The Intrepid Project

[!!!TED!!!]

[Intrepidation]

The hood badge, or rather the adhesive where the hood badge was is gone now. I probably won't put one back on it, since they're notorious for coming g off.

I may take the D O D G E badges off the door too, since the chrome plating is mostly gone.

[Robert Hall]

I may take the D O D G E badges off the door too, since the chrome plating is mostly gone.

The Jeep hood lettering and the driver's side Grand Cherokee lettering are like that on mine...turning gray.. .

Rob

[Intrepidation]

The Jeep hood lettering and the driver's side Grand Cherokee lettering are like that on mine...turning gray.. .

Rob

I do like the lettering, but I've also seen them with no badgeing and I like the clean look. I may get new ones though...not sure yet.

[Z-06]

Great Job DF. I love the Operations on your Project Intrepid.

You gotta ask your friend where he got those wheels at, I am interested in replacing my Dub Body ones.

[Blake Noble]

I have to second the fratzog badge. It would really throw people for a loop.

[Intrepidation]

Just a quickie Comparison. I knew it made a difference, but holy crap I didn't realize how much it made a difference until I compared photos!

[Intrepidation]

Got the car back today. I'm so happy! No more exhuast leak!

[BigPontiac]

So what's up with the missing center caps on your new wheels?

[Intrepidation]

So what's up with the missing center caps on your new wheels?

They didn't come with center caps, but Charger ones will fit. So I'll pick up a set of those soon enough.

[A Horse With No Name]

Looking good, DF!

Chris

[Intrepidation]

So this past weekend I got a few things done at the Meet. My car is now smart enough to tell what direction it's going in.

It now has the OTIC and an auto dimming mirror, and I finally took that dealer sticker off of the trunk.

[Justin Bimmer]

Dodge Intrepid M

[Intrepidation]

Oh yeah, I replaced the faulty seat memory switch so now I an actually use that feature.

[A Horse With No Name]

Dodge Intrepid M

...as Sexy as a BMW M...

Chris

[!!!TED!!!]

...I finally took that dealer sticker off of the trunk.

[Intrepidation]

Got a couple of goodies today...a set of Dodge center caps which look fantastic on the car, and an ATC head unit...the first piece of many for my big project for next year.

I have a bit of an issue where under hard acceleration at highway speed the check engine light will come on and it will throw P0302, P0304, and P0306...misfire on one side of the engine. Cleared the code and it went away. I'm not quite sure of the cause. Coils rarely go bad on these things and I would think one coil wouldn't cause the whole cylinder bank to misfire. I'm thinking maybe a wiring issue on the coil circuit and/or from the coils to the PCM or ground wires. I do know that the #2 coil wire was exposed...somehow the insulation came off. It was electrical taped but maybe that's not enough.(?) For $h!s and grins I swapped out the #2 and #4 coils...if it happens again I can probably rule the actual coils out. Gonna have my mechanic check the wires and grounds to see if there's any issues with them.

On that note, I've got a set of NGK Double Platinum spark plugs on order. I'm not sure when the ones in there were replaced, but they may very well be original, so it couldn't hurt. These things are hard to find and kinda pricey at $7 a pop, but they're the best spark plugs for these cars so its going to get the best. Too bad that Advance Auto coupon expired.

Other than that, no other issues. Took it to Maine twice now, halfway across MA, and errands and such. Just need to find out what's causing the misfire.

And finally, I have another project planned for it in the coming months...

[A Horse With No Name]

Maine is beautiful, glad you went. It's on my road trip list.

Keep us posted on the Intrepid.

Chris

[Intrepidation]

So some crummy news. Apparently the guy who did the timing belt/waterpump/tensioner pulley didn't replace the f-ing pulley whose bearing is now going. This is what happens when you entrust other people to do things on your car.

I would have done it myself but timing is not something I wanted to mess with. Anyway it's at the shop of my mechanic who will look at it for me and fix it.

After that's sorted out it's getting a new outer tie rod and a front end alignment.

But on to bigger and better plans.

