BlueCuda

So I ran some errands today and tried to unbuckle it every single stop I made.....smh.

I got out and fixed my drivers side auto belt. I had a known good motor from my parts car and cleaned it up and swapped it in. It works great! My previous 87 I had in the late 90s didn't have a working drivers belt either so it was nice to fix this one.

Not sure if you ever got around to this or not but I just had a diff apart. You have to remove the ring gear and carrier to pull these out. As long as the replacement is the same thickness as the old one its just an R&R deal that is not too difficult that will not require resetting anything. Its not a bad job to do with the whole torque tube and diff assembly removed and on a workbench.

That is awesome. Should be plenty fun.

Does anyone have any experience with some of the cheaper double din CarPlay radios on Amazon? I am not a big car audio guy but my Conquest has been on the road a year now and still doesn't have a radio so I need to remedy that. I'm not looking for amazing quality or anything, just something I can listen to podcasts and music on. This thing was mid radio hack or something when I bought it. I sourced a length of wire and the stock connectors but I have lots of work to do just to be able to put any radio in it.

I got my spare torque tube and rear gear setup al cleaned up and inspected. Its a lower mileage unit from my parts car, torque tube splines and everything looked really good I cleaned it up and put it all back together ready to swap. Once I have this installed the entire drivetrain from my parts car will have made it into my primary car. It had 116K miles vs 194K on the primary car. I got the Conquest, The Barracuda, and my Jeep out this weekend. I had someone inquire about buying my Conquest at a cars and coffee I stopped at on new years day. I am awaiting to see if that turns into a real offer or not. I have a number I would sell it for that isn't out of line for the market but can't decide if I would really let it go. I need the space more than the money. As far as your convertible project, could you imagine the extra nightmares with a drop top Starquest....yikes! lol

https://www.motocam360.com/products/starquest/product/120-sq-crank-trigger-wheel That setup will not need anything to be rebalanced. Looks like you will need to fabricate a sensor mount though. If someone is telling you it needs rebalanced after adding a trigger wheel I would be concerned. Especially on one of these engines lol

This engine will be much easier to run from an engine management point. This 3.6 could be run from a carb, throttle body, or port injection. I see your point though. The 3.6L Chrysler Pentastar crossed my mind for a swap before. My Wife's 2015 Grand Cherokee with this engine ran a 15.75(4900lbs) a few weeks back when I made her take it down the track lol. That engine is probably no heavier than the G54B and you can mate them to a manual trans using stuff from a wrangler.

David Freiburger who does Engine Masters on Motor Trend has already asked blueprint if they can dyno one.

Its interesting, Blueprint is a solid company and I am sure they would run great. I am curious what it will cost, it sounds like it is made from existing items they offer so it may not be as bad as you would think. Personally if I were to swap one of these cars it would be with a LS or Gen III Hemi. Ideally a Gen III but I think the LS would be easier and I am not a GM guy at all but they are good motors as much as I hate to say it lol.

I suppose mine has been so reliable because I haven't tried to make it faster yet. Although Saturday night I was getting on a long uphill highway ramp. I was wide open, 8psi, 11.2:1 AFR and it was 35 degrees out. I made zero progress on the SUV in front of me and I ran it to the top of 3rd. I am back to wanting to put a super 16G on this one like my first 87 had back in the late 90s.

The camera is very kind to it and it was minutes after it was polished by detail guy trying to remove some staining on the paint. Previously it looked like it had been driven in the rain, even after you washed it. Also I Strategically did not include the rear bumper in the photo. Not sure what went wrong on the rear bumper vs the rest of the car when it was painted but it wasn't good!

Wow super low miles, mine would be my daily driver if I didn't have my work truck. It's not in a condition to be afraid of driving it though. It looks nice but it had a cheap paint job on it. If it was a cherry survivor I might be less inclined to drive it but. Its a great 20 footer that had been rode hard and put up wet(more like put up overheated) before I got it. TexasQuest this one came from the DFW area, I bought from a guy who had 3 of them in Azle. He bought it broken and never did much with it. I bought it in April or May of 21 and I am not sure how long he had it but from paperwork I found it was on the road in 19 and maybe even into 20.

