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Intrepidation's Sig Thread

30K views 109 replies 29 participants last post by  lowtown42 
#1 · (Edited)
[ Kimura's Intrepid M]

Stock Specs
  • Year: 2000
  • Steel Blue Pearlcoat paint
  • 2 Tone interior
  • Infinity I sound system
  • DRLs
  • 2.7L V6
  • 173,000 miles when I bought it

Mods so far
  • Added exhuast tip
  • Added Dodge licensee plate brackets
  • Added Dodge leather steering wheel cover
  • Engine Conversion at 196,200 miles from 2.7 to 3.5HO with 122k on it.
  • Custom painted 3.5 plenum.
  • Replaced gray vinyl arm rest with dark slate 300M leather arm rest
  • Replaced gray cloth seats and with dark slate 300M leather seats, gained 40/60 folding rear seat.
  • Replaced original 300M rear arm rest with one that has cupholders
  • Replaced three of the four door weatherstrips
  • Replaced the aux power jack
  • Replaced stock gauges with Concorde gauge cluster
  • Installed chrome door handles
  • Installed chrome switches
  • Installed Automatic light sensor and switch
  • Replaced vinyl shifter with leather shifter
  • Replaced leather shifter with chrome shifter
  • Upgraded to 18" Mille Miglia Uno 18"x7.5" wheels. Wrapped in Michelin Pilot Alpine rubber
  • Removed dealer sticker
  • Installed OTIC
  • Installed auto dimming mirror
  • Replaced seat memory switch so now the memory works

Future Mods
  • Fix the trunk light
  • Get the center speaker to work
  • Upgrade the sound system to Infinity II
  • Get the body panels to line up properly
  • Reapply the 3.5HO badge
  • Replace gray carpet that has a hole in it with black carpet from a 300M
  • Get black floor mats
  • Change the interior color scheme to a custom dark slate on taupe scheme
  • Replace the dash with one that inst cracked
  • Upgrade to ATC
  • Get a RB1
  • Get a CD Changer
  • Replace Evaporator Core
  • Get a new a/c compressor
  • Get a cold air intake
  • Install true duals
  • Upgrade the brakes (next time I do them)
  • Have the windows tinted
  • Have a one-off front bumper of my own design made
  • Have the car repainted Deep Water Blue Pearl
  • Get Caliber SRT4 wheels
  • Gets some new exterior badging
  • Realign rear door trim
  • Possibly replace driver's door (but I may just stick with this one and have the dents fixed when it gets repainted...dunno yet)
  • Autostick
  • Considering a OEM spoiler
  • Considering Spyder headlights

And I'm sure there's more!

My name is Andrew, I live in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
I bought my Intrepid, my first car, at an auto auction in New Hampshire. It was love at first sight and I plan to keep it forever. :D
I paid $2,100 for it. It took me and 3 other people across country in 2007. Gave me mostly trouble free miles besides a crankshaft sensor and the fuel pump gasket up until the timing chains needed to be done. Now it's gone from the base engine to best engine (besides the Special's). ;)

Some photos from the night I brought it home:







And how it looks today:



















 
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13
#2 ·
These first set of photos is how she looked when I bought her.

When I got it I did a fee simple "mods"...chrome exhaust tip, leather steering wheel cover and Dodge license plate brackets.









She's seen some battle scars...my girlfriend backed it into a pole b y accident...didn't damage anything but scratched up the bumper. Then some ***** woman in a Protege sideswiped it. About a month later (last year) both it and my girlfriend's car were parked in front of the house, and were sideswiped by a stolen piece of *** Integra.

So here's some photos of the damage, plus my repairs. I'm planning to have the car completely repainted when I have the funds...











 
#11 ·
Andrew, those wheels are one of the few aftermarket sets I think look good on an LH car. They fit the profile of the Intrepid almost too well.

Have you given any thought to powder coating them? Getting ride of the curb rash, and fixing the small problems with the body of the car, I think would really make that car shine.

Also, do something with your door panels! The leather seats and cloth panels don't go well together. Believe me, I went that route on my old Pontiac and hated it... just never had the chance to change it before I got the Special.
 
#12 ·
I have given thought to refinishing the wheels. I love them but I'd like them to looks perfect. Then again I feel that way about the whole car. :p

I also think they're just right sized. They fill out the wheel wells nicely without compromising ride quality. I think 20's is as far as our cars should go before they look oversized, but that's just me.

The car itself I want to completely repaint, as mentioned above. Money is no object with my car...just getting the funds set aside for mods is. haha

As for the door panels...that's all to come. I have big plans for the rest of the interior that to date I think no one else has done. ;)

Back to the wheels, I bought them off a member from *** (I dunno if freezingbelow is a member here or not, but I digress) for $200. That's why they aren't perfect, but the price was right and both the wheels and the tires are so much better than the steelies that were on it.
 
