1986 Dodge Conquest LE-Base ~ Seychelles Red

[Coke]

Well....I didn't think I'd be back into the StarQuest game so soon, but a car practically fell into my hands this week for a very reasonable price. I caught a 1986 Dodge Conquest LE- Base model in the rare Seychelles Red Metallic (R64). It has 82,000 miles....and has had this many since 1996. You see...in 1996, the gentlemen the car came from, broke a spark plug off inside the cylinder head. After making little effort to get it out....he gave up. There the car sat, in his garage, for 14 years! Last Wednesday....we rolled it out of the garage, and it was the first time the car had seen daylight, in a very, VERY long time. Now, my friend Matt had originally bought it, but due to the extensive repairs needed, and the cost to do all the work, he decided this is not a project he wants to tackle...and he kindly sold the car to me. Under my possession, the car will receive it's deserving repairs and maintenance to make it 100% drivable & reliable once again.

 

Here is pics, of the car, now at my house where she will be fixed and nursed back to health. I haven't even washed it yet...this is exactly how I pulled it out of the garage, towed it home, then the rain from the other day washed some of the dirt away....but some still remains.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3139.jpg

 

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3158.jpg

 

Details are, the cylinder with the broken spark plug had gotten moisture inside of it over time....and it rusted. The engine is stuck, it will not turn over by hand. So, my plan is, to use the engine out of my totaled B71 car, as well as the transmission and the Walbro fuel pump I had in it.

 

Also note, I mentioned above that this car is an LE-Base model. In 1985 and 1986, Conquests and Starions, you could have gotten lesser grade radio in the car. Along with this downgrade, you also lost steering wheel controls for the radio. The other thing that's different, is the bezel around the radio, has that embossed trim ring around it. I've never seen that before. Now....even though it's a base model, this makes the car pretty rare...due to 99% of the cars produced were fully loaded cars. A very small number of cars were plain janes. On top of it being rare Seychelles Red...this car is quite the unicorn.

 

More details, and updates will follow soon. Stay tuned, subscribe to this thread. You won't wanna miss anything!

 

 

Justin

[starquestG54B]

VERY VERY VERY nice buy buddy. you lucky ****! keep me posted . im curious to see how this turns out. i got dibbs if you go to sell her

[TexasQuest]

Wow definately a time capsule of a starquest!

[boostdquest89]

Congrats again Justin........you stole that thing! Very nice

Chad-

[Guest]

Wow! That's nice!

[B1G_M4K]

Congrats on the beautiful looking Quest man! Sounds like you have a rather solid plan for her too.

[dmyers151]

Good stuff man, looks soo clean for an upstate car.

[Guest]

You certainly deserve that one. Beautiful car man!

[MikeMeyerhoff]

Hell of a find! Base model but it does have one option, the leather seats. Most times having the basic velour would be prefered, but those leather seats are in great shape!

[mistapickles]

SCORE......beautiful car

[Dad]

Nice looking Flatty Justin!.

 

Dad

[Crazy larry]

Nice lookin Flatty

[Coke]

Thanks everybody. Tonight I'm going to pull the short block out of the car, maybe the transmission too. If I'm feeling ambitious, I may even put the new engine/trans back in. I'll take pictures and post them when I get back inside later on.

[Coke]

Well, I got the short block out of the car last night. Things went pretty well...minus the fact that I broke off 2 of the transmission cross member mount bolts in the chassis. I'm gonna need to drill them out, and find replacements that will work. I decided it would be best to pull the engine and transmission at the same time.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3162.jpg

 

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I got the accessory bracket bolted up to the motor...I'm going to be running AC in this car

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3169.jpg

 

I called it quits last night, around 3:10am....I figured I put a good effort forward and it's time for some sleep. I had been up since 5am that morning...awake for just about 24 hours.

 

Woke up today and after getting back from Pizza Hut with my grandma (we out out every Sunday together, love my grandma ) I decided to push the car out of the garage, and clean the engine bay before I put the motor in the car.

 

This is what I used. (scrub brush not pictured)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3171.jpg

 

I highly recommend this stuff to all of you with dingy engine bays. Spray it on, let it sit bout 30 seconds, then scrub with a brush. Rinse off with a garden hose and watch all the death fall off.

