[Vigo]

I pulled that lock cylinder, gonna get keys made soon. Ive moved the car around the yard with pliers a few times.

So i always planned to cut up the message center area of the spirit dash and put two Auber Instruments rectangular displays up there for wideband and EGT.

However, i just stumbled across this thing and it seems like a pretty reasonable price to get 3 gauges in one. Boost, EGT, and Fuel Pressure in my case.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Boost-Di...A3Q5L29ROA0I31

It comes with the senders for everything. Only thing is it's a little bigger than a 2 1/16" gauge which i never found a good place for on the spirit dash so id either be moulding a pod onto the steering column or flush mounting it onto the cover for the cubbyhole in front of the shifter. Also, i kinda dont like the 60psi range (it's marketed for diesel trucks) but i can live with that.. or modify the last 30psi on the gauge face to be funny pictures. It would really be awesome if they made a 30/30 (vac/boost) version of this gauge..

Anyway, just thought it was a neat option that some people might like.

[Vigo]

Necro-Update!

I realized I hadn't updated any of my own project car threads in about two solid years and felt weird about it. Here's a basic list of what's happened with this car:

After I broke the last engine, I took the stock 2.2 t1 from my 88 Lancer Shelby and dropped it into the spirit with a couple of new gaskets. One gasket I didn't replace was the headgasket, because it was totally fine the last time the engine was run. For some reason, as soon as I started it up in the spirit, it was 100% obviously leaking, so I got to do a headgasket on it before I even drove it. After I did that i had a crapload of fuel delivery problems and ended up swapping in a cleaner tank, a new Rockauto in-tank pump, and a new Amazon external inline pump. I was lending it to a friend who was in town for work and we were turning it up until we started hitting cutout. For some reason, we had an insane amount of difficulty getting diodes and bleeds to work to defeat cutout 100% consistently, so I got fed up and installed a 3-bar map sensor and burned a 'custom' cal even though the engine was a totally stock t1. Turns out the mitsu wouldn't make more than 16psi anyway. Drove it at 16psi for a bit and the engine started making a noise. I didn't want to diagnose it in the car because I had a rebuilt 'TII' engine with 2-pc/+20/Garrett sitting on the ground in my garage that I had put together for my long-dormant Aries, so I just swapped that in. For some reason, knock detection stopped working so I only got it back up to 12psi until I fixed knock detection, but due to a goofy accident I drove it for about 5 miles with no coolant whatsoever and blew the headgasket.

I also bought a tbi/auto spirit for parts for $175, took a bunch of stuff off it for this car, and sold it for $80 the next day.

So now it's sitting with good tags and a nice fuel system and stereo install and a bunch of stuff off the parts car sitting around with it needing another headgasket. I'm fast at it but I've been focusing on getting my TBI-engine Caravan into the 13s (only a few tenths to go ) before getting back to the Spirit. Typical Vigo.

[86Shelby]

On a side note, the decals that Glow SHIFT sends with their gauges are really easy to modify. Using a razor blade, remove the F and when installing slide the T over and you end up with a conversation piece on the garage wall or toolbox....

[Vigo]

Yeah, i looked back at that once i dug up this thread because i had forgotten all about it, and i don't know if the price went up or what but it doesn't seem all that cool now. I would definitely like a 30psi/EGT/fuel pressure all in one gauge, but for that amount of money ive since figured out other ways to do similar things in similar space and that particular gauge no longer appeals to me.

[INVUJerry]

I could have sworn the mitsu was making 17 PSI, but maybe it was me just being super hopeful starting at the boost gauge outside the windshield.

[Vigo]

Well the viewing angle makes it hard to read right when its jammed into one of the windshield wiper frames.

[Vigo]

I'm waiting on a new all-metal radiator from the group buy thread to start replacing the headgasket.

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...ors&highlight=

Should be here pretty soon!

[Vigo]

I replaced the HG today. Did not have a chance to let it warm up or drive it as i ran out of time before a social engagement. I also installed the reproduction radiator from the group buy. It was not a correct fit and required modifications (mostly to the intercooler brackets) and a lot of compromising my expectations to be usable at all. I should have reinstalled a full width radiator and a front mount intercooler. Oh well.

A few months ago i saw a TBI spirit with a blown HG on craigslist for $500 or so. It eventually went down to something like $250 before i called on it. The main draw was the working r134 AC system with the later-style ac compressor, and that it had the RF fender and trim pieces that i'd want if i ever cared to try and make this spirit look good. I bought it for $175, drove it home, snagged all my parts, and sold it for $80 the next day. Assuming the HG repair works out and the car doesn't have any surprises for me right now, i'll be installing the compressor and getting the AC going in a week or two. Luckily i already put the newer-style compressor bracket on this engine for some reason.

