Project SHADOW

[Intrepidation]

So after some looking around my brother has decided that he wants the Shadow instead of buying a car. While I'm sure some of you are laughing your asses off, or wondering why we'd bother with some 80's FWD, Unibody, pillared, $h!box...f@#k off. Kidding. Seriously though, the car's been good to us for most of it's time with us. Plus, unlike a "new" car, which can be a good car (like mine) or a never ending sea of misery and problems (BV's Beast), we know everything that's good and bad with it. I've wanted a car to play with for some time now, something I don't have to worry about rushing because someone needs to drive it. I can take my time and do it right instead of rushing and screwing it up. The Shadow's a nice, small, basic car to work...most of the parts are easy to get to (and cheap) and it's not a sea of electronics, computers, and other modern things like my car is. My brother is willing to spend $1,400 on it...there's little hope of talking us out of it, so give it up.

The to-do list:

To make it run, it needs..well...nothing. The battery might be dead, but it might still be good if it gets recharged. Had to jump it Saturday...fired right up. We drove it around the block without a problem. However, the first item that must be replaced is the waterpump and connecting hoses. The pump failed and the hoses are cracked. We had planned to replaced t Saturday but the part wasn't in stock. I got it today but had work, so next weekend we start. So now onto the actual list...LOL

• Replace waterpump and connecting hoses
• Check EGR, possibly replace
• Replace front motor mount (I think it broke again)
• Replace drive belts
• Fresh antifreeze
• Oil Change
• Tune up (including new spark plugs, wires, cap, and the usual goodies)

After that...

• Find a junkyard that still has some Shadows and raid for parts...need a driver's door badly
• Have a body shop patch up the lower rockers by the rear wheels
• Replace fender (rust free and dent free spare)
• Replace Hatch (we have a rust free spare)
• New struts for hatch
• Replace A/C hoses (he wants A/C)
• Patch that small hole on the driver's side footwell up
• swap out junky stereo with decent one
• replace windshield (the old one his horrible)
• give it 4 matching wheels (finally)
• invest in a strut tower
• wipers
• Maaco Paint job
• lop off the stupid catalytic converter and put a pipe in its place

I'm not sure how much of the 2nd list will be done, or the timeframe, but this is the summer project, to give the old girl some much needed TLC. It may not be a classic, or very desirable, but I don't care. Some may call me crazy...some may call me insane, but the voices in my head say that it's brilliant!

I'm actually really excited to start working on it, I've been wanting to do more mechanical stuff myself...it's messy and fun. It's also encouraging to know that the car runs and drives great. I mean, it's amazing just how well this thing runs...better than a lot of cars half its age.

[Intrepidation]

Hey XP, I hear from a certain someone you can maybe give good deals on parts?

[Sixty8panther]

• Replace waterpump and connecting hoses
• Check EGR, possibly replace
• Replace front motor mount (I think it broke again)
• Replace drive belts
• Fresh antifreeze
• Oil Change
• Tune up (including new spark plugs, wires, cap, and the usual goodies)

After that...

• Find a junkyard that still has some Shadows and raid for parts...need a driver's door badly
• Have a body shop patch up the lower rockers by the rear wheels
• Replace fender (rust free and dent free spare)
• Replace Hatch (we have a rust free spare)
• New struts for hatch
• Replace A/C hoses (he wants A/C)
• Patch that small hole on the driver's side footwell up
• swap out junky stereo with decent one
• replace windshield (the old one his horrible)
• give it 4 matching wheels (finally)
• invest in a strut tower
• wipers
• Maaco Paint job
• lop off the stupid catalytic converter and put a pipe in its place

That's a LOT of $ for whats a high miliage car.

Personally I'd get my $300 for it at Hollands and use

the $2500 all those repairs will cost you to instead

buy a nice clean car of your choice. An equivenant

80s/90s Shadow with a 100-point restoration will

cost you about $1200, for $2500 you can have a

turbo-Mopar with Shelby's signiature on the dash in

sivlver sharpie.

