ProDarwin said:WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT
The CTS-V has not aged well, but you think the GTO has?
THANK YOU!!! There's a CLEAN V1 here in town that I keep trying to swap keys to my V2 for. Also, having now owned two 250k+ trouble-free mile V's, I'm not the least bit concerned about mileage.
Also the GTO looks like a 2-door 90's Bonneville and always will.
Nickerz said:Bought the Marauder for the family car. XJ will have to wait!
^^^ ...that said, Marauders are cool as E36 M3 IMO. Saw one on the highway a couple weeks ago and it made my pants fit funny....Still slower than a V1 tho ;)
poopshovel again said:Nickerz said:Bought the Marauder for the family car. XJ will have to wait!
^^^ ...that said, Marauders are cool as E36 M3 IMO. Saw one on the highway a couple weeks ago and it made my pants fit funny....Still slower than a V1 tho ;)
They need a little work. I've come to the conclusion the car is sort of a hodge podge of concepts. So I'll start with the bad.
To me, the factory rims are the biggest mistake this car made. They literally "chop." They went for "Cadillac" when they should have went Buick\Impala SS. Really, below this looks THE BUSINESS, IMO of course. But it's been really hard to find rims that match all the offset\bolt etc requirements that look this good but have meat. And these are Motegi, which yeah... not a domestic brand.
The good
This car's purpose
Round 1 mods
1. Factory 8.8 w/ LSD and transmission are both capable of handling 500 flywheel with ease. Since I'm putting in 4.30s, I figure it doesn't hurt to find some 31 spline axles and put in a 31 spline rear w/ 9" ends. Sell the stock unit, I won't even be in much on that and the rear will be ready for "whateva." I assume by the time I get around to the transmission failing whenever that time comes, I like the idea of shoehorning in a TR-9070 DCT in there out of the new GT500.
2. Morimoto Mini H1s
3. 14" GT500 cross drilled and slotted front rotors w/ Wilwood 6 pistons (Kit currently being developed\tested at TCE Performance.)
4. 6 disk in dash from Mercury Mariner
5. Ceramic tint
6. Testing out some different tails to decopify it.
6. Paint the chrome window trim from the factory body colored.
Still being sorted\Planned for Round 2
1. Custom 3" O\R prochamber w/ custom stainless flowmaster 40 series mufflers, 3" mandrel bent duals. The pipe work is $550 at Bob's in CA and magically $1500+ out here. So I'm pretty pissed about that and trying to find a shop to do this work for a reasonable price, but everyone is taking advantage of the distance between mandrel equipped shops. I'm trying to work with shops using precut mandrel stuff right now and if that doesn't work I'll move down to crush bent.
2. Slight drop, still working out if I can get away with anything and not sacrifice too much ride. Car only needs like an inch.
3. Panoramic roof (probably from an Audi Q7) The Grand National had T-Tops, always envied that. I don't care about what could leak in the future or whatever, this car is a cruiser and is going to rack up hundreds of thousands of miles. I bought it to enjoy it, not trailer\store it. Believe it or not, apparently these are easy to hack into cars. Plenty of videos of it being done mostly in the low rider scene.
4. Rims... man, I'm having a lot of trouble finding some that look at good as those Motegis. The next step up would be something like CCW\Fikse\HRE etc. And that's just too much money for this car IMO.
5. Rear brakes... Probably going to leave room for slciks, so I have to do the math there.
6. Cluster\Console. Going to give it a Grand National\Drag car workover here, sort of what the factory started to do a half assed job of. Checking out the B&M and gauge offerings, would like something that has a nightglow, always thought my 03 Cobra was really rad at night.
