🔧 BUILD 1989 Dodge Daytona ES TBI to Turbo Conversion

WarlockSyno

Member
Oct 27, 2020
74
296
Hello! This is my 1989 Dodge Daytona ES that I bought for $500 about 5 years ago. It's a rust free 89 that had a 100HP 2.5L TBI motor in it that was driven to hell and back on two cylinders for the longest time. Eventually I fixed the headgasket and upgraded the cylinder head with PT Cruiser lifters, Dodge Caravan springs, LS valve retainers, and HEMI valve stem seals. Drove it like that for probably 3000 miles or so until the front main seal would leak so much oil you could go through 6 quarts in about a 60 mile trip.

It is now being revived as a turbo 2.5! It's all made up of scrap I had laying around, parts laying around, parts given to me by good friends, and eBay. I've made some videos on it which are as follows:

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:



Here's a quick run through of the car:
1989 Dodge Daytona ES

Engine is:
782 Swirl head with turbo exhaust valves
1989 TBI 2.5L cam
Dodge Caravan 3.3/3.8 valve springs
PT Cruiser lifters
LS/3100 GM retainers
Used ARP headstuds
2.2L common block (No balance shaft mounts)
2.2L T2 rods (Stout 600HP factory rods)
2.5L .030" factory pistons
2.5L TBI crank
2.5L oil pickup (Need to use a 2.2L one since I don't have balance shafts now)
2.5L oil pan

Turbo is a $100 shipped maxSpeedingRods "50 trim" with a T3 flange and 2.5" v-band exhaust housing
Intercooler is a MR2 style eBay guy
Fans are from a Chrysler Sebring, with the shroud cut in half
Radiator is from eBay, it's an EK hatch Honda half rad

Loading the car up on the trailer. Hadn't been started in 2.5 years, fired up literally within the first turn of the motor.
1603802772855.png


Pulling the wiring harness out and labeling where everything was plugged into on the harness
1603802787649.png


Yoinked the motor out
1603802804955.png


Drove to St. Louis from KC to grab this 2.2L turbo common block, rods, and wiring harness from a friend who gave me it all for free
1603803186866.png

1603803197008.png


Now, these were all pretty rusty, but after doing some home made electrolysis it cleaned up nice. You can watch the video on that here:


1603803601505.png



And the $100 shipped turbo arrived
1603803652296.png


Swapped the pump from the factory low pressure (8psi?) to a Quantum $25 shipped 255, new on the left
1603803751904.png


MR2 style intercooler
1603803803618.png


Since I didn't have any 2.5L turbo piston (Since the rods and pistons I got were from a 2.2L) I got super lucky and ordered a BRAND NEW set of factory Mahle 2.5L .030" turbo pistons for $40 shipped. Amazing deal. So I got the crank and block checked over and bored.

1603803894367.png


Head is all assembled. 782 swirl head, 2.5L TBI cam, PT Cruiser lifters, 3.3/3.8 Caravan valve springs, LS/3100 retainers, and used ARP head studs
1603803931810.png


Sloppy rod balance. All within less than a gram now.
1603804031663.png


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1603804081881.png

1603804098248.png


Engine all assembled and getting dropped in
1603804455248.png

1603804463689.png


Now for cooling, using a Honda half rad with a Chrysler Sebring fan shroud cut in half
1603804497541.png

1603804507074.png

1603804515350.png



Added a Chrysler 3.8 Caravan throttle body for a little more flow
1603804576569.png


Here's the bad boi running without an exhaust


Starting the creation of the downpipe, used 3D printed elbows to figure out the angle needed
1603806565491.png


Free 3" exhaust from a Ford from the exhaust shop
1603806583317.png


1603806601817.png


1603806615116.png


1603806628601.png


This section is made up of the v band that came with the turbo, a SS304 90 from Amazon, and the exhaust from a LM7
1603806639241.png


Made brackets for the radiator
1603806699106.png

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1603806720584.png

1603806729791.png


And here's the exhaust finished. It's part eBay, part Amazon, part GM, and part Ford.
1603806780990.png


And there's probably stuff I'm forgetting, but the videos go over a LOT more if you care to spend some time watching them.
 

WarlockSyno

Member
Oct 27, 2020
74
296
This is awesome! I love the 3d printed pipes. I had an '83 Shelby Charger that I wanted to turbo swap when I was 17. I was not smart enough for that, and ended up selling it soon after. These old Dodges are neat.

This is the next project to go in the garage after the Daytona drives out
1603808125854.png

1603808134420.png


I built a 2.4 for it. 10.5:1 pistons, ported to hell head, big cams, and a very stout bottem end. A VS Racing DBB 6262 to top it all off.
1603808187305.png

1603808196608.png
 

Outlaw

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v6buicks

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Almost done with the engine bay. Got the intercooler piping welded up and the 4th cylinder coolant mod installed. Now just to get this damn upper radiator hose figured out.

View attachment 71951
What's the 4th cylinder coolant mod and why is it needed? Pipes look good! I love seeing them welded instead of having a ton of couplers. lol
 

WarlockSyno

Member
Oct 27, 2020
74
296
What's the 4th cylinder coolant mod and why is it needed? Pipes look good! I love seeing them welded instead of having a ton of couplers. lol

So on these cars the water flow is kind of not optimal. You'll notice cylinder #4 is on the right side of the thermostat housing, well the water pump is on the left side of the engine, so water on the right side of the thermostat housing likes to sit stagnant. Years and years ago I bought this aluminum bracket that you bolt to the side of the head where you can knock out a casting plug. From there you block off the the normal route that the heater core would take through the head and instead route it through this fourth cylinder hole.

