1985 Dodge Omni GLH-T
History |
Problems |
| Door Handles |
| Tires |
| Rust |
| PolyBushings |
| Body Leaks |
| Fuel Pump |
| Turbo Oil Feed |
| Spare Engine & Trans |
| Radiator Fan |
| Oil Cooler |
| Brakes - SLH |
| Fan Switch |
| 8/16/04 - Just bought this thing .... 185,000 miles, $500. | ||||||
| Here are the first pictures to chronicle my progress. | ||||||
|
||||||
 |
||||||
9/17/05 At a glance: No AC, oil cap and cooler, stainless turbo lines, distributor and cap, radiator fan, remote throttle body, K&N filter, relocated battery, radiator hose, timing belt, removed power steering belt, fuel hoses ... |
||||||
| 8/16/04 - And the fun begins .... While cleaning inside and out I found a few soft spots in the passenger side floor pan. Removal of the carpet and padding revealed the following picture. | ||||||
|
||||||
| 10/12/04 - While washing the car with very little water or pressure I found the drivers side floor excessively wet. I decided the leak had to be found! After peeling the carpet back I felt confident that the water was water was coming in from above the wheel well. | ||||||
|
||||||
| After removing the drivers side fender I found the leak behind the wind shield fluid resevior and hood hinge. Figures! Cleaned out the old body caulk and replaced with new and repeat on other side. NO MORE LEAKS! | ||||||
 |
||||||
| 10/18/04 - After listening to the whining noise in the back seat
area of the car for a couple of weeks I decided to address the issue. My guess was the fuel pump and
luckily it appears that I was right. I spent some time reading forum posts from
www.turbododge.com and decided to replace the stock internal gas tank pump with a Walbro 255HP
from Cindy at www.fwdperformance.com. The
posts all said that the high pressure pump would work as a replacement without any other changes.
Looks like that is true and the noise is gone. I didn't realize how much difference the pump was going to make right of the bat. For one the car now starts on the first crank! When I let off on the gas it doesn't cough, spit and choke! It also appears to have gas ready when I step on it. This is great! First, I released the pressure from the injectors using a jumper from the battery then removed all of the rubber hoses, the external pump, fuel filter (canister hanging from the back seat floor pan) and disconnected the electic connection from the fuel tank. Next removing the compression ring on the tank was fun. Make sure you are using a brass punch! I was beating on the thing for 15 minutes wondering if it would ever move. A little liquid wrench helped. The internals of the tank cap including: fuel gauge, return line and pump were a little tricky to remove, but it can out with some mild twisting. 
 
 The instructions that came with the pump seemed to address the fundamental installation of the pump for several different models of cars, but definetly didn't match mine exactly. I removed the stock pump, cut the leads, and stared at the parts. After mickey mousing with the parts I got the dremel out and cut the center out of the plastic pump hanger ring. With the kit included thin neoprene sleave placed on the pump, it fit snug in the ring. I connected the electical leads and fuel line before placing the whole thing back in the tank. Since I was replacing the pump, I decided to pick up a new filter from the parts store while I was getting new EFI fuel lines and clamps. All reinstalled and cranked it over! |
||||||
| 1/27/05 - I finaly got tired of the oil spots on the drive today.