Far down the road plans
Accumulate parts like 03 Cobra rods, teksid block and a V3 kit with an after\intercooler to pair with a TR9070 when they start hitting eBay for a reasonable price. I'll have to see if these cars can drive in automatic mode civilly before I cement these plans. Otherwise the 10R80 looks promising too in a couple years. Just looks like there's a huge gap of available power handling transmissions between the 4L80E and current offerings. A lot of the designs after that were a step back and the 4L80E is a huge undertaking and I'm a purist. It's a GM transmission. I can get over the centrifigal as a purist because I honestly believe this car was done wrong. This is a car, that for real, "has a lot of potential." The idea of ever worrying about twisties with this car was their mistake. This car should have had three purposes, destroying tires, freeway power and good ride.
In the mean time, probably going to pick up an RX8 to play in the twisties around town with until I can conclusively determine whether or not the RS200 Altezza swap is possible into the IS300 USDM. Currently there's a couple people that have stopped at the steering rack going through the manifolds, which I think can be solved with a steering rack offset and or doing a LHD conversion on a RHD front clip swapover (this has been done successfully).
I'll check back in after I hear back that the brakes are good to go, I'm really looking forward to that. Really hilly around here and I drive like a dickhead so it'll be nice to leverage 6 pistons and see those big old rotors behind the wheel.
In reply to Nickerz :
Damn after all that you might be able to keep up with an e55 amg that has a pulley and a tune lol
Marauders are cool as hell tho.
yupididit said:In reply to Nickerz :
Damn after all that you might be able to keep up with an e55 amg that has a pulley and a tune lol
Marauders are cool as hell tho.
I know you're kidding, but what I layed out if I go down that route would be nearly 800rwhp deep in the 10s. I don't even want to know how much cash would be lit on fire trying to daily drive an 800rwhp E55, much less a 550rwhp E55. Driving a 600rwhp 03 Cobra was a wakeup call on how expensive that stuff gets. You really have to overbuild the (I just learned that E36 M3 is inserted for the s word) out of the car for it to be even halfway reliable. The TR9070 is rated to 900lbft and a 9" end 8.8 is a 1000rwhp+ axle, so I'd feel a little more comfortable. But built motors are all pin pulled grenades. Maybe I'd get 50-60K per longblock, maybe.
Nickerz said:yupididit said:In reply to Nickerz :
Damn after all that you might be able to keep up with an e55 amg that has a pulley and a tune lol
Marauders are cool as hell tho.
I know you're kidding, but what I layed out if I go down that route would be nearly 800rwhp deep in the 10s. I don't even want to know how much cash would be lit on fire trying to daily drive an 800rwhp E55, much less a 550rwhp E55. Driving a 600rwhp 03 Cobra was a wakeup call on how expensive that stuff gets. You really have to overbuild the (I just learned that E36 M3 is inserted for the s word) out of the car for it to be even halfway reliable. The TR9070 is rated to 900lbft and a 9" end 8.8 is a 1000rwhp+ axle, so I'd feel a little more comfortable. But built motors are all pin pulled grenades. Maybe I'd get 50-60K per longblock, maybe.
It wasnt a joke really. It's funny, I do know a person who daily a nearly 800hp E55 (he didnt mod it until it already had 90k and is now over 135k miles) and plenty of people with stock 469hp versions with over 150k miles, as well as modded cars inbetween. Almost every 2003+ AMG and 2012+ turbo Mercedes are downrated power wise and can go on with mods no problem. Cool thing is, you dont have to worry about building all this and that to be able to handle the power. Yes buy-in much higher and maintenance can be expensive if you pay someone else to do it. By the time you get your Marauder to those levels and daily driveable at the same time with stock or better than stock comfort, you'd have a stock and modded E55 AMG worth of cash on fire. No matter which way you play it, at those power levels you're referencing as a daily driver, you'll pay up front or at the finish line.
I really do look forward to your build and in no way trying to discourage you. I just dont think you really know how well these AMG cars take mods and still drive with their standard civility and reliability without having to build a motor. Also, I've seen a Marauder lowered on some CCW classics and it was beautiful!
yupididit said:Nickerz said:yupididit said:In reply to Nickerz :
Damn after all that you might be able to keep up with an e55 amg that has a pulley and a tune lol
Marauders are cool as hell tho.
