Intrepidation

Dat ass.

As of yesterday she is now on the road! I've been under the weather the last couple days, but I managed to finish the passenger side headlight and clean and clear the driver's side. It'll need to be wet sanded and buffed, just needs to cure for a day. Still, what a difference. Took it on the highway this evening. Runs and drives great, the MIL (P0455) even stayed out the whole 30 mile drive. It still needs a bath, but that will likely have to wait until next week when all the cars will get a much needed one, but for now here's a couple photos of the completed (for now) project. Found a use for my old rear license plate frame too! Total cost including the car itself is about $1,100.

Yesterday after work I swapped the BCM out of my car. I also pulled the passenger headlight out to restore it. With my car I used a 3M headlight restoration kit and then protected it with 3M Scotchguard. Well I don't have any Scotchguard handy, so I decided to try a slightly different method, on that uses clear coat to protect the lens. I used this guide as a base: Had a 3M wheel restoration kit I got super cheap on clearance. That gave me the drill attachment, 400 grit, and 800 grit (which I substituted for the 600 grit) sanding dics. I wet sanded them, and with the drill it was fast and easy. i didn't have a 2k grit disc so I used regular 2k grit sandpaper and wet sanded by hand. Then the thunderstorms hit. I was eager to get it clear coated since they take 24 hours to cure, so I cleared with 3 light coats. However, by the third coat the lens had become so cloudy it was opaque. I thought I had messed something up and would have to start all over again! I did a bit of research and realized that the humidity and lack of sunlight was the likely cause. I saw a video of someone using a heat gun to make the clear coat clear, but I don't have heat gun. What do have, is an oven. I set the oven as low as it would go, 170 degrees, and put the headlight in to bake for 45 minutes. I checked a couple times to see how it was going. This was about 20 minutes in. This was right before I went to bed. I shut the oven off and left it in there overnight. In the morning this is how it turned out. Much better! I'm going to wait 24 hours for it to cure as per the instruction on the can, then wet sand with a 3k grit disc, buff with compound, then wax. Whenever it stops raining I'll tackle the other side. When they're both done it'll take years off the appearance of this car.

On these cars the mileage is stored in the Body Control Module (BCM), which controls all of the interior functions of the car. Through process of elimination, I narrowed it down to the BCM being faulty. The upshot is that everything works again, but the mileage now reflects the mileage of the car the replacement BCM came out of. Apparently the mileage can't be change, or if it can only Chrysler can do it and the dealer won't, claiming only a new, $600 unit can be programmed. I paid $10 for this. I'll live. So this is the last accurate reading I have before the swap.

Rollback

Yep! There's a white Intrepid that had a pristine trunk. It also has a taupe interior, first one I've seen in a while, so I'll be going back for some interior parts. Today was a big day. Knowing how difficult rear struts can be thanks to rust and what I went through with the less rusty ones on my own car, I wasn't going to mess around. Yesterday I removed all the interior parts to be able to access the struts, then put the new parts in the trunk and dropped it off before work this morning. I stopped by on lunch to check out progress and then helped finish things up after I got off work. It sure is nice having a neighbor who is a great shop and friend. So how bad was the suspension? I never did get a great photo of its entirety, but here's the worst offender: the passenger rear strut. Looks like something that's been at the bottom of the ocean. Amazingly, he was able to get all of the bots out without any of them braking. One of the long bolts for the lateral links was pretty beat up and got replaced ($30 from the dealer for a bolt!), and then it was put together with lots of anti-seize. Unsurprisingly it ended up needing calipers. One bleeder was struck while the other leaked fluid from the banjo bolt after the hoses were replaced. The old hoses were extremely fragile and broke during the strut removal, so glad I got replacements. It's pretty dumb that the left hose doesn't come with a new bracket but the right does. It ended up getting a new set of pads as well. Much better! With that done, I brought it back home to put the interior back together and finish the trunk. Went to the junkyard after work before coming to the shop and picked up an upper pad, spare tire, cover, and jack as they were all in excellent condition. And finally, the completed trunk, just needs a net. Took it for a test drive 20 minutes ago. It goes down the ride great! The ride is very good and there's no noises over bumps. I shifted through all the gears nice and smoothly. Only bummer is that the MIL came back on for P0455, but still, I'm pleased overall. Tomorrow, hopefully, all the cars will get a much needed bath, after I replace my car's BCM. Thursday I'll do something about the headlights.

