3.8L Dodge Dynasty

[Vigo]

SADNESS!! The car tossed the serp belt a couple nights ago on the way home with literally less than a 1/4 mile to go. I drove it in with no drama and parked it. I got around to trying to put another belt on it today and noticed that the plastic power steering pulley is gone. Damn!

THAT IS LITERALLY THE HARDEST THING IN THIS WHOLE CAR TO REPLACE. When i was putting this car together, on a lift, i commented to Strax22 who was helping me out that i hoped i never had to mess with the power steering pump on this thing ever again. Sigh.

And my interior was still taken apart from stereo work. I didnt want to leave it 'broke down and taken apart' so i went ahead and finished running all my wires and put stuff back together just so it wouldnt look so pitiful when i get around to fixing the pulley.

Looks like the EGT setup will fit next to the radio without much problem. There's nothing behind that space other than a plastic wall that i have to put a hole in.

I had to modify the dash speaker holes... a lot... to fit a set of 4" infinitys i had in there. But with the grilles back on it's all invisible so whatever. Waiting on a power distribution block and a 32gb solid state drive from amazon. The SSD is to get my old Acer Netbook functioning properly for future use with AEM FIC.

Im also on the lookout for a 1/4 DIN (yes 1/4!) EQ for this car. If anyone has one to sell, lemme know!!

[Vigo]

Got my power block and SSD. The 4ch amp install is almost complete. I'll post a pic of that in a day or three.

Forgot to mention, but while i was in the FL fenderwell running the power wire for the amps, i decided to have a look at what was making contact on the body at high steering angles.


Typical plastic shield rubbing in the front. I cut it off slightly in front of the contact area. As for the back, i put a flapper disc on my angle grinder and clearanced the offending areas. A quick test drive right after i did that suggests that this was pretty much the whole issue with rubbing at steering lock and a little compression. I drove it over some pavement lips at steering lock and it's much quieter. Once i get the car going again, i'll double check and make sure it doesnt need any more clearance, clarence. If it doesn't ill spray some undercoat over that ugly mess and be done with it.

[Reaper1]

Yup....my car has some rubbing in the same areas.

[Vigo]

Progress has been further derailed by my purchase of a big TM deal involving a shelby lancer, a lancer shelby, and a whole bunch of parts. I have to sell some of this stuff to recoup my investment before i can go back to my dynasty.

[Reaper1]

Ugghh.....FINE! We'll let you off *this* time.

[85boostbox]

Pics or it didn't happen :thumbup:

[Rrider]

I want to help you with that recoup thing..

[Vigo]

ORLY. I have already started taking payments for the 87 Shelby Lancer but i do have the 1988 Lancer Shelby.. You want one of those?

[Reaper1]

I'll take the Lancer Shelby off your hands free of charge! I'll PM you my address

[Vigo]

What's funny is i just met some friends yesterday (one of whom is member here) who were driving through on their way to seattle.. so you missed your chance for a convenient delivery driver! They are planning to dump the crappy car they are using in WA and fly back home when they get there!

[Vigo]

Not a lot of action on this front. I finished working on the Shelby Lancer and started taking payments on it. So, i started thinking what i could be working on for the Dynasty. I ended up putting my JVC head unit in that Lancer so now i have to figure out which head unit out of the ones i have left to use on the dynasty before i finish up the 4ch amp wiring.

I did some more staring at the dashboard and i decided i can fit my dual temp gauge AND a tiny rectangular Auber gauge next to the radio. So i went to confirm that i could use the Auber as a display for my Zeitronix wideband (auber only specifically mentions an innovate wideband) and judging by the setup instructions i can set it up to display AFR from ANY 5v input, so yes i can use one on my Zeitronix.

AND, i just noticed that they now sell one with amber LED display! I think that is going to work out VERY well with Acannell's dual thermocouple gauge..

[Ondonti]

Auber guage? So you don't own one but you want that for your Zeitronix?

[Vigo]

Yes, that's correct. Mason has 2 in his van and i love them.

[Ondonti]

i get my jollies from the square Zeitronix guage and love the peak and hold recall function for tuning

[Vigo]

I like the tiny size of the auber. I do think it has a peak recall function. I liked the tiny 'naked' led display zeitronix sells but it is a little too large to put where i wanted it. If i had 1/2" more space in that spot i probably would have gotten that and stuck it in my dash.

[Ondonti]

I really have no idea of the relative size of these things or the space you are sticking it! AA body has a nice cubby that I just take up completely and my Duster has a ridiculous install that just sits on top of the dash behind the steering wheel so I can sorta look and not die at the same time.

[INVUJerry]

This is awesome! I have a buddy that is mildly obsessed with 3.3's, specifically in minivans. He wants me to put a 3.3 in my reliant haha. He had some great ideas to do with them and at one point had a 3,000 stall in it.

