kev

His profile says that he last visited on September 26, 2024. So, he is still around.

I still haven't uploaded photos but did pick this thing up (dang is it heavy!) and drained some of the fluid out...at least so I could remove the driveshaft and move it around without spills. Anyways, feel free to make an offer on it or even the full setup with flexplate, driveshaft, shifter, trans cooler, etc. I'd like to see it go to someone who will actually use it, or even pull parts off of it. I may consider parting it out too, if there is an interest. This thing is just in my way as I'm ramping up to get started back on one of my long-term car projects this winter. I'd be open to any kind of starquest part trades or perhaps even a case of beer or something haha. Just let me know.

interesting...I don't recall ever seeing this

Perhaps, but it won't be this week...for I am not able to access the car at the moment. I think I explained it in detail enough. Print out that vac diagram and just start crossing out the things you are removing. Cap everything that is still can have a vacuum leak. The only thing you wouldn't cap is for the wastegate solenoid on 88/89...you would connect the line from your OVCP to one of the two front ports of the wastegate actuator and plug the port next to it. Leave the rear port open to atmosphere. Besides this one case, conservatively cap everything if you are unsure!

You need to retain your fuel vapor purge valve functionality unless you are removing that purge valve completely and letting it always vent to atmosphere (I wouldn't recommend). The thermo valve is also used for purge valve functionality but it can be removed without any real issues....it just keeps the purge valve closed until the engine warms up. So, you need the two lines running across the front of the engine to the purge valve under the air can (one black, one blue stripe). You need the black line to the dissy vac advance. You need the lower line on the intake running to the cruise control system and interior HVAC. And that is about it. Oh, and the line from the fuel pressure regulator to the injection mixer body....but I don't believe this is on the vac diagram. And if you have an 88/89, there are a few lines for the wastegate...which typically were removed many years ago by former owners. Open up the vac diagram in the FSM (Page 25-3, or 25-14 or 14-3) and, using this information, it is pretty easy to determine what can be simplified. Port D on the TB will have a black line going to a T (one leg to the dissy vac advance, other to the purge valve top port). Port A of the injector mixer will go to the side port on the purge valve. If you want to retain the thermo valve (meaning your plastic ports are not cracked on it), then leave it in (it taps into the same black and blue stripe lines, as seen in the diagram). Just make sure all open lines and ports are capped...especially Ports E and M on the TB (Port M is the perfect spot for an aftermarket boost gauge. Page 14-31 gives the port nipple locations on the injection mixer/TB. The FSM does a good job explaining the functionality of each component as well.

I’ve never had a failed balance shaft in over 30 years of driving these cars. But if your engine is running smooth without them, meaning you don’t have excessive vibration in higher rpm’s, then I wouldn’t change anything. If you rotating assembly is balanced well , you won’t notice much of a difference in adding the balance shafts. I’ve had a bad experience removing the shafts on one of my current cars. The rods/pistons were not weight matched (ie balanced) and I had excessive vibration that destroyed my brand new main bearings in under 2000 miles. I had to rebuild. I weight matched my pistons and rods but didn’t check the crankshaft and didn’t have the available funds to do so at the time. Thus, I put the balance shafts back in on the rebuild but, as I said, if it’s been running smooth for years without them, there really isn’t a need to reinstall them. Even if you are going for a concours original restoration, nobody would ever be able to tell that you removed the shafts

Turbo cars have all the back pressure they will ever need and then some between the head exit and turbine input. For maximum power, the shortest fattest exhaust is needed. So 3” is fine. The benefit of 2.5” is simply for geometry reasons and cost. neither size will do anything about noise level though. That’s in your muffler. You can add a silencer where the cat was, if your cat has been removed. I use a vibrant silencer and it works well. On turbo cars, you want straight through mufflers that don’t impede the flow and create back pressure. These result in being louder. in all, get the biggest straight flow muffler you can and add a high flow silencer/resonator. Also, extending the exhaust tip past the rear bumper greatly reduces drone.

Looking to offload my automatic transmission that was original to my 88 conquest. I hate to get rid of any sq parts, but this is taking too much room up in my garage. It had 98k on it when I removed it. Overdrive band works great (which is the common one to start slipping on these cars). I will say that on very cold days, I noticed some slipping between first and second until the car warmed up. It is the transmission shown in the auto to manual swap thread here: One thing I should point out is that I did steal the one electrical connector off of it when I did the swap, as seen in the linked thread. It's the full trans with torque converter. I would like to keep the flexplate, crankshaft sleeve, shifter assembly, and driveshaft but if you twist my arm, and toss in a few extra bucks, I probably will oblige I'm in south central PA, 17201, near Hagerstown, Maryland. Asking $100 but will consider offers and trades (for something that takes up less room, haha) I will snap and post some current photos this weekend. It's been sitting in the same spot in my garage since the day it was pulled, with the driveshaft still in and full of fluid. Thanks, kev

Probably another 1/2-3/4" in the rear, more in the front (I prefer to retain my front spoiler, haha). I haven't had a chance to look for the spring rates but the rear springs are 8" long and the front are 7". You could alter that as well. edit: I searched on here and found my own post from years back: 350 lbs 7" fronts 250 lbs 8" rears The coilover sleeves linked are commonly referred to 'cosmo' coilovers...although there are many copies. I have a set of those, and they clanked like mad when I had them on one of my cars...but have very stiff springs. Those were bought from the original group purchase on here from a member named 'artinist'.

