Stealth or Charger?

[Zentelis]

I can afford to put one of them back on the road this summer. (time+money)

Kate is angling for the Stealth..she keeps saying that the Charger is a long-term project, and I shouldn't be in a rush to get it on the road.
She wants to see my stealth back on the street crushing ricers

Personally, I can't decide. One day I'll decide on the Charger..the next day I'll decide on the Stealth.

The Stealth will be significantly more expensive to put on the road..The charger can be on the road for about $2500 and a lot more time.

The Stealth will require help..there's no way I can do it all myself (I'll be modding it). But help costs even more money

The Charger I can probably do myself.

I'm scared of working on the Stealth right now 'cause I have to pull the engine..I've never done anything like that by myself..I'm scared of screwing things up. That engine bay is 10 times more intimidating than a Charger engine bay I was never scared of working on cars before, but ever since that accident, I am terrified of making things worse.

For weeks I've been fighting myself on this..
Can I get some opinions on this? Maybe you'll bring a perspective that I haven't considered

[Macky]

Id say stealth, but Lockheed had the skunkworks build the Stealth, so you need your own skunkworks to probably get that baby running

[jackhammer]

[quote=""Zentelis""]Kate is angling for the Stealth..she keeps saying that the Charger is a long-term project, and I shouldn't be in a rush to get it on the road. She wants to see my stealth back on the street crushing ricers [/quote]I always suspected women were smarter than men, this just confirms it.

[BillyC]

What's wrong with the Stealth that requires you pulling the engine?

[Zentelis]

[quote=""thestealth""]What's wrong with the Stealth that requires you pulling the engine?[/quote]

With all the stuff I'm doing, it will just be easier if it's out.
Turbos, mounts, exhaust..and I want to clean it up. It's grungy as hell in there, and since I'm repainting it, I'm going to hit the engine bay, too. And since it's out, I'll be cleaning up the engine.

[BillyC]

It's not that hard to pull the engine, not as bad as you would think anyway. Just take pictures along the way, bag and tag parts removed, you'll be fine.

[Duck Vader]

I guess I will be the first to say the Charger, then again, I prefer the look of a Charger over the Stealth.

[TheHarleyMod]

Stealth? Why have I always thought you have a Spyder?

[Synchro]

If it were a 3kGT I'd say go for the 3kGT.

But since it's a choice between a Stealth and a Charger...



Personally I'd like more classic muscle on the streets, but that's just me.

I gotta go with classic muscle on this one.



If only it were a VR-4... *tsk tsk*

[Zentelis]

[quote=""TheHarleyMod""]Stealth? Why have I always thought you have a Spyder?[/quote]

I have both

(yes, i got to brag again )

I gotta go with classic muscle on this one.

Well..as of tonight, the new brake kit is installed on the Charger..it only took 3 freakin' months. More of my "fear of making things worse".

The downside: The stock wheels don't fit over the calipers New wheels/tires were part of the $2500..but now i have to get 'em just to move the thing!

[Monochrome]

I can help you bring the Stealth back to life.

[Zentelis]

[quote=""Monochrome""]I can help you bring the Stealth back to life.[/quote]

You're on my list of folks to call Thanks

Since I can't seem to pick one or the other, I ended up working on the Stealth tonight..I got a bunch of the wires/pipes disconnected and removed the radiator (yeah..i know, big woop).

But, man, I gotta rant...50% of the bolts broke off..nearly every bolt/retainer/fastener is rusted to crap. Even after soaking in Gibbs for a few days, it didn't help.

Oh well, I've got a list of all the replacement parts I need. Including the lower plastic shield..and if I didn't know better, I'd say the front-end of the car had been wrecked..things just seemed warped at weird angles. But I've had the engine out before and never noticed anything like that. Oh well..

Maybe if I just stop being lazy, I can do both cars this summer

[Zentelis]

This ain't my night.
I tackled the bottom half of the engine tonight.

First, I couldn't get the rotors off. They've been on the car for 5 years or more..never been removed.
It took me over an hour, until I finally decided "time for new rotors", so I used the caliper mounting bolts and "pushed" the rotors off.
That worked great for one side.
But the other side? It was rusted on there so well that using the bolts to push the rotor actually crushed the front wheel bearing! When the rotor finally came off, so did the wheel hub (fortunately the two separated).
So, now I need new rotors and a new front wheel bearing.

