1989 Shelby Daytona;  Son of the Silver Bullet
 
 
  First Daytona in the 12's with all boost!
 

 

$500 Bucks.
 
 Not much for a car.

   Might get you an Aspen or maybe even a beat up Duster.Be lucky if it ran. Run 13's in the quarter mile with a few days work? naw, never happen. What if there was a little bit of the Silver Bullet Daytona in hiding here? well, just maybe...what if? You know a funny thing happened with that $500 car. Not only does it get my ass to work everyday, it got me down to Maryland with 111,000 miles on the clock.   AND IT RAN HARD.   Just like old times!  

So how the hell did it run 13's?
 

 
3" exhaust, an extra injector, a diode in the map sensor, 18 lbs of  boost and a nice pair of used slicks.

There it is; in all its greasy 111,000 miles glory. You can just see the extra injector above the airbox if you look close. And yes the a/c belt was popped off for a little extra oomph. On the right a picture of the 3" exhaust exiting the car; pulled the system right off the K-car.       

The exhaust is thermal wrapped near the the fuel tank to keep things cool. When the car is down on the ground you can't even see it. hehehehe  

 
 
 
In the pits at Cecil County Dragway 10/17/98
(The original 16 inch pumper rims have been removed for the winter.)
   
 
I really purchased this car for $500! The rear shocks were beat, the tires bald, 2 CV joint boots were flapping in the breeze. But hey, I'm a mechanic and a few boots later, some tires from a swap meet, and the old rear shocks off the k-car, I was on the road and have been driving it ever since.
 
Good damn car.
Thanks for finding it, Ben
 
 
Spring is here! 3/13/99
 
 
 
Went to the Englishtown Dragway Import VS Domestic shoot-out and ran 13.32 at 104 mph!
Changes to the car were a Forward Motion 475 cam, an underdrive pulley, and a 180 thermostat.
At 3100 lbs on the scales, car is making 275 hp! With 118,000 miles on the clock!
 
 
un-be-freaken-lievable!
 
Only other major change was a swap to a 568 transaxle and a new clutch (same gear ratios).  The 568 was earmarked for the k-car but I needed a new clutch in the Shelby so I heaved the 16 V trans and clutch in the car. I'm going up to Epping Dragway on 4/10/99 for a test and tune to see if I can put the car in the 12's with minor tuning!
 
 
Epping Dragway 4/10/99
 
I pulled the cylinder head and replaced the exhaust manifold with a ported unit and while I was at it I had the valves backcut for a bit more flow.  Also the factory roller cam was reinstalled, I wanted to swap back over to the 475 at the track to see how much gain there was to be had.  The first run of the day netted me a 13.17 at 103.5 mph with a best run of 13.09 at 104.9 mph. Best mph was a 106.51 which is good for 292 hp!  Sadly swapping over to the larger cam made NO extra power.
 
 
 
Seth and myself doing the 20 min cam swap boogie.
(thanks for the pic Gus)
 
The turbocharger, intake manifold, head, shortblock, injectors, throttle-body, intercooler, camshaft and fuel pressure regulator  are all stock with 120,000 miles on them.
 
 
5/14/99  Epping Dragway,  12.68 at 110.4 mph!
 
 
 
Full details listed below, I had been to the track every weekend for like 3 weeks and it all came together this weekend. WHEW!  Car ran faster then I would ever imagined it would.
 
 This will be a down and dirty listing of what has been done to the car
from start to finish to get it into the twelve's.

Your mileage may vary.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Cecil County 10/17/98

3 inch exhaust
18 psi boost
Diode to fool map sensor boost cutout
5th injector (6th too, but inactive at this point)
Used 22x7x15 slicks
K&N panel filter
No back seat- 45 pounds
No foglamps and brackets- 15 pounds
No electric seat bottom- 25 pounds
a/c belt popped off

Best run 13.642, best mph 100, best short time 2.034

Note: stock clutch was slipping on launch.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Englishtown 3/13/99
 
 
 
Replaced clutch and transmission with R/T units (same gear ratios)
Underdrive pulley
180 thermostat
FM475 cam
Timing bumped to 14 degrees

Best run 13.34, best mph 104, best short time 1.92

Note: Stock clutch was rivet to rivet on both sides
----------------------------------------------------------------
Epping Dragway 4/10/99
 
 

 

Pulled head and replaced exhaust manifold with unit ported by myself.
Valves backcut
Stock cam reinstalled
Turned boost up a bit
 
Best run 13.09, best mph 106.5, best short time 1.89

Tried FM cam at track- no gain
Tried bumping timing to 16- no gain
 
Shattered brand new intermediate shaft u-joint in 2 passes
DO NOT USE TRW REPLACEMENT.
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Epping Dragway 4/30/99
 
 
 
Talon Blow Off Valve
Large fuel pump
Ice on intake
 
 
 
Light, skinny tires on rear but stock rims
52 mm throttle body
600 cfm air filter (cone)
Smooth upper intercooler hose.
Removed 65 pounds of weight from car.
Had to activate 6th injector.  <--- We be flowing more air!