Out with the old... In with the "new"!

No, this is an Intrepid I made a mistake with the color, turns out this car is PLB, Cinnamon Glaze Metallic. None of the yard cars were this color, dealer can't get the spray, and the parts store has nothing listed by Duplicolor. However, I was about to get paint mixed, so an aerosol can of SEM paint it is. Seems to match well. I used a bit on the trunk area and then repainted the fuel door I got. I picked up an entire trunk liner today, will try to get it in before work tomorrow.

Well yesterday was crap day, that's for sure. Car wouldn't start, lights went out when the key was turned. Tried jumping it so I could move it and get the Prizm out. Fired right up but died a moment after the jump pack was removed. Took the battery out...good battery. Cleaned up the terminals and replaced the positive one...problem solved. However, something must have went wrong when the car died after being jump, possibly voltage leak, I dunno, but it may have damaged the BCM as I can't adjust any of the climate controls beside the fan speed, and its stuck on heat...in 90 degree weather... After troubleshooting it myself, and brought it to a shop whose owner is an ex Chrysler tech. He did some tests and his scan tool came up with "Communication Failure with ATC", a curious error since my car has MTC (Manual Temperature Controls), but regardless the BCM and MTC module aren't communicating. If it is the BCM that's going to be poopy, since mileage is stored in it. I've heard mixed things about dealerships being willing and/or able to reprogram the mileage. I'll stop by tomorrow and see. On a separate, slightly better note, the new hood lift supports arrived, so for the first time in ever the trunk and hood lift themselves up. No more channel lock pliers to keep the hood up at least.

I've moved the thread to the Project section since this is certainly a project, not just grab and go. I got a friend to tow the car home Monday night. Struts were ordered yesterday and showed up today, but I'm waiting for the brake hoses and sway bar links to arrive before starting work. In the meantime, the interior got a much needed cleaning. Next up will be the trunk. The guy used it to load wood into..because that's what family sedans are good for! The lip that the weatherstripping sits on is all kinds of bent, and the weatherstripping itself is torn up. The trunk liner is pretty rough by the lid. I grabbed a gasket today, will try to get a liner tomorrow, and see if I can get touch up paint to spray the areas that got scratched up.

Thy refined teh styling of teh current model and changed up the front end. I'm not sure if I like the new nose better than the old, but its still good looking, the rest looks great.

It's be sad since there won't be any more winter drifting antics. The Merc was a beast in the snow.

It is with a heavy heart that we must bid farewell to the Grand Marquis. She's been a good car these years, but NE winters have taken their toll and the frame is rotted beyond repair. So what's replacing it? Well I was looking for something inexpensive, and that I'm familiar with, so ideally it was to be another Panther Car, a Corolla/Prizm, or an LH. Pickings were slim, but I had a lead on a Prizm. The price was right, but the seller only responded once then dropped off the face of the earth. The next day an Intrepid 2.7 popped up for $500. Seller said it belonged to his father, it had the front struts and tie rods replaced last year, new radiator, T-stat housing, new Yokohama tires, and some other stuff. Claimed it was regularly maintained, but that the rear struts were in bad shape and the passenger lower seat had rotted out causing the spring to rest on the tire. He said the brake hoses were crusty and would need to be replaced too. Seemed a bit iffy, but the body looked like it was in pretty good shape and it only had 118k on it. Since it was only 40 minutes away I decided to check it out. Turns out the exterior is in pretty damn good shape, with only some small bubbling above the driver's rear bumper, which is apparently common. Under the car was pretty clean too, the only real rust areas being around the trailing arms, but it all felt solid and not rot. Inside, I was greeted to the bench option! Besides being quite dirty it was in good shape. The trunk liner was missing the plastic retainers and there was scratches on the bumper by the opening. Apparently the father liked filling it full of firewood. Fluid check revealed no oil contamination. The oil's not new, but it looked like oil and nothing else. No residue on the filler cap area either. Started right up and ran well. There was a small exhaust leak and the MIL was on for an Evap leak, but that may have just been from the loose gas cap. I thought it over and today decided to pull the trigger. For $500 its a pretty good deal. It'll be towed here Monday, as that strut is pretty scary. We put the donut on it and the strut didn't contact the tire, so I got to drive it on the private road. Everything seemed fine besides the rear suspension noise. A/C even works. It's not everyday my family acquires a car, as we keep our cars going as long as possible, so I'm pretty excited to have another LH join the family. The To-Do list is as follows: Rear Struts Rear Brake Hoses Likely Rear Calipers Possibly Rear Links Thorough Cleaning/Detailing Exhaust Leak Fix Driver rear window doesn't do anything, so look into fixing that Clean Headlights Touch Up Rear Bumper Oil Change Fluid Film the Under Body Not sure if I'll do any mods, unless I find a matching cloth folding seat. Should be a fun project though! Here's some photos from the day I looked at it:

