ucw458

It's not necesarily the cheap route. Sometimes we just don't have the money and our cars are broken. So we save money any way we can. Not everyone has $100 to spend on parts.

Sounds like you bought bad parts, or installed them wrong. What kills boosters is water geting past the rubber boots ang getting in around the seals and rusting the metal in them and around them. That causes vacuum leaks. In wet climates, ie rain, high humidity, snow and ice, salted roads etc considerably shorten a boosters lifespan. In a dry climate like here in LA they last a long time. I took apart a 41 year old booster off a 67 Ford and the rubber was almost like new, very plyable. That one died because it sat in a junkyard car back east with no hood for a long time. What killed it was rust around the front seal where the master cylinder mounts causing a vacuum leak. This one came off a LA car and I would not hesitate to put it on my car if I ever needed it. It is actually my spare, stored indoors. But I don't think I will need it.

I've got a good one out of an 88 starion sitting on my shelf. Kragen lists for 170 shoot me an offer.

I have one pulled off a running 87 quest. Autozone sells it for $177 shoot me an offer

I'm selling an upgraded front sway bar for a starquest. I belive it will fit on all years buy am sure it will fit on 86-89. Was taken off an 88 that was a bad race car attempt. Has less than 500 miles on it so it is barely used and has no mechanical defects. Color is lime green with a few light nicks from being moved around my garage. Comes with bushings and hardware. It is listed on ebay if you want to see a pic. I'm asking $100 + shipping for club members. You guys know how much this costs new. There is a shipping calculator on ebay. sold

Be carefull not to go too far. We know too much can hurt your engine. But raising the boost on a turbo with alot of miles can dramatically shorten the turbo's life. More boost = more pressure on the turbo bearings. More pressure on already worn bearings = turbo failure. Also if you don't have a BOV you should invest in one before raising the boost level.

You need to stop driving the car until you have found the problem. I've known people who lost a tire and rim on the road by procrastinating when it comes to suspention problems. First I would jack up the car and try to wiggle the tires. If they move have a friend wiggle them so you can look with a flashlight. the three most likely sources are the ball joint, a worn strut, or bearings. It's hard to see a worn strut move. If the wheel moves and the rest of the suspension doesn't it is the bearings. After that I would check the calipers for loose bolts(I've had that happen before, always use locktite) and check the sliding bolts for the caliper. If they are hard to move, clean them and lube them with disc brake caliper grease ONLY. It's a high temp grease that wont melt away when heated. You could also have worn tie rod ends on your steering. At speed they would let the wheels flop side to side but when you hit the brakes you load the front wheels which will take up the play in the steering linkage and stop the vibration. A good rule of thumb is to check all the bolts to make sure they are tight. Always use locktite, you don't want any of these fasteners to come loose. Last but not least check your tires. Out of balance causes vibration but is usually minor. The 2 major problems are out of round,( a bubble in the tread) or cupping(flat or bowl shaped patterns in the tread. Out of round is caused by a defective or cheap tire. Cupping is caused by worn struts allowing your tire to bounce down the road causing uneven wear. Out of round requires tire replacement and that fixes the problem. Cupping also requires replacement but is a temporary fix. If your tires are cupped you must replace the struts or it will happen again. Most vibration problems are caused by tires. If you want to grease the bearings anyway it's a good idea especially for the rears. They are a little harder to remove and usually don't get maintained very well. If you need help with the rear bearings I can give you some tips to make it easier. First time I did it was a real pain because I thought I could just figure it out as I took it apart. Took me hours the first time now it takes me 15 min to check each side. Sorry if this seems dumbed down. I tried to write it so even beginners could understand.

For any Starquest I reccomend an aftermarket aluminum radiator. $300 worth of better cooling is way cheaper than a new motor.

I realize after looking at that site the K injector is wrong for my quest. But if I can clean and flow it someone with a turbo colt may need it. I don't throw away something until I know what it is. I don't want to throw away any good ebay candidates. Or a free part to someone who really needs it.

