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Goodbye. Jason came and picked up the old girl today. I stripped everything off that I thought I could use for the CSX or maybe sell at some point. The power train came out fairly easily through the bottom. I will probably put it in the CSX before that motor seizes, while I build up a good one for it. Well anyway, it's all over now....
R.I.P. I have decided to retire the old beast. The right rear brake line rusted through last week (not too uncommon). I spent several hours trying to patch it, but more and more of the lines crumbled away and all the fittings twisted off as I tried to remove them. If the body on this car wasn't in such horrible shape (five shades of peeling red paint on a crooked body), I would certainly just fix it. This was simply the final straw for me...and excuse to get something worth fixing. I will be pulling the powertrain and stripping the body for spare CSX parts. After that I will part what's left out and have it hauled away. It's sad, as I have been driving this car for the past 7 years, but there comes a time when you just have to give it up. I learned a great deal about cars through the old-timer, and its memory will live on here.
After almost exactly 2 months of neglect (one of those spent waiting for parts), I finally got the trans rebuilt and installed. The rebuilt went well, once I broke down a bought the right tools. If you are going to work on one of these, buy yourself a pair of snap-ring pliers with flat, knurled ends and a decent, small gear puller. You'll be glad you did. I bought both from Sears and they worked great. The puller made quick work of the front (bell housing side) intermediate shaft bearing as well as the outer race in the extension housing and the pliers made quick work of those annoying snap rings. The rest of the outer races came out with a hammer and punch.
The inner races are a bit more work, but aren't bad as long as you are careful. Since there is nothing to grab with a puller, I opted to grind through the inner races most of the way with a Dremel, then hit it with a cold chisel and small sledge to crack it. The race will slide right off...just be careful of flying bits of metal and be sure to use those fiberglass-reinforced cutoff wheels. Also, if you opt to get the chome-moly bearing retainer plate, you MUST measure and adjust the input shaft preloading because it does not have the relief for the outer race of the rear input shaft bearing. The instructions in the service manual are fairly straight-forward. I opted for zero end play, since most of the input shafts on the transmissions I've worked on get sloppy shortly after a rebuild.
The new trans works great and it's nice having my old beater back. Two months of paint peel has left the car looking as bad as ever, but it still goes like hell....
Back in early June, the trans started making a horribly loud whining noise all of the time. Prior to that I was hearing more noise than usual, but what I was hearing then definitely signaled the end of the bearings. I'm guessing that my rather heavy foot combined with copious amounts of boost caused a bit too much wheel spin, which tore up the spiders on the diff. Since we were without a garage and about to purchase a home, I limped the car the 40 miles or so to my parent's driveway to wait out the upcoming craziness in our lives. Now that we are getting settled in our new home, it is time to deal with this thing.
I have the original A520 that came with the CSX. It seems to have survived the two garage floods that occurred while it was in storage at my friends' place. I took it apart and cleaned/reoiled it both times, so it should be in good shape. It does, however need a new #2 syncro and could also use new bearings. The spiders on the diff look excellent. I have placed an order for new bearings, snap rings, spacers, shifter fork pads, #2 stop ring, and the chrome-moly bearing retainer plate. I want to get the plate because I know the other A520 was flexing pretty bad when the Shadow hit its torque peak (let out quite a howl in 3rd gear). I am ordering the parts through Gary Donovan at Relentless Performance.
Not much has changed with this car, since I have no where to work on it now. We hope to buy a house this year, so all of that will eventually change. Other than the continuing paint-peel saga, this car has been running well. The only real problem I had was when the center contact distributor cap burned off. The engine was running a little rough, which turned out to be because the spark was arching 1/4 inch from the primary to the rotor. How's that for a strong ignition system! Next will be the transmission (the bearings are starting to howl), but I still have the spare A520 from the CSX. This car also got flooded twice last year, but I was able to dry it out and it seems to have survived OK.
I installed the Conquest intercooler into the Shadow with some clever plumbing to keep the BOV. I upped to boost to 14psi and the car makes lots of power now. Performance-wise, the car is right where I want it.
