To Whom It May Concern

World's Biggest Jigsaw Puzzle

During the last 7 years or so I've developed a real interest in working on cars. I purchased a 1989 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible in 1996 that became Car Care 101 class for me because of all the problems that the car had. I put two engines in the car and also replaced the transmission. I replaced the shocks and struts, fuel pump, map sensor, oxygen sensor, and many other things.

Right around the same time, my father discovered the Omaha police auction, and I discovered the Salvation Army auto auction. Every saturday my dad goes to the police auction and once a month I they have the Salvation Army auction and I try to go to that. We buy 1985 to 1994 Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder cars and rebuild them for sale, and sometimes keep them ourselves. That is where my last two cars have come from, a 1987 Plymouth Sundance Turbo and a 1991 Dodge Shelby Daytona IROC.

I have replaced around 35 to 40 4-cylinder 2.2 and 2.5 engines by my estimation, on all sorts of Chrysler cars, from Horizons to Acclaims. I'm working on my first V-6 right now, a 3.0 liter engine for a friend. Since it's my first time working on one of those I have been taking it slow so I learn what I'm doing and don't mess anything up. The engine is out of a 1993 Dodge Caravan and it's going into a 1991 4 door Lebaron.

A dream I've had for some time now is to find a 1991 Dodge Spirit RT or Daytona RT. Then in October my dad got a phone call from the local tow shop, of all places, who informed him that they had towed in a wrecked Spirit RT and wondered if we were interested in it. Of course, we jumped right on that. The car is in horrible shape, the driver fell asleep at the wheel and drove off the interstate and hit a fence post, so the frame is all bent, the car is unrepairable for all practical purposes.

But what I wanted out of the car is the engine, a DOHC intercooled turbo motor. It's got the basic 2.5 4 cylinder block, but the head is built by Lotus, and is different from any other Chrysler motor of that era. It puts out 230 horsepower and the car could beat a Mustang 5.0 in 0-60 and the quarter mile, something not many people knew about. I want to drop that motor into a 1991 Dodge Shadow, my friend's girlfriend had one but it appears she sold her Shadow to her parents, I'll have to make them an offer for it, maybe repair another car and trade them or something. Basically the Shadow weighs a good 1000 lbs less the Spirit does, you do the math, more horsepower, way less weight, that car would be a screamer, lots of fun.

Someone in St. Louis has already created a car similiar, a 1987 Dodge Shadow with an R/T motor in it, and he gets 12 second quarter mile times, that is amazing. Basically what he has done gives me somewhat of a blueprint for getting to work on my vehicle.

Anyways, that's just a little glimpse into a big hobby of mine. If you want, you can see my car pictures where I was doing repairs on my Daytona at

My Daytona Page

Now, I don't have the finished pictures up yet, plus I hit 2 deer after I had gotten the work all done *grumbles* and that really messed up the front end. But I have some nice pictures before that happened. I just don't have them uploaded yet. Hope to soon though.