Turns out the Turbo Oil Feed line is leaking. My guess is the head has been removed previously and the
replace ment line is connected with screw type clamps. Since this car is headed for the track, it is going
to get some good replacement lines. Another call to Cindy at www.fwdperformance.com
had a package sent to my door with stainless a braded Oil Feed Line, Coolent lines, Head gasket and stoods,
RTV sealent and Vavle cover gaskets within 2 days. Gotta love that service! Now for the fun. I have never removed the head from an engine, and I am a bit scared to do so even though everyone on the www.turbododge.com says it's no big deal. So, I decided to see what could be done without removing the head. Off with the airbox, and into a fight with the fuel rail. SOB, that thing would move. After looking, poking and prodding the spare engine I picked up this morning, see the next entry. I was able to get a good idea that pulling up in a rotating manner should release the injectors. Of course it still wasn't that easy. Started making me wonder if I should be removing the head, POP. It came out and look at all that carbon! Primarily on the injector closest to the throttle body. Anyway with help from some Crow Foot Wrench ends made removing the oil feed and coolent line up front easy. Of course the fittings in the back didn't want to move, just strip. So, map gas didn't work but a Dremel did the job on the lines right above the fittings. Slapped a socket on and pull the fitting right out. Everything went back together pretty well except that stupid injector. Took the injector off the rail and managed to work it into the port. Unfortunately removing it caused a chain reaction that ended in me shattering the injector. Again, thank goodness for the second engine. All back together running like a champ and no more oil leak! |
||||||
| 1/29/05 - Got my self a spare Engine and Tranny today. Pretty much 1985 stock turbo and a525 trans. Short drive, so I decided the $75 was worth the effort. I believe that this will be the basis for my top end buildup, learning tool and spare parts machine. | ||||||
2/15/05 - So, each time my stock radiator fan kick on the voltage meter
drops, the lights dim and the fuel pump makes noise. I decided to try to find a newer radiator fan that might
be more efficient and draw less voltage. Found this on ebay and decided to give it a try for $10.50. This wasn't a direct bolt on swap, but not to bad. After removing the stock fan I was able to use the bracket for one bolt on top and move other top bracket to the bottom and connect diagonally from the top with an existing hole in the radiator flange. I'll add some metal to the flange when I move the radiator for the other brackets, but for now it seems secure. I cut the connector of the stock fan and soldered black to black and brown to blue. Heat shink tubing over the new joints and so far, so good. No more voltage problems and a lot more room in front of the engine. |
||||||
2/1/05 - Purchased, but not installed: Earl's 10 row Cooler $22.50 Ebay 3/5/05 - Mounting the cooler - Aluminum angle used to fabricate a frame for mounting the cooler in from of the radiator where the air conditioner condenser used to be. Thermostatic Sandwich Adapter $32.00 Ebay & Hose/Connectors from Russell 
 See how I put it all together!   |
||||||
| 3/5/05 - SLH / Stage 1 Picked up two 89 Dodge Caravan calipers from the the local junk yard from $15 each and a 24mm master cylinder from a Dynasty from $10. A little pricy, but I had already pulled the stuff and wasn't in the mood to argue.
|
||||||
| 3/7/05 - Poly Eurathane Motor Mounts and bushings were delivered today! www.polybushing.com Johnny sent me the following: The installation if the passenger side mount was easy and went just like the instructions suggest. The Front mount went in very easy, but the old mount was a PITA! The instructions suggest that you can "push" the mount out with a hammer. Well I don't use a hammer to push anything. I use it to beat the hell out of what is in the way. I couldn't swing it under the car, so I removed the arm from the motor and beat on it at the bench. Reinstalled and all is good. There is a bit more vibration than I expected, but I expect that can be remedied with some nut and bolt loosening and tightening to settle the motor into the correct location. I hope to get the Dog Bone in tonight and connect the Oil Cooler this weekend. Picked up the Russel Twist-Loks this week. Expensive but cool looking and safe! 3/12/05 - Rear Body Bushing installation ... Doesn't seem like to be a deal. Remove the tire, remove the nuts and bolts from the axle bracket and push the bolt through the sleave of the old bushing. Frozen ... I mean solid ... After disconnecting top bolts and the strut to lower the bolt below the body, so I could beat on the bolt harder, I was able to fit the blade in between the bushing and the axle. I love the smell of rubber in the morning. Definately the way to go. I was quite upset with having wasted 2 hours beating on the thing. I didn't even bother with the other side. Just started by cutting it out. Everything went great after that. (Gotta love the green lube from Johnny! Stuff is everywhere ... sticky and slimy.) |
||||||
| 3/16/05 - Camber Bolts from
Prosuspension.com Pulled the front 1 inch anti sway bar out today to replace the old bushings with polybushings. When I got it out it was pretty messy, so I decided to clean it up and paint it to match the brake calipers. I also replaced the front strut bearings and install the camper bolts. The camber bolts are much heavier that stock.