I also dumped the disintegrating 1988 shifter and replaced it with the '87 unit from the CSX (which has an A568 now). I also moved the pivot point up on the shifter arm for the cable. This shortened the throw of the shifter considerably. I made new end boots for the cables out of bicycle tire tubes and flushed the cables with 100% silicone lubricant. I also tightened all the nuts on the shifter itself. All of this has made the most solid shifter I have ever felt. It actually feels like a rod shifter. I adjusted the cables to bring the shifter planes as close to the driver as possible. If this tranny didn't shift like a truck tranny, the whole setup would be awesome. Now the A568 feels more sloppy than the A520. :-)
I picked-up a used hood from MoparChad to replace the bent one. I also got some power window and door lock motors off of the same car. The parts car was pretty rough, otherwise. The Shadow looks a lot better now, though the "new" hood needs quite a bit of work...at least it's straight.
Well I took the old hood off, threw it in the grass, and started jumping on it to straighten it out. After that and some work with pliers and wooden block, the hood was straight enough to close. The Shadow is now back as my driver, though it looks pretty shabby from the front.
This past weekend I straightened out the subchassis and fixed a few broken items. These include the oil pressure light switch and the oil filter, which got whacked by the radiator fan motor and shroud when the subchassis got pushed back. Our handy-dandy hydraulic kit saved the day again. It's just a basic narrow cylinder with various extensions and ends so that you can stick it anywhere. Works great for separating ball joints, too. Anyway, I got the subchassis back where it should be and straightened out. I also fixed the grille brackets, headlight bowl/bezel, and fender. What is left of the grill is back in place and the headlights will be fixed as soon as I get some new alignment screws. If I can't find a grille, I may just patch-up this one and use it. It doesn't look great, but it will get me through the winter. What I really need is a hood...I cannot save this one.
In light of the hood bulge rarity, I may just put the T1 radiator from the CSX back into the Shadow and either convert back to T1 or use the Conquest intercooler setup. This would put the CSX back the way it was and allow me to use a flat hood on the Shadow. I like the look of the bulge hood, but it isn't absolutely necessary. I'm not sure that the Conquest intercooler is any better than the stock T2 unit. It's longer than the T2, but doesn't have any fins in the tubes (they are just flattened round tubes). Flow may be a bit better (maybe), but I think efficiency is questionable. Also, the CSX doesn't have A/C, so air flow to the stock IC in the stock location should be better than it is on the Shadow. I'm probably going to keep the BOV on the Shadow since it has the little Mitsu turbo.
Well, it appears that my luck has run out with this car. I was traveling about 35-40 mph (in a 50 mph zone) on a dark back road near my house when a deer jumped out of the tall corn field from the left right in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and swerved to the left hoping to avoid it (it was already more than half-way across). The result was the right corner of the hood and grill caught the deer in the rear in mid-air and flipped it into the right shoulder. My hood, grille, and headlight took most of the hit, but not before it bent back the subchassis behind it. The right fender was also bent outward, but easily recoverable. The big problem is finding an '87 or '88 P-body hood with a turbo bulge. I need the bulge to clear my upper intercooler hose and radiator fill cap (T2 unit). I saw a 4-door version of my car (red and all) in a yard. Unfortunately, the car and hood/grille is gone. If you know where I can find one, please let me know.
I finally solved the last of the annoying boost gremlins on this car! I had yanked the Bosch BOV setup on the upper intercooler hose and replaced it with a stock T2 ribbed upper hose. I have bad boost stacking without the BOV (very bad for this little turbo), but no more boost drop-off or random boost amounts. Even though I have already tried removing the BOV and plugging the hole with a piece of wood, I wanted to dump this setup anyway. First of all, I don't like using that crazy setup with the two restrictors, check valve, and bleed to keep pressure on the BOV to keep it shut. Second, I know that my IC has quite a pressure drop at high boost, so the BOV would probably be more effective on the lower IC hose. Since I am not running more than 14psi (nor do I plan to), the stock BOV is perfect and it will also serve as protection because it will blow off the seat above 15psi in case something goes wrong with boost control.