SP's turbo-daytona got over 30mpg on averae.

[Intrepidation]

That's a LOT of $ for whats a high miliage car.

Personally I'd get my $300 for it at Hollands and use

the $2500 all those repairs will cost you to instead

buy a nice clean car of your choice. An equivenant

80s/90s Shadow with a 100-point restoration will

cost you about $1200, for $2500 you can have a

turbo-Mopar with Shelby's signiature on the dash in

sivlver sharpie.

SP's turbo-daytona got over 30mpg on averae.

Of the ones you highlights only the body shop one is needed. Windshield can be done later, and the brace all of a whopping $100.

Again, I know you'd say that,a nd while it's a vaild point, it's his money, and good luck finding one of these that runs decent. The Turbos are nice, but there's the issue of finding one with a Turbo that actually works (no intercooler meant more than a few ruined turbos), and the Shelby CSX's can actually go for more than $2500. I've seen them up to $5k...which is crazy, but serveral for around 3k.

So,

Edited June 16, 2008 by Dodgefan

[the_yellow_dart]

I don't think a Shadow is worth investing any money in.... but that's just me.

[XP715]

I don't think a Shadow is worth investing any money in.... but that's just me.

No, it's not just you. We all agree. Only money that should be invested in this thing is $8 worth of gas to get it to a junkyard or the railroad crossing of your choice and put it out of its misery. I'm not kidding you: this car is literally worth more in scrap value than it is as a whole or even as the sum of its parts. They are worthless.

You do realize that you can buy a much nicer and lower mileage Shadow for around the $1400 your brother wants to flush down the toilet (literally, like just empty his wallet into the toilet in your house and press the handle down; it will be quicker and easier) in "restoring" (pardon me while I fall off my chair and roll around on the floor laughing with tears in my eyes) the Shadow you have now, right? Honestly, at what point did this ever seem like even a remotely good idea even on paper?

Sixty8 has an excellent idea. If he wants a weird quirky FWD four banger good on gas Mopar, buy a turbo (or even non-turbo if you're worried about it failing) Daytona and work on that. It's got at least a tiny amount of value should you ever need to be rid of it; they have a small but dedicated fanbase. They're kinda neat in their own weird way. A Shadow has zero redeeming value in it whatsoever. None. You can't even pretend that it does. If it was a Spirit R/T, which is the only four door unibody FWD Mopar from this era that will ever be worth more than its scrap value, that would be a different story. Try finding one of those. If you guys really can't live without the Shadow, then slap a water pump in it and be done with it and make it an around town beater/backup car/winter beater until it breaks in half (which should be any day now) while you guys work on something for him that's worthy of your time and money and effort. Let him learn and make his mistakes in that POS so he knows the ropes by the time his real project car is ready for daily service.

[!!!TED!!!]

I think its cool that you want to bring the Shadow back to respectability.

Do whatever you love. If the money is there to be spent (brothers $), spend it.

I would suggest R/T-ing it somehow. At least visually.

What year is the car?

Pictures (for before purposes)?

[!!!TED!!!]

[*]Find a junkyard that still has some Shadows and raid for parts...need a driver's door badly

An ES would make a great parts car!

[Intrepidation]

I think its cool that you want to bring the Shadow back to respectability.

Do whatever you love. If the money is there to be spent (brothers $), spend it.

I would suggest R/T-ing it somehow. At least visually.

What year is the car?

Pictures (for before purposes)?

Exactly. There's a lot of cheap part s upgrades for them, one of the perks of how Detroit used to share a lot of parts between models.

An ES would make a great parts car!

Indeed, I always liked the power-buldge. It didn't do anythiing cleance wise besides signify there was a Turbo under the hood. Of course V6 models had them too.

I'll take pics soon for the "before"

[A Horse With No Name]

Nice to see your off on a project...keep us posted.

XP, I know of a railroad crossing where the trains run through at 80 miles per hour, and it's busy....maybe you and I can put this thing out of its misery.