All You Can Carry Day is coming up on Halloween of all days, and the list I've compiled so far is as follows:

• Taupe door panels,
• Taupe lower half trim panels
• Taupe weatherstripping
• CD Charger (maybe I'll get one that works this time)
• CD Changer compatible stereo (maybe I'll get one that works this time)
• LH headlights
• 300M Dark Slate Carpet
• 300M Dark Slate Floor Mats
• Intrepid trunk lid wiring harness
• 300M/LHS Dark Slate leather arm rest
• 300M Taupe sun visors
• 99-01 300M Dash harness
• 99-01 300M Sea heater wiring
• 99-01 Engine harness
• Dark Slate dash bezel with Traction Control
• Jeep GC visor holders.
• AutoStick Equipped gauge cluster
• AutoStick Shifter
• AutoStick Shifter bezel
• Possibly a PCM
• some misc little parts.

I think you can see where this is going. :wink:

[!!!TED!!!]

So some crummy news. Apparently the guy who did the timing belt/waterpump/tensioner pulley didn't replace the f-ing pulley whose bearing is now going. This is what happens when you entrust other people to do things on your car.

I would have done it myself but timing is not something I wanted to mess with. Anyway it's at the shop of my mechanic who will look at it for me and fix it.

After that's sorted out it's getting a new outer tie rod and a front end alignment.

But on to bigger and better plans.

All You Can Carry Day is coming up on Halloween of all days, and the list I've compiled so far is as follows:

• Taupe door panels,
• Taupe lower half trim panels
• Taupe weatherstripping
• CD Charger (maybe I'll get one that works this time)
• CD Changer compatible stereo (maybe I'll get one that works this time)
• LH headlights
• 300M Dark Slate Carpet
• 300M Dark Slate Floor Mats
• Intrepid trunk lid wiring harness
• 300M/LHS Dark Slate leather arm rest
• 300M Taupe sun visors
• 99-01 300M Dash harness
• 99-01 300M Sea heater wiring
• 99-01 Engine harness
• Dark Slate dash bezel with Traction Control
• Jeep GC visor holders.
• AutoStick Equipped gauge cluster
• AutoStick Shifter
• AutoStick Shifter bezel
• Possibly a PCM
• some misc little parts.

I think you can see where this is going. :wink:

Pretty ambitious. You are pretty much making a 300M in Intrepid clothing.

Good luck!

[Intrepidation]

Ah, not quite, that's been done before. My idea is even more ambitious.

[A Horse With No Name]

Since this is a GM forum, your going to do an Aurora in Intrepid clothing???

Chris

[Intrepidation]

Not a chance. If I wanted an Aurora I'd buy an Aurora (and I may yet buy one someday).

[caddycruiser]

This is all very impressive...now that I'm up to speed after a few minutes of browsing!

I was always a fan of the '98-04 LH cars, including in the days of us having a loaded '00 300M even though various things bothered us, there were smaller problems an incompetent dealer didn't fix, and then it was rear ended, all before trading it for an Avalanche when it just rolled 18k miles and 1.5 years old. Though that experience was questionable, and it vowed my mother on never buying (or liking) another Chrysler anything, I've remained a fan of the cars and especially all the modding, cross model parts swapping, etc. that people have done for years, and how they live on. It's a shame I usually at this point see no other than the brown-yellow headlight'd, faded black trim, clean to ragged varities, but still do a 2nd take, particularly for 300M's.

Cool car, and despite the miles, happy projecting...to continue :AH-HA_wink:

[Intrepidation]

Thanks! I'm sure you know first hand how much fun and addicting modding is. :wink:

Plus it takes run of the mill cars and makes them truly our own.

Its one of those cases where I'm thankful for corporate parts sharing, because it allows us to do lots of upgrades to our cars while keeping it in a sense, OEM. That and there's not tons of aftermarket parts for our cars, but we make due.

There's plenty to come, and even more one I have more funds, I'm fairly certain it will be an ever-evolving car.

It is a bit of a shame that the majority of them end up pretty beat up and /or otherwise not cared for, I think that's partly due to teh fact that most of them have low resale value,s o they make cheap family cars, which is great but odds are people buying cars on the cheap aren't the best caregivers. However, as I've discovered, there's plenty of people who do take care of and love them.

[Intrepidation]

I do all teh work for my own enjoyment, but it is pretty cool that people notice the TLC that's been put into the car.