So, I fabricated a new hose connection on the lower stock hose by cutting out a small section and putting a 1-1/2" copper drain pipe in its place (the stock lower IC hose is 1-1/2" ID). I opted for copper because it was easy to solder on a 3/4" fitting to attach the BOV hose. It's a 3/4" copper T-fitting that I sliced along the back and spread open to match the curve of the big pipe. It took some bending, hammering, and patience, but it worked. I then used a short piece of 3/4" copper pipe in the fitting to connect the hose to. I connected the BOV to the copper pipe in the fitting with a short piece of 3/4" I.D. heater hose and then to the air box with another piece. I already had a 3/4" copper pipe fitting on the airbox, so I just put a short piece of 3/4" copper pipe in it to serve as a reducer. The Bosch BOV used 7/8" I.D. hose, so the 3/4" fittings (not 3/4" pipe) were the perfect O.D. I squeezed the fittings so the pipe would fit tightly, sanded the surfaces, and then RTVed them in place. I didn't want to solder so that I could switch back easily. The setup works wonderfully and for the first time, my boost is predictable and solid! This car SCREAMS!!!
Well, I have separated this car from my older cars because I have been adding more and more info about it. So, I thought it deserved its own page. I've done quite a bit of work since I last updated these pages.
First off, I finally bought new tires and put my original crab (bottle cap) rims back on. I was using 14x5.5" rims with 195/70 R14 Firestone 350 tires. These tires SUCK in every way, shape, and form. I have had 70 and 75 series tires before, but these are just junk. The dry traction was lousy: I could light up the tires on 2nd gear with only 12psi of boost and the car plowed really bad. In light turns the tires liked to screech. I even got a full alignment: no change. Wet traction was like driving on slicks--I almost got into countless fender benders, but got lucky. Take-offs were impossible. I won't even talk about winter driving. The tires still have 1/2 of the tread left. I just wanted you to know how HORRIBLE these tires were for me.
ANYWAY, I had replaced my speedo pinion gear to compensate for the larger 195/70 R14 tires and I was enjoying the lower RPMs at highway speeds compared to when I was on my 205/50 R15 Gatorbacks. So, I decided to use the Plus Rule, and got some 205/60 R15s to maintain that ratio. Sears had a sale on Falken ZIEX high performance tires in my size, so I ordered a set. I have to say that these tires are GREAT! I have over 1000 miles on them already, and they seem like they hook up as good as, if not better than the Pirelli 700s on my CSX, and much better than my old Gatorbacks ever did! Wet traction is also very good, which surprised me given the large tread block on these tires. I can go full bore in 1st gear and the tires will keep grabbing. I can feel the control arms "shimmy" has traction switches back and forth between the wheels: time for some polyurethane bushings. Understeer has been dramatically reduced, but when pushed to the limit, the car will plow like it is supposed to. The Falken ZIEX are one of the best performance tires you can get on a budget. I think I will be putting them on the CSX (in 205/50 form) when the time comes.
Is that a plug, or what! :)
Another issue I FINALLY resolved with the Shadow is the sagging rear end. All of the P bodies (also H bodies) I have ever seen (except for Shelbys) seem to get tired rear springs rather quickly. The frame in front of the rear tires was about 1/4" lower than the frame behind the front tires. Rather than replace the springs with new, marginal ones, I opted for some air shocks since I am always hauling stuff around. I installed a pair of Gabriel HiJackers and the cheap air line kit (about $60 total) and pumped them up to about 40psi (minimum is 25psi). Now the car sits 1/4" higher in the rear than in the front and the car just looks "healthier". The best part is that the handling has been improved even more! Now the car tracks through the corners with a very solid feel (like my CSX) and will take corners even harder than before (not as well as the CSX, though), but will still break loose and plow, as it should (in case you have never driven an '87-'88 CSX, they tend to oversteer when you REALLY push them). Also, I can haul heavy items in the rear without bottoming out, and I can accelerate hard without aiming for the moon.