First off Indiana, don't assume the author of this post is an idiot. YES I have made headers before. I actually worked in an exhaust shop for awhile. In fact one of my good friends owns one. Headers while time consuming aren't really that hard. And don't pick on junkyard parts. There are alot of good parts to find in junkyards. BTW I laugh at people who buy shocks and brake pads at junkyards, I've seen it happen. As for fuel injection I've taken my first quest from a half driven into the ground vehicle to an excelent running daily driver. As for people who put MPI on a stock motor. I would do that, but only to get a baseline tune so I don't take the chance of blowing the performance built engine I have sitting in my garage. If I blow the stock motor who cares. You're talking about someone who has spare motors, transmissions and rear ends saved just in case I break parts at the track. BTW my stage 3 clutch and lightened flywheel cost me almost nothing. Do you honestly think someone who wont let a mechanic touch his car except to put tires on it is going to settle for a stock pressure regulator? I'm currently going through my own personal R&D to see if I can hit the 400HP mark with stock TBI injection. Personally I think TBI is Not Junk. I come from a domestic V8 background and carburetor guys have been able to get alot of horsepower out of a "wet" manifold. I love building my cars but I don't want to spend 3 times the money and build it twice because I cheaped out and did it wrong. All I wanted to know was a ballpark figure so I have something to plan for when I buy my next quest. And I'm not going to hack apart a good running car.

I have welders and room to work so i can do my own intercooler piping. I can also modify a magna intake myself. Plus I already have a bigger intercooler to run on it so I would only have to fab a TB to intercooler pipe. I've heard estimates from 5000-7000 to do an MPI swap but that was from people at Top End. I think they overcharge sometimes. For instance they charge $409 for one primary injector.

What would MPI really cost you after everything is working? I've priced kits from top end and their prices are really high on alot of stuff. I'm just wondering after you get all the parts and build it yourself. Then have someone tune it for you. What would be a realistic ballpark cost?

Thank you. Finally a little clarification. Just one more question. When they are reffered to as H J K L that is the first digit of the # on the injector right? I have a tan one it reads K98-3 that means it's a K style injector right? I just want to be 100% clear on this because I'm gonna clean and flow test all of them to see what I have and I don't want to mix them up and put the wrong one back in my car.

I went through many sites, ran internet searches, I even searched this site. I can't seem to find good information on identifying injectors. I have a green and black one on my 87. two TBs from 87's that have 2 black injectors. A spare black one and a brown one. My 88 manual says they should be blue and grey. Another site says 87 and up should all be blue and yellow. None of the part #s I have found mathch up to anything I can find on the injectors. wt.... How can I tell what injectors I have? I thought they were all supposed to be color coded. I got half a rainbow over here and no idea what they are.

The cruise control is a vacuum motor with electronic controls. The vacuum pumps main role is to provide enough vacuum to run the cruise control. Without it when your car goes up a hill on cruise and the computer adds throttle to compensate all your engine vacuum dissapears and the cruise control fails. my vacuum pump was disconeccted when I got my car. Everything else worked fine except the cruise control.

You mentioned you were going over a bumpy road and the car was lowered. Check for suspention travel. Mine is lowered almost 2 inches with coilovers. I noticed the suspension only had 2-3" of travel left before they would bottom out. You may be going over those bumps and bottoming out the suspension which would make a clunking sound. Also raise the rear of your vehicle and try to wiggle your tires side to side. If they move at all you may have a bad bushing or even worse bad bearings. One of my cars made a clunk in the rear and I found out I had bad rear wheel bearings. They aren't easy to change. Whatever it is you need to stop driving it until you fix the problem. If anything breaks back there it can cause major damage or a crash.

I think the emerald neklace is too much. She may expect you to buy her even better gifts year after year. I would wait untill you are married before buying jewelry as gifts. BTW guys I bought my wife a conquest as a gift because she thought the car looked sexy. Then a month later she told me to sell it because she wanted to keep her 94 Ford Escort. She only drove it once for 5 minutes. I was sooo dissapointed.

I took apart an engine that had low oil pressure due to a horribly worn out turbo. Could not find any oiling problems in the engine except for 3 spun rod bearings. Previous owner said there was an "engine" noise when he sold it to me. Thankfully it was a parts car. I rebuilt an auto tranny and was meticulous about cleaning and assembly. Everything was perfect except the front pump seal. I was in a hurry and accidentally installed it backwards. Tranny immediatly started dumping fluid and the 10 mile drive to the tranny shop destroyed it. One $5 seal ruined a new transmission.

But that's the fun and frustrating part of this hobby. You're not going to get everything right the first time. As long as you don't give up or blow your new motor it's all a fun learning experience.

