Leaderboard

So this is a project 13 years in the waiting ... but I finally took to it this past week. At purchase, my car had a perfect rear cargo cover, which I was excited about b/c in all the other Quest sI had owned they were damaged. It was short-lived, b/c one month later a tree fell on my car, crushing the roof, hatch, ... and busting up my rear cargo cover. Well, that was 13 years ago already, so here's how I finally rebuilt it: Obviously remove the cover. You can see where the branches of the tree punctured the cover. I'm only repairing the lower section, but these steps could apply to rebuilding the whole thing if you needed to replace the fiberboard on the top section too. I started by peeling back the carpet on the left and right sides. Next, I flipped the cover over and peeled the carpet back. Oh look, all these years later still finding glass from the tree incident .... lol. Next, you'll need to drill out the rivets on the black hinge with a 3/16" bit. Once all the rivets are drilled out you'll have the hinge free. It still won't be free just yet though. Flip the cover back over and you'll find there's a material strip stapled to the cover. Grab your needle nose and pull the staples. Then the fiberboard material will finally be free. I had a scrap piece of 1/8 inch masonite laying around from a home project. It was just big enough to use a replacement piece. I simply used a sharpie and traced the outline on the masonite. These piece had some spray paint on it from other project, but I didn't care b/c I was going to be painting it black anyway. Next, use the hinge and mark the holes for the rivets. Not shown, but next I drill the holes and cut it out the shape on a bandsaw. I used some sandpaper on the edges quick just to smooth it over, but I didn't go crazy b/c there's no exposed edges of material, it's all covered by carpet. Now I threw some paint on. I quickly realized the black on the underside of the top section was not going to match anymore, so I tossed a coat of fresh black on the underside of that too so it all looked uniform. Now it's time to go back the other way. To reattach the carpet I purchased some Gorilla spray adhesive. I've also used 3M Super 77 for projects like this, and that works really well too, FYI. Don't start spraying things just yet though .... BEFORE you spray adhesive the carpet and put the board back on, you need to put screws through the holes you drilled b/c you won't be able to access them once it's adhered to the carpet. I just used simple machine screws to replace the rivets. Flip it over carefully so your screws don't fall out. Once you do that, spray the board and the back of the carpet and let it dry for a few seconds before putting it down. I quickly dropped on washers and loosely threaded nuts on the screws. Once the carpet is adhered well you can flip it upside down again and roll the remaining edges over. Spray everything down with adhesive and it'll stick nice. Lastly, re-attach the rubber gasket on the rear edge. It just presses on. Here it is re-installed in the car. Much better. Good luck. It's a pretty easy little project. You can do it.

Now I am officially in the club! 1987 with some 1988 and 1989 parts. Like the Johnny Cash song, "One Piece at a Time!"

Sounds good. I'll get you those photos of the A-pillar. They are on a drive in my office which is in the basement. It's just that I physically can't go down there at the moment, for I broke my leg. I have to collect all of these photos and see if I can develop a good thread on what is needed for auto to manual belt conversion. I know that I don't have photos of the removal of the three studs on each side of the roof nor the removal of that plate at the rear upper doorway, but I might have enough to describe the process. Plus, it's been around six years since I did this, my memory fades on some of the details (gotta love aging).

To do a 'proper' auto to manual seat belt conversion, you need a ton of parts: * Both manual seat belt mechanisms which include the belt mechanism, the trim clip that goes into the door card, mounting bolts (one on each end), and the upper latch. * The rear corner upper door panel trim (the small piece that runs up the side of the window in the back) mounting clip with screws (zinc plated bracket shown in the photos above) * The rear corner upper door panel trim (the small piece that runs up the side of the window in the back) - This is all you really need for the door panels themselves because the original auto seat belt door panels can easily be modified as shown in my photos above. Although, I just remembered something; the 87 on up cars large upper door panel has a hole in it to accept the rear corner upper trim. This will be visible with the manual upper door panel trim. I did some vinyl repair on mine to 'close the hole'. If you happen to have access to the main upper door panel on a manual car, it is beneficial to utilize them. They will also have the belt guides on them, which is the next item below. * The door panel seat belt guides with two screws each - not really a necessity, as seen in the photos above * The plastic A-pillar covers WITH clips/hardware * The manual belt main headliner (sunroof vs non-sunroof, as required for your car) INCLUDING the two side rails WITH side rail clips/hardware - Note the rear vinyl covered headliner is not needed - it is the same between manual or auto belts * Upper AND lower B-pillar covers (i.e. sides of the rear seat) - they mount the same as the auto belt covers. * The clear plastic inserts for the door panels to keep water from getting on the seat belt mechanisms. * IMPORTANT: The seat belt latch on the driver and passenger seats depending on what year car you have vs the year of the donor belts car! In my case, I used seatbelts out of an 86 with 88/89 seats - no issue. But if you have 87 seats, the latch will be the wrong size. There are also some differences on earlier model car seatbelts. Before you do anything, make sure your manual seat belts 'click' into the latches on your seat! Also note that on 87 seats, the seat belt latch is approximately six inches forward from where it really should be (I honestly don't know if it can be moved back or not, I haven't done a manual belt conversion using 87 seats). You make the determination if that is acceptable to you or not...just make sure the belt latches before you go any further! * 85/86 style center console tray * 83-86 style power mirror switch with trim plate for the center console * 83-86 style rear center console without the seat belt holes This isn't the easiest of conversions, to be honest. You need a lot of parts to do it correctly and modifications to the car body are needed. Some people just leave all the interior trim go and not install the rear upper portion of the door panels. This will allow use of the manual belts but the missing trim will be noticeable along with the auto belt track.