With a cleaned IC and my boost back up to 14psi, the ND T2 SMEC, and the improved handling, my Shadow is just a blast to drive again. Everything on the car works and is functioning well. There is only one problem: the poor Shadow is suddenly suffering from the infamous American Car Paint Peel Problem. The paint has held up well all these years. Suddenly this summer, it's peeling off the roof, truck lid, tops of the doors, etc in small chunks. Grrr... I'm not sure what to do with it, but I probably won't touch it this year. If things are still going well, maybe I'll get it painted next year.
About a year and a half after I bought the car, I got into a front-end collision which put the car out of commission for a while. The front body and chassis was smashed up pretty bad and the radiator and condenser coil was trashed. Here is a picture after the accident:
The following summer I replaced the bumper beam and struts, hood, left fender, and front grill and repainted them all with original-color paint and clearcoat. I managed to straighten out the chassis fairly well using my sister's Shadow as a reference. We have a neat hydraulic set that's great for pushing panels and supports out. The car looks great now, though I wish the paint matched better. The original paint is not as "orange" as it should be (it has the same paint code as my sister's Shadow, but doesn't really match) and the rear, right panel and door don't match at all (they look almost purple) because the car was obviously in a rear-end collision before I owned it. But, it's not all that noticeable. I had to replace the tires (the primary reason I got into the accident--it still had the original Gatorbacks on it!), but I couldn't afford a new set of 205/55 VR15s, so I picked up some five spoke rims at a boneyard and put regular 195/75 R14s on it. I will buy good tires and put the original rims back on when these need to be replaced. Here is a picture of the car as of the summer of 1998:
I recently (summer of 1998) re-replaced the headgasket, rebuilt the head, and cleaned up the mess I had after an oil line blew under the hood one day. I also replaced everything in the air conditioning system, put on a new power steering pump, water pump, belts, cap, rotor, wires, and plugs. I also repainted the intake manifold, throttle body, and valve cover to make it look like a Turbo II (which it eventually will be).
I had also installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge into the dash (the reason for the above mentioned oil mess) along with a remote entry system that I made out of an old car alarm. In the tunes department, the car has an Alpine 2575 head unit with a 6 disk changer, a line-level equalizer, Polk 5 1/4 speakers up front and 5x7s in the rear powered by a small 50 Watt amp through an electronic crossover, all backed up by a JBL 8 inch subwoofer tube in the hatch powered by Pioneer 160 Watt bridged amp. This combination, though a bit odd, makes for a very full sounding system. Here is shot of the dash:
After getting my 1987 Shelby CSX, I decided to go with a different intercooler setup on it. That gave me the opportunity to install the stock Turbo II intercooler, radiator, and airbox into the Shadow:
It took some time to sort out the plumbing. The early Turbo II airbox had no accommodations for a BOV or cruise control vacuum supplement vent. I picked up a Bosch BOV from a SAAB 9000 at a boneyard and installed a hose connection on the curved pipe section of the upper intercooler hose. See my Blow-Off Valves page for more details on this. I installed two nipples on the front of the air box, one for the vent, and one for the output of the BOV (the BOV was VERY loud when left open). This setup works great and I can't hear the BOV at all.
I then had an '89 Turbo II SMEC modified by ND Performance for 14.3psi and the usual aggressive fuel delivery and spark curves. The car smokes the tires in second gear with no problem now and the advanced spark makes a big difference at the bottom end. When the high boost kicks in at 2800 RPM, my stock Turbo I clutch will occasionally slip. Next mod will be a Centerforce II clutch. Right now, I am pretty happy with the Shadow's setup. I added an A/F gauge so I can keep an eye on things. The stock fuel system keeps up with 14.3psi of boost just fine. Hopefully I'll be able to make some runs with the G-Tech sometime soon.
One problem with the ND unit is that it can't control my stock 1988 Turbo 1 turbocharger. It is the small Mitsubishi TD04 unit and it responds too fast for the SMEC to keep up. The result was a lot of surging and boost hunting at part throttle. I resolved this by installing a two-stage bleed with the overboost eliminator. The first stage is set to about 8psi and the second to 12psi for now (to save my clutch). The second stage is activated by a WOT switch that I attached to my throttle body.
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Updated on 01/20/2003
Copyright © 1996-2003 Russ W. Knize