Next I had to remove the alignment bolts. The top one on the driver's side came off ok (thank you, air-gun).
I couldn't reach the lower one with the air-gun, so I resorted to a hand-held ratchet and a breaker bar. It's a 3 foot breaker bar and the bolt stripped. It just went perfectly round.
So, I spent another hour cutting the damn thing off.
Add an alignment bolt to the list of replacement parts.
In fact, I'm just going to replace all those bolts (alignment and caliper mounting bolts).

Next I needed to remove the downpipe. The turbo connections came off without a hitch, but the main-cat connection? Rusted solid.
I even heated it and it did nothing. So, the downpipe is just hanging on the ground *sigh*.

And somewhere along the line, I inhaled something, 'cause my throat burns. I'll probably get cancer and die by morning with the way this day's been going.

[EricVR4]

Well, I was going to say that doing the turbos/mounts/etc with the engine in the car isn't all that difficult. I put 13Ts in, pulled the front manifold to weld a crack in it, and finally got around to installing the rear solid mount and it wasn't all that bad. Having the engine out would make it a breeze though.

But, basing on how things have been going for you so far, I think it's best that you pulled the engine. I can only imagine what kind of crappy luck would pop up with the turbos bolts and lines, lol.

Sorry Zent, it'll get better! Just think how much fun it'll be to have it back on the road. And go with what Kate said....turbos are just too much fun

[Zentelis]

Yeah, turbos are fun..but so is smoking a set of tires, leaving twin patches of rubber

So, I got back to work yanking the stealth's engine today.
I had it planned out:

Pull the driver's side shaft
pull the passengers side shaft.
Pull the transfer case.
loosen the mounts
disconnect the steering pump
pull the engine.

Easily done in a day, right?

No such luck.
I had to go to Lowe's twice today to get tools (first some crow bars for the passenger side driveshaft and transfer case), then back again for some ratchet straps (for the tranny).

Well, i moved the engine hoist into position, angled everything up...then i noticed...i have no fucking hooks for the chains.

I sat on the floor in a state of "i give up"

I didn't feel like going back out to lowes again, so I just called it quits for today.


oh..and that driver's side drive-shaft bracket?? What a fucking pain in the ass that thing is!! holy crap! It took me 20 minutes to maneuver a tool in there to get those 2 bolts off..my extensions were either too long or too short! I'm not looking forward to putting that thing back on

And before I called it quits, some of you may remember (I think i even mentioned it earlier) that my oil cooler blew and turned my engine into a sludge-covered mess.
Well, my transfer case was not spared..I pulled it off and it was a solid blank hunk of sludge.

So..I cleaned it It's silver again! I had planned to do the same to the whole engine..at least get it cleaned to a point where it was metal colored again. We'll see how that goes.

Oh..can I get some tips on how to put an engine on an engine stand? It's an L-shaped style stand (from harbor freight).
I assume I have to take the transmission off, but where do I actually mount the engine on the stand? Where do the rods go? Are there obvious "stand holes" in the engine block?

[moffman93']

there should be a bracket with 4 arms. At the end of each arm, you will need a bolt with spacers that bolt into 4 bolt holes on the rear side of the engine. You cant miss them. Then just slide thte bracket into the stand. Piece of cake. Good luck.

[vr4]

stealth.


dont rush the charger. do it right the first time so it will last a long time.


are you pulling the engine? what does the stealth need to be done?

[Monochrome]

[quote=""Zentelis""]oh..and that driver's side drive-shaft bracket?? What a fucking pain in the ass that thing is!! holy crap! It took me 20 minutes to maneuver a tool in there to get those 2 bolts off..my extensions were either too long or too short! I'm not looking forward to putting that thing back on [/quote]

What? Regular 3/8s drive 12mm socket and a 2" extension. That's all you need. Air ratchet makes those 2 bolts a breeze.

[Twin-Turbo]

I actually didn't have trouble with any bolts during my engine pull (surprisingly)

If you have the two metal pieces with holes in them (yeah I know, real discriptive. The front turbo intake pipe bolts to the front one, and the one in the rear just chills), you could stick a tie down in them and hook the chain up, then rap the chain around the oil filter housing. Then yeah, rachet the transmission, and pull that bitch.