1986 Dodge Daytona Z

are there any groups devoted to these cars? I just bought one in
Wisconsin and hope to get it running to hopefully sell.

 

Follow the bouncing links....

http://www.thedodgegarage.com/mailing_list.html

 

what exactly do you need?

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

I would like to know what to watch out for, what usually fails, what
makes them special or unique, things like that.

 

Just yet another K-car stretch with some rakish styling, optional
blown 2.2L and not much to recommend it, although it was an
improvement over the Omni-based Charger. Not many of these car
survive for a reason...they looked sporty, but performed like a K-car.
The blown versions, like most blown K-cars, were shop queens if not
maintained properly. The "G-body," as the Daytona/Laser twins were
designated, was a Lee Iacocca project aimed at getting sales in the
youth market that the Ks weren't getting at all, while keeping the
Corporation's CAFE numbers high and using high powertrain and chassis
parts interchange, thus saving precious cash. Body integrity was a
big problem on "G-bodies." The "G-bodies" were aiming also to compete
with Ford's Turbo T-Bird, but didn't quite make it. Today, G-bodies,
like most 1980s Chrysler products save the Ms, are pretty rare. The
2.2L with a blower provided good, if not "sporty," power and still
yielded good economy. The Garrett AiResearch turbo was a problem,
though, especially to non-mechanically inclined drivers. The 5 speed,
like all K-based manual transmission cars, was pretty "clunky" feeling
due to its ham-fisted linkage.

My bro-in-law had one for awhile, and was pretty unimpressed with it
overall. I kept the routine maintenance up on it for him, and it was
pretty reliable. When he wanted to sell it to me in '87, I passed.
The car just couldn't perform either power or handling-wise up to its
looks, and a K-car had more room inside.

 

Don't spend a lot of money on it. It will never be worth a lot....

 

Lynn's right. This is a "special interest" car only, not a future
classic like a 300. Neither's my M-body, but I still like it...it's
got character, and now has pretty good economy to go with it.