86 Shelby Charger

11.4 @ 120 on DOT Drag Radials

Blew a head gasket on the Twin Turbo Shadow at the last subcompact race at E-Town of the 2004 season.  I think I got a bad batch of gas (94 octane) and so did lots of other folks since there were much more than the usual number of blown head gaskets that day.   Since I had to tear the head out, I decided it was time for a change and put most of the go-fast parts into an 86 Shelby Charger.  Most of the TT Shadow internals went in except that now it's a single t3/4 turbo and the alcohol injection is multi port.

Here's the shadow motor going into the Charger.

In addition to changing to a single turbo, I modified the alcohol injection system.  Previously, the alcohol was sprayed into the intake hoses before the throttle body using three cold start injectors.   This had a few issues.  When I would let off, alcohol would get sucked through the blow off valve and into the engine bay.  Not good.  Also, I suspect that some of the alcohol would get plastered to the back of the elbow in the intake manifold and that cylinder number 4 was getting oversprayed.   So the New Alcohol setup has 4 misting nozzles that spray directly into each runner.

So the current setup is (most of this is the same as the TT Shadow, but I'm listing it all for completeness):

• 2.5 with stock crank.
• Stock bottom end with ARP studs
• 7.3 to 1 compression ratio, thanks to removing material out of combustion chamber
• Stock rods with ARP bolts
• JE .020 over 2.5 pistons.
• Balance shafts removed.
• Stock oil pump.
• Home made windage tray
• Swirl head, (rewelded #4 after last blown head gasket).  1mm over valves, heavier MP springs, cleaned up bowl area, no porting of ports, heavy deshrouding, removed material from combustion chambers to 53cc.
• ARP head studs
• Cometic MLS head gasket.
• Stock 89 turbo 1 cam.
• Stock T1 fuel rail with drilled supply side tube for better fuel flow.
• 180 degree thermostat.
• 1 piece intake manifold.
• 52 mm throttle body.
• Stock exhaust manifold, ported.  The runners were not made bigger, just cleaned up.  Cut manifold in half and removed alot of material between the #3 port and the turbo mounting flange, then rewelded it back together.
• t3/4 hybrid turbo 56 trim?
• International diesel intercooler (same one from Shadow)
• 1G talon blow off valve modified to hold unlimited boost.
• + side of coil wired in it's own circuit so it no longer shares wiring with fuel pump.
• Blaster II coil.
• A413 with quaife (see tranny section), but went back to 2.6 to 1 drive ratio.
• NAN performance torque converter with stock turbo stall.
• 3bar cal tuned to lower gas delivery at WOT, with DCAL
• 89 electronics grafted into the original 86 wiring harness.   Half of the SMEC is in the engine bay and the other half of the SMEC is in the glove box.
• Alcohol injection (see New Alcohol setup)
• Stock axles from 89 automatic OMNI, unequal length.
• BFG G-Force drag radials, 225-50-15.
• Stiffened rear suspension.
• Manual steering rack from the TT Shadow (don't ask).
• Smaller alternator from an 87 minivan.
• Battery relocated inside bumper on passenger side.
• Radiator cooling fan from a junked Hundai
• Intercooler cooling fan from an 87 minivan.
• Underdrive pulley.
• Intercooler pipes made from junked corvette exhaust.
• Intake hose made from 3" diesel intake flex hose.
• 3" home made swingvalve with Vband clamp.
• 3" flex pipe
• 3" stainless exhaust pipes from Ford powerstroke truck.  Side exit exhaust with 3" Magneflow.
• Full interior and full glass.
• AEM uego wideband sensor/control unit with home made gauge.
• Westerberg EGT sensor and gauge
• Home made logging system
• Cooling fan bypass switch.
• Intercooler misting with washer fluid for hot racing days.

The Charger weighed in at 2640 at E-town.  This is with spare tire removed and toolbox in back seat.

The one in the background has been sold.

May 14-15, 2005 -  Finals at NHRA  Sport Compact Nationals at Atco in Quick-16 class.

Entered my 86 SC in the NHRA Sport Compact series race, in the Quick-16 class, when the series made it's stop in Atco NJ this past weekend.

