My 92 Lebaron build... Well sort of

[turbokid]

Hello Turbo-mopar, its been a while. I have been creeping on everybody else builds lately and its actually been the inspiration to get me off my butt and get back to work on my Lebaron. So keep up the good work guys!
A little history on my Lebaron Convertible. I bought this car from Jackson in March of 2011. Road upto Wisconsin with a fraternity brother from college and Jackson picked me up from outside Madison to his shop.



At the time (before I even thought about buying the car) Jackson had put a new top on it, 11'' brakes from an iroc, rt ic/rad set up, lowered an inch with rear shelby z springs and front eibachs, jackson custom short shifter, iroc rt speedometer, and 3 inch exhaust custom fit by jackson for perfect fitment. Needless to say I bought it from jackson in fantastic shape.

Brought the car back home and took it college for two months and came home in mid may. First thing I did was yank the original motor and drop in an 89 common block, .020 forged pistons, monster steve menegon head, t3/t4 hybrid 57 trim with a stage 2 wheel, picked up a 92 stage 5 fwd cal, +40's, 3 bar and a dual diaphram pressure plate with a 4 puck clutch. Car screamed all summer long and I put a hefty 15,000 miles on it. The car saw a couple track days, and lots of car shows all summer long.




2 days before it went into storage, The line to boost controller came off and boost spiked to 42psi and grenaded the motor. In that time I was in college and 2 hours away. I drove home and picked up another cb I had laying around with a t2 turbo and slapped it on the car with stock fuel and computer system and drove it home. Needless to say that motor was about smoked when I pulled it out and on the 2 hour drive home it started to smoke quite a bit.
Safe and sound in the garage, a couple months later I got a call one day from a buddy of mine who had a family friend in western Kansas with 2 Spirit r/t's, no titles and non running. I picked up both cars and yanked the motor out of one of the spirits and took it to St. Louis and had it built with Wiesco pistons, k1 rods and picked up a head off of turbo-mopar with a stage 3 lone wolf port job and stage 2 cams.
Needless to say this motor was destined for lots of boost. At this stage the lebaron was not ready for any kind of power like that.
In October I left college because of financial aid issues and worked fulltime at NTB as a salesman. Before that I worked parttime at NTB for the year before. As most of you know, the midwest had a mild winter and tire sales went down the toilet as the economy had tanked and people don't buy tires unless they blow them out or buy cheap chinease tires over your more expensive major brand tires these days. So after taking a major pay cut in commission and slow sales killing my commission I left NTB in May. So the extra funds for a t3 build kinda of leaned out (like the last couple motors LMAO).
I got tired of looking at the lebaron and not driving it. So I tore down the first motor and found I had melted #1 and #4 weisco pistons, burnt # 4 exhaust valve, Sent a piece of piston into the head so hard it cracked the center of #4 on the head and lodged the valve closed cracking the FWD cam in it. Also a piece of metal went through my 57 trim and destroyed the exhaust side wheel. Needless to say that built motor got trashed... SIGH!
So I pulled the motor and trans that was currently in the lebaron.. Out.
I currently Live with my Grandmother to help her out, so the garage was full of boxes and storage crap.... 10 hours of cleaning out and getting rid of a lot of stuff I made enough room to tear the car down


Eventual plans are to build a work bench across the backwall but I still have lots of furniture in the garage as we are cleaning out the whole house and the furniture that is supposed to be in the basement... is in the garage... Sigh. But you work with what you have. this set up will suffice for now LMAO!

