well, I'm at a cross roads...

[BHBurban]

Cars suck

 

[Darkrider]

Now THAT was blunt! Lol!

When isnt BJ blunt? lol


I must say the mention of the fact that the 300 M chassis was originally designed to be AWD intrigues me a bit. I would say go with your thoughts of getting ahold of a prowler rear suspension and rwd components from the prowler transmission and see if you can in fact build it into an AWD. Even Rwd it would be bad a**

 

[great white]

When isnt BJ blunt? lol


I must say the mention of the fact that the 300 M chassis was originally designed to be AWD intrigues me a bit. I would say go with your thoughts of getting ahold of a prowler rear suspension and rwd components from the prowler transmission and see if you can in fact build it into an AWD. Even Rwd it would be bad a**

Already have, that's where the idea came from. I was even shopping once for the right components. Scrapped the idea though. Other than being able to point and say "look what I did" it wasn't going to end up where I wanted it to go.

If info go down the rear transaxle, it will most likely be vette stuff.

The Chrysler PCM is locked down and not really tuneable. Even if it was I would likely top the v6 out around 300hp.

Nah, it's find an old c5 donor and start modifying. Thats probably the best route if going that way.

 

[sparky24]

Dude sell everything and buy a badass ride, nearly anything would be a more interesting project than what you have. Keep the M as a spare driver do not mod it though its a waste of time.

A corvette, a 1st gen firebird or camaro, BMW, late model or 1st gen mustang GT or cobra, a muscle truck, k30, k20, anything that will turn out nice. All cars/trucks are money pits so you have to really want the project.

Or you could build a pure stock race car from a monte carlo or similar, i have been thinking about doing that lately, racing is pretty dangerous though

And hey you made the thread so here is my opinion like it or not.

 

[great white]

Dude sell everything and buy a badass ride, nearly anything would be a more interesting project than what you have. Keep the M as a spare driver do not mod it though its a waste of time.

A corvette, a 1st gen firebird or camaro, BMW, late model or 1st gen mustang GT or cobra, a muscle truck, k30, k20, anything that will turn out nice. All cars/trucks are money pits so you have to really want the project.

Or you could build a pure stock race car from a monte carlo or similar, i have been thinking about doing that lately, racing is pretty dangerous though

And hey you made the thread so here is my opinion like it or not.

Thanks, but I like it not.

 

[RHamill]

/thread

keep everything and don't ask our opinions

 

[great white]

/thread

keep everything and don't ask our opinions

You offered your opinion, it doesn't work for me, that's all there is to that.

No need to get your knickers in a knot about it.

 

[dowsewashere]

why not keep them all? you obviously dont want to get rid of them deep down. How much longer are you keeping your heartbreaker? if you dumped that much money in it i see until you keeping it until it dies.
The 300 is by no means a real "awesome" car but if its a comfortable driver, keep it. take your wife out in that. or whatever she drives. always nice to have something super reliable.
as for the mustang and the tbird. why not mix the two... lil bit of the tbirds looks, a lil bit of raw mustang power. you spend some money but you dont have to split with either. part out the mustangs body and stuff, keep the drive train. NOW thats one hell of a retirement project.

then cummins swap because it would be AWESOME.

 

[great white]

why not keep them all? you obviously dont want to get rid of them deep down. How much longer are you keeping your heartbreaker? if you dumped that much money in it i see until you keeping it until it dies.
The 300 is by no means a real "awesome" car but if its a comfortable driver, keep it. take your wife out in that. or whatever she drives. always nice to have something super reliable.
as for the mustang and the tbird. why not mix the two... lil bit of the tbirds looks, a lil bit of raw mustang power. you spend some money but you dont have to split with either. part out the mustangs body and stuff, keep the drive train. NOW thats one hell of a retirement project.

then cummins swap because it would be AWESOME.

That all sounds really fun and all that, but that's how I got to having too many vehicles right now. The 390 4bbl into the mustang would be cool and a bit of a nod towards the 390Gt from the 60's, but just not a practical project for me for many reasons. besides, it doesn't make any sense with so many other powerful/cheap small block options out there that would eat the 390's lunch.

