are conquest reliable?

[93gtpeater]

Iam going to look at a conquest this weekend. Before I buy it I would like to know pros and cons of them. It has low miles. I don't another problem like my talon that's sitting in the garage. any free mods? Are there easy to mod and get good power out of? Are the turbos good? What do you use to tune them with? I know the car needs some work. It was rolled over so it will be easy to fix. I do it everyday at work. I can use the frame rack on my time off.

[LingLing]

A modified car is going be as reliable as....well....a modified car. Being less reliable is the trade off you make for making more power. It sounds like you weren't fully prepared for the quirks you encounter with a DSM.

[twack]

Run far away untill youve done much reading and can answer your own question

[93gtpeater]

Iam not going to mod the hell of it. Iam talking about little things. I know the more shit that is done to car the more unreliable it will be. I know the conquests have a weird fuel injection system. I have done research. I would like to know from poeple on here that have own one.

[Andrew7dg]

I think they are going to be like an older dsm. They will have parts that need to maintain and they accept modifications like any other engine. It is a SOHC so there is a little head flow issue.

The community is more friendly and know how to modify them.

Megasquirt or AEM is the standalone choice for 4g54 block unless you are switching to a 4g63.

[D_Venable]

they will have their quirks, what year is it, the 87-89 have the most desirable tbi setup (better fuel maps, and easier to upgrade)

things to look for, mainly rust on the frame rails, and the rear of the floorpans. and of course the fender lips.

do a compression check on it while your there, make sure it's consistent (as with any car)

the heads on these cars like to crack/warp if the cooling system isn't kept fresh. ask if it has a non-jet valve head, and if so, which one. because there's the caravan head (junkyard special, so it might not have the correct exhaust valves), clearwater head (better) and the china and spain Marnel heads, the Spain casting being the better (will have AMC cast into it on the intake side (look between runners 2-3)

do a suck test on the vacuum advance to make sure it holds as well (common thing to go bad)

as was said above, the more you mod it, the less reliable it'll be. keep it close to stock and keep up on maintenance, and you should be ok. but almost any issues that arise, it was more than likely caused by neglect, or improper mod/mainenance by you or a previous owner (been through both, lol)

I've come to expect failure from my Conquest though, this way I'm not that upset when it does break down. It is what I've learned over 10 years of having my 88, and going through 3 heads, a rusty gas tank, dozens of fuel filters, and rebuilding the stock turbo (which does not like more than 15psi for too long).

Unless it's bone stock, babied, and taken care of, don't expect it to be a truly reliable daily driver. And miles really don't matter as much as how the car was treated.


Multiple Starion/Conquest owner
Derek

[b00sted_spyder]

I want one so bad. I fall in love with the wheels.

[red89]

My dad has one that is virtually stock, the previous owner had receipts and took good care of it. It usually isn't driven hard. It has 160,000 miles on it and fires right up every time. It runs and drives excellent.

Mine has 130,000 miles on it, the previous owner didn't take care of it very well. I am not certain how long he had it for. I have done a lot of general maintenance on it and it seems like there is always something small that needs to be done. It still runs strong and doesn't have any major problems. It is has never left me stranded and I have put 50,000 miles on it. It currently has 130,000 on the odometer and is lightly modded. I don't baby it but I also don't beat on it too much.

In my opinion they were built pretty well, it just comes down to a little bit of luck, keeping up with the minor things that go wrong, not abusing it, and how the previous owners treated it. I suppose that could be said about virtually any car though.

[FattyBoomBatty]

You can tune it with a dremel tool. Get a 1G mas, a BOV, exhaust with no cats, and another ignition coil hooked up to a spark plug in the tail pipe. Big balls of flame, trust me, it's the pro tip.

All stock, they are pretty reliable.