Posts Tagged ‘mopar’

Meet “Baby Viper”

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

Baby Viper: ‘87 Plymouth Caravelle GTS

Frontend, low, night, 2_1

Frontend, sidecut, day, 1_2 Well, here they are. The promised pictures for my daily driver. First, many thanks to Ed Treijs for the night time shots, Ron Avery for the daytime shots and to Eric Young for scanner useage/webpage suggestions :) And let’s not forget Simon Sprague for being an all-around good guy willing to help.

History on the car:

Previous owner worked at an Oakville, Ontairo Chrysler dealership and bought the 1987 Plymouth Caravelle SE new. Car was ’sold’ to his son who took car of it and made the major cosmetic changes you see that are oh-so-obvious. I have a goodly stack of papers of work that has been done to the car at the dealership where his father works. In 1999, while attending the Ontario Moparfest, I ran into a friend of mine from my town. At the time we both owned green Dodge Darts(Mine a ‘72, his a 68). He told me about this car he just bought and go take a look at it. So I made my way over to it and loved it from the start. I had this itching feeling to buy a Turbo Dodge product for awhile at that point. Preferablly I would loved to have had an Omni GLH-T but the pure look of this car was enough.

Front-Corner, day, 1_1c

I begged my friend all night to trade me for my ‘72 Dart or an ‘86 Lancer that I just redid the head on. He just laughed at my folly and shrugged me off. Two weeks later he came to my work and asked if I wanted to buy the car. We struck a deal and I purchased my first Turbo Dodge for $1500 Cdn.

Side, Day, 1_8c

So, I had to sell my Dart to purchase the Caravelle. I had done just about everything short of swapping in a V8 into the car and couldn’t afford the estimated $1000 it would cost me in parts(and that’s from knowing people!) So, I opted for a Turbo car to go faster, plus it looked cool. The car needed nothing for a Safety Certificate and an emission test has been done only 5 months ago. Being that it was within the 6 month limit I didn’t need to do it again until my License renewal(which it passed, more on that later).

Since owning it, I have done a fair bit of modification to it. Most of which to try and get it runnning just the way I wanted it to, the rest to try and get it running faster :) My goal is to make this car a 15 second 1/4mile while still getting decent mileage. Decent being 500kms(300 miles) per tank full on the highway and no less than 400kms(240ish Miles) in the city. As it stands to date, the most I have ever gotten from a tank is 454kms. Close but much has changed since then.

Specifications:

Year:   1987

Make:   Plymouth

Model:  Caravelle SE

Body:   4 Door

Engine: 2.2L Turbo 1

        Block: 1985 T1

        Head:  1988 TBI Roller Cam, Rebuilt by Head & Block

Tranny: A-413

        Omni/Horizon Gearing(will get Ratio)

Tires:  195/60R15(Winter) on 15" Dodge 'Swiss Chese' Rims

        Summer Tires to follow next season

        Previous: 205/60R14 Goodyear Eagle VR60 on 14" Mangles Star Rims

Colour: Current - Viper Blue with Dual White Racing Stripes (a la Viper GTS)

        Previous - Dark Blue

Other:  K& N Drop-in Filter

        Thrush Muffler

1/4 Mile Run: 16.79@79.7mph, Spring of 1999

Stuff that has been done to the car prior to my ownership:

  • - Paint Job (Viper GTS style)

    Front, day, 1_4a

  • - 5 Star Mangles Rims (14X6, for sale)

    Tires, Star, 3-6d

  • - Front Springs
  • - MP Computer (P4529873)
  • - Equus Pro Tach w/shift light
  • - K-frame replaced(used)
  • - Thrush Muffler Thrush sticker, 2-7bThat was the major stuff. Some typical stuff like brakes, gaskets and such as well.Things that I have done since September 1999:
  • - Camshaft seal
  • - Changed Differential gears!Note: the RPMs were at 3000 at 60mph! Dean Stillie sold me a set that came
    from an Omin/Horizon transmission. Engine now sits at 2700rpm at 60mph. Better mileage, slower off line. Going though 1/4 mile still in second.
  • - Bought “Baby Viper” lettering and installed

    Baby Viper Lettering, 3_1a

  • - Scripted “Caravelle” lettering from Early 80’s RWD Caravelle Fender, 3_2b
  • - “GTS” Badging from LeBaron GTS Trunk, 3_3b
  • - Upgraded Brakelight bulbs to 2396’s (brighter)
  • - Installed 194B (Blue) bulbs in corner marker lights and all dash lights
  • - Upgraded headlights to H4650HO’s (brighter) (See also the Headlight Comparison Pictures[link broken])
  • - Grant Steering Wheel Cover(#7024) (Blue)

