At the time I worked at a Subway near a NTB tire store, and I got to talking with the NTB mechanic quite often. When I mentioned the Daytona I just got, he offered to take a look at it after work. Within five minutes he figured out the red silicone hoses used for vacuum lines would suck shut after getting warm (and softer) and make the car stall. He showed me by just squeezing one and that was my first task to get this Daytona running smoother. I believe he also advised me to get a new boost gauge and told me of a place called Harbor Freight that had a great one for $15 dollars (I now shop at Harbor Freight all the time!).
From there, I got started. I spoke with "turbokid" from turbododge.com and devised a good vacuum line setup. I removed a few lines the previous owner had that weren't needed, and kept things to a minimum. Using a vacuum block the car came with, I ran a line to the barometer (which connects to the map sensor), fuel pressure regulator, boost gauge and blow off valve.
While I was switching around the lines, I went ahead and pulled the factory boost gauge to replace it. I wanted the new boost gauge to be in the factory location and used the factory boost gauge "housing"by cutting a hole the same diameter as the new gauge. I laid some black film on the face of it and put it all together, I liked the results:
With my minor changes and some new spark plugs with correct gapping, my Daytona finally was starting to run pretty decent. Eventually I took all the braided stainless steel hoses off, used some thread sealer and properly tightened it all up to eliminate most of the leaks. When I received the Daytona I could undo most of the fittings by hand!
Next was tackling the fuel leak! While removing some of the rubber hosing from the fuel filter.....part of the fuel line snapped off!
After spending a couple hours trying to fix the leaks, my fiance and I pretty much didn't get the leak to stop any less than before we started. So I had to call in for some assistance and my uncle said he would help me get the fuel line fixed up a bit.
This is where the story of this car kind of starts to get depressing........
I picked my uncle up so he could drive the Daytona back to his house and I would follow behind in my other car. Right at the beginning of his street I noticed the car smoking! My uncle kept driving and we got it into the driveway. I ran up to the car and smoke was just pouring out of the front wheel wells! My uncle then said that my brakes seized up.......great. The day turned into replacing the front brake calibers and the master cylinder. My uncle also checked the rear and they were fine, just need a small parts kit to replace a couple bent up things which came in a couple days later from Napa.
A couple hours later we finally had the brakes done and my uncle was getting ready to do the test drive down the street. Everything was going fine until he pulled into the driveway and I heard a pop.....followed by a trail of fluid now leaking on the driver's side.
Yep, the brake line popped. We then both stood there ready to set the car on fire but instead called AAA to tow it to a shop my parent's use, Union Weber.
When it arrived, I spoke with the owner, Mark (the taller Mark) and he quoted me about $450 for new fuel lines. I agreed and now just had to wait for a couple weeks as I told them it was no rush. After a couple weeks, the mechanic who was doing my Daytona called and said he couldn't find the outer rubber brake lines anywhere and that Dodge discontinued them. Eventually we went with a braided stainless steel kit from fwdperformance.com for about $120. After the parts came in, a couple weeks later the car was ready.....except for the battery being dead and unable to be charged. Dropped off the new battery, the mechanic checked the car and drove it for a bit and said it was ready to go. Although, the mechanic said it was $900 now since all the brake lines and fuel lines needed replacing. I paid it, however I was slightly angered I was quoted half of that but was just happy it was done. Plus Mark always takes care of me and they really helped me out on several things and questions I had, so I really was grateful, more so just overwhelmed by the whole deal.
I also finally tracked down a replacement front lower ground fx piece to add back to the Daytona and give it the real Shelby Z look it once had.
I also noticed the air box had a huge hole in its side and the hoses were cracked. I couldn't fine a replacement one anywhere at the time and decided to just build up a cold air intake. I also began testing some strut bars for fitment, the below picture just had it in there not really attached.
At this time I was pretty happy with the Daytona, that was until then I started spending some time underneath the car and noticed something.......rust.
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