I know you're kidding, but what I layed out if I go down that route would be nearly 800rwhp deep in the 10s. I don't even want to know how much cash would be lit on fire trying to daily drive an 800rwhp E55, much less a 550rwhp E55. Driving a 600rwhp 03 Cobra was a wakeup call on how expensive that stuff gets. You really have to overbuild the (I just learned that E36 M3 is inserted for the s word) out of the car for it to be even halfway reliable. The TR9070 is rated to 900lbft and a 9" end 8.8 is a 1000rwhp+ axle, so I'd feel a little more comfortable. But built motors are all pin pulled grenades. Maybe I'd get 50-60K per longblock, maybe.
It wasnt a joke really. It's funny, I do know a person who daily a nearly 800hp E55 (he didnt mod it until it already had 90k and is now over 135k miles) and plenty of people with stock 469hp versions with over 150k miles, as well as modded cars inbetween. Almost every 2003+ AMG and 2012+ turbo Mercedes are downrated power wise and can go on with mods no problem. Cool thing is, you dont have to worry about building all this and that to be able to handle the power. Yes buy-in much higher and maintenance can be expensive if you pay someone else to do it. By the time you get your Marauder to those levels and daily driveable at the same time with stock or better than stock comfort, you'd have a stock and modded E55 AMG worth of cash on fire. No matter which way you play it, at those power levels you're referencing as a daily driver, you'll pay up front or at the finish line.
I really do look forward to your build and in no way trying to discourage you. I just dont think you really know how well these AMG cars take mods and still drive with their standard civility and reliability without having to build a motor. Also, I've seen a Marauder lowered on some CCW classics and it was beautiful!
I agree it'd be a horse a peice here. Both cars are selling slightly above their parts cost at this point. E.g. E55 has $1200 of brakes on it from the factory, I'll be in $1200 in brakes etc. The main issues were that I didn't think it sounds as good as a modular car, upkeep is much higher, not enough shops modifying those cars and ultimately it's a non-aluminum unibody car. There are no shortage of 600K-1M+ mile panther cars. Body on frame so I can easily have the car's body delt with etc. Send it down to Mexico and back with a new paint job every 10 years or so.
It's easy to feel the way you feel, but once you really really start thinking about what it means to drive a car a million miles, the E55 is just not a contender. It's the best off the shelf version of what I'm going for, but not for the purpose.
It's like, yeah, colt makes some great AR15s, but it's not milspec.
THE BUSINESS
Nickerz said:yupididit said:Nickerz said:yupididit said:In reply to Nickerz :
Damn after all that you might be able to keep up with an e55 amg that has a pulley and a tune lol
Marauders are cool as hell tho.
I know you're kidding, but what I layed out if I go down that route would be nearly 800rwhp deep in the 10s. I don't even want to know how much cash would be lit on fire trying to daily drive an 800rwhp E55, much less a 550rwhp E55. Driving a 600rwhp 03 Cobra was a wakeup call on how expensive that stuff gets. You really have to overbuild the (I just learned that E36 M3 is inserted for the s word) out of the car for it to be even halfway reliable. The TR9070 is rated to 900lbft and a 9" end 8.8 is a 1000rwhp+ axle, so I'd feel a little more comfortable. But built motors are all pin pulled grenades. Maybe I'd get 50-60K per longblock, maybe.
It wasnt a joke really. It's funny, I do know a person who daily a nearly 800hp E55 (he didnt mod it until it already had 90k and is now over 135k miles) and plenty of people with stock 469hp versions with over 150k miles, as well as modded cars inbetween. Almost every 2003+ AMG and 2012+ turbo Mercedes are downrated power wise and can go on with mods no problem. Cool thing is, you dont have to worry about building all this and that to be able to handle the power. Yes buy-in much higher and maintenance can be expensive if you pay someone else to do it. By the time you get your Marauder to those levels and daily driveable at the same time with stock or better than stock comfort, you'd have a stock and modded E55 AMG worth of cash on fire. No matter which way you play it, at those power levels you're referencing as a daily driver, you'll pay up front or at the finish line.