While I would like to keep it all, it's time to start "drawing down" to a more suiting "retirement" stable. There comes a time when you have to streamline, and I'm just getting a bit of a head start on it.

So the mustang will be spiffed up and given to my daughter when she comes of age. She can do what she wants with it. Drive it, sell it, give it away. Her choice.

The truck will stay, it's reliable and we need something to pull the travel trailer ("snowbirding" in winter). If the Optimizer pops, it will likely get a 12v P7100 pump 6bt. An LB7/allison would be my preference, but I don't know if I'd want to put the work into the electronics. It's not hard, it's just a lot of time and tedious work on top the fabrication.

The T-Bird will go. Love it, but it's too much work and money to make it a driver. I'd have to either but a firewall back donor chassis, tube chassis it, or make it a parts car for a second 'Bird. All stuff I can do, but more work and money than I want to spend on it. Sad, but true. I'll pas sit on to some other daydreamer....

The missus will have her car until she decides to trade it in. It's her car, she does as she wishes with it. She's already talking "minivan" to make hauling the dogs easier (lots of room, low lift/jumping height). Wouldn't be my choice, but hey, it's her car. I don't have to drive it. Only thing I would insist on is full/part time AWD capability of some sort for inclement weather driving.

Which leaves the M.

Oh the M.

I've got it in my head to keep it, drop an LS1 and a divorced transaxle from a vette (with associated suspension bits front and rear). I say C5 stuff because it fairly modern, reasonably common, the chassis is fairly compartmentalized and there's no shortage of people wrecking them or stealing them. Something like these:

You must be registered for see images

http://www.ebay.com/itm/01-C5-Corve...0 011&prg=1005&rk=1&rkt=5&sd=3804404 95668&

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gUJbibONVQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2JzwT69b8

And drop the body of the M down on it. I need to have a project car of some sort, it's just the way I am.

I'm not talking a hack job, I'm taking OEM style finish and integration.

A C5 with the 300M body will be one heck of a project. It should go together mechanically rather easily, that's just fab and the M is already conceived as a FWD with the possibility of AWD. That's one of the reasons why the exhaust tunnel is oversized for the pipe and runs dead center straight down the middle of the car. building the subframes strong enough will be a bit of a chore, but nothing too difficult. The unibody on the M is actually pretty torsionally stiff. It's not a "floaty" car by any stretch. If anything, it's fairly rough for what you would think is a "grampa" car. The handling is one of the reasons I bought it. Not fast, but it will scream the heck out of long fast sweepers. It will corner faster than I would care to. It's pretty good as is, but if chrylser had of wicked it up to 300-350 Hp instead of the 250 it came with it would be a pretty serious road burner. A contemporary contender for sure. Divocing hte htransaxle and rear mounting it à la Prowler would have made it a car to remember. As it is, it's forever doomed to be seem as a four door family car and overshadowed by the 2005+ 300C "ganster comic mobile"...

The electronics interfacing will be a serious Biotch. Will likely end up with some modules running independent on both the Chrysler and the chevy side of things.

They other challenge will be retaining the flavor and handing of the car that I like so much. The handing should be achievable with vette underpinnings. I haven't even compared track widths yet, so the project may die before it starts. lengthing the torque tube is easy enough, Suspension width is a different story.

If I get it done, it will make some go "why" but it will make the kindred spirits hoist a hearty "thumbs up".

I'd like to say it will be unique, but I know of at least one LH chassis that has gone down this route: http://www.lhforums.net/forums/showthread.php?1337-Mike-s-Project-LHSS

He actually got it up and running with an LS2 and a Lexus rear suspension, but tore it all apart again when the Lexus suspension proved to not be enough for the power or weight. He tore the floor pan completely out for a complete custom chassis fab and that was when he dropped off the radar...

Or I might just go halfway and divorce the transaxle and rear mount it. But than I'm stuck with the 3.5 v6 and Chrysler's "locked down" PCM. So far, no one has cracked 'em.

Dunno, lots of options. All of them sound fun and a fairly unique project.

Heck, i may just leave it alone and use it as a touring car. Dunno.

That will drop me down to the truck, whatever the missus drives and the M as a project/driver.

Sounds just about right for a "retired" guy....