The
Number 137 out of 1000 produced
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My Shelby!
The trip!
Pictures!
Issues!
Updates!
Links!
The above happens with all stock parts, at 12 psi of boost! And how much work does it take to make that 14 psi? A trip to the dealer (or other source), a few screws, and plugging in a Stage 2 computer. I'll be doing that at some point in the near future, probably :)
And now what you all came for! #137 is, at it turns out, a 100% stock 1987 GLHS. This means it is running a GLHS (12 psi) computer, and all the other equipment Shelby originally equipped it with. In fact, the only original (that is, Shelby specific) part that it's missing is the Shelby valve cover. It has all 4 Koni adjustable shocks, all 4 aluminum Centurion II wheels, the leather wrapped steering wheel and shift knob (I have some doubt about the knob being original, I need to look into that), Shelby dash plaque, and 2 piece intake manifold.
#137's previous owners are James and Sandra Simpkins of Virginia. I believe they were third in the chain of people who have owned this great machine. I originally heard about the car when it was advertised on Team Omni in June 2001, and emailed them about it. Unfortunately, I was unable to be serious about buying it at that point in time...but when I found myself able, I emailed them again, and - lo and behold - they still had the car!
The trip! It took some time before I was able to get down to their area (southwest Virginia), but I finally did: my friend and I boarded the 8:00pm NYC-Christiansburg Greyhound bus at the Port Authority bus terminal on December 5, and arrived in Christiansburg, VA at 10:55am on December 6, 2001...right on schedule. From there it was a short ride with a friend of the owners to our final destination, and by noon I had inspected and test driven the car and was trying to decide what to do with it. It ran fine, but it had some trouble keeping an idle when cold and the paint job was kind of shoddy. On the other hand, with a clear Carfax record and an interior that supported the odometer's claim of just over 71,000 miles, the car essentially sold itself to me. James and I cut a deal, and by 3:45 my friend and I were on our way back North. We stopped in Roanoke for about an hour and a half to meet up with some friends, and then continued North on I-81.
Uh oh... At about 7:30 or so, I pulled off the highway to get coffee. We found a pizza place, stopped, stretched our legs, I got coffee...got back in the car, and tried to start it. "Crank crrank crrrrrrrrank crrrrr..." it said. Dead battery?? But it had just been on the highway for an hour! A guy who pulled in next to me in a Conquest just happened to have a booster pack and was nice enough to let #137 borrow some power, which started it right up. So I backed out of the parking place, and headed back to the highway. Not more than a few hundred feet from the restaurant, the volt gauge began to sink, the lights began to go dim, and the engine began to misfire. Great. So I pulled in to a gas station on the way, popped the hood, went to look, and the darn thing stalled. We waited there until a kind Southerner in a Ford Aerostar found that he did, in fact, have jumper cables (took him a while, as his leg was broken...I should have had them myself, I was totally unprepared on this trip) and helped me jump start the car. It ran, so after a few moments of pondering, I decided to push on.
We got back on I-81 North, and made it about 2 miles before the same thing happened and the car stalled. I rolled it over to the shoulder, we pushed it a bit farther off the road, and I began waving at passing vehicles. I finally found my flashlight, and waved with that. I guess a trucker or two radioed it in, because a state trooper arrived after about 20 minutes. He was very nice, checked our (and the car's) papers, and offered to call AAA for me. A second trooper arrived to replace the first one, who had to leave, but he made sure that AAA was sending a rollback (so as to damage the front airdam as little as possible) and set up some flares (all the better because, without battery power, the hazard lights were hardly visible anyway). It took the truck about an hour to arrive, but the driver was pleasant and agreed to be careful about loading the car onto the truck. The airdam bent, but it did not break (but still...I'd rather have a GLHS with a broken airdam than no GLHS at all).
To make the rest of a long story short, we stayed the night in a motel, the car had a new alternator by 11:00 the next morning, and we again departed. 20 miles away from the shop, the volt gauge pinned itself to the top and the power loss light went on. What now??? I called the garage, but all they could suggest was that I bring it back, and I had to make New York that day. It varied, seemingly randomly, between overcharging and normal for the remaining 400 miles. But it made it. And I wasn't bothered once about having no plates on the car (!!).
Issues:
Updates:
[December 13, 2001] replaced the (new) alternator, which turned out to be a rather poor quality rebuild. My friend Nick swapped in a different power module to see if the problem was in the voltage regulator. It was not. So I have to fix a couple of other problems, but the new alternator seems to have stopped the overcharging.
[December 14, 2001] computer returns only code 55! I'm happy about this - also, seems to have developed an exhaust leak around the area of the cat, it's noticably louder now. Sounds nice though.