    Dash, night, 3_5b

  • - Replaced MAP Sensor(Yeah, I enjoy breaking down at 1am!)
  • - Bought MP Liquid Filled Boost Gauge
  • - Emission test! This one is 5 months before I bought it. E-Test May 1999. This one is with the MP Computer 6 months after I bought it. E-Test April 2000.[links broken]
  • - Replaced Engine! (Well, teach me to leave a 20ft patch of rubber at the Beachstrip with a 2.2 T1 with a bunch of miles on it!) Total cost to replace engine: $600 Cdn. Used short block from Pete Tessier in Ottawa.

    Engine, 3-9a

  • - To add to Engine, I had already purchased a rebuild cylinder head for an ‘86 Lancer but the rest of the engine was gone. So I used it for here. So technically the cost gets bumped up another $400 CDN.
  • - Rebuilt Cyl Head is set up for an ‘88 Roller Cam TBI car. Runs just fine
    for a T1.
  • - Bought Darren Dawes Air/Fuel meter.
  • - Bought Darren Dawes Boost Control Valve (Yeah! 14lbs of Boost now!)
  • - Bought used set of 15″ Swiss Cheese Rims($50 Cdn! Good Shape!) Tire, Swiss, 2-8a
  • - Bought set of 15″ ‘Hercules Polar Trax” winter tires.($300)
  • - Bought Oil Gauge(45deg sweep)
  • - Bought all new Ingition parts of the year
  • - Bought Centre Console from wreckers(mid-80’s NY’er, actually it paid for itself as I found $20 in it!)

    Dash, 1-9a

  • - Replaced Passenger Side CV shaft(Ugh, $300 Cdn!, and on the way to to pick up Girlfriend’s 2000 Neon!)
  • - Bought Godzilla Cupholders from Taco Bell 3 years ago when the movie came
    out

    Cupholders, 1-10a

  • - Replaced Front, Left Driveshaft with non-Turbo shaft, Thanks Dean!
  • - Front Brakes, Thanks Dean!
  • - SOLD CAR TO ALEX SPRAGUE(Simon’s Son), Have Fun!
    Revised June 14, 2001, D.B.
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    Gus Mahon – 4 Cylinder Poem

    Saturday, June 12th, 2010

    From: Gus Mahon <thomas.mahon@snet.net>

    Twas Thanksgiving day and caught at the light,

    Was a domestic V8 with no cops in sight,

    I will try, I will try, (but he’ll think I’m a joker),

    To beat this WS6, even with its big stroker,

    As the light goes green and I pull like no joke,

    The WS6 makes a cloud of tire smoke,

    Now Smasher, now Revver, now Stroker, now Blitzin,

    These are the names of my four force-fed pistons,

    Racing ahead as I launch from the action,

    Try as he might, he just can’t find traction.

    In second gear I hear the Super 60 sing,

    My mirror is clouded by this Tans Am thing.

    I now hear the roar of that monster fade away,

    And I hear that my turbo is singing today,

    Second reaches 90; man what a blast,

    To third gear I go, with boost and a pass.

    He doesn’t bother with third, cause now it’s too late,

    But he’ll try to act cool like he can relate,

    Looking back at the headlights as they quickly get smaller,

    I decide to back off, with a wave and a holler.

    “You can’t win them all”, I say with a smile,

    As he mumbles some insult; he has no style.

    I smiled and revved as he pulled out of sight,

    Maybe I’ll find him again, and whomp him tonight.

    Tom “Gus” Mahon

    http://pages.cthome.net/gus/index.html

    Slugmobile – 89 Acclaim – 12.2

    Mean Mini – 89 Caravan – 13.1

    Blackie – 89 Spirit – 15.2

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    Well, a busy winter!

    Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

    Boy, hard to believe that it’s been since October till now between posts.

    Things that have happened:

    - bought a new house
    - suffered through another damn winter (_finally_ got decent weather recently!)
    - Wife has gone to South Korea to teach english for a year (http://bharati-esl.blogspot.com)
    - started another business (http://www.mr-aspen.com)…well, technically joined another guy to help with his business
    - now working on distributing Powre Valvz
    - done contract work for our Gov’t, Canada Post, Air Transat, and a ton of local home users

    Whew….and the year is just getting started!

    Well, let’s see if I can keep up with more regular posts now :)

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