5 Mopars that Invented the Modern Turbo Car
By Brett Foote

 

Can I throw my two cents in on this thread or is it too old?

considering I’m probably one of the few techs in this forum that actually worked on every one of those vehicles .......under warranty!!

 

I had an 89 Conquest. That was a FUN car. Still coulda used a bit more power..... Fun to drive, handled rather well. Easy to work on. Decent gas mileage. It was even comfy. For the most part.

 

Conquest TSI was an awsome vehicle! Realy road worthy and yes underpowered but it wasn’t a MOPAR it was a Mitsubishi

wish i could find a decent running one now, actualy looking for a car for my wife, had a good car for her, but lost it
took me 2 and a half years to get it and had to lose one of my best friends to get it

it was a 2004 SRT 4, my friend died suddenly from complications from cancer, his family was back east and the car sat in another friends back yard for two and a half years till the family decided they didn’t want it, bought it for 1500, did a clutch,intake manifold, timing belt and water pump, front wheel bearings, throttle body harness repair, then the fuel pump went out, got it running good ! Had it parked on the street right in front of my house while I was working on the motorhome and a 83 year old woman wasn’t paying attention and slammed into the back of it pushing it into my neighbors pt cruser and then into a brick wall



got 7500 from her insurance it was a sweet ride.......realy miss it!

 

Yep, that one is pretty much done. One of the reasons I don't mind NOT living in town any more. Lots of parking space that is paved here, and if that's full, I got a couple acres of grass that makes a good parking lot as well.

 

One turbo car not mentioned in the article was made before the GLHS, it was the 1984 colt turbo

my father actualy owned 2 1979 colt hatchbacks, I learned to drive on those and boy did I drive them!! The 79s were 1.6 liters and a twin stick trans, (remember those?) I street raced the s..t outa those!! I was in high school and kept blowing the second gear and cluster gears cuz I loved that second gear chirp!! I fixed them a total of 8 times!! I got so good at it I could have the transaxel out and on the bench apart in 20 minutes!! And that’s without a lift and air tools in my pops garage floor!!

then in 84 they added a turbo charger and it was wicked fast!! Had to get one! There was so much torq when the boost came on that if you didn’t have a good hold on the steering wheel it would rip right outa your hand and head right into the parked cars next to you!! That was due to un equal length half shafts up front but the turbo was oil injected but not water cooled.......turbos didn’t last long.

Road and track voted it most fun to drive a real “pocket rocket!”

also so owned a lancer pacifica, automatic with the mopar performance computer it was a turbo 1 engine, not intercooled but with the comp it was realy fast!!

 

The “TC by a Maserati “ was just a vehicle based on the labaron prototype, 2.2 turbo II engine or 3.0 Mitsubishi v6 were in 99.9% of TCs. Maserati provided the high end all leather interior

99.9% had those engines, unfortunately, my dealership had one customer with the .1% other engine

and as the tech who opened his mouth and said I’ll fix anything......I married it!!

the other engine was a Chrysler/Maserati hybrid

way beefed 2.2 block,( I think they ended up using Carrillo piston rods in it) with a Maserati DOHC head. Oh, it was realy fast but very hard to work on!! Warranty times were measured in A/T. Actual time!! Punch in, do the job, punch out.

it leaked oil from EVERY seal and gasket and I charged the customer 3.5 hours to do a cap,rotor,wires and plugs for a tuneup. The intake actually covered the distributor and it was a bitch to get to anything

but that engine was the prelude to the spirit R/T. 2.2 DOHC turbo intercooled designated a “turbo IIII “ engine. (Turbo III was the VNT turbo). It had the first true distributor less ignition. Realy REALY fast!! But the heads cracked and I haven’t seen one of those in many years.

Chrysler was a real innovator when it came to muscle cars of the 80s. Ford and Chevy still had v8s but Chrysler could beat them with a 4 banger!! I’m sure it pissed off quite a few executives at ford and Chevy !!


viperdave