Most of us (those who can afford it) buy parts cars when we need something or find a good deal. Some deals are better than others. Some are full of useable parts, some are rolling piles of junk with the few parts you needed and some come with hidden treasures. Tell us your best parts car deals no matter how outrageous as long as they are true. To start this off I have a couple that some of you guys might drool over. These two stories are 100% true, no bs. The first car I wanted to buy was a gold 87 conquest. When I met the guy he didn't really want to sell it so he gave me the number of the guy he bought it from and told me he had a white one for sale.(the white one was my first quest) 6 months later (2 months before my wedding) he calls and says he's being evicted and can't keep his gold 87 and red parts car. Red car was a crash victim. He says I can have them for $1500. My wife to be loans me the money and I drive about 100 miles with a trailer twice to get them. put the turbo back in the gold one swapped the bent rear a arm in the gold one for one out of the red car then sold the gold car for $1500 got a good drivetrain out of the red one and a complete black leather interion to put in my white car. Plus some extra useable parts. The first parts car was the best. I heard from this guy at Yumi Sport that someone named Ryan was selling his 88 starion. Went down to check out his car which he was parting out. Interior was gutted and engine was half apart. In less than 500 miles he cracked the block due to poorly tuning his stand alone system. Wiring harness was all cut up so restoring it would have been hell. The standalone system was already gone. (intake, wiring , computer, turbo and manifold) But I bought the car anyways for $1300. This is the best part of the deal, asside from having near perfect body parts, fenders, doors, etc. The car came with new coilover suspension, upgraded front swaybar, full 2.5" mandrel bent HKS exhaust, stronger 88 drivetrain, race prepped engine internals, fully ported and polished Marnal head with performance cam, head studs, Larger upgraded intercooler, high flow fuel pump and pressure regulator, 4 point racing harness, autometer boost gauge, stainless steel braided clutch, brake and ABS bypass hoses, 240 mm lightened flywheel with stage 3 clutch, new pioneer rear deck speakers, fairly new optima red top battery, A recently re-cored radiator with new hoses and belts, new starter, new alternator, a new one piece front air dam, and last but not least a 99% perfect 83 hood. There were a few problems like the coilovers in the front were attached to worn struts. The cylinder head cost me $300 to rebuild with new valves. Seriously all this came with the car, no bs. I was just in the right place at the right time. :party0049:

First off I have to say No One is going to scare me away from building my starquest. I wanted one for many years but didn't have the money\couldn't find one. You all know that story. I kept the first one I ever owned and sold\scraped the others. I still wish I had my gold one. But I needed money for the engine for my white one. I've stalled out right in the middle of my engine build due to lack of funds and layoffs. It's fun and driveable right now just not as fast as I want it to be. I want to build it right, take it to the track and spank those honda, evo and STI owners.

That would be nice except it is really strict around here. I had a guy fail my quest twice because he didn't like the car. First he said the timing was off, it wasn't. He failed me then I grabbed his timing light and proved it was at 10 deg, so he pulled it back on the dyno and retested it. but first he descided to turn the shop cooling fan off which overheated my car which made it fail the nox test. ( passed first time with a reading of 18 and failed the second time with a reading of 376) So I complained to the owner who gave me a free retest after I cooled down my car and it passed,.... again. but he was pissed so he put the wrong vin # on the paperwork so the DMV wouldn't accept it. Me being really pissed I went back to the shop and they called the state and got the vin fixed on the paperwork. Needless to say I wont be going back.

I'm not against the idea of an auxilary injector setup to get more fuel. Basically I want to see how far I can push it without having to run a stand alone fuel system with multiport injection. I realize I may be attempting the impossible. But it is a fun hobby. Part of the reason for doing this is the smog restrictions in California. If I go stand alone I might not be able to pass a smog test then I wont be able to drive it. Not a happy thought.

I may be a newbie to this site but NOT to Starquests. I've owned many of them. And besides the manual trans and the rear diff there isn't one part or bolt that I haven't removed from these cars. Buying 2 parts cars and being forced to strip them because I had no place to store a whole car makes learning how to take them apart easy. I have starquest parts everywhere. My wife really apreciates that. :chair: But I have been modifying my current conquest and toying with some new designs I haven't built yet. I may be dreaming but I want to try to hit the 400HP mark with the stock injection. Without nitrous. Then again I may have a better chance of winning the lottery. But I still want to try just to see if I can do it.

I was wondering if we could figure out who has the most dyno tested rear wheel HP from their stock TBI fuel injection. I mean stock TBI with mass air sensor and stock computer, all other mods are considered ok for this question. Is around 320-340 really all anyone has ever been able to make?