Svashtar
07-25-2004, 09:54 PM
Well, I just picked up my new '03 Marauder on Friday night, and love it. It is a 300B, born on 10/23/02, and has the some 300A features on it (at least according to what I have read here): remote fuel door, map pockets and an underhood light. Clock is not analog but is digital in the dash, and it has traction control which I did not expect on an '03. Has the donut spare. The dealer polished out a couple of scratches and then had it acid washed and waxed up nicely, and it really looks fantastic.
I know most of you guys live for more and faster off the line, and I guess I am an old fogy at 48 (only previous get up 'n go car I owned was a '69 Dodge Charger 20 years ago that I fixed up and sold), but the acceleration of this thing stock seems great to me. I have no intention of dragging it ever, and know I would have to invest all sorts of extra $ into it were I going to do that in order to beef it up for that kind of abuse, BUT, I still plan on making some changes. If it takes off this good now I can only imagine what the Stage 1 kit will do for it! The only way I would NOT make this mod is if I thought it would shorten the vehicle life in any way.
The weaknesses in the car to me seem to be the swaying when I got on semi-sharp turns while maintaining speed. I could really feel that. Also, the car runs hot, which is to be expected with this engine, and that is why on the advice of so many folks the engine cooling mod seems like a great idea. AND as long as I have the tranny out, why not a level II tranny kit to beef things up?
I know I am also going with a rear sway bar. It's pretty obvious it will benefit from that. AND depending upon how that works _maybe_ the metco control arms later. That should be plenty of stiffening up for the driving I'm doing and the lateral stability I need. I'm not considering the watts link at all as I'm not racing. The way I need to look at this is maximum bang for the buck for a hiway and in town car, and although that may be a benefit, I think with the rear bar and control arms it should be pretty tight.
Also 90% certain I am _not_ getting at this time:
1) torque converter, even tho I will have the tranny out. I see this as only a "quick off the line mod". If I was convinced it would work elsewhere and not put a strain on the tranny I might consider it as a "nice to have."
2) Same with the under pulleys, which someone explained to me and said that in their opinion they were a "no brainer" to get. Again, if you're racing then I suppose that would be true, but an expense of $400 or $500 installed in order to get a whole 'nother 4 or 5 RWH, for me is a "no brainer" _not_ to get.
3) Same with the tinted glass; I know it does look fantastic when done right, and I don't know about your cars but the glass on my factory '03 is already tinted all the way around. I also wear Ray-Bans when I drive and the glass is nice and dark at that point, esp. on overcast days. At night, the rear window looks very dark, esp, in the autodimmed mirror (with sunglasses off of course!) ;) . No, there's a reason light aircraft don't have tinted windows, for safety and visibility, and I want to be able to see all around me. I would like the increased UV protection though, but it's not worth the risk IMO. If I could see OUT the way I do now, and only have the view IN blocked, then again I might consider it, but the factory tinting seems pretty nice to me.
What else? I do intend to get the spoiler, and most of the other external mods. I have a hard time believing that the factory lights could get any brighter, but I'll take everyone's word for it and try the Sylvania 9007ST lights.
By the way, are there upgrades for the other lights? The fog lights, or other running lights? Anyone have any recommendations there?
Anyway, that's where I'm at now. Planning on calling Reinharts tomorrow and ordering the Stage 1 kit and sway bar to start. Depending upon what he thinks of my ideas for mods I may order the tranny kit as well. Then I'm going to check with Hansel Ford who has been recommended so highly here, and see if they would install this stuff, or have a recommended shop. Oh, yeah, almost forgot! I think I'm going to leave the exhaust stock, but want to try and find the megs delete tips with no baffles and have those installed, just for a slightly beefier sound.
I also think I lucked out as my dealer has a dedicated body shop and _says_ they know Marauders and have done the spoilers, etc. and done a good job on them, so I'll give him a try for that.
