Conquest351

Here's what she looks like now.

Here's what we showed up to get. Fresh out of the field.

Got it back home. She'd been sitting in a field by a shop in Houston for the better part of 15 years. I hadn't seen the car in 20+ years. Loaded her on the trailer, took her straight to a car wash and spent probably $50 washing the poor thing as best as I could. Spent all Sunday cleaning out the interior. Cleaned out multiple rodent nests, and about 30 lbs of debris and poop of various flavors. LOL. Discovered the driver side floorboard is rusted and has multiple holes, still can't get the hatch to open, but haven't really spent too much time trying to figure it out. All the stuff I had for it is gone, only has what was bolted in. All the wheels have been swapped out for beat up and damaged wheels, I think maybe 1 of the SHP wheels is still on the car, but they're all pretty banged up. The 351 is still in the car, but the front end is all beat up. The whole lower facia is gone, the bumper is damaged, missing the driver side bumper fog light/turn signal, no real wiring in the car (wasn't much when I got rid of her, but there was a wiring harness kit). So, basically going to start from scratch again. Most likely going to back half the car, tube chassis front end and put C5-C7 Corvette front suspension up there with coilovers as then it'll be a full upper & lower control arm car and I can actually get parts for it. The plan is to road race it (has always been the plan) and somewhat street drive it. I live less than 10 mins from Harris Hill Road here in Texas, so driving her over there will be quick and easy. So, strip the car completely, do all the chassis/bodywork to the car, see if the engine is salvageable and figure out what I want to do with that, then do suspension and big brakes and rock on. Since I've been out of the game for so long, what's the latest on these cars? Should I do the Corvette suspension and brakes and take advantage of that or is there something more 'Bolt In" that will work? What about the rear suspension? I don't want to do Corvette front and nothing in the rear because then I'll have 2 different bolt patterns for the wheels, and my OCD won't let me do that. LOL. I hear there's a steering rack conversion for these? What's the skinny on that?

Welp, been a LONG time since I've been here. My 1989 Conquest is coming back to me. Still has the 351 in it. Still not running or driving. No idea what condition it's in. I go to pick it up on Saturday.

I still pop in now and again guys. LOL

I had one with a 351-W in it. Got rid of it before the project was completed. This was back in the early 2000's though. Don't know how far back the board goes, but I believe I had a few pix up of it. From what I recall, it's still around the Houston area awaiting completion still. I'd kinda like to get it back, but kinda not. LOL

Doing some lurking here and saw this thread and my name mentioned. Hello my old friends!! As for the subframes, they were modified Fox Body Mustang subframe connectors that we had laying around the shop. They weren't modified that much really as I recall. I also had an 8 point rollcage in the car as well as some extra bracing going all the way back to the differential area. I know I have pictures somewhere of the whole setup. I think I found them... http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/2469/3221/6171610003_large.jpg http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/2469/3221/6171610024_large.jpg http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/2469/3221/6171610021_large.jpg That's really about all the pictures I have of it. Here's the link to my Cardomain page with all my pics... Cardomain Page Hope this helps. Laters, Brian

Where the hell are all the pics Tim was snapping all day?! LOL Great to see all you guys & girls and finally put names with faces and meet some new people. Thanks again for the BBQ!! My fiance' and her daughter had a great time. Still trying to get them interested in cars. It's a process... LOL Laters, Brian

I had a 351 in my Quest. It was anything but cheap. LOL I was over $30k into that car when I got rid of it. BUT, that was mostly due to my indecision on what exactly I wanted out of the car. Spent a lot of money on stuff I shouldn't have. Oh well. You can get a drivetrain out of a wrecked GTO or something for pretty cheap I'd think. Ebay is awesome. But like you said, it's all about the all mighty "Cubic Dollar". How much money do you wanna spend on this project man. That's the best way to figure out what you can do.

Supra killer huh? Well that all depends on what you intend to do with the car. Is it just to kill your buddy and make him whine like a little girl? Are you actually going to want to drive this thing around? Do you just want it to go straight? Do you want it to handle? Check it out, there are a few simple things to consider in order to build an appropriate vehicle for anything. Weight Traction Suspension Less weight = go faster. (Words I live by) More traction = go faster. Correct suspension = stay faster. So with that said, there are a few things you also need to decide. Do you want to stay 4 cyl? 6 cyl? V8? Honestly, if you want to go balls to the wall, and I'm a devout Ford fan, the LS series of engines that Chevrolet has been producing are insane. Heads flow great with many factory upgrades, great stock camshafts, all aluminum engine (see less weight), great aftermarket availability, and insane durability. So, my vote would be an LS6 or LS1 with LS6 heads & cam and a pair of CORRECTLY SIZED turbochargers. You're going to be in the 700-900hp area pretty easily with that setup. You can throw a T56 6-speed transmission behind it so you don't have to worry about gearing as it's got 2 overdrives (5th & 6th are both less than 1:1 actual gears vary from model to model). Don't forget to have someone fab you up some subframe connectors and you should be good to go. That's just my 2.6 cents though. Laters, Brian

Dallas huh... May just have to make a suprise appearance. But now that I said something about it, I guess it's not a suprise... I suck. Prolly see ya'll there, Brian

Haha, just makin sure the old man hadn't died on me. Hehehe J/K I like Shelby!! He's awesome. Glad to see most of everyone is doing well. There are a few familiar faces (screennames) I haven't seen yet though. I'll give it some more time though.

