Purchasing a 1985 Turbo EFI Lebaron

[TopGunRMNP]

Hello all, I had an account here known as TopGunWgHs but cannot remember my password and see no place to submit for a new one. I live in the Rockies of Northern Colorado and own a 2004 Dodge SRT-4 with 160k on the clock. It has an E1 Turbo + BFMIC + WALBRO + DUSTER Injectors and Tune. On e85 it should run 403whp, on 93 it should run 354whp. She's my pride and joy and has given me relatively no issues.

Now, back to the thread title, I will be headed up to WY on Monday to purchase what seems too good to be true! A minty fresh 1985 Turbo Lebaron with only 57k and no real issues. I did some research it founf that it has the Turbo I engine with no IC, is there an easy way to get the IC from the Turbo II on to provide 176hp? I don't plan on making it a speed demon at all, it's going to be the perfect travel vehicle that my fiance' and I need. She has a Cherokee that never works and a Tercel we're selling for this car. Her past vehicles were 2 1st Gen Neon's a white R/T and a PH1 4dr. She shares the same Mopar love as I.

Could anyone provide me with key areas to check for issues, what to expect, and what easy performance upgrades I should undertake? Being that it is a Turbo, I expect some great mileage, does anyone have real world numbers? -- I ask this because my SRT-4 got me around 24-28mpg combined in NY, then when I moved to CO and felt the power loss at 5,000'+ I get an average tank of 31+ with 60% city!

Thanks for reading all, and I am glad to be back! Oh, and I have some knowledge of the Turbo K's I helped maintain a CSX and Omni GLH back in NY, but they were swapped so many times the electrical issues were beyond me and my friend sold.

[tryingbe]

Here's a TI to TII conversion.

http://fwdmopar.50megs.com/T2conv.html

[GLHNSLHT2]

with an Auto gonna be in the mid-low 20's for MPG more than likely.

[cordes]

with an Auto gonna be in the mid-low 20's for MPG more than likely.

Yep. With a swap of the transfer gears and nothing else you can expect to get into the upper 20s on a rock solid basis.

IMO the biggest thing to check is rust. Everything else on these cars is a pretty cheap fix.

[TopGunRMNP]

Thanks guys, these are some of the quickest replies I have seen on any forum, I knew I missed this place.

So what type of Auto is it and the known reliability? It will be able to handle the TII swap slight power increase and then not much more than that? Also, the mileage is that low even at altitude you think? 2 known issues is the driver's window doesn't work and the left turn signal doesn't work on it's own (sounds like relay). Also it has 6 of those monster lights 4 on the rack and 2 on bumper which is ideal for our night time canyon driving, can the alternator handle this load reliably though?

[tryingbe]

A413, 3 spd mechanical, probably with no lock up torque converter.

There are bolt-on 120amp alternator available, if you have a 65amp/90amp alternator. I would upgrade the positive and negative cables while you're at it.

[cordes]

The main cause of the low mileage is that the transmissions are geared so low. You're turning well over 3K rpms to do 70mph.

[TopGunRMNP]

Owner says stock everything. He replaced fuel lines from cracking and cv's from boots cracking. Belt squeels when more than 4 of the lights are on.

[black86glhs]

Alt belt needs tightened a little or needs replaced. No big deal. The earlier A413's don't seem as good as the later ones, but being a T-1, it probably wasn't beat on. When you add power, that is when they have issues in the stock form. Look around on here for what these guys have done as far as rebuilding.

[TopGunRMNP]

:update:

So, we've had the beast for 2 days of highway now. Fuel reports are as follows; 11mpg 75mph(had it in 2nd I guess or the OD didn't kick in), 30mpg 50mph across continental divide OD worked, then a series of 19-21mpg tanks between 65-75mph. IS THIS RIGHT!? Each fill in my SRT4 was 36-38mpg at same speeds, are the gears really designed that horribly for 1985 speeds??? What can we do to bump that number up, the purpose for this car is vacation cruiser and we'll be happy cruising at 65mph if that means we can get consistent 25mpg+...

Whats ts the longevity for these motors and Trans? Also what's the likelihood it's actually 157k miles? I've driven high mile ones and they idle, respond, everything much worse than this one which makes me think it's actually 57k.

Other issues:

1) driver window stuck closed, seller said it might need new "cable"?

2) left turn signal doesn't opperate on its own, right sometimes works. Just a relay?

3) seller said it didn't have working wipers when he got it and put a new motor in and they don't work again?

thank you all!

[tryingbe]

Are you willing to do a manual swap or opening up the auto transmission and change some gears?

[TopGunRMNP]

I figured these would be my only options, and would highly prefer not to... With that said, if there's a gear swap for this auto to get us around 30, and maybe even better performance, then I'm all ears.

[cordes]

:update:

So, we've had the beast for 2 days of highway now. Fuel reports are as follows; 11mpg 75mph(had it in 2nd I guess or the OD didn't kick in), 30mpg 50mph across continental divide OD worked, then a series of 19-21mpg tanks between 65-75mph. IS THIS RIGHT!? Each fill in my SRT4 was 36-38mpg at same speeds, are the gears really designed that horribly for 1985 speeds??? What can we do to bump that number up, the purpose for this car is vacation cruiser and we'll be happy cruising at 65mph if that means we can get consistent 25mpg+...

Whats ts the longevity for these motors and Trans? Also what's the likelihood it's actually 157k miles? I've driven high mile ones and they idle, respond, everything much worse than this one which makes me think it's actually 57k.

Other issues:

1) driver window stuck closed, seller said it might need new "cable"?

2) left turn signal doesn't opperate on its own, right sometimes works. Just a relay?