Seriously though, once you love a car its hard to give it up.

Chris

[Satty]

Is this the same Shadow you posted underbody pics of a while back? Cause that one was a deadly accident waiting to happen.

[XP715]

Is this the same Shadow you posted underbody pics of a while back? Cause that one was a deadly accident waiting to happen.

You mean the $50 $h!box that had slightly lest rust than the Titanic? Yeah, that be the one.

[Intrepidation]

Do you think they were assloads safer when they were rust-free? Name me one car in it's class of the era that would survive being hit by some stupid woman in a Hummer H2.

Anyway, besides the mentioned rust on the rockers, the only really bad rust is the driver's door, which I would qualify as being almost half-way disintegrated.

[Satty]

Ok, the "Its unsafe anyways" argument is retarded. That much rust underneath is flat out unsafe, doesn't matter the make, model or year, and shouldn't be put on the road. In fact any mechanic who looks at the car and deems it roadworthy belongs in jail.

[Sixty8panther]

D.F. Remeber when everyone (okay, so only 87% of this forum)

told you to buy a newer Toyo-Gizm (Toyota-GEO-Prizm) & send

that 140K mile rear end special to automotive heaven?

Instead you spent more money on repairing it than I paid for a

running , driving, reliable & fuel efficient 1962 Buick Special.

End result, you got some horrible 'body work' done to it by some

guy that used to be a janitor at Macco and SURPRIZE! your

trunk now leaks, you still have no paint there and youur driver's

tail light sits in 38 lbs. of bondo. Which is pourous BTW.

IF I decided to keep that car I would have at least chained it to

a tree and did BETTER with a 800 lbs. rated chain.

Seriously.

The only car I have EVER considered doing a strut tower fix to

was a sparkplug-less Mercedes Benz I ALMOST bought about a

year before I bought Julie's 240.

The car was being sold for $500 o.b.o. I offered $375 & walked

away when the guy said $450 was ROCK BOTTOM.

A car that has a rotted strut tower SHOULD HAVE BEEN in a

junkyard months ago.

I once got a pretty solid 1993 Escort 4dr hatchback for FREE

from a local car dealer, it had rotted rear strut towers but

otherwise it was much more roadworthy than the Shadow.

Here's what I did with it:

Not that I would recomend demolition Derbying your

Shadow, the unibody is a bit too squishy for that. :AH-HA_wink:

Is this the same Shadow you posted underbody pics of a while back? Cause that one was a deadly accident waiting to happen.

Yup... same car, xcept it's been aged like a fine wine over the winter.

[Intrepidation]

Well 68, let's please not go down the reliability or fuel efficiency road. Even at 20mpg, I still get double that in the Prizm. Yes the body work sucked, but that was more of the fault of my inexperience with body shop choosing than spending too much money. $650 is still less than what replacement car of the same type would cost. Besides, a little silicone compound and that little leak is no more, and the car's been problem free...as in no money whatsoever at all for anything has needed to be spent to fix anything since.

For the record the Shadow spent it's winter in the garage. Anyway, no matter what, the waterpump is being replaced and it's going to become a daily driver until my mom gets a new car, since the rental has to go back today.

Edited June 17, 2008 by Dodgefan

[Sixty8panther]

While I commend your Yankee ingenuity and I can really

appreciate getting MAXIMUM bang/$, your obsession

with disposable appliance cars borders almost on what

can be described as dangerously insane.

You're like the captain of a barnacle covered fishing boat

with a '66 Chrysler 4-cylinder motor going down with the

ship on principle alone, and with a life preserver, working

radio & lifeboat aboard.