My friend's sister with an `08 Acura TL thought it was a new car, guy in a newer Jetta was staring at it at a stoplight, and I asked a friend in FL whose never seen my car what he thought of a photo of it before I told him whose it was an he was blown away by it, when I told him the year and age he said he thought it was a new car.

[Intrepidation]

Today's Project: Replace the inner tie rod bushings.

Took a few hours but they're done! It feels good to do it myself. Really wasn't hard besides those tabs. Couldn't find my big screwdriver so I improvised with a small one, a big file, and a rubber mallet.

Can you guess which bushing is the bad one?

It was so bad that the tie rod could move freely with my hand jiggling it. I had to turn the wheel to get the bolts to line back up again with the new ones in.

The other one wasn't nearly as rotted out, but it was cracking, and I figured since I had the parts I'd do them both. I bought the Moog ply bushing kit Part No. K7408 instead of the NAPA kit because:

1. I've heard good things about Moog
   
2. Made in USA
   
3. Limited Lifetime Warranty
   
4. Poly bushings VS rubber
   
5. Cost $1 less than the NAPA kit
   
6. Got the kit plus a 19mm deep socket for $15.48 thanks to that $10 off coupon.
   

Moog kit:

Installed!

The bad one:

Took it for a drive around the neighborhood and WOW what a difference. No more clunking, the steering feels much tighter and teh wheel returns with ought me having to help it. Tomorrow morning I'll take to the shop to have it aligned.

[A Horse With No Name]

Fun to do your own work, isn't it?

Glad our fav. Intrepid is doing well.

Although I do know where a ferry sunk in lake Michigan, and there was an Intrepid on that ferry. Want to fish it out so you and whitenight can share resto stories?

Chris

[Intrepidation]

It is fun and rewarding to do it myself.

I think I would have better luck hauling one out of the junkyard.

[Intrepidation]

I finally got around to getting my 3.5 HO badge on the plenum!

[Drew Dowdell]

Is that like a "Type-R" sticker for Dodges?

[Intrepidation]

Well considering most cars have either a badge, stampings, or cheap plastic covers over the engine with the engine displacement, I guess most cars have Type R stickers.

[CMG]

Awesome job Dodgefan. Looks good on the outside, looks good under the hood. I like the wheel choice, everything.

Keep those mod updates coming!

[Intrepidation]

Figured I'd post something new. This week's project is new exhaust valve springs. Seems there's a TSB for it. When the car is at speed it can hesitate and misfire from P0300 though P0306. Sounds like an issue I have, so rather than paying someone to do it, I figured I'd give it a go. Taking my time with it, since I've never done it before. Tomorrow will be Day 3, and I will pull the first spring. Pretty sure I'm going to replace the valve stems as well, since I'm there...unless they are in good shape.

Some pics!

Looks pretty clean in there!

[Intrepidation]

3 says and 2 springs done...10 to go. Cylinder #1 is complete.

Since I'm here and I don't want to do this again, I'm installing new Felpro seals even though the factory ones look ok. Better safe than having to do this again!

That tool pictured is a complete POS by the way.

[A Horse With No Name]

I used a similar tool, and ended up pulling both heads off of a SBF motor in a Mustang rather than play with it...it was quicker to re-torque a bunch of head bolts than it was to work with that thing.

Not sure about on an Intrepid, though...

[Intrepidation]

The short answer is it's way more work to take the heads off, and while I have toyed with the idea, IMO it's just not worth it.

[A Horse With No Name]

The motor bay in the 66 Mustang was much simpler than the Intrepid...

Good luck getting it done, DF!

[Intrepidation]

I'm just glad it's not DOHC like the 2.7 is, otherwise I'd ave to remove the camshafts and that would really suck.

[daves87rs]

Looking clean there DF....

[Intrepidation]

Got the last one replaced today! Hurray! Tomorrow I start putting things back together. Hopefully that goes well and I can find where everything goes again.

By far the hardest part was getting the keepers back on, especially the second. Although getting them off was the most painful (my palm will probably be bruised now). However I went from 3 days to get one done to one afternoon to get 4 done...so I'm getting the hang of it. Not a job I want to do again anytime soon though!