3) seller said it didn't have working wipers when he got it and put a new motor in and they don't work again?

thank you all!

You may want to ensure that the kick down cable is moving freely. It's the lever on top of the shifter lever that is on the trans pretty much under the battery tray. Spray some kroil on there and it should be nice and smooth.

1. There isn't a cable. You probably have to replace the plastic bushings inside the motor. Can you hear the motor trying to work? If so, it's almost certainly those bushings. They are super cheap off of rockauto.com

2. You have an out turn signal bulb.

3. It's almost certainly a bad ground to the wiper motor. I would run a ground from one of the three bolts (that hold the wiper motor to the bracket that attaches the motor to the body) to the strut had mounting bolt. It should cure that right up and make for better wiper function than ever. I usually run 10ga wire for this.

Finally, the transfer gears are easy to change and require very little skill. It's probably going to be my next video, but it's really cold out side right now so that will have to wait for a while.

[TopGunRMNP]

thank you for that awesome reply, I will check all those and wait for your video. What gains are expected, and ray performance increase? As for the turn, the lights work when you manually toggle it, which makes me think relay.

[cordes]

If they work when you manually actuate the lever it's a bulb that isn't working. Very high likelihood that it is a burned out bulb, but it could also be a bad ground at the socket.

I would estimate that you'll pick up 4-5mpgs on the freeway. I don't think you'll notice too much of a performance difference although on paper acceleration should be a bit slower due to the longer gear you're making. IMO the high torque these cars put out (especially the turbos) are ideal for the .91 gears.

[TopGunRMNP]

The wipers are working well again, not sure what I did, but I unbolted the motor and bolted it back in and they worked again.

1) As for the driver's window, I pressed the button and I can hear a constant whir sound as if a gear is spinning but not catching anything, I have not opened the door up yet.

2) As for the blinkers, yes when I push or lift the blinker left or for right and toggle it myself then the front and back for either side work correctly, but when it is clicked to actuate itself then the lights just turn on as a constant light and not blinking.

3) Also, the speedometer likes to bounce from 0-45mph while driving until you hit about 20mph and then it stays steady and reads somewhat accurately, what is causing that?

4) I decided to make this my car and the lady will be keeping the 5.2L Dakota she just traded her Jeep for. I will likely want to increase the power over time, starting with the TII upgrades unless there's a better power method for the TI?

5) Finally, the owner told us he cut the cat and muffler a few days before we picked it up, it has a can on it which is quiet at hwy speeds and nice and noisy around town. Does this increase power with the TI engine, or does it prefer backpressure and we lost power when he did this?

[cordes]

The wipers are working well again, not sure what I did, but I unbolted the motor and bolted it back in and they worked again.

1) As for the driver's window, I pressed the button and I can hear a constant whir sound as if a gear is spinning but not catching anything, I have not opened the door up yet.

2) As for the blinkers, yes when I push or lift the blinker left or for right and toggle it myself then the front and back for either side work correctly, but when it is clicked to actuate itself then the lights just turn on as a constant light and not blinking.

3) Also, the speedometer likes to bounce from 0-45mph while driving until you hit about 20mph and then it stays steady and reads somewhat accurately, what is causing that?

4) I decided to make this my car and the lady will be keeping the 5.2L Dakota she just traded her Jeep for. I will likely want to increase the power over time, starting with the TII upgrades unless there's a better power method for the TI?

5) Finally, the owner told us he cut the cat and muffler a few days before we picked it up, it has a can on it which is quiet at hwy speeds and nice and noisy around town. Does this increase power with the TI engine, or does it prefer backpressure and we lost power when he did this?

Wipers. It is almost certainly the ground problem I mentioned previously. I would highly suggest you address it now as it WILL fail again when you need the wipers most.

1. 99% chance you just need to replace the crumbled plastic bushings for the inside of the wiper motor.

2. I guess if every one of the bulbs is good it could potentially be the blinker box. I've never had one go out, but it could be.

3. Most likely the speedo cable needs some lube. I believe you can still get a replacement.

4. The less back pressure the better. The bigger the pipe on the exhaust the better. Some of your best gains in power will come from a bigger and more free flowing exhaust. This is even more so on a log TI car as there are realistically more limits on the easy mod list IMO.

[TopGunRMNP]

Thank you for the consistent replies cordes, I am looking into different upgrade lists and using the search function as well. I am not sure I will have the time to undertake a TII upgrade anytime soon. What paths yield the best increases on the TI engines? I read there's a way to IC the TI log intake with a top mounted, then I need to adjust something for higher psi and then adjust the timing? How do I adjust the psi and timing on this old engine? I just use an OBDII port tuner for my SRT to change all those parameters.

[cordes]

The boost is old school. I wouldn't go much higher than 11PSI or so on a stock log, and that's given that the fuel system is up to the task. Old pumps don't make for happy engines. http://www.badassperformance.com/mtech/boost.html

For the timing you'll need what us old timers call a "timing light". Lol. Stock is 12*.

If you want to get some cheap performance you can socket your LM and burn a MP chip for the car. I think that Shelgame on here is selling chips with whatever cal you want on it so that would be a great option. They are dirt cheap if you just buy the chip with a cal on there. Socketing an LM was my first soldering project so I'm here to say that they're pretty hard to mess up. The chip and a large exhaust will yield your best results on a log car.

http://omniglht.com/cal.html

[TopGunRMNP]

So, for the time being utilizing the exhaust with no cat or muffler right now and then buying a new "tune" essentially in the form of some kind of chip, then I have to solder it in somewhere on the logic module, which is now called pcm will get me decent gains? What size is the exhaust on these stock 1.75 or 2.0?