This project's plan is to make lemonade out of lemons. I have two 1991 Dodge Spirit R/T's and should have a 3rd by the end of the week.
#1 - Due to Georgia's non-compulsory involvement in the NMVTIS, this car can NEVER be re-titled. Long story, irrelevant to this thread. This one seems to have had some work attempted on it. The body has been spray-bombed without any prep work, unfortunately. The interior is fair, but the driver's seat, dashboard, and headliner are all damaged. The engine was in pretty good shape initially. The turbo was quiet and not leaking coolant. It has play, but every Garrett I've ever had had a lot of play. The block looks flawless. The cylinder cross-hashes are clear and even all around. The head is cracked between the plugs, and it pools coolant on the plugs. The head gasket was also blown...somehow? It was blowing coolant out the exhaust, but the cylinders weren't steamed. shrugs I'm not sure. The transmission has a junkyard stock number on it, the head seems to have had some thread repair, and there are signs that the block was rebuilt. That's slightly worrisome.
#2 - Head cracked like a hard boiled egg. Turbo was destroyed upon removal. Block deck was warped out of spec. The engine from the 89 LeBaron and SBEC from the Shadow are running it now, and it's very fast and very fun as my daily driver. It even has A/C...which has a strange problem but otherwise works fine. I also wet-sanded and re-painted the roof so far. It looks very good, and I plan to continue panel-by-panel. The color is Behr "No More Drama", which has a faint hint of pink. Trust me, it works. (-:
#3 - Probably a spun bearing. Body and interior are a bit worn and rough, but nothing is really bad. Head and turbo are (believed to be) in great condition. In fact, the head may have been serviced to address the cracking problem.
I've already begun pulling parts off of #1. The plan is to build #3 up with the block from #1. IF...all goes well, theoretically I can put #2 back together with a 16v setup.
I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of the TIII. Historically, it's clearly the older brother to the SRT4, and it set a new technological bar for everyday production cars. Its failures can be fixed, such as rerouting the timing belt, replacing the lash adjusters, making your own head gaskets, welding the casting plugs shut, etc. But the SRT4 is a much better foundation. That said, I really like how the 8v intercooled Mitsubishi-blown configuration pushes these sedans around, and it's always a pleasure for my family to drive around in. I will try to rebuild and test an original 16v complete long block, which I can either install in #2 or simply keep stored and sell with #2 if I ever sell it.
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Here lies 350: Killed by government
#1 - Due to Georgia's non-compulsory involvement in the NMVTIS, this car can NEVER be re-titled. Long story, irrelevant to this thread. This one seems to have had some work attempted on it. The body has been spray-bombed without any prep work, unfortunately. The interior is fair, but the driver's seat, dashboard, and headliner are all damaged. The engine was in pretty good shape initially. The turbo was quiet and not leaking coolant. It has play, but every Garrett I've ever had had a lot of play. The block looks flawless. The cylinder cross-hashes are clear and even all around. The head is cracked between the plugs, and it pools coolant on the plugs. The head gasket was also blown...somehow? It was blowing coolant out the exhaust, but the cylinders weren't steamed. shrugs I'm not sure. The transmission has a junkyard stock number on it, the head seems to have had some thread repair, and there are signs that the block was rebuilt. That's slightly worrisome.
#2 - Head cracked like a hard boiled egg. Turbo was destroyed upon removal. Block deck was warped out of spec. The engine from the 89 LeBaron and SBEC from the Shadow are running it now, and it's very fast and very fun as my daily driver. It even has A/C...which has a strange problem but otherwise works fine. I also wet-sanded and re-painted the roof so far. It looks very good, and I plan to continue panel-by-panel. The color is Behr "No More Drama", which has a faint hint of pink. Trust me, it works. (-:
#3 - Probably a spun bearing. Body and interior are a bit worn and rough, but nothing is really bad. Head and turbo are (believed to be) in great condition. In fact, the head may have been serviced to address the cracking problem.
I've already begun pulling parts off of #1. The plan is to build #3 up with the block from #1. IF...all goes well, theoretically I can put #2 back together with a 16v setup.
I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of the TIII. Historically, it's clearly the older brother to the SRT4, and it set a new technological bar for everyday production cars. Its failures can be fixed, such as rerouting the timing belt, replacing the lash adjusters, making your own head gaskets, welding the casting plugs shut, etc. But the SRT4 is a much better foundation. That said, I really like how the 8v intercooled Mitsubishi-blown configuration pushes these sedans around, and it's always a pleasure for my family to drive around in. I will try to rebuild and test an original 16v complete long block, which I can either install in #2 or simply keep stored and sell with #2 if I ever sell it.
Here lies 350: Killed by government
