85 "Omnom" GLHT

[Opticon]

Picked this old race car up for a grand (Thanks ikknown). Body is straight and solid. Mechanicals are all there but need some love. I'm not sure who built it originally (someone in Georgia?) but this car has surely seen better days.






The goal is to get it road legal and running smooth but not to lose that raw simplistic racecar attitude. The target will be a TII @ 18psi, a lightly modded suspension, and almost nothing for an interior or exhaust.

Started by gutting the interior (or what was left of it) and rebuilding the harness. All worn and hacked connections were solder and rewrapped. All unused connections were removed.





My new simplified interior harness fits like a glove. Next step is cleaning up the swapped TII engine harness.

[Vigo]

Looking good so far.

What motor setup is already in it? Looks like it already has a cable shifted tranny swapped in..

[Opticon]

The TII bits were already swapped from an 87 CSX and it even has the Mopar stage 2 PCM, +20s, and an adjustable FPR. It was running a grainger valve but I will be reinstalling the stock wastegate solenoid. From what I can tell the trans is still a 525 just with a daytona cable shifter in it.

[omni_840]

Cool project

[Opticon]

The interior will be fully coated in rust encapsulator and the bottom half done in black rubberized bedliner. Some black painted aluminum door panels and a set of cheap black racing style seats (with bolsters) will be the extent of the interior.

Stripped but clean.

[Opticon]

I moved the project to my parents' place. Pole barn w/ two post lift and lots of tools FTW! And I forgot just how cheap parts for these cars really are. Jumped on RockAuto and started looking up prices...

Strut mount - $10
Rear shock - $13
Front strut - $25
GLH steering rack - $100
24mm master cyl - $25
Speedo cable - $10

It's going to cost me more to title & register the car than to get it on the road.

[Opticon]

2010 - 2012 WORK:
Stock wastegate solenoid + relays
Front signal lenses
Wiper motor, arm, bottle assembly
Power steering Pump & Hoses
License plate light
Rear bumper
Weld tip on muffler
Wideband install
Brackets to secure Radiator/FMIC
Stock Springs
Catback
2 rear wheel cylinders
Rear Brake Shoes
Rear Spring Kit
Rear brake adjusters
Belts
Speed sensor
Speedo cable
24mm Master Cylinder
Cheap struts/shocks
3" Downpipe
Exhaust bolt kit
3" Exhaust band clamps
Grounding wire kit
Boost Gauge
Misc bulbs
Cheap Wheel/Tires
BOV bypass pipe
Wiring work
Port Match intake
Simple heater core mod
Enclose battery
Bleed brakes

2013 TO PRESENT WORK:
Eurathane\Rust encapsulator
Tucked Bumpers
NRG Race wheel Suede
NRG Quick release adapter
Magnecor Plug wires
Neon Steering rack
Altenator bushings
Denso Altenator
A520/A555 with 3.50 and LSD
RedLine MTL
FWDP Koni Coilover Kit
Modded Daytona front bar
Polybushing Rear Swaybar
Polybushings everywhere
Kosie K1 wheels
205 wide Yokohama S.Drives
3" TU Swingvalve
T3 Super60 .63AR
Boost Button Cal
+40s
3 bar map
20PSI

[Turbo224]

Until you calculate the countless hours you'll spend working on it, then its probably going to cost you double that.

[Opticon]

Well, It doesn't look much different (except for a rear bumper) but this shitbox has had some work done.

- The electricals are freshened up (grounding kit, power distribution block, and many cleaned up connections).
- The vacuum lines are all replaced.
- The shocks, struts, springs, brake lines, and fluids are all new.
- Power steering pump and lines are installed.
- Relocated battery is now mounted in a box with a cutoff.
- 3" from downpipe to exhaust tip (The tone is ----ing DEEP).
- BOV and 5th injector setup removed.
- Stock wastegate solenoid is back.
- Window wiper motor and arms are back.
- A/C condenser and lines removed. Heater box gutted and modded for simplicity.
- Port matched intake to big throttle body.
- Replaced speedo sensor and cable

All in all I put about $1500 into the $1000 car and now it is solid and road legal... or close enough anyway.








