Soon to be new R/T owner

[Parker57]

Hey everyone, i am in the final negotiations to purchase my first r/t. I have been in love with this car and anything turbo for a long time.

What i would like from you guys is advice on things to look for and things that i need to invest in once the car is purchased. The car im looking at is a 91 red, 77000 orignal miles.

I look forward to your responses and joining the community.

Ben

[Lotashelbys]

First thing I look at when buying an R/T is see if the owner will let you pull the valve covers off and see if there is any pitting on the cam lobes or rockers with either side load wear or rollers with the chrome flaking off. Those are the two hardest things to come by on these engines. If you have good runnable cams and rockers the rest of the things can be either repaired or replaced fairly easy. Good luck

[Parker57]

Thanks, do i have to change the head gaskets to check the cams

[Parker57]

Hey guys so the major concerns that i have at this time with the car is the tach dosnet work as well as thetrip computer and radio.

Could this be a simple fuse or a much more seriouse issue

[MNmopar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker57 Thanks, do i have to change the head gaskets to check the cams

No

What kind of rt are you looking at, spirit or iroc?

[MNmopar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker57 Hey guys so the major concerns that i have at this time with the car is the tach dosnet work as well as thetrip computer and radio. Could this be a simple fuse or a much more seriouse issue

I would suspect that the tach is a separate issue from the trip computer and the radio, but I could be wrong.

Either way it's hard to see any of those things being a major problem. With that said, "major problem" is a sliding scale for different people I guess.

I would suspect a broken gear in the tach and possibly a fuse for the other two. Or at least that would be what I'd check first.

If it is a broken gear for the tach, you can either replace it or just find another gauge cluster that's known to work. Taking the cluster out is about a 10 minute job or so.

[Parker57]

It is a 91 spirit with 78000 ish miles on it

[MNmopar]

There are a few "standard" things that most people do with their rt's when they first get them, aside from fluid flushes, etc.

Do a little looking around on the forum here and you should run into this question being asked and answered quite a few times. It's hard to start giving advice when we don't really know what your goals are for the car.

One thing I would say is that if you're not into messing with cars and learning how to work on them, starting out with a 16v rt car is maybe not the best idea unless you have money to have other people work on them for you. There are a few things that they need to be done to them in order to make them reliable. Not trying to rain on your parade, but it's something to think about.

Let us know what you want out of the car and what your budget is going to be and we can jump back in and give you some suggestions. I'd also listen to anything that lotashelby's has to say as he's pretty much our community's t3 guru...

[Lotashelbys]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KillerTSI LotaShelbys cars run good but he also has tons of parts and every time something breaks he has 12 more of them to replace it. I am not talking down the T3 but if you look at their problems, cost of parts, and availability of parts then you either have to be rich or a real pioneer to keep one going. I had to sell mine because I just didn't have the money to keep it going.

The reason that my cars run good is not because they break down all the time and I have spare parts to fix them. Its because when a TIII car is put together correctly it is just as reliable as other cars out there. They do have issues,yes,but after these issues are addressed they will run many miles without opening the hood. I have proved that in my own TIII cars as well as cars I have built for others. I drive my cars everyday and I actually converted 2 8valve cars to TIII that I drive for winter beaters.

The reason KillerTSIs car did not run correctly is it was not assembled correctly by the previous owner. It also had cams that were not set up correctly and caused alot of the issues.

I would search around the TIII section and do alot of reading. There is alot of helpfull info on here that will help make your new Spirit run for many miles. One of the most important things is timing belt tension. These cars are alot more sensitive to tension then most others. you will have alot less problems if that is set correctly and maintained.

As for your tach issue could be two things. If you tap on the cluster lens does it come to life? If so its probably the tach module connections in the cluster. Many times you can pull the cluster out and wiggle the tach module and it will come to life. If thats not the issue I think the tach,radio,and traveler share a common wire and it could be as easy as a fuse. I dont have my 91 FSMs in front of me to verify but if you ask member NAJ he usually can post wiring diagrams.

[zippy93rt]

I agree with Lotashelbys. I bought my R/T in 2007 bone stock with 102k on it, put a headgasket, timing belt and other normal maint items that needed to be addressed and put another 50k on it until i restored it. And that was without modified retainers or the idler mod and it never broke! I was driving it 100 miles round trip to work for a while with NO problems!!! Dont be affraid to but a TIII car, they are rare and some parts are hard to get but if its put together correctly it is a very reliable engine

[MNmopar]

I've been daily driving my spirit rt in the summer for about 2 years now 20 miles each way to work and have had ZERO problems come up other than one day a fuel line sprung a leak... which obviously isn't t3 related...

From my little bit of experience, I would say that once you take care of a few things (valve springs, jackson idler mod, timing belt tension and general maintenance) you should have a pretty reliable car as far as 20+ year old cars go anyway...

Jackson is right, but in all honesty, tsi has some points about the issues that one can face with t3's if you don't take care of the things that Jackson talks about doing. Sooo if you're not willing to mess with them a little bit (or pay someone to do it for you) they may not be the best cars for you unless you can find one that's had these issues taken care of already.

Once you take care of a few things, they seem to be pretty much as reliable as any 8v turbo mopar, you just have to be willing to do a few things after purchase.

[Parker57]

Hey guys thanks so much for your input. I know that this not a simple car, one of the reasons i like it is the challenge that it presents and the comradeship of fellow turbomopar guys share.

Im not car dumb i have built and still own a 2010 ss camaro turbo putting down 550 at the wheels with full race suspension. Im in the army so being budget minded is important, for instance i discovered cts-v brakes fit the camaro so instead of spending dumb money on a big brake kit i converted it to cts-v brakes.

That being said i am new to the t3 world, i have always wanted this car and my plans are to restore it to mint running conditions then begin doing small but effective performance mods. I want to show this car and suprise some people on the streets.

Ben

[shelbyvnt2]

Do you have any pictures of bad rockers? I don't have an R/T but am thinking about buying one and would like to know what to look out for. Thanks, Pat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lotashelbys First thing I look at when buying an R/T is see if the owner will let you pull the valve covers off and see if there is any pitting on the cam lobes or rockers with either side load wear or rollers with the chrome flaking off. Those are the two hardest things to come by on these engines. If you have good runnable cams and rockers the rest of the things can be either repaired or replaced fairly easy. Good luck

[pcrmike]

Ditto that. I am looking at buying an rt tona. Has reground cams and a freash head from FWD motion. Needed this forum for sure.