My little brother had an 87 Daytona Shelby Z in HS... yes, lucky bastard got a Z as his first car. I, on the other hand, started out with a barely running 84 Dodge Aries. Anyways, Turbo II, 5 spd. He put a ton of money into the car. Paid $1500 for the car and had it painted, replaced the tranny, new axles, motor rebuild, new rebuilt turbo, etc. Well, he run the **** out of it (constantly dumping the clutch to smoke the tires, drag racing, etc) and that's the main reason he had to have all the new parts. Anyways, he got sick of borrowing money to pay for trannies and motor rebuilds so he just parked it after the last motor rebuild. Why? Well, he had some hillbilly mechanic rebuild it and I think he got in over his head. Took him about 2 months to do it and he kept having to borrow my brother's shop manuals. When he got it finished it never did run right. The car would run but ran really rich and wouldn't run decent enough to even barely spool the turbo up. My brother got tired of it and parked it behind my dad's house.

That was about 2-3 years ago. Now my brother hasn't even glanced at the car since then and my dad is tired of it sitting there. Told me to part it out and split the proceeds or fix it and drive it and he'll sign the title over to me (title is in my dad's name because my dad bought the car and paid for 90% of the parts and rebuilds). I'm wondering what could be the problem besides the timing belt jumping a tooth or two? Moving the distributor to one extreme or the other doesn't help much at all. I always told my brother to try to fix the timing on the belt and he just never tried it. I think one mechanic around here offered to check and fix it but it was going to be a couple of hundred bucks! And it's got a new belt so it shouldn't include having to replace that. But before I drive this thing to my house (if it still runs at all now) and take up what little space I have, I want to see if there's any other things it could be. I know a car running rich and rough could be a million things but what are the most common problems? I don't think it ever ran right since it was rebuilt so I'm just kind of hoping the guy that done it was an idiot and couldn't set the timing right.

 

first thing go to your dads and do a test on car turn the key on off on off on and watch the engine light and count the blinks .like if it blinks once and has a space then two times thats 12. do that and it should give a code to tell what is wroung,,,,

 

For free I would take it and try fixing it I mean it's a SHELBY!!! I could only DREAM of having that kind of car. (Though I might be able to get my hands on a '88 Conquest if I'm lucky) What's the worst that could happen you work on the car for a bit can't manage to get it running and e-bay it to someone that can? I mean for free it seems like a win win situation. I'd jump on it.

 

Well, I'll try the codes thing. My dad pulled the battery and kept it inside for the last couple of years so will it still have any codes stored since it ran? Or will I have to get it started/running and then let it store new codes (if they are any)?

If it's running that bad it should be throwing codes like crazy but I don't think the CEL ever came on. Maybe that's normal.

 

If the cell came on for even a second then it will be stored in the computer. I'm not sure if the codes will still be there if the battery was removed but if you start it and run it again it should give you the codes again. And if you ARE going to sell it how much? (LOL sorry like I said I could only dream of owning something like that...)

 

Well, I talked to my brother and I offered to pay him for it (he lost his job this week so I felt bad) and he said right now he'd take a couple of hundred for it, from me. If I sold it, I'm not sure what I'd ask for it. Guess it depends on how bad it is. If it's just the timing problem and it's a simple fix and the car runs good I wouldn't sell it, but drive it. The only other thing I worry about is he said that it was leaking oil somewhere, which is odd since it was rebuilt a few weeks before it was parked. He doesn't know much about cars though so it may not be that bad. He doesn't really look at cars when there's a problem, he just takes it to the mechanic or parks it. I at least have a look under the hood and see what is the problem.

 

Could suck though depending where it's leaking oil/burning oil. I used to have a Plymouth Colt that took 3 quarts every time I shut the engine off. Didn't use a drop while it was running but as soon as that engine shut off...

 

Okay, I went and looked at the car yesterday. Doesn't look too bad except for some mold on the sides, but should come off pretty easy.

The battery wasn't in the car so I pulled my Durango up next to it and ran jumper cables from the Durango to the battery cables on the Shelby (Durango still running). I cranked it over and it was turning WAY too slow to fire. I've never seen a motor turn this slow. If you were watching the crank pulley you could literally count one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three before it's make a complete rotation. It WAS continuous though and I never heard the solenoid just click. I remember when the car was last drove it never did spin really quick like a normal car, but it wasn't this slow. I pulled a plug and let the wire on it to check for spark while I was at it -- it produced a fat blue spark. I put 2 gallons of gas in it to make sure it had enough gas. I didn't bring many tools with me because I really didn't expect it do what it did.

What could that be? Starter going out? My cheap $5 battery cables not giving it enough juice? The car is sitting on a hill so I didn't want to jack it up unless I have to (to pull the starter). My dad said that my cheap, thin, battery cables might not be giving it enough juice but I didn't know if that would be right since we're not talking about a big diesel or something. I thought not having a battery might screw it up but wasn't sure on that either.

I appreciate all your guys' help!

 

First off remember now you're running 2 engines off the juice for 1. I'd recommend trying taking the batery out of the other car and putting it in the shelby or getting a second battery. Also were the wires hot when you went to put them away? That would indicate too much amperage going through too small a cable. As for the mold I'd say that it'll likely come off easily. Depending what's molded. Interior? Just take it to a good detailer and they'll clean it right up. I had a buddy witha Supra leather interior that molded took it in they got it lookin like new. The AC/heating system is what I would worry about. Mold there can keep growing and REALLY funk with sinuses especially if you have allergies. I know for a fact that Wynn's makes a thing and probably other comapnies too once you have the car running it's like a bug bomb. You light it off set it on the floorboard of the passengers' side and leave the car running with the AC on full blast. ANYTHING in the ductwork of the system DIES lol... I think it takes like 20 minutes to half an hour running then you wanna turn the car off and let it set for a bit and air out (The chemical will REALLY mess with your breathing trust me I've used it LOL). Just a recommendation from the peanut gallery Good luck and keep me posted (Looks like I'm getting a project of my own anyways '88 Conquest TSi Turbo YAY)

 

Thanks for the tips!

It doesn't look the interior is molded (the A/C and heating ducts I'm not so sure of though) but it's mainly ths sides of the exterior. They put a tarp on it and it wasn't the breathable kind so the parts that were up against the paint left a greenish tint of mold. It rubbed off pretty easy with my finger though.

I'm going to pull the battery from my old Toyota pickup and put it in the Daytona and try again. I don't want to buy a battery for it unless I know it's going to run and won't need a lot of other parts. Someone I know mentioned something scary that I hope is unlikely. He said that when a car sits for years it may rust/gunk up internally and the slow starting could be friction from all that (meaning I'd need a new motor!). I really hope this isn't right and it's just a starter or battery or cable (corrosion, etc) problem.

I'll keep you guys posted as I go. I'm sure once I do get it started I'll be asking more questions.

Oh, one last thing, this is thinking a little past the starting problem, but when I said it used to run rich and all that -- I saw that the lower turbo hose (coming from turbo and going to the bottom intercooler inlet) has a crack that has turned into a 1/4" wide gash. Surely my brother wouldn't seen this if it happened before the car was parked, but if not, what would this do for a running car?