[December 16, 2001] pulled the headlight switch as my first step in trying to find whatever it was that kept blowing fuse #7. I was jiggling the wires that plug into it in the course of trying to pull it out, so I figured Ok, why not try it now? And I did. And it worked. We'll see if it keeps working.
[December 17, 2001] hit a bump today and popped the fuse; turned it all off, put in a new fuse, jiggled the black wire on the headlight switch, and it works...probably until next time I hit a bump. So the fault appears to be in that connection or the switch. I set the shocks to their soft setting (very-very-firm as opposed to shake-your-teeth-out...they had been on the latter), so maybe that'll help. Still have to fix the problem though.
[December 19, 2001] haven't done anything in the way of repairing the car today...but I did give my friend a ride in it. Now, I don't tend to like speed that much, and I've been taking it easy on the car, but I drove to impress, and impress I did...and not just him! I got onto a nice straightaway, wound it right up to about 5000 in 2nd, shifted to 3rd and did the same till I figured it was time to slow down. Forget him being impressed...I was impressed!! Not to mention very happy :) Add to this my realization yesterday that this little black thing corners like it's on rails, and I'm very very pleased with it, to say the least.
[December 20, 2001] noticed a little pool of coolant near the l/f tire and a trail leading back to another little pool under the water pump. I need to look more closely when I have time (last final is tomorrow). But there is good news! At least I know there's a leak, so I won't run it dry and wonder why my engine doesn't work.
[December 22, 2001] Good news: I located the leak. Bad news: it's the water pump. Not sure which part of it, but it's definitely coming from somewhere above the radiator hose.
[December 25, 2001] Car has a new water pump as of yesterday, so it's no longer leaking coolant. Took me all day, but I guess I'll do it faster next time :) Only problem is that the alternator is now sparking internally, and I don't know why or if it's a bad thing...though I'm assuming it is.
[May 29, 2002] Car had resumed overcharging since last update above. During the last week I reverted to alternator #2 (the one from VA), which worked fine until it died on Monday. Installed reman Pep Boys alternator this morning. No overcharging or undercharging now. Also fixed is the repeated blowing of fuse #7...see Issues above.
[May 30, 2002] Installed an Autometer vacuum/boost gauge (#2601) and my grainger valve today. The boost gauge is mounted on a little piece of metal I fabricated to fit on the upper console mounting bracket (console has been removed for the time being) and is teed off of the throttle body's smaller nipple. The grainger is run off of the brake booster's top nipple and is set to about 12-13 psi. The car was fast before...I can hardly believe what happens when I step on it now! Even in 5th gear!! Also, after over 100 miles of driving since installing the new alternator, no charging problems. Tomorrow, I learn about drag racing...
[June 23, 2002] Time for another update! I didn't pull such great times at the strip (GLHS' are supposed to go 14s, not 16s...), but it was fun and I suspect that a new UNclogged exhaust will help matters. Charging system is still ok. I finally have all my film back wherein I have pictures of the car. I'll be scanning and uploading them over the next few days.
[February 4, 2003] It's been a while since I updated this, hasn't it? This weekend the GLHS received a fresh Cliff Ramsdell-built 525/555 hybrid transmission with a T2/T3 clutch combo. This, after the old clutch disk disintegrated half a mile after Nick took over my car on Thursday en route back to his shop to do the tranny swap!! Talk about luck! The new transmission is awesome, smooth, quiet, and shifts great.
Links that I highly recommend:
Acknowledgements:
[Hard to start with rad. fan on] Seems to happen in colder weather when the rad fan is on. Intermittent. Will stall sometimes if not kept alive.
[December 11, 2001] title has been changed to NYS title, registration has been transferred from the Duster to the GLHS. Duster is off insurance and off the road.
Shelby Dodge Automobile Club (SDAC)
MetroNY SDAC
Team Omni
Shelby Dodge Mailing List (SDML)
Gary Donovan's Dodge Garage
Thomas "Gus" Mahon's site
I'm a member of Team Omni mailing list, a very knowledgeable and close knit community of Chrysler L-body owners. I have gained immeasurable knowledge and experience (both first- and second-hand) from the members of this list, as well as help with many of the problems my cars have and have had. Team Omni is a must-join for owners and fans of our cars.
Nick A. has helped (and continues to help) me a lot with this car, starting long before I bought it and still being willing to answer my questions and help diagnose problems. So, lots of thanks to him.
The power and speed figures on this page are sourced from Dempsey Bowling's website at http://www.xmission.com/~dempsey/. They are done so without permission, as they are not unique to his site, but he deserves credit for building one of the most informative Shelby Dodge sites out there.
#137's production numbers etc. were provided by Duane Watters.
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© Dan Greenberg 2001