[Vigo]

getting the AC going in a week or two

How bout a YEAR or two? Whoops..

I can't even remember what all happened since the last update, but i finally installed the AC components. Had hell trying to get the drier connections to seal up (which has happened to me before, seems like a shitty design) and now that it's sealed up and charged i'm still having other issues. One is a weird control-side issue where the SMEC sees the AC button engage, kicks up the idle, but won't engage the cooling fan relay. The AC clutch relay gets power for its coil from the output of the fan relay so the compressor clutch won't engage until the fan comes on. The computer WILL run the fan when the coolant temp gets high enough. Go figure. Also, since my all-metal repop radiator doesn't fit properly i have a huge air gap to my condenser which seems to be making my cooling fan pretty ineffectual for the condenser. My high side pressures are too high for my liking. So, since i've foolishly forgone a FMIC install for all these years i decided to double down on that silliness and put a couple of 7" pusher fans on the front of the condenser where a smart man's intercooler would go. $32 Amazon prime for a pair with mounting kits, so we'll see how that goes next week (or next year..).

I also did a lifter mod. Not exactly a PT lifter mod. I had INVUjerry mail me a 20-year-old set of used DOHC neon lifters and installed them with with some washers i found at Home Depot after a few minutes scientifically measuring thicknesses of washers that were still inside their packaging. They're working amazing and don't make a lick of noise even after long 6000+rpm pulls. It's not making power there yet but i've had it hitting the limiter (6600?) a few times with no ill effects. Time to retard that cam..

I've also been into every door fixing window and lock problems. One window motor i had to take apart and clean the brushes/commutator. Two others i had to take the gearbox apart and replace the failed plastic pucks with metal pucks i made out of bolt shanks. Also lubricated tracks and door latches as my lock actuators weren't getting the locks all the way up and down in one try.

Tach was being flaky so took out the instrument cluster and reflowed the solder i had previously added to the crimped stud terminals and scuffed up the terminals for the 'tach circuit board thingy' that seems to drive the tach motor. Works great again. No speedo/odo function so i did a paper clip jumper wire dance to simulate some VSS pulses and verified through scantool datastream that the pcm can see MPH. Disassembled the two of the three connectors from VSS to SMEC and cleaned/tightened terminals to no avail. Swapped another used VSS in out of laziness, didn't fix it. I'll keep digging but now i'm looking at the speedo itself. I have a spare instrument cluster i could raid for a speedo but I can't find it. Blah.

Car runs good on low boost. I stole the wideband (which was never permanently mounted) that was in it for the TBI Turbo van so now i need to order another wideband and do a legit gauge install. I have a bunch of innovate LC1s with good sensors and broken controllers and i want to run a very specific gauge. I'd really like to find just a controller and only buy the part i need if possible. I'll look around..

[Vigo]

Ordered this: https://www.wide-band.com/product-p/apsx_d1g1.htm

And this: http://www.auberins.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=357

For now it'll be boost (triggered off my 3-bar map) and wideband AFR. Ultimately i plan to buy two and have EGT and fuel pressure display as well. The exhaust manifold on the car is already tapped for 1/4npt so adding the thermocouple should be pretty easy. My Spirit has green backlighting so i chose the green/green display option.

[wheming]

Ordered this: https://www.wide-band.com/product-p/apsx_d1g1.htm

And this: http://www.auberins.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=357

For now it'll be boost (triggered off my 3-bar map) and wideband AFR. Ultimately i plan to buy two and have EGT and fuel pressure display as well. The exhaust manifold on the car is already tapped for 1/4npt so adding the thermocouple should be pretty easy. My Spirit has green backlighting so i chose the green/green display option.

You know, very soon you will have the ability to display and log analog inputs with your mpscandroid2 enabled phone via bluetooth through mpscilink.

I will have a working prototype to showcase at SDAC27 for those that would like to check out.
The mpscilink will have a touchscreen display of its own that you can use to monitor gauge data, and other functions to log to a removable SD card, flash bin, bin edit, and bin read.

[Vigo]

I am pretty excited about that stuff in general, but for this spirit I really want to have a permanent gauge install that has a sort of old-school look. Plus, i like the configurable alarm output s because it gives me the possibility of hooking a bunch of alarms up in series so that, for example, i can cut spark if my AFR is above 12.5 while my Boost is above 5psi etc etc. It's something i've been wanting to play with ever since i first discovered these Auber gauges and a local friend bought one for his turbo 95 Caravan.