88BlueTSiquest

Not trying to steal your lime light, but..... Here's an option I did a while back. http://www.starquestclub.com/cgi-bin/starq...;num=1024695311

I think I've given up on making it a TBI mod. I'm probably going to weld on some injector bosses, and do a full multiport intake out of it. I figure if I put it on like it is, I'll never take it off to mod it.

That's Jozel on Tristarion.com, you can go overthere and in the General forum he has a post about 'Shelby's Hardpipes and New IC" and ask him. I have no idea what size it is... But since those are shelby's pipes, I'd guess he is using the TEP OVCP. Judging by what the sizes look like.

I'm not any good with Photochop yet.... I tried playing with my car to make the image, but just chose to eliminate the extra lines on the purple car. http://bluegtzhome.com/starquest/pics/custpurple.jpg ** EDIT ** Oops, I guess technically the grill isn't part of the header panel? Oh well, I'd still like to see something like that made, that eliminates the grill too. Now, to just do something with the side marker lights so it all blends in..

One like the pictured one would peak my interest also

That would be my thought on it. You can eliminate the ECU and everything, bolt on a carb, give the coil power, and fire the engine up. I believe the only control over the ignition is at the coil pack itself. Which would mean the only thing the computer can do, is deny the coil voltage to fire.

But isn't the ECU's only control over the timing, it's ability to not let the coil fire. I was wondering how the retard would work myself, as the ECU has no direct wiring to the distributor, so there doesn't appear to be any form of electronic solenoid in which the ECU could move to actually retard the timing. My guess is, under a knock situation the Ignitor box just denies the coil the voltage needed to fire. So an MSD box and the megasquirt looks to be all you'd need for a complete standalone system, aside from your gauges inside the car. Just my take, I'm trying to learn about this stuff too....

Those pics are how it sits right now. I'm off Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'll be hard at work at it again, and will be posting more pics of hopefully the finished job. I'll be painting it myself later on down the road when I get everything squared away on it. After the rust repair, I have some hail damage to work out of it. Then it'll get a fresh coat of paint.

If you don't do the rear quarters yourself, and you can't find them used. You are more than likely going to pay more for the conversion, than simply buying a widebody. The body work alone that a pro will cost you will most likely buy a widebody. I would say that if you were planning on doing this with JY parts, get the full rear quarters, starting at the roof line. This way you'll only have 1 8" weld that will be visible. All the rest of the welds will be spot welds, it's just where the Quarter and roof meet that will need to be finished proffesionally. Where the conversion could be tricky will be the skirts. I don't know what the flat body's rocker panel looks like, but the widebody's panel is, for the most part, unfinished. You can look at my body work pictures to get a hint of how that area looks on the widebody, here. Scroll down to where I have the skin on, you can better see how it all goes together at that point.

We came up with a way to change the old style HVAC colors. It involved one of those clear plastic notebook style covers from walmart. I'll find the link....... That was quick. Click here : http://www.starquestclub.com/index.pl?boar...694923;start=30 jolyrgr changed the HVAC coloring. I've got theories on the lighting panels(based on what jolyrgr did), but I haven't attempted them yet. The clock is supposed to be an easy fix. That whole thread has some decent ideas. But here's a link directly to his pic of the modified HVAC http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/foofoo_67203/vw...=ph&.view=t

I don't know how they cross reference, but the gauge bulbs are 161's. I know that some manufacturer's vary the part number, though. As far as scraping the needles go, that's the only way I was able to achieve the look I got. I painted the red on the back's of the needles, I just scraped off the leftover yellow/orange, and repainted.

I'm not a big fan of flames, but I must say that it looks pretty sharp. Got any more pics of it?

Mine is still being lit with the factory bulbs, which is probably the primary reason why mine doesn't look as bright as Turboquest's. I plan on cracking back into mine, and finding something better to light it up with, either brighter bulbs or something. The only thing that really bugs me about it, is the X1000/rpm reading on the tach. As they dropped it too low, and only the 'pm' is being lit. I know I can fix it, I just didn't know it was a problem before I started the project. If you look at Turboquest's close up, you'll see what I mean. The reason the whole thing isn't lighting up, is the X1000/r overlaps with the factory 'Security' and 'Overdrive' lighted portions of the tach. But if you see how the tach is assembled, this is easily correctable. Now for a further understanding... This is what has to be removed to install the 'replacement gauges'. http://bluegtzhome.com/starquest/pics/interior/gauge.jpg This is where the orange lighting comes from, it's built into the gauge face. An overlay would simply stick onto that piece, retaining the orange backlighting. But a replacement gauge requires the removal of these pieces. Replacement gauges are built to have the Blue, or Red, or whatever color you choose, backlighting built into them. I can't remember how many bulbs are in the entire cluster, but I'm wanting to say that there's about 8.