It's called "you can't get blood out of a rock"

Edited June 17, 2008 by Sixty8panther

[gm4life]

XP and 68 I have gotten my best laugh in ALONG time. Seriously tho Dodgefan what in the f*ck are you thinking I mean your brother. I could understand a Dayton or up level model but a base, rusted to $h! Shadow. Hell for that kind of money I can get a really nice computer, or decent used $h!-box. Hell my old GP went for $250 and at least that had a V6, working A/C and hardly any rust. I can't believe your brother is that stupid. I am going to stop there... Ehhhh good luck I guess. *Thanks for the great laugh!*

[Sal Collaziano]

I actually like the Dodge Shadow. My wife had one when I met her and I drove it around once in awhile. It's very comfortable, actually. Surprisingly.. And, they're easy to modify. They can be pretty quick. In fact, the fastest ones back in the 90s were very impressive.. The Shelbys..

Post some pictures...

[toesuf94]

Here is my Shadow story...about a forelorned 88 turbo stuck in a garage for over 8 years without any love and the windows left down. Owner could not recall WHY he parked it, just that he had bought another car, so this one sat. At least he put her inside. He was moving and new I liked all things with rubber tires, so he offered it to me to take it home if I got it out of the garage! Best four letter word when it comes to anything automotive...free! So I borrowed a tow dolly and went to pick her up. Put air in the tires (which were just low and like new) and pushed her out into the light. Rust was having it's way with the core support and the rear hatch area, but the rest of the car was actually rather nice. It was dark red with grey interior, 5-speed and had that wonderful black Mitsubishi 4 cylinder Turbo under the hood. Towed her home, dropped the gas tank and oil out of her, flushed the coolant, replaced the gas tank with a junkyard unit out of a recently wrecked shadow and put some gas in her. Connected the battery and she fired right off! So, now she runs, drives, and stops! My investment is paying off!

I cleaned her up, got the 8 years of cat hair out of the seats, and polished the paint, filled the rust area of the hatch with por-15 and bondo, then painted it flat black for that mopar racey look. She became my storm chasing car after she was licensed and insured. I drove that car like that for about 6 weeks and decided that I did not really need it, but a buddy of mine did. As I am showing him the car and how good of shape it is in, I put my foot on the rear bumper to give the old 'car salesman lean on the car'-act. The damned bumper fell right off! Seems the rust from the hatch had also attacked the bumper mounts...oops. Knocked $50 off for that! The guy I sold it to drove it (with repaired bumper) as it was for over 35,000 miles and hardly had a problem with the car. Oh, and remember the core support up front? Well, he was driving down the highway and decided to do a u-turn accross a median and heard a 'bad noise' from the front end when the body twisted. Seems the core support was only now beeing held on by the mounts for the sway bar and the radiator hoses! It had rusted then ripped when it became too weak. He welded some braces in there, and she was good as new. He sold it to a kid that blew the motor up not too much later. She is now probably being made into wire hangers or something...but they are cheap and fun if you do not invest too much into them.

[Camino LS6]

I have a proposal for you DF.

I bet that I could do amazing things to one of those "other cars" you have in the garage for less than your brother's current budget. I'll even front the expenses to do it - but here's the catch: If I pull it off, I get to keep the car in question. If I fail (won't happen) you get the work for free.

Just thought I'd put things in perspective for you. :AH-HA_wink:

[Intrepidation]

I have a proposal for you DF.

I bet that I could do amazing things to one of those "other cars" you have in the garage for less than your brother's current budget. I'll even front the expenses to do it - but here's the catch: If I pull it off, I get to keep the car in question. If I fail (won't happen) you get the work for free.

Just thought I'd put things in perspective for you. :AH-HA_wink:

Good luck with that, my dad sold them both to his brother so mom couldn't sell them, but only the `70 is in his name. The `69 is both of their names, so when she finds the title, things are gonna get more messy.

[Camino LS6]

Good luck with that, my dad sold them both to his brother so mom couldn't sell them, but only the `70 is in his name. The `69 is both of their names, so when she finds the title, things are gonna get more messy.

That's rough.

Didn't mean to step into that.

I did like those two cars though...

[Intrepidation]

That's rough.

Didn't mean to step into that.

I did like those two cars though...