It can be done. It's not easy if you wanna do it right and make it look good. Mine was going to be a monster, but after I changed my mind 100 different friggin times as to what I wanted to do, I just got rid of the car. If you want to do it on the cheap, good luck. But there are parts you can use to ease the hurt. Headers from a Mustang will fit, but you gotta turn them backwards. That's right, they face forwards. This clears the wheel well and frame rails. And that's about it. LOL Custom driveshaft, tranny tunnel needs to be modified or removed and new one fabricated (what I did), LOTS of chassis strengthening for added weight & torque. Matter of fact, you're only adding about 200 lbs switching to this V8 from the 2.6 monstrosity. Hehe Check out my profile and look at my Cardomain page which is my homepage on here. Should have all the pics I have of the car. Should also have all the stuff we did to it. It can be done, believe me, I did it. The 351 is 2" wider and about 2" taller at the valve covers than the 302. The intake manifold is where you gotta get creative. If you wanna make life easy, just get a motor plate for the front and mount the engine that way. That way you can just zip holes for mounting your accessories and you won't have to worry about brackets. RIP OUT ALL THE WIRING YOU KNOW YOU WON'T NEED!!!! I lost over 250 lbs of wires outta that damn car!!! That's about all I can remember. Laters, Brian

Maybe, I hear it's just sitting. Man I still hurt thinking about that car. Need to just get it back and go ahead and finish it. Ah well. I've got a few other cars I wanna do though. LOL There's a nice Grand National right up the street from me. There's also a killer kit car built by a company I visited a few months ago that is a rival to the Ariel Atom at less than half the cost. Plus it'll accept any FWD drivetrain. I'm thinking an SRT4 drivetrain with some upgrades in a car that weighs under 1300lbs would be friggin fun. Plus you'd only be out $20k at MOST. Hell, I had more than that in my damn Quest. LOL How many other old timers are still around? Shelby still here spreading his knowledge?

Eh, residential is crap. Commercial along with Farm & Ranch are doing fine and very steady. Especially in this market area. The company/broker I'm going to work with has been doing it since the early 80's and his office has been #3 in the nation. This is in BROWNWOOD TEXAS!! Has anyone here even HEARD of Brownwood Texas? LOL I think I'll do alright. May take me a little bit to be where I want to be, but I'll be OK.

What's up guys & girls? Long time no talk huh? Hope all is well with everyone. Allow me to fill ya'll in on what's been happening in my life. Nice new look on the board BTW. Very nice!! I recently got engaged, Oct. 20th if you call that recently. Moved from Austin to Brownwood Tx. There's a red StarQuest runing around here. Anyway, I'm finalizing all my stuff to become a licensed Real Estate Agent and sell ranches and farms and commercial property. Very little residential since that market is pretty crappy at the moment. Still don't have another StarQuest, driving my 2000 Crown Vic P71 (cop car) and pissing everyone off with it. That's really about it. Kinda missed you guys. How has everyone been? Good I hope!! Laters, Brian

Good call. Anyone thing about talking to that place, http:/www.emachineshop.com and getting a quote from them on, say, 20 sets? They do a quantity discount I betcha and since it's all outsourced, the price would be dirt cheap. Q, check it out man. See if your buddy can play with their downloadable CAD program and submit it for a free quote. It's worth a shot. I'd damn sure buy a set. Laters, Brian

Do it like the first 2 pics D_Venable did. I want that one BAAD!! DO IT!!

Well if memory serves, Q got banned from SQC. I don't think we'll be able to find anything else out about this brake swap unless he comes back or we e-mail him. I already have. LOL Laters, Brian

Yeah, and you need to hurry the hell up with that too!!!!!!!!!!! :P > > > > > > > ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

The intercooler I got made did go on Ryan's car as a testbed. Here are the pics of it... http://www.motion-dynamics.net/products/St...ntercoolers.asp Notice the direction of the intercooler has been corrected. THis helps both flow and cooling efficiency. Ryan has never dyno'd his car to find out the difference though. LOL Laters, Brian

Pretty sure, I can go over to his house and measure em. LOL He lives about 3 miles from the shop. Or I'll e-mail him. I was pretty sure he said they were. I could be wrong, it has happened once before.... ;D

Yup, that's Romeo's. They are polished, not chrome. They are SHP wheels. He did have a fire. Was going to part it out, changed his mind due to the number of people willing to help him out. He's a great guy and his car is absolutely gorgeous! He also has a super-dope M3. Laters, Brian

Do not get crossdrilled rotors if you are looking for performance. If you are looking for BLING then get the slotted & drilled. The reasoning is this, crossdrilled rotors have less surface area than slotted rotors. Slotted rotors will outgas the same as crossdrilled, but retain the surface area critical on brakes as well as run cooler. Crossdrilled rotors allow the gas to run into the vanes inside the rotor thus heating the air flowing through there more than it already is. So, if you want to stop, go slotted. If you want to Bling Bling, go drilled & slotted. Now, as far as manufacturer, both are excellent places. We deal with both here at our shop. But for all out competition brakes, Brembo rotors seem to last longer and put up with more abuse than the Stillens. If you are just tooling around the street and not open tracking the car every weekend, then the Stillens will be great for you. Hope this helps, Brian

HURRY UUUUUUP!!!!! > > > > > > > :-* ;D