#14 ·
Winter eh? I dunno, but I like them, the price was right, and that's good for me. :p

Yes it came with the Infinity sound system, and interestingly, DRLs. It does not have ABS though. My car is an oddly equipped car. The dealer told me when I bought this car was an ES but someone looked it up by the VIN on the other site and it showed SE. Or something, I can't remember.
 
#18 ·
So I'll entertain you guys with some more info about the car. The 2.7 to 3.5 transformation has been difficult I would say.

I had originally planned to replace the timing chains on the 2.7 but after the dealer quoted around $1,000 plus the cost of a waterpump, that really brought things into question. I had still planned to do it until...while the oil was being drained I found coolant had mixed in. Not tons but it was milky. Could have been the WP or the headgasket either way I didn't know how long this had been going on and what kind of damage was done inside. Add that to the fact that it burned oil, and the compressor and alternator were starting t go,a nd I decided going with a lower mileage 3.5 was the better way.

So I did some engine shopping and found a 300M that had recently arrived at one of the yards. It was in a front end accident but the engine was undamaged (frame rails were bent though). I looked the engine over carefully and even got to hear it run,s o I decided tog o with it.

I got all the parts I needed and then it was a matter of waiting for the shop to be able to do it. However, because of unforeseen circumstances it sat for about 2 months until they had to had a contractor do it (with my permission).

Here's some photos of the progress.







 
#19 ·
The day it was finished I drove around with the guy who did it to take it for a test drive 9he had done it before but wanted me to do it as well, which is fine since I wanted to). All seemed well. I noticed some steam coming from what seems like the driver's side of the. We looked and he said he got some fluid on the exhausts o it was just burning off.

However on the way back to his shop the car seemed sluggish, and didn't want to go from a start. We continued to get it back there to find out why. On the way the temp gauge swung up. As soon as it did I pulled over onto a side street and shut the car down. It was a disaster! A Nightmare! There was a green, goopy mix of oil and coolant coming from both the reservoir and and the oil dipstick tube. My heart sank At first he thought the headgasket went. The car had not gotten to the point where it overheated, and so what we did was "borrow" someone's garden hose and run water in it o cool it off back below half. Then once it was cooled down we made the rest of the way back to his shop. Luckily it wasn't far so it got hot but didn't overheat.









When we got there he had an idea and he'd call me the next day, because he didn't think it was the headgasket. Sure enough it was the *&^%ing radiator. It had an internal leak so the two fluids ended up mixing together. He cleaned out the coolant system and did several oil changes to get it all out. It was a close one but it didn't seem like any permanent damage was done.

However the current problem is that its' throwing missfire and O/2 codes, which are at least partly (hopefully all) caused by part of the engine harness that wasn't secured properly and came into contact with the drive shaft, damaging it.
 
#20 ·
Oh, after the whole coolant mess debacle I was told that the plenum had a crack in it and was causing a vacuum leak. The yard I bought the engine from was very nice about it and let me get another. However the only one they had was from a 3.2 Intrepid that had its hood open and sitting in the sun for some time.

t was good though, so I took it. I tried that tire shine trick, which did work.





For like a day.

So I decided to repaint it using high heat paint, and while I was doing so I'd detail the lettering in silver, then lots of clear.















I was pleased with it. :D

A friend from one of the other forums helped me put it on my car. I just need to get a 3.5 HO badge for its till. I think it adds a nice touch to the engine bay though!
 
#25 ·
It (happily) hard to see in that photo but the driver's door has a dent one the lower side near the front. I'm probably just going to find a used one since I bet it would cost more to have that damage (which was caused the night the rear door wash ruined) fixed.
 
#27 ·
Thanks! yeah it's held up pretty well besides the usual paint chips on the hood and such that you'd expect one a car with 199k on it. There is one area on the door frame that'll need to take care of. Hopefully my financial situation will improve in the coming months so I can get it taken care of.
 
#31 ·
Aaaaah.. Arent finishing touches great! ..funny how something so small can make such a huge difference in the overall appearance .. Beautiful lookin car man..The color and Love the rims too.. I bet they would look great with a light gunmetal paint job.. but why risk it..it looks amazing already ;)
 
#32 ·
Thanks! I agree it's a little thing but it makes a big difference.

Yeah I prefer the bright silver they are now. If the color of the car was lighter maybe gunmetal would work, but for me the bright wheels add contrast to the darker paint. I plan to repaint them at some point the same color.
 
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