|
||||||
| 4/3/05 - Radiator Fan Switch - Installation | ||||||
| 4/16/05 - KYB Rear Shocks | ||||||
| 4/17/05 - Tie Rod End Boots installed and drivers side half shaft installation | ||||||
| 4/17/05 - Kuhmo Ecsta 711 - 205/15 50s | ||||||
| 4/22/05 - 4/24/05 - Time to goto the track. Yep everything I did to this point was for this weekend. I went to Summit Point West Virginia for a Porsche Club of America, Drivers Education. I packed the car up and drove down about two hours without any problems. Breezed through grid tech in the morning rain. Sat in class for the drivers meeting and track class. They assigned an instructor for the weekend and I waited my turn for the green group to go out. The instructor, Jim jumped in and said lets go. Being in a Dodge Omni didn't even phase him. I promptly asked him to switch places and drive my car around the track. He did and I was amazed. He didn't push it, but he said he wanted to. My turn and I can say I was plenty scared. Learned the line and tried to smooth things out. Did the same thing three other times that day and was exhausted by dark. I didn't realize how much memorization goes into the course. Anyway the car did great! No problems! Saturday went pretty much the same way, except I was starting to pass some of these Porsches! Yeah, I had a great instructor that just kept pushing. Had a little bit of a problem with no oil pressure, but it turned out to be the pressure sender on the gauge. Sunday I played on the track for a while, packed up and drove home. What a blast for the price of a set of tires on that guys Porsche! | ||||||
 One turn before the pass! |
||||||
| 4/29/05 - Oil Temp Gauge - Picked up an APC electric gauge from Pep Boys for $30. Yeah, it was marked wrong. Why else would I by it? So I put the sender in the end of the knob that houses oil pressure sender and oil temp idiot light sender. Wired 18 gauge through the firewall to the dash. Tied the power into the fuse box and grounded to a stud. Cut an oval in the dash below the right hand heat duct. Works pretty well and proves that the temp is below 200 with the cooler. Also replaced the Oil Pressure sender. | ||||||
| 4/30/05 - Transmission Oil Change - Shouldn't be a big deal, but as with everything else, here we go. Pulled the put out of the transmission behind the drivers side wheel. They say that oil should run out if the level is correct. Welp, no oil. Stuck my finger in to feel around and still no oil. Stuck in a point of tubing to pump it out and got no more that 6 ounces. Figured I was doing something wrong, so I figured I'd dump a quart of new 5w-30 in and it would a full. Nope took 2 quarts of oil and about 5 ounces of Lucas Oil Stabilizer. Boy does it sounds better and shift smoother. | ||||||
| 5/7/05 - Timing and Accessory Belts - While looking for an oil leak on
the passenger side of the engine compartment I removed the cam gear. Well, I guess I moved the cam when putting
the gear back on because the car wouldn't start after that. I decided to change all of the belts just for good
measure. Here is a link to the instructions I used: http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/enginetiming.html Had a couple of problems as usual. 1. Make sure to use a Torx socket on the crank pulley. A regular socket will strip the head. (1.5 hour grinding with dremel to get the heads off. Not fun. 2. Use the hole in the cam gear for alignment. 3. Do not use the hole in the intermediate gear for alignment! There is a line on the outside of the gear. 4. After getting the belt on and the engine started, time the ignition. I also chose not to replace the power steering belt. Instead I am going with manual, but I haven't removed the pump yet. |
||||||
| 5/8/05 - First Autocross - I signed up for a drivers education with the Central Pennsylvania Region of the Porsche Club of America. They hold events in Hershey beside the Giant Center. The classroom information was pretty basic and geared to the beginner for safety. After the classroom we went outside and drove a cone course three times. I was amazed how different it is. Never got out of first gear and was done in less than 2 minutes each run. Very different than road course runs. | ||||||
| 8/12/05 - I guess it's been a little while, but not that much has happened, so I'll just enter it now. Drove a Watkins Glen, very cool! Moved the battery to the back seat floor, installed new front rotors and cut one loop out of each spring. Planning to install a roll cage, fixed back race seats and harnesses as well as fabricating an air box, moving the Throttle body and installing a cone filter. Anyway, I've been working on the Susquehanna Valley Turbo Dodge club website. It's coming along nicely. www.sv-td.com | ||||||