 

This is what my engine bay looks like now, that I'm done. I am very pleased with the result.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3184.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3180.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3183.jpg

 

After I was finished with degreasing, I decided it would be really good idea to give the car its first wash, in 14 years...to get all the degreaser off the paint and what not. She came out looking beauiful!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3177.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/Cokedoctor/86%20Dodge%20Conquest%20LE/PICT3178.jpg

 

The car definitely needs to be claybarred, along with a real good machine compounding+polish followed by a buttery hand wax. She will shine sooooo nicely once that's all done.

 

Anybody know where I can find R64 touch up paint? There's a few chips I'd like to tend to.

 

I remembered when I was all done...that stupid me, I cannot put this engine in the car yet. When the wrecker had pulled my Atlantic Blue out of the tree, the drivetrain was thrown back in the car pretty far, and the shifter lever was stuck in 3rd gear, and when he winched it, the engine was spinning over backwards because the wheels were turning backward. As some of you know....this is VERY BAD for the timing chain and the guides. I recall popping sounds when he was winching it, so I must pull the timing cover off the engine to inspect everything completely before I run this motor. I'm glad I remembered before it was in the car.....that would have been miserable. It's easier to work on that stuff, with the engine out of the car, any day of the week.

 

I work the next 3 days...and I sure as hell am not gonna be pulling one of them all nighters for a while...so expect the next update to be sometime Thursday.

 

 

Justin

[Earl]

today's thursday=) can't wait to see the progress=P it was sad to see the atlantic doors sittin in the background=/ but this one sure is a beaut=)

[Coke]

An update is due...but I don't have any pictures.

 

I got the engine and transmission in the car. I am waiting on a water pump, intercooler brackets, and piping. Then I will be able to start it

 

Today I was feeling better after being ill, and I was able to work on the brakes a little bit. The rear emergency brake cables were complete rusted up and useless. I removed them from the car. I have good almost brand new cables installed in the blue car. Tomorrow hopefully Iwill be feeling more ambitious and I will be able to remove them from the blue car and get them installed into this car. The calipers turned out to be fine. The brake lever on the side of the calipers functioned just fine, with great spring-back motion. The rotors are rusty, and the rear pads are spent. Front pads look brand new....and have an MB****** part number stamped on them. Replacement Mitsubishi brake pads??? Wow...

 

One thing I have a question about, is the transmission from my 87 TSi, has a sensor like module, where the speedometer cable screws into. The 86 transmission did not have this. Any idea what this is for? I wasn't sure how to remove it....so I left it in the transmission, and screwed the cable into it, then ziptied the wire around the tranny mount until I can figure out what to do with it. Anybody know?

 

 

Justin

[UlrichWolf]

 

One thing I have a question about, is the transmission from my 87 TSi, has a sensor like module, where the speedometer cable screws into. The 86 transmission did not have this. Any idea what this is for? I wasn't sure how to remove it....so I left it in the transmission, and screwed the cable into it, then ziptied the wire around the tranny mount until I can figure out what to do with it. Anybody know?

 

 

Justin

 

That is the pulse generator for the Anti Lock braking system. If you don't have Anti Lock, you need not worry about it.

 

Tim

[Earl]

sounds good=) how much did those e-brake cables cost you? my e-brake has zero pressure and my car will just roll with it on=/ gotta replace em=) lol can't wait to see more pics

[IntercooledFlatty]

Flatty Love

[Coke]

sounds good=) how much did those e-brake cables cost you? my e-brake has zero pressure and my car will just roll with it on=/ gotta replace em=) lol can't wait to see more pics

 

The E-brake cables didn't cost me a dime. When I bought my blue Conquest, they came with them new in box, in the rear hatch.

[Coke]

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs056.ash2/36169_493475176671_505891671_6973150_2760920_n.jpg

 

Got everything just about ready to go. In the morning, I gotta pull the radiator back out....I forgot to drill out 2 bolts that snapped off, that secure the fan shroud in place. Good thing I didn't fill it with coolant yet. Then, I'm going to unbolt my 16g turbo.....and bolt up the original non-inter-cooled 12a the car came with. I have all intentions to inter-cool this car...but I don't have everything I need to complete the conversion. So for now, I'll just run non-inter-cooled to get it going.