Examples: omni battery, 10 pounds lighter, removed 2nd horn, cut off
extra threads from exhaust clamps, removed rear speakers, lighter rear
tires. etc...
 
 
 
Best run 13.03, best mph 107.7, best short time 1.99

BOV started leaking after 2nd run- mph dropped down to 104. I did not
figure this out till next time at the track. Also was having problems getting car to
hook up.

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Englishtown 5/9/99
 

 
Light Bogart rear rims- 22 pounds saved.
Boost up a bit more.
Re-installed stock upper intercooler hose.

Did three runs and then blocked off BOV valve- mph rose 3-4 on the 2nd
to last pass.  Bogged and did a 13.7 at 107 with a 2.4 ST. On last pass
car launched hard (2.06 ST) and the clip fell out the of the shifter and
I coasted down the track. Launch problems still.

Best run 13.20, best mph 107.7, best short time 2.06

----------------------------------------------------------------

Epping Dragway 5/14/99, PAYDAY!

Re-thought whole launch concept, watched lots of tape of g-bodies
running, made phone call to Cliff Sebring- confirmed a theory i have.

Boost 20+ psi
Ice on intake
Modified BOV (no more leaking)
Set slick pressures just so, made "suspension adjustments" just right.

Air quality was EXCELLENT! Car ran 12.82@107.9 and then 12.68@110.4.
Packed up and went home. Short times were 1.93 and 1.90.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Things that worked in order of importance.

Raised boost (fool map, extra fuel)
3 inch exhaust
Ported exhaust manifold
Large fuel pump- needed over 275 hp.
Underdrive pulley
52 mm throttle body- only effective at 280hp+ level.
 
 

Spirit R/T clutch KICKS A$$ took a beating and gave 110% back.
26 hard track passes at 290-320 hp level. Zero failures.
 
 

Stuff that didn't really work, but may on other cars.

FM475 cam- field reports say 1.5-2 tenths on most cars, back to back
runs on my car netted nothing. Changed at track, same day, no increase.

600 CFM air filter- no ET or MPH gain. May help turbo live longer due to decreased suction load on intake side of turbo bearing.

Timing set over 14 degrees- no gain on my car.
 
Smooth upper intercooler hose- no gain of any kind.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Following parts are bone stock with 121,000 miles on them. No grinding,
porting, folding, spindling or crushing.

shortblock
head (89 fastburn)
cam
intercooler
turbo
valvesprings
computer
injectors
fuel rail/regulator

Following parts were modified

valves backcut- NO VALVE JOB DONE.
intake ported for 52 mm throttle body
exhaust manifold ported quite a bit

------------------------------------------------------------------

Car weight with driver and third tank of gas 3000 lbs even.

Based on weight and 110.4 mph pass car is making 315 hp
 

Car is run on pump gas, 94 octane Sunoco, sometimes when it is warm out
I  drop in a gallon of 110 octane CAM2 as cheap insurance.
(only when racing)

Only aftermarket gauges are cyberdyne and autometer boost gauge.
 


6/13/99 

   Newest modification to the Daytona was a conversion of the intercooler to water to air. Water transfers heat about 15-25% better then air does; I figured it would be a cool way to increase the efficiency of my intercooler. 

Here you can see the tank welded around the stock core, the capped off bungs are for extra inlets and outlets if I feel they are needed.   

     In this shot you can see the pump on the left, the intercooler radiator in the middle and a cool can on the right.  A 20% mixture of antifreeze is used in a sealed system, the pump draws the antifreeze from the bottom of the radiator, pumps it to the cool can and from there to the intercooler, from there back to the radiator. The cool can which I was using to pre-cool the antifreeze didn't work out like I hoped and will be removed from the system. The fan is wired to come on with the pump, which is switched from inside the car. Current draw is very low so I can precool the intercooler without the car running for quite some time.  Intercooler tank temp is monitored by a Cyberdyne digital gauge in the dash.



  The car ran 12.80 at 107.9 at Cecil County 6/13/99 with temps in the mid 90's with humidity at 85%.  Intercooler core temp peaked at 130 degrees so I'm pretty pleased with the system.  Just wait to see what I'm going to do next!  =)


 
 
All year round..

Thanks for visiting Donovan's Dodge Garage