1604342323614.png


1604342334344.png

1604342613658.png


1604342574161.png
 

v6buicks

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So on these cars the water flow is kind of not optimal. You'll notice cylinder #4 is on the right side of the thermostat housing, well the water pump is on the left side of the engine, so water on the right side of the thermostat housing likes to sit stagnant. Years and years ago I bought this aluminum bracket that you bolt to the side of the head where you can knock out a casting plug. From there you block off the the normal route that the heater core would take through the head and instead route it through this fourth cylinder hole.

View attachment 71971

View attachment 71972
View attachment 71977

View attachment 71976
Nifty!
 

b00sted

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Oct 6, 2010
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Hello! This is my 1989 Dodge Daytona ES that I bought for $500 about 5 years ago. It's a rust free 89 that had a 100HP 2.5L TBI motor in it that was driven to hell and back on two cylinders for the longest time. Eventually I fixed the headgasket and upgraded the cylinder head with PT Cruiser lifters, Dodge Caravan springs, LS valve retainers, and HEMI valve stem seals. Drove it like that for probably 3000 miles or so until the front main seal would leak so much oil you could go through 6 quarts in about a 60 mile trip.

It is now being revived as a turbo 2.5! It's all made up of scrap I had laying around, parts laying around, parts given to me by good friends, and eBay. I've made some videos on it which are as follows:

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:



Here's a quick run through of the car:
1989 Dodge Daytona ES

Engine is:
782 Swirl head with turbo exhaust valves
1989 TBI 2.5L cam
Dodge Caravan 3.3/3.8 valve springs
PT Cruiser lifters
LS/3100 GM retainers
Used ARP headstuds
2.2L common block (No balance shaft mounts)
2.2L T2 rods (Stout 600HP factory rods)
2.5L .030" factory pistons
2.5L TBI crank
2.5L oil pickup (Need to use a 2.2L one since I don't have balance shafts now)
2.5L oil pan

Turbo is a $100 shipped maxSpeedingRods "50 trim" with a T3 flange and 2.5" v-band exhaust housing
Intercooler is a MR2 style eBay guy
Fans are from a Chrysler Sebring, with the shroud cut in half
Radiator is from eBay, it's an EK hatch Honda half rad

Loading the car up on the trailer. Hadn't been started in 2.5 years, fired up literally within the first turn of the motor.
View attachment 70860

Pulling the wiring harness out and labeling where everything was plugged into on the harness
View attachment 70861

Yoinked the motor out
View attachment 70862

Drove to St. Louis from KC to grab this 2.2L turbo common block, rods, and wiring harness from a friend who gave me it all for free
View attachment 70863
View attachment 70864

Now, these were all pretty rusty, but after doing some home made electrolysis it cleaned up nice. You can watch the video on that here:


View attachment 70865


And the $100 shipped turbo arrived
View attachment 70866

Swapped the pump from the factory low pressure (8psi?) to a Quantum $25 shipped 255, new on the left
View attachment 70868

MR2 style intercooler
View attachment 70869

Since I didn't have any 2.5L turbo piston (Since the rods and pistons I got were from a 2.2L) I got super lucky and ordered a BRAND NEW set of factory Mahle 2.5L .030" turbo pistons for $40 shipped. Amazing deal. So I got the crank and block checked over and bored.

View attachment 70870

Head is all assembled. 782 swirl head, 2.5L TBI cam, PT Cruiser lifters, 3.3/3.8 Caravan valve springs, LS/3100 retainers, and used ARP head studs
View attachment 70871

Sloppy rod balance. All within less than a gram now.
View attachment 70872

View attachment 70873
View attachment 70874
View attachment 70875
View attachment 70876

Engine all assembled and getting dropped in
View attachment 70877
View attachment 70878

Now for cooling, using a Honda half rad with a Chrysler Sebring fan shroud cut in half
View attachment 70879
View attachment 70880
View attachment 70881


Added a Chrysler 3.8 Caravan throttle body for a little more flow
View attachment 70882

Here's the bad boi running without an exhaust


Starting the creation of the downpipe, used 3D printed elbows to figure out the angle needed
View attachment 70891

Free 3" exhaust from a Ford from the exhaust shop
View attachment 70892

View attachment 70893

View attachment 70894

View attachment 70895

This section is made up of the v band that came with the turbo, a SS304 90 from Amazon, and the exhaust from a LM7
View attachment 70896

Made brackets for the radiator
View attachment 70897
View attachment 70898
View attachment 70899
View attachment 70900

And here's the exhaust finished. It's part eBay, part Amazon, part GM, and part Ford.
View attachment 70901

And there's probably stuff I'm forgetting, but the videos go over a LOT more if you care to spend some time watching them.


Wife who has been recording for 4 seconds: "Hurry up!"
 
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WarlockSyno

Member
Oct 27, 2020
74
296
These cars are cool, very much a traditional hot rod in that you make interesting combinations of oem parts.

It's crazy what you can do with FWD Turbo Dodges. Pretty much anything from ~83 to ~08 that's FWD Dodge can work together in some fashion. Especially the four cylinder stuff.

For instance, Larry is local to me:

 

WarlockSyno

Member
Oct 27, 2020
74
296
The powertrain setup is interesting, guessing he used a Jeep bellhousing to make it all fit together? I never knew the 2.5s would take a Neon head.

It's a Supra R154 trans with a Dodge Dakota four cylinder bell housing. Since gen 1 Dodge Dakotas came with the same 2.5 engine. The 2.0 and 2.4 Dodge engines are also based on the 2.2/2.5 four cylinder like I'm using. So some parts mix and match. Like I'm currently using the 2.4 lifters in my engine.
 
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