Question on a Winter Beater (Shelby Z or Z-24)

If you want a turbo dodge get an intercooled one with a 5 speed that in good shape. They don't have good resale and youshould pick one up for around 2k. I had a 5 speed 2.8 cavi. All rusted and beat to hell but ran great. DId some research on them. Helps top end pretty good to add a cold air intake with air cone, forget about utilizing the factory cold air. Better exhaust helps too. You can mod s10 headers to fit somehow also. I've heard of people doing head work and even a few people swapping in the turbo 3.1 from the GPs. THere's your turbo car for ya, and you'd still be cruisin something from the General. Good room in the cavis too. The daytonas can be modded easy but hit a block when the 12s come in then you really gotta get serious with it. Don't think there's alot of aftermarket support like there is for the TBs either. CHeck out turbododge.com for some more info. I would say go with whatever is in better shape. As far as the dodge electrical gremlins its a crapshoot. I suppose if everything is good don't worry about it. IF something don't work then walk away. My friend had a daytona shelby and was a great car. I had a caravelle and ran wonderful. My stepdad had a new yorker and was an electrical nightmare.
 
UNGN said:
Hot air Buicks were a joke on the street in 1985. They ran mid 15's like front wheel drive Chrysler's did.


Maybe you don't remember any of this, but I do.
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I Love The 80's. I remember that decade quite clearly. Still baffled on the HP War of 1986? Nothing stellar on published HP numbers as I recall. If Hot Air Buicks were a joke than TurboFWD was the punchline. I dont recall ever reading any hop up or go faster stories in HOTROD or CarCraft on any FWD Mopar. Including the GoldenBoy GLHS.

If your GP2+2 was still stock I'd have kicked your butt with my HotAir 84 Riviera T-Type back than too.That should tell you something about HP in the 80's.I guess you didn't read National Dragster back then. Long before the IC TR came along pioneers like Duttweiler were deep into the 12's with the HotAir in Stock Eliminator. And bring on the Shelby too. Mod for mod any turbo Buick was faster than the Mopars reguardless of the model.Torque rules! And a four banger aint got the torque like a bent six does.

Look at this rant. Argueing about what is the bigger pile of crap.:rolleyes:

BTW I'm no expert on Mopars but I think the 174HP Turbo2 was an option on any Shelby back than. So does the Shelby Z in question have an Intercooler?
 
turbofish38 said:
I Love The 80's. I remember that decade quite clearly. Still baffled on the HP War of 1986? Nothing stellar on published HP numbers as I recall. If Hot Air Buicks were a joke than TurboFWD was the punchline. I dont recall ever reading any hop up or go faster stories in HOTROD or CarCraft on any FWD Mopar. Including the GoldenBoy GLHS.

If your GP2+2 was still stock I'd have kicked your butt with my HotAir 84 Riviera T-Type back than too.That should tell you something about HP in the 80's.I guess you didn't read National Dragster back then. Long before the IC TR came along pioneers like Duttweiler were deep into the 12's with the HotAir in Stock Eliminator. And bring on the Shelby too. Mod for mod any turbo Buick was faster than the Mopars reguardless of the model.Torque rules! And a four banger aint got the torque like a bent six does.

Look at this rant. Argueing about what is the bigger pile of crap.:rolleyes:

BTW I'm no expert on Mopars but I think the 174HP Turbo2 was an option on any Shelby back than. So does the Shelby Z in question have an Intercooler?
Click to expand...

In the early 80's, we all drove 1960's and early 1970's mucle cars if you wanted to go fast. Nothing you could buy for under $15K (which was a LOT of money when you could buy a nice Hemi Cuda for about $8K) ran even high 14's.

In 1983, the Mustang finally got a 4bbl and the Camaro got an L69.

In 1984, HP was about the same. Buick got An FI turbo, but it was still an expensive old man's car.

In 1985, the IROC go a TPI that was faster than the L69 and the Mustang got 210 Hp.

In 1986, HP went into the tank. The Mustang got FI but lost 10 HP. The F-bodies were even slower than the Mustang and were weak compared to the previous model year. GM was supposed to put 350 is F-bodies, but never did and made no indication that they ever would. The G-bodies were about to replaced by front drives and the Mustang was next.

It wasn't until the April 1986 Car and Driver that ANYONE outside of Buick dealership knew an '86 TR could run 13 second quarter miles. By the time Anyone knew about the '86 GN it was too late to order an '86. My '86 Sold for $22K in April due to the hype.

If the hype wouldn't have happened... say the Car and Driver GN only ran 15.1, GM definately would NOT have sold 25K TR's and would have killed the G-body early and there may not have been an '87 Mustang with 225 HP.
 
After owing a few turbo dodges they are definately winter beater cheap cars but can be quite fun. If its an intercooled car (usually all shelbys are) turn the boost to 15lbs, add an exhaust and cold air and 14's are attainable. I had a omni glh and swapped in a shelby intercooled drivetrain, ported head, custom cal, exhaust, cold air and the boost at 16lbs and the car ran low 13's at 103 mph on street tires. Not the raw power of a turbo regal but you can go reasonably fast for cheap.
 
scottyb said:
For a 100% beater, I'd go with the Z24. Reliable and easy to repair, cheap to repair, and that v6 is a good engine.