I am approaching having my Conquest back on the road for 1 year now, drove it for the first time on 12-31 last year. I drove the car last night and I am at 1750 miles for the year. I have a company truck to commute in and 4 cars total on top of that. I even used the conquest as a daily driver for almost two weeks while my company truck got used for some other stuff at work. I was still surprised how little miles I ended up with. I think when I insured it with Hagerty I got 5000 miles of coverage, I can probably back that down and save some money. Good news is that 1750 miles had about 60 seconds of break down time when the ECU fusible link came loose. Other than that it returned home under its own power every time. I am proud of that because I bought it partially assembled and made it from 3 engines, AND its a Conquest so.............. How many miles a year on yours? Conquest 1750, Barracuda 1300ish(950 in one week), and my Poor XJ Cherokee probably 500-600 max. I need to set aside more time to drive my own cars, its the only downside to having a company truck when you have cars your actually enjoy.

Looking good, good idea having those heads checked out. I wouldn't run any brand of assembled head without a machine shop taking a peak at them. They usually can have the valve job made better and the guides loosened up a little bit.

The problem with that style is that you need a manual box or rack. A hydraulic assist box or rack doesn't do well without fluid running through it.

Being that the traverse is all wheel drive that axle never sees all the power, and it is getting its power from a automatic trans that is heavily held back from any hard loads. Modern cars make it real hard to tear up drivetrain parts with all the torque limiting and timing management, not to mention the drive by wire throttle never lets you just send it.

I have an idea for a torque tube eliminator but haven't been under the car to see if it would really work or not. If my idea worked it wouldn't be all that complicated. It would require a custom driveshaft but that's easy.

Yeah that would be a great option for big power. I assume a custom axle setup would be needed and that would be pretty pricey but would land you with a pretty bullet proof setup.

Do you have a good foam recommendation? I have used Chemical guys, and 1320 Street shine foam. I have been happy with the results but if there is a better option I would like to try it. I really hate washing cars, but I hate a dirty car more. I don't trust the tunnel washes with my Barracuda or Conquest lol.

I have found that when the AC and the fans and the headlights are on the volt meter looks pretty rough. However in my case the voltage at the battery is just fine at 14 volts. Any mods needed to the headlight area to bold up the hella housings and bulbs?

I assume there was some kind of promotion deal involved with this detailing. Otherwise I couldn't imagine spending the money for that kind of detail. and then having to send it to a mechanic to get it running with it being so clean! Amazing job, although I did kind of cringe a little when he soaked down that mint cardboard on the cargo cover lol. Now we need a video of someone getting it road worthy. Likely not a terrible job beyond the fuel system work that is likely needed.

I'm 6'3 240 and feel your pain. I have an autocross deal I want to try in a few weeks and I have yet to try and sit in the car with my helmet on. I am going to have to lean way back I think!

I'd say that has for sure been welded on, its unlikely that much heat could generate from a splined coupling. My car has the same gear whine you have mentioned. The odometer reads 194K so some gear whine would not be out of question. My car appears to have been abused at one point in its life and despite that the diff fluid was clean and clear. Changing it did nothing for the gear whine. I have another assembly from a car with 116K on the odometer that I am going to go through and swap in.

When I got my car on the road I put in a thermostat I got from rockauto. Supposed to be factory temp, seemed to work fine. I had never put coolant in the car just water and Redline water wetter because I had planned on having the radiator rodded out. We had a cold snap the other night that had mid 20s predicted so I drained the water out and put antifreeze in. I noticed when I started the car that the water immediately started flowing so I knew the thermostat was stuck open. I went and bought a replacement at AutoZone. When I pulled the old thermostat out I noticed they were both made by Motorad. The one from rock auto was a 180* and the one from AutoZone was a 188. The 180 degree one was the style that fails open, and that's what had happened it was wide open cold. The big difference I noticed was that the 188* one from AutoZone had a much larger larger flow area. Maybe the flow area difference isn't enough to matter but it was immediately obvious when I laid to the two side by side. Nothing to add beyond that, just an FYI. Totally forgot to take pictures.