This piece here will interfere with the upper door panel trim on a manual seat belt car. If you want to use the trim, it will have to be removed. Here it is with the manual headliner and manual b-pillar panels: The upper door panel trim near the manual belt upper latch will not let the door close until you remove the curved sheet metal above. Note that this car didn't use the seatbelt clip on the upper door panel...it will work fine without it. Here are some views of the mounts. You will need the upper door panel mounting clip. It is one large clip in lieu of two on an auto seat belt car The lower belt mount. The tapped hole is there already on an auto seat belt car. Just need the bolt (in fact, the bolt might be there as well...I forgot if it was or not) The clear plastic to go behind the belt in the door is a nice to have...will prevent water from going on the seat belt mechanism.

The Conquest (I think it was built as a Dodge at the time) first came onto my radar in college in the late 80s/early 90s. It was the best looking car I'd ever seen. There was a woman in our apartments in Raleigh, NC that had one--in red, of course--that tempted me (the car, not the woman) every time I saw it. At the time, I had a LeBaron GTS that probably only those of you who are longtime MOPAR enthusiasts might remember. I loved my car, but the Conquest was just drop-dead gorgeous. The woman eventually moved, I eventually graduated, and a Conquest would never find my driveway. In fact, I never even sat or rode in one. But it's stuck with me ever since. Now I'm at the age where you get nostalgic for the cars you loved but never had in your younger days. This one remains at the top of my list. The "Bring a Trailer" website really brought it back into the forefront of my mind because there I discovered people were selling these cars in, sometimes, pretty good condition and relatively low miles. So, now I'm here to lurk and learn, and keep watching for an opportunity to find a late-model Conquest to recapture a little of my youth. Thanks to all of you who keep these cars on the road and keep the community alive.

JERSEY ARTFORM’s Slammed 1983’ Mitsubishi Starion build. I got the bare shell given to me for free a couple months ago & have just started building it back. I just made some coilovers for it & slammed it to the ground. Next comes an engine swap.here’s a YouTube video of the coilover build

Very nice work looks fantastic!

I just made a new post in the FAQ section linking to this. If anyone sees some good threads and recommends moving them to the FAQ, let me know. I've been trying to do this as I see them, but I'm sure I have missed a few.

Nothing makes me feel better than knowing something I did and documented helped someone else. Part of why I was irritated when the old board went down and many tutorials got lost.

I don't want to say I'm ready to start selling these, but I'm really close... Recently I was over a BKB94's house and we were talking about top windshield trim project I posted about. That got us talking about the left and right side windshield trim pieces. I was telling him I was 99% sure the side clips weren't available anymore. He happened to have a spare he sent me home with one. So, I've spent the last week or so modeling this thing when I've had a few spare moments at work. All I need to do test out the fitment on an actual car, but I think these are gonna work. Factory Clip on Left. Anyone know off-hand how many total are on a side?

Found some of them. Here is the modification to the door card. Mark the cutout of the seatbelt clip on the card (it will be smaller than the cutout on the door panel itself, as you described). Here is how I cut the vinyl Fold it back and glue it. Here you could see the difference in the upper panels between the manual and auto belts car. I had one of each so I used the manual one for a template...but it's easy to simply eyeball once the belts are in jplace. Note the manual belt upper trim needed to accept the belts! That trim will interfere with the sheet metal on the upper rear corner of an auto seat belt car!