Overlays are essentially just vinyl, that's had the numbers and lettering die cut out of the vinyl. So, the lettering will still be the factory orange, it's just a white faced sticker you are applying over the existing gauge faces. The replacment gauge faces are what Turboquest and I have. These allow you to change the color of the background lighting, as you are totally removing the factory black/orange gauge face, and replacing it with the color combo face you chose. That's why they cost a little more. Yes, once you use a razor blade to scrape the paint off the back of our needles, they are simply clear lexan needles.

What I said there

Before primer, you need to seal the metal(this will prevent future rust). Also, I believe I've figured out why our rear 1/4 panels rust from the inside out. There is a couple of overlapped seams that are not properly sealed from the factory. One seam is in the rear wheel well, where the inside panel meets the outer skin, in the corner is a hole that allows water to get inside the panel. This water cannot drain once in there, and it will get in there from the tire slinging water onto the inner wheel well. I think if you were to drill a couple of drain holes in the bottom, it will allow the water to drain properly. Then hit that inner gap with some seam sealer to attempt to prevent water from getting in there. The other gap that could allow water to get in the panel is just below the back of the door, you'll have to pull the lower rocker panel plate off to get to it. Hit that area with some seam sealer, and it should seal it up. I'd also get inside the panels(you'd have to remove all the interior in the back of the car), and try to scrape and vacuum out any rust that has already started, then use some rust converter in the whole area. It's hard to get to, but should be worth the efforts in the future. Then try to shoot that whole inner area with some rustoleum or something to keep the car from rusting out down there. I know you are in San Antonio and probably don't have a rust problem yet. But be forewarned, I got my replacement panel from a car down there, and there is an obvious water line inside the panel, where it appears that at a time there was up to 2" of water in the lower 1/4 panel.

2 spoons. Use them as levers to pry up the needle evenly from both side. Just slight pressure and the needles will pop off. I can't take credit for that trick though, I called Autosyndicate I believe, and they told me to use the spoons. Worked like a champ, I was afraid I'd bend the needle's shaft or break the needle. All the needles come off in this fashion too. Only thing I'll state. Take pictures of the placement before removing the needles, so that you have a good reference point. Also, some of the gauges require the weight of the needle to point at the right place, so a little patience is required for putting it back together. If you pay close attention, you'll see my speedo is still slightly off The speedo is about the hardest one to get to line up correctly.... That's okay, I plan on tearing it all back apart anyways to put new lighting in, and do something about the brightness of the orange odo and tripometers.

I've already done this. I couldn't say there was any increase in power, but I somehow feel better about the filter being down there. Only thing I'll add, is the filter gets dirty faster being down there. I cut away part of the black plastic splash shield below the passenger's headlight, to further promote air flow to the filter. http://starquest.bluegtzhome.com/pics/intake/coldair1.jpg Here's a pic from under the front bumper, looking up at the hole that was in front of the charcoal cannister. http://starquest.bluegtzhome.com/pics/intake/coldair2.jpg If you were to get down on your hands and knees, and look up through that passenger brake vent in the airdam, you can see the filter(unfortunately my mesh prevented me from taking a picture like that).

Mike, Excellent technical definition on how a cap works ;D Randy, No. I usually don't worry so much about the 'factory' appearance of the wiring. But I do the same thing with a Red top in a GM application. I try to keep all the 'stock' GM wiring done on the side posts, and use the top posts for the upgraded Ground wire, and upgraded Alternator wire along with the main power wire. So, to clarify, No I don't see a reason why not to do what you are planning Sounds to me that you had it all figured out from the start. Only thing I might add, is there are aftermarket side-post adapters that allow you to add wires. If this would somehow help you out, it won't look factory, but it will work with the main factory harness and add the ability to bolt more wires to the top portion. If this helps, http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/ezcompare/a...ize.asp?key=135 the main body is designed to replace the GM bolt and hold the GM terminal onto the battery, yet it has a secondary bolt for ease of hooking up upgraded cables.