 

I discovered that the distributor, got broken in the accident. The housing got cracked completely in half. There goes one good rebuilt distributor . The distributor that came with the car, need rebuilding....the mechanical advance doesn't have the springy action it should have, but it threw it in there for now, to get it running. I'll take it back out and send it to Ulrich Wolf for his special touches ( he rebuilt the last one and did a great job! )

 

Got the interior all back together, installed a new Group 24 battery I bought at Advance Auto today.....and powered her up! Everything worked, except for the headlights and tail lights. After a quick investigation, the fuse links needed a little wiggling. Probably a little corrosion from sitting all this time. I'll be sure to go in there and clean the contacts up good, so it won't be a recurring problem. The radio sounds fantastic! None of the speakers are blown, the audio is nice, good bass. I've never heard that before....all my cars have always have had obliverated speakers. Power antenna does work....but clicks, and doesn't go down all the way, without a little help with your finger.

 

I decided to keep all of the emissions on this car, as intact as I possibly could. New York State requires emissions visual check for 1995 and older vehicles, and it always seems to be a pain in the arse to get my cars inspected without something said about "why isnt your EGR hooked up? I'll just run everything, and make it a lot less painful. However, I do need to gut both the catalytic converters in the exhaust system, and re-hang it. What they don't know, won't hurt 'em any. Tomorrow should be the day she breathes again! That reminds me, I need to goto the gas station and buy 5 gallons of gas to put in the tank. She's bone dry.

 

 

Coke

[Coke]

It runs! I haven't swapped the master cylinder yet, so brakes are a little shady, but it runs, and drives!

 

Come to find out....one of the rear diff mounts are broken. There's a loud THUD when I let off the throttle in reverse.

 

I drove it up and down the street a few times, it shakes like crazy...the tires a badly flat-spotted and dry-rotted.

 

The sending unit in the tank definitely does not work,I put 7 gallons of gas that I siphoned out of the B71...and it still reads bone dry on the gauge. The car started VERY hard, it look more than a minute of cranking total. I thought there may have been something wrong, it took so long. I started checking fuel fuel, spark, etc. Finally, after more cranking, it finally decided to begin kicking, then finally, VROOM! The gas in the tank, is likely CRAP since it's 14 years old. I thought the tank was empty...since the gauge read empty. Oh well....I'll drain it, and get fresh gas. The distributor will also need to be rebuilt. The engine runs very smooth, but it performs like it has 50hp. I expect the poor gas and distributor to be the blame.

 

So....what's left?

 

Driver front Caliper

Drain tank, put fresh gas in

Replace master cylinder

Change rear differential mount

Tires

 

 

Coke

[importwarrior]

thats good to know you got it up and running. i am sure you will get it back to running perfect in no time.

[dmyers151]

Yeah man, that was fast as hell. Congrats on saving a nice car.

[Coke]

Here's a video:

 

 

Shortly after this video was made, I noticed the fuel pump was making a loud whining noise. Well...I decided I should pull the pickup tube out of the tank, through the access hole in the trunk. To my dismay....the tank is gonna need to be removed, and cleaned out professionally. The pickup tube screen, was BLACK, packed solid with varnish and gross residue. I next checked the conical strainer, right before the fuel pump. It was packed SOLID with more of the same. I removed the pickup tube completely from the car, and soaked it in my parts washer for a few hours. The solvent in my tank....was no match. I'm going to need to find a large tub of Carburetor cleaner, and let it soak a while. I went through 2 spray cans of carburetor cleaner in the garage, just blasting it, watching the $#!% come out of it. It needs more If the pickup tube looks like this, I cannot IMAGINE what the tank looks like. Yuck. It's like this...I should have performed all of the fuel system maintenance before I ran the car. My sending unit said the tank was empty. I expected it was true. Well, after dumping the ~7 gallons of fresh gas in it.....it still says empty. I bet the sending unit is gummed up. I sticked the tank while I had the pickup tube out. It has a half tank.

 

Oh man......

 

 

Justin