Motor Ready to pull

Tada Drive train out the car =)






Well current plans are to get the car back going in a month or so. I have a spare short block that I am going to tear apart and make sure it looks good, I am going to power wash everything and clean it up a little. After 2 motors shooting oil out of the pcv area, its a little nasty. I am have taken all the applicable brackets off the motor and will sandblast and powdercoat them at a buddy's shop.
Parts that I need and don't have right now include,
-New fuel pump (Probably a good idea since I have seen lean issues in 2 motors now)
-New alternator (one of the old posts broke off and I used a small screw to keep it charging till I can fix it)
-New passenger side axle (the axle was screwed when I pulled it out LMAO)
Sorry for the long post. Longterm I am going to drive the car a little bit and start upgrading suspension, and gather other parts for the vehicle.
Eventually the lebaron will get paint and body, then the t3 swap with a holset and a show quality restoration. But for now I am going to clean it up and have it drivable before Kansas sees some salt on the roads then back in the garage the car will go.

[turbokid]

Got a little bit of work done today. Pulled the turbo off the exhaust manifold ( suprised the nuts broke loose easier then most), I tackeled the engine bay with some kerosine. Went to walmart amd just bought a little quart bottle of the coleman camping kerosine. Figured I would need a whole bottle but a little kerosine goes a long way.
Got all the parts boxed up, ready to take them to a buddies shop to blast and built a list of parts im gonna need to make the car driveable (updated)
*alternator (just a spare old one on the car that was making a lot of noise
*headgasket
*passenger side axle (twisted off the inner joint)
*walboro fuel pump
*pressure side power steering line ( as it was leaking)
Couple questions. What would be a good oil pump to use? Ive used oreillys pumps in the past but id like to be able to reuse this motor in the future after the turbo 3 swap.
What is a good manufacturer for new carpet? Ive been looking on the web and there are lots of carpet kits out there but id like a good quality kit to use.
Q

[turbokid]

And pictures



All the parts that I am taking to get cleaned. The short block only has 60k original miles on it but its been sitting in my storage barn for a while so I will probably go ahead and break it down for some rings, seals, bearings, and a new oil pump. I plan on using this motor again for other cars so I can keep my td fleet running so while its apart this is the perfect time.

After a quick wipe down with kerosene across the firewall and part of the frame rails, and in the core support. I plan on power washing the whole engine bay and k-frame. I planned on dropping the k-frame but after inspection of the rack, control arm bushings, ball joints and tie rods; they look fairly new. So A power washer will suffice for now until I completely tear the car down for a full up restoration (hopefully this winter if I can get some other things accomplished.)

My loving girlfriend decided when I cleaned out my closet and her old car that all the stuff would go nicely in the back of my lebaron... sigh. I plan on pulling the interior for cleaning and new carpet so it all has to go....


My organized shelf is starting to become less organized. Original engine block with the r/t intercooler set up. I have an aluminum radiator and a front mount for the lebaron that I am debating on fitting now but I will probably wait till the t3 motor is in so I can mock it up for best fitment of the motor that will permanently reside in the engine bay

Part of the reason the lebaron has been on hold is my girlfriends miata. 91 1.6l 5 speed car. Bought it with 142k back in february after selling her junky old cavalier. 1,700 bucks was a steal for the car as it has a rebuilt motor with new seals, timing belt, water pump, new clutch, new front brakes, and all new fluids. Alas it needed a top, a rocker panel and fender replaced on the passenger side and a paint job. So we saved up for a trip to florida to her dads place who does fantastic paint work and I helped knock out the body and paint work necessary
No before pics but here's a during shot.

Now that her car is all solid I have the go ahead to spend funds on the lebaron (cause if the woman ain't happy, nobodies happy)
Q

[turbokid]

Small update. Still havent found time to blast and powdercoat all my brackets but im shooting for the end of the week.
Got a service advisor position at Jay Wolfe Acura so the extra funds should start rolling in to get some more down on the car.
Took the front seats out of the lebaron. The drivers side has the normal bolster wear but im going to have a guy here local fix the bolster so itll look good as new.
Cleaned the carpets up and won a set of mats on ebay that say turbo lebaron on them. They were 20 bucks so i couldnt pass them up

[STLShelbyZ]

Glad to see your starting to get back into the Lebaron. Can't wait to see it too sometime with that t3 swap.

Right there with ya though, after buying a house and preparing to have a baby boy, my Daytona is just collecting dust and parts are just piling up!