WWGRMD Turbo Dodge edition

I've got a 1987 Omni that I had a ball with back in the day (2.5 sans balance shafts, GM duojet carb, swap meet full length header, turbo roller cam, etc) that was parked around 10 years or so ago. A few days ago a 1986 Shelby Daytona Z turbo I car wandered into my yard. I know the turbo I engines are the least loved turbo dodge, but I'd like to have the car running again and 140ish HP the engine is rated for is more than my carbed 2.5 was probably making.

There are performance computers available from Mopar performance that cost around $150 or so. Are these worth the money or should I just drop some extra cash on a megasquirt in case I want to do something really stupid with the engine later?

Do it!
Also, I have some heads, intakes (maybe even with fuel rails) and other stuff (intercoolers I think) for TII engines. If you pull the trigger, I think I have most of what it takes to make that into a TII motor.

You would be way better off spending the $150 on a wideband oxygen sensor than a drop-in computer tune. 90% of going fast in a turbo dodge is being able to diagnose the issues that pop up and a wideband is incredibly useful for that.

Also, 140hp is about 35-40hp shy of what i'd shoot for with that engine even if you left everything alone but the boost. If you want to get ambitious and try e85 it will definitely push an omni into the 13s in the 1/4 mile, but for pump gas octane levels you would be better off in the long run converting it to an intercooled setup at some point.

So, i say get it running with what you've got and spend your first <$200 on a wideband and a boost controller rather than an MP computer. I've driven a t1 'log' setup in an l-body before and it was already fun. The main thing to consider is that for most people, if a piston breaks, the project will be stalled and is 90% likely to be thrown away. The best thing you can do to end up with a good feeling about this project is to not let it break, which means in the long view your money is best spent on monitoring/diagnostic equipment before 'mods'.

I had a 2.5 Turbo 1 producing 160 to the wheels non-intercooled with really good AFR on the wideband. I would take Vigo's advice, get a wideband, a small intercooler, read up on boost manipulation with these motors and shoot for a nice reliable 180 or so. At that point these cars are a holy handful and quite fun.

Ive always wanted a turbo dodge. Rode in a turbo swapped scamp and holy crap that thing flew.

They are still extremely cheap, unless you want a pretty one in which case they are only cheap.

I got the daytona fired up for a few seconds today off of starting fluid and only burned some of the hair off my arm. The plan right now is to pull the engine this weekend and take it into the shop for a good check-up since it hasn't run in over a decade either. I grabbed a couple pics for you guys.

I totally forgot to tell everyone about the shadow front suspension on the omni for that wide track suspension and beefier brakes. Plus it's awesome having 5 lugs in the front and 4 in the back. The hood scoop is totally functional, it was necessary to clear our carb and custom intake.

And here's our donor, anybody need any Daytona Z body pieces or wheels?

The rear brakes bolt up. Just undo the spindles and swap them into the Omni. For disc brakes, you may need to add a small threaded hole for the flex cable bracket.

As for the computer, I'd look at flashing your own ROMS or make friends with someone who can. Not too bad to do with the right equipment.

The old T1 intake is really inefficient and pretty much stacks up at around 12psi. So if anything, converting to a later intake sans intercooler will allow for better flow into the engine and the electrical conversion to a T2 ECU is really pretty straightforward.

You can also adapt the front seats with some bracketry, but it can sit a little high, so you might need to cut and weld the brackets to get it to sit lower.

The tilt column can be adapted with a bit of work as well.

I have a never-installed MoPar reman T3 turbo (0.42/0.48, integral WG) that I'd sell for pretty cheap.

Stefan (Not Bruce) wrote: You can also adapt the front seats with some bracketry, but it can sit a little high, so you might need to cut and weld the brackets to get it to sit lower. The tilt column can be adapted with a bit of work as well.

The seats are in pretty terrible condition, touching them is like being grappled by a mummy that tries to suck all the moisture from your body.

psychic_mechanic wrote:

Stefan (Not Bruce) wrote: You can also adapt the front seats with some bracketry, but it can sit a little high, so you might need to cut and weld the brackets to get it to sit lower. The tilt column can be adapted with a bit of work as well.

The seats are in pretty terrible condition, touching them is like being grappled by a mummy that tries to suck all the moisture from your body.

Sooo... sheepskin covers then?

After seeing the cars... why are you not fixing the Daytona? An 86 C/S is a way cooler (and rarer) car than a crapped out base model Omni with a turbo swap. Not that i dislike the omni idea, i just like 86 Daytona C/S's a lot more.

There's no title for the C/S and the floors are pretty rusty underneath.

Well alrighty. Do as much as you're willing to to give the 'community' a shot at parts off that Daytona before you scrap it. The main sites are Turbo-Mopar.com and Turbododge.com.

Also, lots of people will talk a lot of mess about the t1 'log' setup you have there. It is somewhat limited on 93 octane pump gas (probably high 13s in a manual Omni on slicks) but if you decide to use e85 the limits go up quite a bit (possibly as high as the stock turbo will go, ~260whp which would be low 12s). So while everyone is going to suggest converting to a totally different intake manifold and modifying the turbo to intercool the setup, it IS possible to go fast on what is there with fairly minor mods.

I had an '86 Daytona turbo CS in red for a short time, around 20 years ago or so. It was stock. As I recall it was a handful with much torque steer, but still plenty of fun. Good luck with the swap.