Me too, I want one or both still, but I dunno what their fate is.

[Intrepidation]

It's been a learning experience the whole way, but the Shadow's ready to rock and roll...sort of.

As of this weekend:

• Brand spankin' new waterpump installed
• new belts
• fresh coolant
• new hoses connecting to the waterpump
• new rear door on the driver's side.
• new PCV valve and hoses

It is a very dirty car, and it's been hot and humid the whole time, and it took 3 weeks to finish cuz we lost the locking T-bolt for the alternator belt adjustment (and we only worked on Saturdays), but I've thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the most mechanical work I've ever done (so far) to a car, and I enjoyed seeing how things work and how to do things. Plus is was a good way to spend time with my brother, so perhaps that's the most important part of all.

I got a great sense of accomplishment turning the car on for teh first time since we started and seeing it all work, no leaks, and not having anything fly apart.

We've located a great downer car, an metallic brown `88 Sundance 2.2 Turbo that has kindly donated it's driver's side doors, and will donate the rockers to be welded up to the Shadow. That car's body is in remarkably good condition, shame it was junked. We're gonna grab the brand new radiator out of it too. we've also got a rust free hatch, and a fender to replace the one that was messed up by that Olds a few years back. Once the body work is done it'll be repainted...my brother is thinking blue but I'm hoping for it to stay back...but hey it's his car.

Some pics when I get them off the camera.

[Intrepidation]

Still haven't got the photos yet.

Anyway, the car was finally registered today, which means I was able to take it on it's first real road test. Brakes are rusty as expected, but they've already been getting better. Engine temp went a bit past halfway...I can't remember where the needle used to be, but once it reached that spot it didn't flinch at all, and I drove it around with my brother, teaching him how to drive it, for an hour with no issues. I'm thrilled that we actually did the job right.

[Sixty8panther]

Plus is was a good way to spend time with my brother, so perhaps that's the most important part of all.

I guess that's the one good thing about NOT driving it to Hollands

& laughing all the way to the bank w/ the $300 they'd give you.

Although you could pick up a MINT mediocre-fwd-mopar

from the early 1990s right now for like $400, Everyone is

convinced this "recession/depression" is a good time to

sell off all their stuff for pennies on the dollar.

Edited July 29, 2008 by Sixty8panther

[A Horse With No Name]

Actually, I think working on this car is a good primer for working on a "real" car later on.

In the mean time, don't drive over railroad tracks at over 5 MPH, and you should be fine.

Chris

[A Horse With No Name]

Actually, you could also use this car as a "movie" car and it would do fine. It would do especially well if you needed a car to split itself in two, like Herbie did in one of the original 60's movies.

Chris

[Intrepidation]

Actually, I think working on this car is a good primer for working on a "real" car later on.

In the mean time, don't drive over railroad tracks at over 5 MPH, and you should be fine.

Chris

Pssh, I've already had it on the highway.

However you bring up a good point. One of the main point of this project is to gaine xperience doing things I wouldn't do with the other 2 cars because 1: they're fine for the most part 2: they are far, far more complex (the Intrepid anyway). It's a much more basic car, which works well with working on an oldr car I will have someday, since they are more basic too.

[Sixty8panther]

Actually, you could also use this car as a "movie" car and it would do fine. It would do especially well if you needed a car to split itself in two, like Herbie did in one of the original 60's movies.

Chris

It's funny cause it's true! /homer_simpson

Kidding DF.... mostly.

[Intrepidation]

It's funny cause it's true! /homer_simpson

Kidding DF.... mostly.

I think the engine may very well outlast the body, and the engine in your Mercedes.

[A Horse With No Name]

I think I've posted this before, but my brother in law has owned a Shadow forever, and lives in Buffalo, N.Y., right in the rust belt.

That car has never started to rust at all. In all seriousness, I wonder why this car started rusting so badly?

Maybe the evil spirits that lived in Christine needed another old MOPAR to corrupt?

J/K, DF, good luck and enjoy the car!