Please let me know if your experience has differed or what you think. The bottom line, is that if I were loaded, I would have two MM's, one with every mod on it I could find and definitely S/C'd, and the other pretty much stock, with probably just the plugs, stat and chip tuned and even the rear end left alone. Since I'm not that lucky, I have to pick just the mods I think would be the most beneficial and stop there.
Thanks!
Norm
I know most of you guys live for more and faster off the line, and I guess I am an old fogy at 48 (only previous get up 'n go car I owned was a '69 Dodge Charger 20 years ago that I fixed up and sold), but the acceleration of this thing stock seems great to me. I have no intention of dragging it ever, and know I would have to invest all sorts of extra $ into it were I going to do that in order to beef it up for that kind of abuse, BUT, I still plan on making some changes. If it takes off this good now I can only imagine what the Stage 1 kit will do for it! The only way I would NOT make this mod is if I thought it would shorten the vehicle life in any way.
The weaknesses in the car to me seem to be the swaying when I got on semi-sharp turns while maintaining speed. I could really feel that. Also, the car runs hot, which is to be expected with this engine, and that is why on the advice of so many folks the engine cooling mod seems like a great idea. AND as long as I have the tranny out, why not a level II tranny kit to beef things up?
I know I am also going with a rear sway bar. It's pretty obvious it will benefit from that. AND depending upon how that works _maybe_ the metco control arms later. That should be plenty of stiffening up for the driving I'm doing and the lateral stability I need. I'm not considering the watts link at all as I'm not racing. The way I need to look at this is maximum bang for the buck for a hiway and in town car, and although that may be a benefit, I think with the rear bar and control arms it should be pretty tight.
Also 90% certain I am _not_ getting at this time:
1) torque converter, even tho I will have the tranny out. I see this as only a "quick off the line mod". If I was convinced it would work elsewhere and not put a strain on the tranny I might consider it as a "nice to have."
2) Same with the under pulleys, which someone explained to me and said that in their opinion they were a "no brainer" to get. Again, if you're racing then I suppose that would be true, but an expense of $400 or $500 installed in order to get a whole 'nother 4 or 5 RWH, for me is a "no brainer" _not_ to get.
3) Same with the tinted glass; I know it does look fantastic when done right, and I don't know about your cars but the glass on my factory '03 is already tinted all the way around. I also wear Ray-Bans when I drive and the glass is nice and dark at that point, esp. on overcast days. At night, the rear window looks very dark, esp, in the autodimmed mirror (with sunglasses off of course!) ;) . No, there's a reason light aircraft don't have tinted windows, for safety and visibility, and I want to be able to see all around me. I would like the increased UV protection though, but it's not worth the risk IMO. If I could see OUT the way I do now, and only have the view IN blocked, then again I might consider it, but the factory tinting seems pretty nice to me.
What else? I do intend to get the spoiler, and most of the other external mods. I have a hard time believing that the factory lights could get any brighter, but I'll take everyone's word for it and try the Sylvania 9007ST lights.
By the way, are there upgrades for the other lights? The fog lights, or other running lights? Anyone have any recommendations there?
Anyway, that's where I'm at now. Planning on calling Reinharts tomorrow and ordering the Stage 1 kit and sway bar to start. Depending upon what he thinks of my ideas for mods I may order the tranny kit as well. Then I'm going to check with Hansel Ford who has been recommended so highly here, and see if they would install this stuff, or have a recommended shop. Oh, yeah, almost forgot! I think I'm going to leave the exhaust stock, but want to try and find the megs delete tips with no baffles and have those installed, just for a slightly beefier sound.
I also think I lucked out as my dealer has a dedicated body shop and _says_ they know Marauders and have done the spoilers, etc. and done a good job on them, so I'll give him a try for that.
Please let me know if your experience has differed or what you think. The bottom line, is that if I were loaded, I would have two MM's, one with every mod on it I could find and definitely S/C'd, and the other pretty much stock, with probably just the plugs, stat and chip tuned and even the rear end left alone. Since I'm not that lucky, I have to pick just the mods I think would be the most beneficial and stop there.
Thanks!
Norm