If you want to play a little, then the Shelby. With that car, I'd be a little more concerned with availability of parts, but but really sure.
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AGREED. The Z24 is going to have more parts laying in junkyards to fix it and there's less chance of blowing it up because it's not turbo and you're not going to mod it.

However if a "fun" little beater is the goal then get the Shelby Z. Parts aren't THAT hard to find, it's just that you'll probably be buying them on the net so it may have a little downtime. Going to be impossible to not mod it though.

I am officially shopping for another turbo dodge. I keep looking at the ones listed for sale and can't help but notice how damn cheap they are. The nicest, lowest mile, most valuable version of a TD is wortha bout the same as I paid for my GN. Decent 80K mile REAL shelby cars (not dodges with shelby stickers) are going for 3-4K.

Anyone remember that test of a 86 GLHS vs. the GT350 stang? The omni beat the stang in EVERY category. That, my friends, is worthy of the shelby name.
 
turbofish38 said:
They must have some good sh*t to smoke inTX.:rolleyes: The thread should be titled which car is the biggest POS! Neither car is anything to brag about IMO.That Shelby is just a 146HP four banger with a fancy interior. You cant tell me it is any better than a 140HP V-6! If it was a pony car posuer than that is news to me. And a Neon will kick it's a$$ too. I always like it when new technology is compared against old, obsolete technology. The Shelby Z was the heaviest(read slowest) out of all of the Daytona bodied models.

What you really need to find is a Daytona C+S.

Horsepower race?:confused: Chrysler wasn't even a player in the 80's. FWD cars were "use them, than throw them away" cars. Not to many of any make or model left anyway.:frown: I'm confused with that whole sentence. Mid 86? Buick was kickin butt long before than.

My pick would be the Z/24. Tons of parts in the boneyard. Lots more fun to play around with too. When the 2.8 breaks just swap in a newer 3.5/3.9. Heck, maybe even a SC or Turbo'd Ecotec. I even know of some boneyard brake and suspension mods too.
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I beg to differ with you on the mopar turbo cars of the 80's. they were a bunch faster than the crap econo boxes that chevy made with a v-6. the mopar turbo cars made more power to weight ratio over alot of the other cars from that era. There are two version of the shelby dodges. The actual shelby cars were modified with a 2.2 Turbo 2 bottom end with a i/c and a diffrent pcm. the knock off version of the shlby by dodge were turbo 1 bottom end's with a turbo 2 intake without the i/c and a turbo 1 pcm. I have had several of the mopar turbo cars over the yrs. Also the later turbo dodges grew into a 2.5L engine with balance shafts and a slightly better head design. The turbo 3 engine was a 2.2 L turbo 2 bottom end with a 24 valve lotus cylinder head than made around 220 hp. these engine found there way into the spirit R/T and the daytona Irocs. There was another great little turbo car that shelby built it was the omni GLH that was used in the SCCA races so they decided to make a production run of them. These cars were cheap and a lot of fun and far better than a x-w platform with a v-6.


I have drove the z-24's with a 2.8 or 3.1 with a auto or manaul. the best running of those cars were the GTZ beratta's. but i don't think they were at all faster than the turbo dodges of the 80's
 
FYI, not all shelbys were turbo II 2.2s. I found a shelby I was going to buy and fix up for a daily beater. 2.5 turbo II motor, auto:frown: . Only had 90 some thousand on it and already had the block sleeved according to the owner. Car had sat for years. I didn't even bother on looking under the hood when he said that. No more projects for me unless its hjust a motor or tranny swap in a real nice car. After the T, I'm done:rolleyes: ...
 
I believe turbo II cars were also all stick. I believe if they were auto they were turbo I. This site has a ton of info on them allpar.com/model/daytona.html It has the breakdown of what is what.
 
i don't think so. the turbo 2 engines have the blow thru throttle body. i used to have a shadow early 90's and it was a turbo 2 2.5L.




Donovan's Dodge Garage


there is some kewl stuff on here !
 
car

Depends on what you classify as "beater" Full on beater, I would say the z24... Parts are readily available at the yards or online. I may even have some parts. Haha..

I actually drive a Corsica which is similar to a beretta and it has been the most reliable thing I have ever had.. But I have done alot of work and mods to it.(3400 swap, magnaflow exhaust, true CAI, UDP and exterior.. overall gained 2 seconds in this car from start to finish, not bad for a Corsica i got for free!:smile: ) I can get parts so easy if I need them... and the same for a z.. you will find lots of parts...


A Quad 4 Gtz Beretta runs mid to maybe low 15's at sea level. I am not sure what a shelby runs.
 
Based on info I've gathered beings its a shelby "Z" it will have the turbo II motor in it so it should be a stick. So I take it there must have been a "shelby" package and a "shelby z" package:confused:
 
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