Found a few better ones:

It's the GC kit for our cars: Coilover Conversion kit, 83-89 Dodge Conquest/Starion – Ground Control Suspension Systems (groundcontrolstore.com) I'll have to look up the spring rates, I forgot, it's been too long. Yes, you should cut both the front and rear perches to get the tool in there...at least to make it easy to install/adjust. couple photos of the car that I found quickly. Somewhere I have a picture of it sitting next to my stock 88 driver, which really shows the difference. If I find it, I'll post it. I'll look for the spring rates too.

I have GCs, I like them...are they D2s...no, but they do the job. The GCs are similar to the cheaper coilovers like cosmo but I was able to select my spring rate ( I went pretty soft...softer than what everyone recommended, and I still feel the ride is harsh at times) and they are true eibach springs. Still need the stupid rubber bands in between the collar and strut. Also need to cut the perches to take advantage of the range. But they don't clank on bumps or anything like that. I did upgrade the front tops with spherical bearings when turning. Only photo I could find quickly. The collars aren't that high now, they are almost all the way down to that perch.

Found this one...from one of my older cqs. This is what happens when you don't keep them cleaned and greased. They seize up and the whole post starts turning in the cowl. But you can see the clip on the top there..just under the taperd spline.

Struggling to find a picture of the posts, but found this. It's good to do to refresh your wiper motor: Open it up, clean it off good, and regrease with dielectric. Be carefull not to bend those two connections: And pay good attention to this clip (usually on the upper middle hold down bolt for the wiper motor. Clean it off really good..it's a ground. If you don't have it, or it is all rusted up,your int wipers won't work...they will stop in the middle of the window at random spots. Plus, the wipers won't return home when you turn them off

The wiper posts are known to crud up over the years. There is a clip on it to take it apart, then you can clean it up and regrease.

Welcome I chuckled a bit when you said you planned on restoring it, but then two paragraphs later say you plan on swapping it. A bit of a contradiction there, perhaps restomod it is a better term to use? My opinion; keep the original engine. If you are dead set on swapping, at least keep it in the family.

My guess is for youtube views

Thanks for the quick response. I've been calling places all morning and a local shop appears to have found one. They are ordering it in for me and it should be here by Wednesday. If this doesn't work out, I'll be in touch. Thanks!

Scott, I sent you a PM but figured I'd respond here too. I know this is an old thread but was wondering if you happen to still have one? Thanks, kev

Looks incredible! Obviously, you are a great machinist! Wow, tons of work on this thing. Do you see any issues without much of a plenum though? Very much the opposite of a Magna with its large plenum and longer runners. It's been a while since I looked into the pros/cons of the different intake types.

Oh wow, yes definitely a different intake than the North American spec cars. But, yes, the two prong one is the CTS for the ECU. The single prong connector runs the gauge in your dash. I've had bad luck with aftermarket sensors. Although haven't experienced exactly what you are describing. My issues were in calibration. The aftermarket sensor displayed either real low or real high on the stock gauge when at normal operating temperature. Actually, I never found an aftermarket sensor that I ended up keeping in the car....I've always ended up tossing in an original one.

I'm confused what is meant by a 'T' shaped connector. Although, the image posted above should help. Item 3 is the CTS for the main ECU. It is a variable resistance thermostat. Item 1 is the temperature gauge in the cluster. It is variable resistance based on temperature. On 87 and earlier cars, this is a single pronged connector. 87 and earlier cars have another thermostat on the heater core piping under the dash to control the operation of cabin heating. 88/89 cars removed that inside thermostat and simply use the same thermostat on the intake, #1, for this purpose....thus these years have two prongs on this sensor. I will say that my knowledge is limited to only to the North American market. EU market cars may be different. Item 4 is for the air conditioning only and it is an on-off thermostat switch. If the temp reaches a certain level, it shuts off the air conditioning Item 2 is a thermostat that is used for the fuel vapor system....this is an on/off type of switch as well. It simply keeps the purge valve closed until the engine is warmed up such that it isn't allowing fuel tank vapor from entering the intake system and increasing emissions under engine warm-up conditions. It's important to note that this is all that it does. If you pull both vacuum lines to this thermostat and plug them, the purge valve still shuts at idle and opens off idle based on the vacuum/boost before and after the throttle plate.

I do just this, whenever possible. Although, I mostly just lurk on fb...or really just look at the messages that pop up in my feed...which is infrequent because I mostly use fb just to browse marketplace. It's a good platform to say 'Hey, I took it out for a ride today' and toss in a picture, but using it to solve issues, nah. Case in point, I now have eight old cars on my property, of different makes/models, thanks to my kids. I'm subscribed to FB groups on all of them, but never once have I found any useful information on troubleshooting/repairing. I have better luck finding information in forums and/or youtube. I do wish it would evolve to the 'community' being mostly FB (like the BS forum on here) but the technical issues/resolutions handled via forums. Although, I agree with some of the earlier posts in that the crashes, and especially the data server issue, drove many away for good. Haha, good point! That just goes to show that many have the same frustrations.

The green fusible link (in the visible fusible link box outside the relay cluster) is corroded or nearing failure.

Do a leak-down test. It will tell you if you really do have a blowby issue. Don't assume the worst from the start. Valve seals will have the same symptoms and are easily replaceable...especially if you have a leak-down tester (if not, buy one, they are cheap nowadays) to hold the valve up without tearing down the engine.