Photos of the last one being installed.

[Intrepidation]

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

It was bound to happen: I'm missing a part. One of the valve cover bolts is missing. I have to find it. I could get another but I don't like the idea of a bolt missing with the engine having been opened up like that.

Still, it was a productive day.

• Took the timing covers off, checked the marks for myself. They look good to me.
  
• Rotated the engine so I could install the passenger side rockers. Repeat.
  
• Cleaned off the inside of the valve covers
  
• Cleaned off the heads, cleaned all the little particles I could from the heads. Hope the oil filter will catch what I couldn't
  
• Installed the seals, mounted both valve, tightened the passenger side.
  
• Bolted down the engine harness
  
• Connected the injectors
  
• Installed the coils, plugged them in.
  
• Reconnected the driver's O2 sensor
  
• Bolted back on the passenger side mount for the plenum.
  
• Put the timing covers back on.
  
• Put the pulley back on.
  

Tomorrow I'll look again for that bolt...I guess if I have to I'll get another either new or from a yard, but I'd prefer to find it.

If I can find that in a timely manner I'll tighten the other valve cover, bolt back on the driver's side plenum mounting bracket, alternator, a/c compressor, and maybe the plenum.

Some photos.

[Intrepidation]

Brake time!

Now I wait 7 days for the paint to cure, then they finally will go on the car.

[Intrepidation]

Well here they are withe the tape off.

[daves87rs]

Nice!

[Intrepidation]

Thanks! I can't wait until the paint is done curing so I can get these guys on.

[Intrepidation]

In case anyone's interested...

I finished the job today. Would have been done yesterday but work called me in, so I only got one side done.

Have to say, it went very well. Calipers looked good, parts moved freely, an no fluid leaks. However I do now see that my spring isolators are shot. Ah well, plan to redo the suspension anyway.

Pics!

As you can clearly see, whoever put pads on this car last used the cheapest ones possible. They look just like the crappy "Economy" pads we sell. Not an issue anymore. My brakes look so nice now! Stops quietly too! No more horrible grinding noise. Hopefully the paint lasts.

[Intrepidation]

First big project of the year.

So as you may recall my driver's door has been dented since the car was hit a few years ago. I've had a spare door kicking around for a while, but while the door itself is in pretty good shape, it had some pretty nasty scratches along the bottom.

Well yesterday, before the storms hit, a friend of mine (who used to work in the detailing business) and I worked on touching it up with a special tool he has that allows greater control of the paint flow than the standard bottle of touch up paint.

Today, I put the door on, which was a bit of a PITA. However, the results are well worth it. No more unsightly dent! Sure paint hue is off by a bit, but its only noticeable in photos, and I'm ok with that until I can have the whole car painted..someday.

Said door before touch up.

Here you can see the dent pretty clearly in this older photo.

Panel, lock cylinder, and wiring harness comes off old door.

Old door comes off.

New door goes on (PITA lining it up), with the wrecked door panel it came with.

All done!

Cleaned up a bit. My door trims line up now!

Next up: the Evaporator Core. Not looking forward to that at all.

[Intrepidation]

Maybe not quite next. had the dust lip on the back of the rotors grinded down about 1/8 of an inch, as they were rubbing the dust shield and making an awful racket.

[Intrepidation]

Well it has been a while. To kick things off I'll update things here a bit.

In October the old front struts came out and shiny new Monroe Quick Struts went it. I had soem reservations about using these because there seems to be issues with aftermarket front strut mounts for these cars. However Monroe seems to be pretty good at honoring their warranties, and at $140 a piece on Amazon, the price was right.

Here are the old ones:

All things considered the driver's side isn't too terrible. The passenger side on the other hand...

Small wonder it didn't collapse.

And the one of the news ones:

Much better. Rides much better now too.

I also finally got a hold of a 2000 R/T PCM and put that in. I haven't been able to take it on any meaningful highway trips to really test it, but the highway miles I have racked up show promise.

The new front struts really bring attention to the rears, so on the list will be new rear struts, new sway bar links and bushings front and rear, and that should take care of the suspension I want to do.

As of 11/25/11:

So what's everyone else been up to?