Another week or two and I'll have the paperwork done, some good tires on it, and have it out of the garage. Then I'll grab some video.

[Opticon]

Spent another weekend on it. After running into a sudden no-start issue we tore more of the wiring apart and found one of the small starter control wires was broken clean off and just barely touching ground. After we fixed that up that the car would crank again but was having trouble firing up.

We pulled some plugs and wires and eventually discovered the stock coil was very weak, a problem we've seen before on my 1984 5th Ave. So we employed the same solution the we used on the 84 5th Ave... a used Mitsu 3.0 coil. In both cases they have shown signifigantly more ignition power than the old cylinderical Mopar coils. It worked and the car fired right up.

Still battling a couple ground issues (wiper motor, taillight, TPS) but we should have the wiring sorted out, tires mounted, aligned, and car inspected in a day or two.

[blk86trbo]

Looks really good man, congrats...post up some vids when you get a chance!

[Opticon]

Well we got the car running but it didn't last long. Two days at what I thought to be stock boost and I turned a piston into playdough.






Only after completely rebuilding the bottom end, installing the proper gauges, and going over the car with a fine tooth comb did I find and correct...
1) A sad looking injector wiring harness.
2) A loose and melted fuel pump fuse.
3) That the rad fan is pushing the hot air into the intercooler.
4) That neither the wastegate solenoid or overboost protection are working.

What a mess.

[shackwrrr]

congrats on your ashtray! lol

[Opticon]

So after this:

SS turbo line kit
Starter Shield
SP Piston Rings
Headgasket 005
One piece valve cover gasket
Garrett oil return gasket
T-II rods
Forged Venolias
11mm head bolts
Rod bearings STD size
REVERSE FAN!
Wideband
Boost gauge
Grainger valve set to 14psi
Radiator Cap
Fixed stock seats
Install spare summer wheels/tires

The car is back...









The tires are old so any kind of hard launch is out of the question (nothing but tire smoke). But if I pedal it through the launch I can put my foot into it through the middle of 2nd and take the hell off. Good fun but I'll have to wait until I can afford sticky tires before this car can do anything impressive in the 1/4 mile.

[86seeS]

Looks good man I miss my omni

[Opticon]

Catchup posts...


6.5" wide crabs:









After Trans, Neon rack, and Super60:









After Coilovers and K1s and a new grill:




2nd to 3rd pull: http://youtu.be/Oa41WBhLBTI

["Top Fuel" Bender]

Sweet !!

[Opticon]

Update: So after a Super60 install in 2013 that put down 245hp/295tq the turbo let go. Oil everywhere. Probably should have had a restrictor in line. OOPS.






Two years later I now have a shiny new Turbonetics Super 60 with a ceramic ball bearing center housing sitting in my kitchen. I did something a little different on the hot side this time. Instead of the old "stage 1" (what I think was a 49mm) wheel in a .63AR I opted for a new "stage 2" 57mm wheel this time. Also got my hands on a big valve Menegon ported G head complete with one of his high lift early grind cams. I'm going to stick these together with some ported manifolds on top of a built up common block. We'll set it at the same old 20psi and see if we can get a big turbine ball bearing Super60 to retain its lighting quick spool while seeing what all that porting does for top end power.

The idea is to create a smooth power delivery to maximize traction on street tires, quick enough spool and throttle response that it doesn't act like a t3\t4 drag rocket, still make enough power up top to challenge the limits of street tire traction (i'm guessing 300whp?), but keep the boost low enough that I don't have to worry about preignition on pump gas. An experiment in balance. Wish me luck.

Oh, and I'm on the hunt for a ported 2 piece intake (or similar long runner setup), a ported exhaust manifold that has (or can be converted to) standard T3 flange, and an uninjured common block with all its required pulley/pan/pump bits... please PM if you know anybody selling such items. Thanks.