Lantern04rt wrote:Welcome! Damn that's a cheap srt4 what was all wrong with it?
So I contacted the seller, he was a college kid from Virginia with a craiglist ad listed at $6k; car had 135k on the chassis and 82k on a used motor on a 2005 model. I had $5k at the time, made him an offer of $5k on a wednesday, and after he thought about it, he agreed to that price, and we would meet up that saturday. Friday, he texts me telling me the car has a boost leak and he smells oil. I asked him how much he wants for the car now. The kid, knowing very little about cars, tells me $2750, to which I agreed was fair
. I ran the carfax, which said there had been 3 rear-end collisions, 1 front end collision, and 8 owners (4-5 of which were dealerships). He texts me that night. Someone ran into his trunk in a parking lot. He asked me if I would still take the car for $2250, and I said "Sure."
My friend and I drove from Raleigh, NC to Lynchburg VA to look at the car. It ran (but not well) and drove ok. The interior was in great shape aside from some driver's seat and steering wheel wear. The rear bumper fit poorly, the wheels are rattle-canned black, but nothing too rough. I looked under the hood and immediately noticed the IAT sensor had popped out of the intercooler charge pipe. Found the boost leak. Nevertheless, we drove around. The owner told us how it had been only boosting 5 psi lately, and it usually boosts around 8 psi (which means he had a boost leak since he bought it). The clutch arm clip was broken so getting the clutch to engage was a whore, the car wanted to move with the clutch fully engaged. Nothing really stood out to me, so out of sympathy, I gave the kid $2500, signed the title and drove off. As I was driving, I noticed the LCA bushings were definitely shot. Common wear problems for an old chassis.
I am in the process of fixing everything on the car that needs it. The car should be done the end of this week. My body shop took care of the rear frame, where it had been bent from one of the accidents. I got the front and rear bumpers repainted, and installed a wingless trunk (anyone want to buy a black SRT-4 wing off me in perfect condition?) After the frame was pulled, the rear bumper fit perfectly. Already got rid of the boost leak, installed new polyurethane LCA bushings, new ball joints, new Advance Auto Parts CV axles (old ones were leaking), new Stoptech/Centric brakes, fixed the vacuum routing and used new Vibrant silicone line, installed BC coilovers, and replaced several leaky gaskets. I have just to finish fixing the oil leak (turbo oil return it appears), get it aligned, and fix the sunroof motor (stuck open) and the car should be ready to drive. Also need to still install the fun stuff I want to do (install my Predator tune, Needswings downpipe, 30 psi Autometer and AEM UEGO). I also have new wheels on the way if anyone wants to buy some rattle-canned OEM SRT-4 wheels in pretty good shape for cheap (PM me if interested in the wing or wheels).
Lengthy, I know, but that's my abridged story. This project has been consuming all my time for the past 3 weeks.