Considering 'perfect world' conditions, your 2 amps at full RMS tilt, would be able to draw ~97 amps at 14.4v. If you consider a peak transient spike at around ~180amps, I don't think your 190amp alternator would have much problem with that load, especially with 3 farads of capacitance, and a good old Optima red top. Biggest thing to consider, beef up the main ground to your battery. This is highly overlooked. You've got a minimum of 4g. running to your amps, and grounding your amps, but most car's only come with a 6g main ground on the battery. Also, if you haven't already, beef up the power wire off the alternator, 190amps is useless through the 8-10g factory cable, about like sucking a golf ball through a garden hose.

A cap does 'slow' it's recharge time as it reaches a full charge level. However, thinking that a cap is a totally 'load' free device in the electrical system is the improper way of thinking. As it will draw a load, and not relieve the stress on the vehicles electrical system as salesmen would lead you to believe. If you have flashing 'disco' headlights before a cap install, chances are highly probable that you will still have flashing lights after a cap install. The only real way to satisfy this problem is with an upgraded alternator and main battery. A cap's only real use to 'stabilize' the voltage at the amp, so that the amp could have a constant stable supply of current through any transient peaks. The cap will attempt to resist any change in voltage and attempt to supply the amp the power it needs. But this is of course at the cost of yet another load device on the alternator, thus making the alternator work harder than it was before the cap install. Since a cap can't 'make' electricity, it's obviously going to use it, and due to the fact it can't make power it's not going to fix a problem caused by a weak alternator. Simple electronics. I use cap's myself. But I don't use them to attempt to bandage a weak electrical system, I use them for their power supply stiffening capabilities. This is why there's currently not a system in my Quest, as I need to get the weak alternator upgraded before I do anything system-wise. Goes back to that old saying, your system is only as good as it's weakest link. And in this case, the factory 85a alternator is seriously weak.

Nope, actually the reason for the resistor to charge a cap is because of it's ability to instantly charge. If it were a slow charge device, it would be defeating it's purpose of storing peak on demand current, as after it sustained an amp through a transient burst, it wouldn't have the ability to charge back up for the next transient. A large cap's initial charge rate is fast enough to possibly blow most inline fuses. And as far as it not being a burden on an battery or alternator, think of it this way. Any electrical device poses a load potential. A cap is not a 'free' load device, it requires current to put out current. That would be like saying adding a second battery to an alternator won't hinder the alternator's performance. The alternator would have to work to charge are secondary storage devices. If the alternator has a tough time keeping the voltage of the car at 14.4volts, the cap isn't going to help. The cap will merely 'attempt' to sustain a steady 14.4volts to the amp, not the rest of the car.

I needed a lower quarter panel, and posted it in the Wanted section. Jerry replied, and even gave me a requested picture of what he had. I also requested pics of it when removed from the car, he sent me excellent pictures of it, and followed my directions to a T. His packaging was professional grade, and the panel arrived unblemished. His emails are always thorough, and he was awesome to work with. Pricing was also very good. Awesome transaction.

A cap is just as hard on the electrical system as an amp. Something to consider, a cap is capable of instantaneous power discharge, but it's also capable of instantaneous power draw. So, in all reality, the alternator has to work just as hard if not harder, to run a system utilizing caps. A cap's biggest, and for the most part - only, benefit is instant current for transient peaks. This instant current allows for cooler and more efficient amp running. Think of a cap as a mod for the amp, it has nothing to do with the alternator itself. It takes power to make power, and since a cap is incapable of making power, it's obviously taking it. I usually state one of the best mods you can do would be to upgrade the alternator, it's wiring, and the main battery of the car. Once this is done, then the system can be installed. This is the sole reason I have nothing in my car amplifier-wise, as our measily alternator's can't hardly sustain themselves much less add-ons.

What is that? Why did Mitsubishi decide that the passenger seat doesn't need to slide back as far as the driver's seat? I can't stand, nor understand that. It kinda looks stupid. Everytime I sit in the passenger seat, I find myself trying to force it back a couple of more clicks. I don't think I've ever been in another car that the passenger seat wouldn't slide back as far as the driver's.... My rant of the day.