There is a guy on neons.org that put a 3.3 and stratus 2.7 5-speed into a neon. The trans is actually a t850 like the SRT4, but with a different bolt pattern. It's hard to find one though, since they're fairly rare.

[Vigo]

There is one guy i know of who put a 3.3 into an aries wagon. I never saw any documentation of any kind other than a picture of a 3.3 in an Aries engine bay. It would be a fairly simple swap if it came from a minivan since their firewall connector pinouts are almost identical to a tbi aries. I used an 89 turbo van harness in my Aries and only had to move one or two pins for the windshield wipers. 3.3s started in minivans in 1990 which should be really close to the same. Aries_Turbo on this forum did a 3.0/604 swap from a van into an aries and it was extremely simple. That's a different motor but i bring it up because it's another example of someone swapping a 604 trans into something it didnt come in with relative ease. That car ran 15.7 with bone stock everything 3.0/604 and full weight. The 3.3 would be slightly faster, stock. At one point many moons ago i had access to a 3.0/604 dynasty and 3.3/604 dynasty at the same time and the 3.3 was worth 2 tenths and 1-2 mph vs the 3.0, only mods being cone filters and a 3.3 TB on the 3.0.

There is also a member here called Daytana who put a 3.3 into a Daytona.

I havent put a higher stall converter behind a 3.3/3.8 yet but i do have plans to try a stock neon 413 converter in this 3.8 car when i take the trans out to change the ring and pinion and transfer gear sets. I put a neon converter in a 3.0/670 van i had and it was fantastic. Made the van feel really strong from a stop and didnt have any downside that i noticed.

[Daytana]

Anyone call my name? Unfortunately I had to part that car before I could ever complete it due to time constraints and financial reasons. I now drive a 3.0L/604 Lebaron with 1" spacers, UDP, p&p upper/lower plenums, exhaust (hopefully will get the cat removed tomorrow), rear disc conversion, Dodge Ram tow package trans cooler, and massive weight reduction. This car feels stronger than a T2 car with top end to boot. Back to the 3.3 stuff; nonetheless it was a fairly easy swap. I transferred some of that 3.3 knowledge to assist another guy on TD who successfully swapped a 3.3L in his 1990 Daytona ES. That car is running and driving great and is probably a tyre frier. If I had to do it again it would be in a later model Daytona or Lebaron with the bigger mounts so I don't have to fiddle around with custom mounts (one of the reasons the swap came to a halt) and I would use a 3.8 instead of a 3.3. There is a world of difference in torque between those two engines, I roasted the tires on a 3.8 New Yorker but my Dynasty (I used to have and miss) just skipped the tires. I would use the later 3.8 with 215HP as well. (I found a 3.8/41TE combo for 500something dollars a while back). I would bet most of that new stuff could be adapted on your older 3.8. I heard the later 3.8s had a much more aggressive cam besides having those badass rising runner intake plenums (like the 3.0 has ironically) netting much more hp. I also like the way the accessories are much more ergonomic an organized.

Oh yeah on your 3.8 computer issue; definitely swap all of the 3.8 electronics in and not just the computer. Back when I first had my old 3.3 Dynasty I swapped in a 91 or 92 Imperial 3.8 ECM (thinking I would gain more hp/tq and be fed more fuel) and it caused the car to do weird things: it would not shift at all, it seemed to remove any rev limiter and allowed me to rev to the moon (to the point where I actually heard pushrods going bizerk from not being able to take the high revs), killed my power even though the car seemed like it was running on all 6. I think the fuel tables are radically different between the 3.3/3.8 computers amongst other things (such as the way the ECM "talks" to the TCM). Anyways nice project you got going on here, I as much as like my Lebaron better than my Dynasty, I will admit that I do miss the "bread and butter" feel of the Dynasty without having to settle with that "appliance" feel from a Toyletota; not to mention it feels like an iconic American car during a gorgeous time where everyone drove cars like Coronets etc. I had plans to swap the T850 when I had my Dynasty, I was willing to shell out 600 for the trans and 500 for those rare axles at the time but it never happened . Sometimes I do find myself looking for 3.3/3.8 New Yorkers on Craigslist :P.

Oh yeah, the guy who has late model 3.8 in his Dynasty is the same guy who had that ridicously small turbo setup on his 3.3 Dynasty. I remember reading on his Cardomain where he could never get it running right and ended up just swapping the 215HP 3.8 in and it has been better than it has ever been.

[Vigo]

So i pretty much sold enough stuff to get my money back out of that big cars+parts purchase, but now my significant other has wrecked our magnum which was only insured for liability, so my plans for fixing up the Lancer Shelby are being accelerated slightly. Life keeps getting in the way of 3.8 dynasty (which she is not allowed to drive even if i fix it ). We got an 86 CRX for her a while back that has been sitting waiting for me to get it running. Once the Lancer is DD'able (basically just quiet down the 3" exhaust and get it tagged), i need to get that CRX up..