The NHRA Quick-16 class is interesting. Unlike regular bracket dial in classes, you need to qualify 11.99 or better and only the fastest 16 qualifiers get to race in eliminations. Also unlike regular bracket racing, your dial in is automatically set by your fastest qualification run. You are also allowed to break out by 1/2 second beyond your best qualifying time. Each time you run a better time than your qualifying time, it automatically becomes your new dial-in. This field included 8, 9, 10 and 11 second cars.

Although I had problems with my first 2 qualifying runs (1st run I blew my fuel hose off again, 2nd run I had my boost set too low), With my back to the wall to qualify, I let everything fly and managed an 11.560 @ 112.50 to qualify. The track was hooking so I also got my best street tire 60ft time of 1.757 on the qualifying run and I was on the brake at the end because this is a daily driver with no cage.

With some luck, I made it to the finals. It was a pretty cool feeling to be one of the pairs of finalists in the staging lanes lined up next to 2000HP sport compacts. In the finals my dial was 11.56 against an air cooled VW that was dialed in at 11.27. My previous run, I launched soft and got 1.84 60 foot so I, did a really smokey burnout and launched harder in the final run. This was a mistake because I broke the beams 22 thousands of a second early and my final run of 11.564 @ 119.39 with another 1.7 60ft was a for nothing.

The NHRA web site unfortunately does not appear to have the Quick-16 in their recap results. I emailed the NHRA sport compact people and called the Executive Director, of the NHRA Sport Compact Series.    After a number of calls an inquiries, I found out that the NHRA has no interest in covering the non pro events, even though the majority of entrants are non pro and we pay the same racing fees as the pro guys.  The also don't mind taking the entrance fees from all of the friends and relatives that the non pro racers bring and they also forgot that the non pro guys and gals buy products from the sponsoring vendors and the pro ones get their for free.  OH well.

This was a nationally televised event and it will air on ESPN2 Friday, May 27 at 4PM and again on Sunday, May 29 at 2AM. Even though I redlighted in the final, I hope they show the final pass in the Quick-16 class.  So ESPN2 also doesn't think we exist because they didn't show any our finals matches.  Oh Well

However, there seems to be a really cool website that does care about all racers and does have video of all the final rounds.  It's Thespeedlounge.com and here is the video of all of the final passes at the event.  All Classes Final Rounds   Mine is the last pass. 

Here are NHRA photos of all the cars at the event.

   
Qualifying time slip on left and finals slip on right.  My car number is 7411.  Notice the 1.757 drag radial 60 foot time and low MPH  in qualifying from being on the brakes.  Red-lighted in the finals cost me a Wally.

Trademark rubber plastered to side of car.

Gauge cluster and launch boost circuit (lets me know when the boost is just right for launching).  Gauge on left is home made Wideband display connected to AEM uego wideband controller.

What is half of an 89 SMEC doing in the glove box of an 86 charger???

Shifter from automatic OMNI.  Logger in background.

The business end of the Charger

Alcohol fuel rail and anti siphon valve.

intercooler fits perfectly.

Intercooler (from International diesel bus) and trans fluid cooler from minivan.

1 gallon alcohol/water tank with T1 fuel pump inside.

Someone on the TD board did not like my soup cans in the Shadow, so I changed to coffee instead for more boost.

There are videos of the charger and other cars in the video section:

I was considering swapping the motor to a 16 valve hybrid, but I'm leaving this car just the way it is and building the 98 Neon instead.

March 2006, won the Pro Import Shootout class at first race of the Englishtown Survival Series, with a dial in of 11.68 (yes I was sandbagging).  It's an 11.99 or faster bracket race for 1988 and older cars.   So they put the picture of my winning car from the first race on the cover of the Englishtown Raceway News and then...... they banned me from that class in the second race in the series.  Go figure.  They changed the rules at the last minute to "Only RWD".  I guess this is the first time in history that trailered RWD cars running slicks were intimidated by a street driven FWD running drag radials.

Fall 2006 NHRA Sport Compact.  Finally won the Wally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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