[89Datyona2.5]

Here is the story on the car. (89 Daytona 2.5 non turbo T-Tops)

It's my buddy's GF car the she got new in 89. Drove it and took great care of it. Back in 05 the head gasket blew and he decided to do a rebuild on the engine.

Well the engine got pulled and tore down. The head was warped and the work on the car kinda just stopped there. The car has been sitting in the garage since then.

The GF is tired of it sitting in there and was just going to junk it. I said that i would take it so it is my garage now. My plans are to redo it as a DD for my Daughter who will be turning 16 in the summer. My goal is to have my Daughter help me with the rebuild.

The Balance Shaft Has been torn apart and I have read that some people do not put it back in.

The warped head was taking to a machine shop and my buddy took his time getting it back or having them fix it ... well the shop went under and now the head is gone.

Any thing that you all know to help me or just point at some links of stuff i should look for will be helpfull..

Ok here are the Pics....

 

[soloflite]

Yes you can remove BS. Note you will need to get a new 2.2 pickup and oil pan, or you'll need to weld a plate in the bottom of the 2.5 pan w/ a whole for the 2.5 oil pump to fit to keep oil from sloshing around. You will also need to drill a hole for new oil plumbing in the bottom end, not too bad though, plenty of articles how-to on here.

 

[1991spirites]

You can still run the 2.5 pickup and oil pan after you do a balance shaft delete, but the motor will take a couple of extra quarts of oil, which starts making oil changes expensive. After the balance shafts are out you need to plug the oil feed hole that went to the balance shafts. Thats pretty much it. Really easy to do. I have done a couple of cars, and have many friends that did this to there cars too. Some cars respond well and others don't. With my old 91 Spirit Turbo you could tell the balance shafts were out, it vibrated the whole car, but my friends 91 Daytona Turbo still was some a silk even with soild motor mounts.

 

[John Wood]

After viewing the pictures and seeing that rust on the crank journals, oil pump, and bolts, I have to wonder what the cylinder walls look like.
I guess if this was my car project, I'd shop the J yards for a complete 2.2 out of a wreck, assuming some are still available. You can drop a 2.2 engine in your engine bay in just a few hours. Cleaning that one up, purchasing a used head for it, etc. will take a long time and you risk a decent operating and long life engine with that rust.... unless I am not seeing the pictures correctly. The last complete used 2.5 engine with about 85,000 miles on it cost me a bit over $400 from a full service yard. They had it stored in a dry building and simply loaded it in the bed of a pickup truck for me. They would have delivered it for a $30 fee and unloaded it in my driveway. All I did was drop it in the engine bay with a portable hoist, bolt it all up, changed the oil, and fired it up. We drove that sucker for a few years with no problem. Soon after I was sure the engine was OK, I changed the timing belt and a few seals.

Now I can understand wanting to do a rebuild for a project. I did that a few times in my younger years and there is a lot of satisfaction to this accomplishment. I just think that dealing with one that has been open for years could be asking for trouble. (only my opinion )

 

[chuzz]

I gotta go along with John on this one. I used to rebuild engines and rust is a real killer to get rid of. It doesn't take much to clog an oil screen and if some gets to the oil pump, then you're really in trouble. I'd just try to find another engine and do a transplant too.

 

[89Datyona2.5]

Well I dropped the Block and crank off at the machine shop Late last week. The shop owner was ? about if they could be saved.

Started looking around the local yards for a engine but no luck so far finding any thing with under 120k on it

 

[russ93spirit]

I agree with John and Chuzz, as well. The engines are out there, just keep looking. Will be a cool project with the t-tops and the black color schems. Check this forum and others for members who may have a 2.5 sitting around.

Thanks to Bob O'Neill on here, I got a great running 2.5L that I put into a Lebaron vert project for my 16 y.o. daughter as well. I did head gasket just in case, had machine shop check the head, did all the seals, oil pump, timing belt, etc, and she's running great.

 

[Bob ONeill]

You can still run the 2.5 pickup and oil pan after you do a balance shaft delete, but the motor will take a couple of extra quarts of oil, which starts making oil changes expensive. After the balance shafts are out you need to plug the oil feed hole that went to the balance shafts. Thats pretty much it. Really easy to do. I have done a couple of cars, and have many friends that did this to there cars too. Some cars respond well and others don't. With my old 91 Spirit Turbo you could tell the balance shafts were out, it vibrated the whole car, but my friends 91 Daytona Turbo still was some a silk even with soild motor mounts.

It's about one quart without the shafts and that extra will allow a longer duration or miles/time between changes. If you use the larger filter then you could go even longer which could offset the cost of the extra quart or so.

Well I dropped the Block and crank off at the machine shop Late last week. The shop owner was ? about if they could be saved.

Started looking around the local yards for a engine but no luck so far finding any thing with under 120k on it

The 2.5 in my '86 has over 319,000 and the one that I sold to Russ had about 96,000 or so on it. These engines are bullet proof if they're taken care of.

 

[dana44]

120K is barely broken in. I would check the compression, put a new timing belt on an engine like that, regasket the engine and install a new oil pump, leave the bearings and rings alone, they will go 250K or more and are pretty reliable.

 

[Scstables]

Welcome to the forum. These cars are so cooool looking!

BTW, what would cause a head to warp in engines like these? This concerns me as I have a 2.5 liter in my daytona!!

 

[dana44]

Aluminum on a cast iron block, usually an overheating or uneven heating of the head from running out of water or temp going up too much due to slow fluid moving or uneven torque on the head bolts, so clean the bolt holes real good before reinstalling and make sure they are not full of any liquid after cleaning the block before reinstalling new head bolts.