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Rough Start: 1987 Chrysler Conquest TSI – The Sound Of Mitsubishi Spooling Up


Rough Start: 1987 Chrysler Conquest TSI – The Sound Of Mitsubishi Spooling Up

It’s the box flares and those wheels that make the Chrysler Conquest TSI stand out from the crowd. It looks like Inspector Gadget’s sports coupe, filled with flares, boost and modest power for the time. It was hanging right there with it’s contemporaries, so we can’t knock the power levels. But the looks…the Conquest, much like the Starion it was based off of, looked purposeful and straight-up mean compared to the likes of a Mazda RX-7 or a 1980s Nissan 300ZX. The Conquest/Starion was the gap between the car we got in America as the 1978 Dodge Challenger and the Mitsubishi 3000GT, one of the wicked 1990s hits from the land of the Rising Sun.

But why would you consider a Conquest for a Rough Start project, unless you’ve been targeting a StarQuest specifically? There’s a couple of reasons. The looks are usually top of the list…again, those flares and wheels might have been the best in 1980s Japanese offerings, period. The engine is a 2.6L four with a turbocharger and intercooler, but another engine was offered in this platform: the 4G63, the engine that put Mitsubishi on the performance map in a big way. Not familiar with that 2.0L four? We bet you are…The Eclipse and Evolution made great use out of it.

And that’s where we’d sit with this Conquest. If the “misfire at higher RPMs” can’t be fixed via ignition and have to do with engine abuse, we’d build a rowdy 4G and get to work on suspension and brakes. Of course, you could go ahead and swap to something bigger if you like…we know of at least one LS-swapped version and one that’s packing a Chrysler 440 around.

Just keep the body as it is. The Conquest is a sleeper hit.

Facebook Marketplace link: 1987 Chrysler Conquest TSI


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9 thoughts on “Rough Start: 1987 Chrysler Conquest TSI – The Sound Of Mitsubishi Spooling Up

    1. Chris

      Have an 86 sitting in garage bought it about 14 yrs ago drove it 2 always wanted one growing up. One day hopefully have mother rebuilt guy before me added one of those relief things to sound cool my kids loved it but lost hp and this one no turbo charge but still ran like hell

  1. Clark

    I had one around 1998-1999. It was a really fun car, but it was not reliable lol. When the turbo failed I upgraded it and it ran real well, it was probably a mid 14 second car. It was like riding an old harley every day, get home and patch it up for the next day!

    I think this guy is high with his price though. One sold recently local to me that was restored, and looked awesome. He sold it for like $4500

  2. loufermi223

    Fair price. These are hardly ever found in stock configuration (except he painted the wheels black, wif). I had an ’89, paid $7K for it around 1993. These cars are a blast to drive.

    1. Jeff Lloyd

      High rpm misfire most likely a dead ignition advance diaphragm. Common failure on that car. Mine ran low 13s. Fun motor

  3. Ken

    I bought a new one in 87\’, loved it until I blew the head gasket in 95\’, traded for a pick up. After years of wanting another all original Conquest, God Blessed me in September of 2017\’ with a TSI- SHP, all original only 85,000.00, miles on it. Bought and drove it home from Wisconsin, back to Texas

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