Dodge Omni GLH / GLHS thread

absolutely, a GLHS clone I built, from a non-turbo GLH, converted it to 5 lug front & rear, rear disks, 11" front disks, the engine was a rebuilt 2.5 common block, forged pistons (with ARPs) from a T3 turbo 2.2 engine, crank was the 2.5 CB, modified T3 with 60 trim and 2.5" housing, 2.5" straight exhaust, 523 trans with 568 4 pin diff ....great car, had rust in the bottom though, and I eventually sold it, the guy thrashed it until it died a gruesome death!

not my first dodge turbo car, the first was a 1985 LeBaron bought from my grandparents, quick sedan, but I wanted it quicker, so in went a newer 2.5 turbo engine, T-bird T3 60 turbo, and rebuilt newer auto trans from an Acclaim (using stronger v6 auto trans guts)

my last was the 1991 Shelby Daytona turbo, fully loaded, black/drk grey, sunroof, 2.5 turbo with FM ECU upgrade, mildly ported head and T3 turbo 2.5 outlet, 3" exhaust, upgraded springs and struts/shocks, 568 trans w/ upgraded clutch

actually, the last would be my SRT4, 2004, stage 3 w/ toys upgrade, custom 3" straight through exhaust, 1" lowered springs all around, tokico struts/shocks, PT convertible front sway bar + euro ACR rear sway bar with polys+brackets, mopar rear tension struts, upgraded to hawk brake pads frt+rr .....that was easily the fastest car of the 6 TDs I've ever owned, smooth too, a real sleeper, and although talked up by a bunch of kids, it really was a great little car!

loved that car, really miss it!
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I loved my Shelby Charger. I cried a little when I drove away from the boneyard after I wrecked it (and moved it halfway across the country with some crazy plan to fix it). I monkeyed a bit with a swaybar, some Konis and had an ECU with a socket and a chip that a guy from there in Houston cooked up for me. I took it to the dragstrip with a pot on the MAP sensor and won my biggest racing trophy ever at Houston Raceway Park bracket night running a 14.85, but then the trans failed less than 100 miles later. Ironically, the night I wrecked it (on a dark back road, which is a whole other story), my original plan for that night was to go take it apart to start installing an intercooler. I still get a foolish thought or two going through my head when I see any of these cars around...
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very nice! be foolish man, be foolish!

 

I ran an Omni GLH in SCCA Showroom Stock endurance races back around 1988. I have photos somewhere that I'll try to find. When it first appeared, the GLH dominated its class. Unfortunately, by the time I got the drive, the Honda CRX had come along in the same class and it blew the Omnis away. Still, a pretty cool car.

 

We've had several Shelby Dodges over the years, bang-for-the-buck they were incredibly fun cars.

First was a red '86 GLH Turbo we bought new, and autocrossed to multiple local championships.
Then, we acquired '86 GLH-S #159 which we enjoyed for several years.
We traded in the GLH Turbo for a '89 Shelby Dakota, which was the 1st application of a V8 to the Dakota chassis.
The Shelby Dakota ended up serving as a support vehicle, when we added a second '86 GLH-S to the stable to go road racing with.
We were so deep into Shelby Dodges that we even had a 2.5 Turbo 5-speed manual Caravan minivan, talk about a 'sleeper' !
Our last road racing car was a Shelby Can-Am (#29 Blue in photo) which is now based out of Tuscon and runs in Vintage events.

Good times ;^D
Brian
(sorry, not many pictures on this computer.....that was some time ago).
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I have owned a number of these cool little cars and still own a GLHS. I purchased a few of them new and spent many years racing them. Most recently, I was asked to bring mine along at the last Terlingua Reunion attended by Carroll Shelby. We ran all the events(including a scaled down version of the BullRun) and the car surprised many of the new Shelby owners. Carroll was very happy to see the car and said it was "great to see the ****box Dodge giving the Fords Hell!". Many at the event were womdering why he was so fascinated by the GLHS and walked away from the newer Shelbys to go over and sign the Dodge. As he's stated many times, the GLHS was one of his favorite cars and he still owned his until his passing.
The car is still great fun to drive and still lays the smackdown on to any of of the new pocket rockets.

 

Big fan!

Did an Omni 024 in high school and got hooked.

Had the GLH (it went through a series of friends hands), Shelby Shadow, Intercooled Daytona. All fun. A close pal still has his variable turbo CSX (with plastic wheels) & an acquaintance of mine has his 1 owner GLH-S still sitting around too (this guy actually sold me my GLH).

Props to the Dodge boys.

 

I've seen recent sales of very nice 86 GLHS's go for between 12 and 18k.
A decent driver 86 is 5-8k.
I sold an 87 GLHS not too long ago for 12K-it was a #2car.
Nice driver 87s can be had for 4-6K

"beaters" that run and drive for a couple K.

I know of a rust free, decent 87 GLHS(with a disassembled engine) that can be had for 800.

GLH-Ts are cheaper. Although, I did see a very nice 85 go for 6k a few months ago.

 

very nice!

 

couple more
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damn, now I have garage envy! or is that a garage crush? either way, Nice!!

 

I had a '86 GLH Turbo. First car out of college (red with red interior). What a crappy little car! But it was a blast to drive and really did go like hell. It even had the OEM Mopar "off road only" computer installed that upped the boost and remapped the injection. The car was primitive by modern standards with torque steer galore. If I can find an old pic of my car, I'll post it.

 

for sure it's not the first word, nor any word really in refinement, I remember "everything" inside rattled, or squeaked, even the rear view mirror had terrible trembles ....if yours was a GLH it likely had the T1 blow-through intake setup, and non-intercooled style manifold

 

Found a fuzzy picture of the infamous and much missed 2.5 Turbo, 5-speed Getrag manual '89 Caravan.

Brian
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only a few of those around ....RIP Gus too!

 

Here's my old '92 Spirit R/T. At 14 lbs of boost it would surprise just about anyone on the road. I'd love to have a Shelby GLHS at some point, but this is as close as I've come so far.
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Sweet!

 

Yes, Gus was a true inspiration back in the day.....

Those Spirit R/T's with their T3 drivetrains were nearly the 'sleeper' the Turbovans were ;^D

Found another on-track photo of our GLH-S racer (@ Waterford Hills)

Brian
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Here's a shirt we recently produced for the GLH/GLHS guys
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I love that shirt!

Even though I had a two door.

 

GLH here.
Blue paint that started to peel off after a couple of years.
The Shelby had the exact same paint that was covered by a "secret warranty".
Not the GLH.
Fun car but with torque steer and crappy interior.
Something was always going wrong.
Blew the motor before the 50K warranty was up.

When I was going to trade it in they offered me $400.
Told them I'd rather burn it and walked out. Drove it till it shelled the motor again.

 

What you post there shows me doing what I always get on the old muscle car guys about. I was about to say "Hey, they were OK!" about both the interior and the reliability. But then I was able to still pull the truth out of my brain. I loved the car and still wouldn't mind having another, but they really were pretty poor cars, in spite of my fond, fading memories making it look rosier and better every year......

My timing belt slipped at 49,666 miles on the 50K warranty!