I really do look forward to your build and in no way trying to discourage you. I just dont think you really know how well these AMG cars take mods and still drive with their standard civility and reliability without having to build a motor. Also, I've seen a Marauder lowered on some CCW classics and it was beautiful!
I agree it'd be a horse a peice here. Both cars are selling slightly above their parts cost at this point. E.g. E55 has $1200 of brakes on it from the factory, I'll be in $1200 in brakes etc. The main issues were that I didn't think it sounds as good as a modular car, upkeep is much higher, not enough shops modifying those cars and ultimately it's a non-aluminum unibody car. There are no shortage of 600K-1M+ mile panther cars. Body on frame so I can easily have the car's body delt with etc. Send it down to Mexico and back with a new paint job every 10 years or so.
It's easy to feel the way you feel, but once you really really start thinking about what it means to drive a car a million miles, the E55 is just not a contender. It's the best off the shelf version of what I'm going for, but not for the purpose.
It's like, yeah, colt makes some great AR15s, but it's not milspec.
THE BUSINESS
I would never think about driving any one car that many miles. Or even a quarter of that many, not myself. I'm too split and a victim of Automotive-ADD to be able to drive a single vehicle 250-1mil miles. The car or myself would be obsolete by then. Hell I only drive 10-15 miles a day anyway lol. Your 800hp Panther isnt going to go 1 million miles either but obviously the concept of doing so will be cheaper with a panther platform car vs any AMG. But, that gets skewed when you are talking about modding it to the point that you mention. Then, it's no longer like the other 1 million mile panthers that you see as taxi cars etc. When you really start thinking about what it means to drive a car a million miles with 3 or 4 times its stock power, no car is really a contender.
Don't get me started on milspec. Thats a marketing term, the E36 M3 we use in the military is "the lowest costing bidder that meets our minimin product requirements". Every AR and pistol I've used in the combat zone is nothing tougher or better than what I could buy from the factory lol.
YES THAT IS THE BUSINESS! Those wheels look amazing on the car!
In reply to yupididit :
It's called "cost engineering." 
I would never think about driving any one car that many miles. Or even a quarter of that many, not myself. I'm too split and a victim of Automotive-ADD to be able to drive a single vehicle 250-1mil miles. The car or myself would be obsolete by then. Hell I only drive 10-15 miles a day anyway lol. Your 800hp Panther isnt going to go 1 million miles either but obviously the concept of doing so will be cheaper with a panther platform car vs any AMG. But, that gets skewed when you are talking about modding it to the point that you mention. Then, it's no longer like the other 1 million mile panthers that you see as taxi cars etc. When you really start thinking about what it means to drive a car a million miles with 3 or 4 times its stock power, no car is really a contender.
Well yeah, you have factors here.
1. Frame (or lack there of and subframes)
2. Body
3. Axle
4. Interior\Ride
5. Supporting hardware (alternators, door locks etc)
In these areas, the panther will be unbeatable in terms of cost per mile. No weird $300 hoses etc. Everything is available, plentiful and cheap. So ultimately, we're arguing about ENGINE (along with forced induction) and TRANS.
Modular engine as a power platform is a little bit more expensive than an LS, but not by much. I think the "cheap power" LS thing is in a way sort of overblown. Maybe before everyone know that an LQ9 was a junkyard gem etc, but now that the gig is up, you have to be creative (ala SloppyMechanics and their LS builds). And that's if I even walk down that path. Gears and exhaust might just serve its purpose enough (I doubt it) and highway wise I might have something else in the stable. I don't really know yet. I do know I have no plans to care about cornering with the car. None.
The upkeep on the small details as well as at least transmission here for the E55 would just be crushing. E55 looks like it's a good platform regardless. Seems like all they need are pistons to have a solid rotating, and the tranny is pretty stout to something like 600rwhp.
Took the marauder for groceries, it's down while I wait on brakes rather than do brakes twice, I'm happy with my choice ;p
In reply to Nickerz :
Start wearing black suits so you can look like the feds
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