Chris

[Sixty8panther]

I've already owned a M.Benz that had about 70K miles more

than you Shadow, do you WANT me to post pictures of the

rocker panels on that car? It was more solid than the Prizm,

never mind the Shadow.

[Intrepidation]

I've already owned a M.Benz that had about 70K miles more

than you Shadow, do you WANT me to post pictures of the

rocker panels on that car? It was more solid than the Prizm,

never mind the Shadow.

Please define it how it could be more solid than the Prizm which has zero rust on it anywhere. Yes, this includes under the car.

Anyway, that may be that Mercedes, but you said yourself that the engine in the one you've got now will die at some point, what with that lovely lifter noise that makes it sound like the diesel Mercedes you used to have.

Don't worry, I'm not comparing which car is better, so no need to go on the war pad.

[Intrepidation]

Speaking of rust, here's some photos (finally).

For some reason the driver's doors rotted out, whereas the passenger ones have no rust. Go figure.

Interior needs a good cleaning

Luckily we have a spare fender. I never bothered to put it on, cuz it's blue, it never effected the way the car drove, and it was like a badge of honor, a victory over an Olds 98, which it totaled. pwnt

But this car is going to become Frankincar before it's repainted. So soon it'll have a pretty blue fender.

[A Horse With No Name]

Speaking of rust, here's some photos (finally).

For some reason the driver's doors rotted out, whereas the passenger ones have no rust. Go figure.

Interior needs a good cleaning

Luckily we have a spare fender. I never bothered to put it on, cuz it's blue, it never effected the way the car drove, and it was like a badge of honor, a victory over an Olds 98, which it totaled. pwnt

But this car is going to become Frankincar before it's repainted. So soon it'll have a pretty blue fender.

You should have left that car "as is" and sold it as a car with "aftermarket" AC.

If you really want to drive a MOPAR and have that much fresh air, wouldn't it be simpler to get a Wrangler or a CJ-7 and pull the top and doors off?

Chris

[Camino LS6]

Glad you got that moment of satisfaction in seeing the job well done, DF.

It's addictive, isn't it?

[XP715]

My God is there a lot of corrosion on that car. Apparently the Chrysler Norseman isn't the only Mopar that spent time at the bottom of the ocean!

[Satty]

My God is there a lot of corrosion on that car. Apparently the Chrysler Norseman isn't the only Mopar that spent time at the bottom of the ocean!

Bet it weighs less than just about any other Shadow on the road. That helps with gas mileage, which is the only reason the Shadow exists, to get people who dont care what image they convey around town using little gas. It will use even less gas when the gas pedal rusts off.

[Robert Hall]

Nice rust job...gives a patina of authenticity which you loose with a restoration. But seriously, lots of bondo, duct tape, and primer should cover it up fairly well.

[Camino LS6]

Tough crowd!

[Sixty8panther]

DF:

Ever heard the term "you can't get blood from a stone"?

You my friend are LIVING it with that car. I joke around

about my RoadmOnster and say at times that it's kind of

like the car served as a Pakistani taxi cab, hence it looks

more beat up than a Peugeot after a car bomb in Iraq

rips through it....

Now before you put (invest?!?) another copper plated

cent into that rust-bucket take car of the structural

problems.... keep in mind this will be a hige waste of

money as the rust on that Dodge is pretty much

everywhere. Just cause you can't see it does not mean

it is not there. RUST never sleeps.

Rust is like cancer, the only sure way to fix it is to CUT

out the entire problem area.

My '92 Buick Roadmaster was/is nowhere near as bad

as your "Black Shadow" but it got floorboard patches via

SP's welder a couple months ago... What you see in this

photo are the sparks flying as a clean, new sheet of

steel is welded in place of the rotted rear footwell....

Edited July 31, 2008 by Sixty8panther

[Intrepidation]

Glad you got that moment of satisfaction in seeing the job well done, DF.

It's addictive, isn't it?

Indeed it is!