No more RWD for our family.

Every time this page loads the first thing I see is Tentacle Rape Woody...

One doesn't have to, they kill themselves and end up in the scrap yard! Couldn't resist

So said friend is looking at buying a Civic to commute with and keep miles off of his Ram 2500. If he does I told him I'm buying him this sticker and he must put it on the car.

That sounds like what my friend and I do at work! Satire is a wonderful thing, you'll find I enjoy it quite a lot, my avatar should be hint enough at that. Dear sweet gods not the W-Body!

Personally?

That these engines need is...VTEC

So...a screenshot from Toy Story with text overlayed on it is the equivalent of an aneurysm? The fact that this has taken up a page or so of this thread is entertaining more than anything. I just don't like the proportions, of those G-Bodies or that Daytona, but that's alright, there's plenty of other cars to like out there. But yes, we cool. You have a Spitfire and a Mustang in your sig after all.I'm ok with this.

Well you are the one going on about sticks not me. Clearly you are more acquainted with them and there more unorthodox uses. But hey if you have EXPERIMENTAL PHASES, that's cool. Like what you like. Do I think the G-Bodies aren't balanced proportionately? As though the answer wasn't already obvious, why don't we let simple visual aids be our guide!

Thanx for answering me. But...pretty strong overhangs...you know...for FWD... Less overhangs...considerably in the front...less so in the back...especially for FWD... But it does seem foolish to whine about front overhang yet accept it on your Intrepid where as compared to that Zeta car...your Intrepid still exceeds your standards by at least 6 inches...and is maybe not THAT much shorter on the G-Bodies... and the ultimate...and you cant get more ironic than this...and...you cant get more MOPAR machismo, RWD at that, then this next car... and the overhangs in this one are stupendous!!! Although I like your thoughts on overhang styling...I dont seem to be bothered by it...I actually like it and look forward to it...on some models.... As long as the overall product looks good on the overall picture is #alls Im sayin' Oh...some mid-engined exotics have whacked front overhangs too.... Oh look Porsche...modern Porsche because classic Porsche...is slightly less... it dont matter where the engine is located and what wheels are powered #is alls Im sayin'. I guess...its a bitch to be soooooo picky in life. Maybe we should start reducing the amount of times we stick a stick up our butts during the day. That way we could enjoy the birds sing more often...#justsayin' All in the name of fun...this post was. Nothing more. Nothing less. You're welcome to do whatever you want with that stick. But if you read carefully, while the G8 is the best example, I specifically said it was about balance. This is balanced, it has a shorter front overhang and longer real, and the two of them together do not add up to the majority of the wheelbase. It also happens to be shorter the RWD 80s cars that are being posted. This is also balanced: The long wheelbase and longer rear overhang balance out the front overhang. This? This is not balanced. The overhangs combined take up more than 50% of the wheelbase And sweet shart monkeys that Daytona is as bad or worse. But enjoy what you like, I'll enjoy what I like. Again, balanced: And this makes my retinas bleed.